Car Portal 3.0 Configuration Options

Configuration options

The Settings->Configuration options in the administration panel provides functionality to change the different options for the front site.
You may find below a list and description of the different configuration options.

Currency Symbol 

By default this setting is set to the US dollar sign $, but you may change it to another one you prefer (like CHF or ). This will change the currency symbol displayed next to the prices on the website.
This applies for all the prices of the listings on the website, pricing for posting listings and banners etc.

Accept PayPal 

This setting has two possible values  YES or NO. If set to YES, will enable the PayPal payments on the website or with other words, will allow the website owner/administrator to use the PayPal system to charge the users for posting listings or banners on the website.

PayPal Currency Code 

The PayPal currency code if the PayPal system is enabled. By default it's set to USD (US dollars), but can be changed to any other valid PayPal currency code like EUR, GBP etc.

PayPal Account 

When the PayPal system is enabled, in this field, the administrator/website owner has to enter the PayPal account (registered PayPal email address) he would like to use to charge the users on the website.

Accept 2checkout

This setting has two possible values  YES or NO. If set to YES, will enable the 2checkout payments on the website or with other words, will allow the website owner/administrator to use the 2checkout system to charge the users for posting listings or banners on the website.

2checkout Seller ID 

When the 2checkout system is enabled, in this field, the administrator/website owner has to enter the 2checkout SID (Seller ID) of the 2checkout account he would like to use to charge the users on the website. The seller id can be obtained from the 2checkout website (during a new registration for the new users) or from the admin panel for the registered ones.

Accept Cheques 

If set to YES, then cheques will also be accepted in order to charge the users. The payments by cheques have to be validated manually by the administrator from the administration panel when the cheque is received.

Address for the Cheques 

In this field the administrator has to enter the address, which has to be used for the cheques to be sent if the cheques payment options is enabled on the website.

Accept Bank Wire Transfers 

If set to YES, then the bank transfer payment option will also be enabled on the website and bank wires will be accepted in order to charge the users. The payments by wire transfer have to be validated manually by the administrator from the administration panel when the wire transfer is received.

Bank Account Information 

In this field the administrator has to enter the full information for the bank account to be to be used when the bank transfer payment option is enabled on the website.

Store the User Images in the Database 

If set to YES, the images uploaded by the users will be stored in binary format in the database. The default and recommended option is NO (the images to be stored in a local folder), because keeping the images in the database can slow down the database access and also the database size will grow much quicker.

Number of Images per Listing (free website)

If the website is set to be free for the users, then the administrator doesn't have to create packages for the sellers (with different pricing, allowing different number of images etc.), so in this case the administrator can use this setting to set the maximum number of images per listing on the website.

Maximum Allowed Image Size 

Using this setting the administrator can set the maximum allowed image size for upload by the vendors. The value has to be set in bytes.

Use GD to generate thumbnails 

The PHP graphics library is used by default to generate thumbnails for the uploaded images, so the default value of this setting is YES. If however the server or hosting package on which the website is hosted doesn't have the graphic library GD installed or enabled, it's possible to turn off its usage by changing the value of this setting to NO.

System Email Address 

The administrator can set here the system email address, which will appear as sender of the system emails sent by the website (like notifications etc.).

System Email Sender Name 

The name of the sender of the system email address, which is used when sending email notifications, welcome emails and others to the users.

Subject for Email Notification for New Message 
When the users reply to a message they have received in their message box, there is an option to notify them also by email for this new message. With this setting, the administrator can set the subject of the email notification that will be sent.

Send Welcome Emails 

If enabled (set to YES), this option allows welcome emails to be sent to the users when they sign up (for the dealers) or post their first vehicle (for the private sellers).

Private Sellers Welcome Email Subject 

The administrator can enable welcome emails for the private sellers, they are sent just once  when the private sellers create their account/post their first listing. This setting allows the administrator to change the subject of the welcome emails sent to the users.

Private Sellers Welcome Email Text 

The administrator can enable welcome emails for the private sellers, they are sent just once  when the private sellers create their account/post their first listing. This setting allows the administrator to change the text of the welcome emails sent to the users.

Dealers Welcome Email Subject 

The administrator can enable welcome emails for the dealers, they are sent just once  when the dealer creates his account by filling the registration form. This setting allows the administrator to change the subject of the welcome emails sent to the dealers.

Dealers Welcome Email Text 

The administrator can enable welcome emails for the dealers, they are sent only once  when the dealer creates his account by filling the registration form. This setting allows the administrator to change the text of the welcome emails sent to the dealers.

Default Time Zone 

With this setting the administrator can change the default time zone on the website. The time zone coming by default for most of the downloads is Europe/London.
List of the supported time zones can be found on: http://www.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php

Some examples of supported time zones are:

America/Buenos_Aires 
America/Chicago 
America/Los_Angeles 
America/Mexico_City 
America/New_York
Asia/Singapore 
Asia/Tokyo
Europe/Berlin 
Europe/Madrid 
Europe/Moscow 
Europe/Zurich 

Enable ZIP field

Setting this field to YES, will enable the ZIP field on the website when posting listings. For countries in which the ZIP field isn't used, it can be disabled by setting it to NO. Please note that this field can be renamed to Post Code or another name you may prefer in the language file (/include/texts_en.php for the default English language file).

Enable ZIP distance search 

The ZIP distance search allows to search the posted vehicles within selected distance from a ZIP field entered by the user. By default this feature is available only for the United States, so for the other countries it can be disabled.

Free Website 
Setting this field to YES, will transform the website in a free website  the private sellers won't be asked to make a payment when posting their listings and the credits and payments functionality for the dealers will be also disabled. This mean they won't have to make payments and purchase credits prior to post listings on the website.

Date Format on the Front Site 

By entering a valid PHP date format string, the administrator can change the format of the date displayed on the website.
Full information on the supported date format strings can be found on:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.date.php

Here are a few examples:
"F j, Y, g:i a" // March 10, 2001, 5:16 pm
"m.d.y" // 03.10.01
"j, n, Y" // 10, 3, 2001
"H:i:s" // 17:16:18

Multi Language Website 

The multi language website can support more than one language and it shows the languages menu on the front site (allowing the users to choose the language they prefer).
For website loading speed optimization if you have only one language on the website, it's recommended to keep this setting to NO, otherwise you may switch to YES.
Setting the website to be not multi language will hide also the language selection menu on the front site.

Enable SEO Links 

The search engines optimized links look like static html pages and have keywords in the url (which allows better indexing by search engines like Google).
In order to use the SEO links, the system will require the presence of the mod_rewrite module (for Linux / Apche or isapi_rewrite for Windows / IIS). If this module is not present on your server or hosting package, you could deactivate this feature by setting it to NO.

Auto Validate the Listings posted by Dealers 

With the two possible values YES or NO, you can control if the listings posted by the dealers will be automatically validated (so they will show up directly on the front site) or they will require validation by the administrator prior of showing up on the website.

Search Results per Page 

By changing the value of this setting, you can control how many results will show up on the front site when the users make a search or browse the listings per make etc.
The default value is set to 10.

Featured Listings Expire after (days) 

The featured listings appear with different background and always on top of the search results. The users can choose to make their listings featured by paying a fee set by the administrator for that.
With this setting the administrator can control in how many days a featured listing will expire and convert back to a normal listing. The default value of this setting is 30, which means 30 days.

Price Format Thousands Separator 

The default thousands separator in the prices on the website is the ,, so the prices will look like for example $12,500 or $29,400 etc.
You may use this setting to change this symbol to a different one you may prefer.

Enable Autorize.NET Payments

This setting has two possible values  YES or NO. If set to YES, will enable the authorize.net payments on the website or with other words, will allow the website owner/administrator to use the 2checkout system to charge the users for posting listings or banners on the website.

Authorize.NET Login ID

When the Autorize.NET system is enabled, in this field, the administrator/website owner has to enter the Authorize.NET login ID of the Authorize.NET account he would like to use to charge the users on the website.

Authorize.NET Transaction Key 

When the Autorize.NET system is enabled, in this field, the administrator/website owner has to enter the Authorize.NET transaction key of the Authorize.NET account he would like to use to charge the users on the website.

Allow Video Uploads 

There is a default feature allowing the users to upload a video file for their listing (which can be a video presentation etc.).
If you would like to deactivate and remove from the website this feature and not accept video files, you can set this setting to NO.

Maximum Allowed Video Size 

If the video files upload feature is enabled, this setting allows to control the maximum allowed size of the video files to be uploaded.

Use FFMPEG to generate video thumbnails 

Please note, you could set this value to YES and enable this feature only if you have the PHP video library (FFMPEG) installed on your server/hosting package.
When enabled, this feature allows to generate thumbnails from the uploaded videos and show the image as clickable links to play the video.
Please note that if the ffmpeg library isn't present on your server/hosting package and you activate this option, the entire video upload my stop working.

Send Email Reminders for Expired Ads 

This setting has two possible values YES and NO  when set to YES, will send email notifications/reminders to the users who have previously posted listings, which have expired. The reminders are set only once, when the listings have expired.

Expired Listings Reminder Email Subject 

If the feature for sending email reminders for expired ads is enabled, this setting allows the administrator to set the subject of the email messages,which are sent.
The default value is Your listing has expired.

Expired Listings Reminder Email Text 

If the feature for sending email reminders for expired ads is enabled, this setting allows the administrator to set the text of the email messages,which are sent.
The default value is The listing you posted has expired.n
To see the vehicle or modify the listing, you may use the link below:n
[MODIFY_LINK] n
If you would like to renew it, please click on the following link:n
[RENEW_LINK].

In this text [MODIFY_LINK] will be replaced by the link to modify the listing from the users admin space, while [RENEW_LINK] will be replaced by a link allowing to renew the listing.

Authorized IPs for the admin panel 

If you enter a list of IP addresses in this field (for example 66.21.34.125 or 66.21.34.125,214.34.70.98) this will limit the access to the administration panel only to these IP addresses. This could be a good technique to increase additionally the protection of the administration panel, because even if a person knows the password he won't be able to access the administration panel if his IP address isn't in the authorized list.

Use CAPTCHA images to prevent spamming 

A good way to avoid automatic form submissions when creating a web form is to add some kind of verification. One of the best ways is to use an image verification, called also captcha. What it does is to dynamically create an image with a random string displayed on it. Then visitor is asked to type that string in a text field and once the form is submitted it checks if the string on the image matches the one inputted by the user.
The usage of the captcha images is enabled by default, but if you would like to disable it (for example if the PHP graphics library - GD isn't installed on your website), you could change the value of this setting to NO.

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