Real estate broker
==================
The real estate broker product turns plone into a real estate broker website.
Show your commercial and residential real estate with the two real estate
content types. Allow visitors to search the database with the provided forms.
Email updates for registered visitors. Google map support. Easy
mass-addition of images. PDF export.
Verified documentation
----------------------
Documentation should be correct and up to date. To assure that, the
documentation is used to test the software. So both the software and the
documentation are assured to be correct. That is why you will see code
examples throughout this document.
First a small bit of setup: adding an admin user and a registered visitor.
>>> self.loginAsPortalOwner()
>>> self.portal.portal_membership.addMember('admin', 'secret',
... ['Manager'], [])
>>> self.portal.portal_membership.addMember('visitor', 'secret',
... ['Reader'], [])
Installing real estate broker
-----------------------------
Add ``collective.realestatebroker`` to the eggs and zcml of your
buildout. If you want a development buildout, use the buildout.cfg in
https://github.com/collective/collective.realestatebroker
If you have old 1.0 content you can migrate that by uncommenting two lines in
the buildout, as indicated there with a comment.
Inside plone, log in with an administrator account and install real estate
broker through the quickinstaller (in the plone control panel: "add/remove
products").
>>> self.login('admin')
>>> qi = self.portal.portal_quickinstaller
>>> qi.installProduct('collective.realestatebroker')
Add-on products
---------------
RealEstateBroker makes use of the Maps product to integrate Google Maps. Check
that this product is also available in the site after RealEstateBroker has
been installed.
>>> self.portal.portal_quickinstaller.isProductInstalled('Maps')
True
PloneFlashUpload is used for easy mass-uploading of images.
>>> self.portal.portal_quickinstaller.isProductInstalled('PloneFlashUpload')
True
Behind the scenes, the reportlab library is used to export PDF.
Commercial and residential real estate content types
----------------------------------------------------
There are two content types, residential and commercial. They differ in a few
fields.
>>> self.portal.invokeFactory('Residential', id='home1')
'home1'
>>> self.portal.invokeFactory('Commercial', id='office1')
'office1'
Migration support for the old 1.0 version to 2.0
------------------------------------------------
If you installed using the migration buildout, a reinstall of realestatebroker
will perform a migration. The migration does the following:
- Replace old REHome/REBusiness objects with Residential/Commercial objects.
- REHome/REBusiness have CMFPhotoAlbums with CMFPhotos in them, these photos
are moved directly into the (folderish) Residential/Commercial object as
regular Images.
- Migrate old workflow states OR old status field to new workflow states.
- Copy over all the fields if still present in the new content types.
It is probably best to create a new site in 3.0 and to selectively move things
over. You cannot do a direct 2.0 to 3.0 plone migration anyway. It works to
make a `.zexp` export of the old houses and offices and to import them in a
3.0 site, assuming you have the migration buildout installed: that buildout
includes hacked-up versions of the old RealEstateBroker product, CMFPhoto and
CMFPhotoAlbum that lets you load the old objects.
Customization
-------------
Almost surely, realestatebroker will need to be adapted to local
circumstances. In the Netherlands, an airco is not common, but in the south of
the USA it might be something you want to keep track of.
archetypes.schemaextender is a great tool for cleanly adapting the schema. See
realestatebroker's documentation_ section on plone.org for a how-to.
Also, the PDF export will need work like adding a header/footer. And choosing
a different font. Here also: see the plone.org documentation_.
Real Estate Workflow
--------------------
Real Estate Broker comes with a special workflow named 'realestate_workflow'
which is mapped to both the Residential and Commmercial content type.
>>> home1 = self.portal.home1
>>> wftool = self.portal.portal_workflow
>>> self.failUnless('realestate_workflow' in wftool.objectIds())
>>> wftool.getChainForPortalType('Commercial')
('realestate_workflow',)
>>> wftool.getChainForPortalType('Residential')
('realestate_workflow',)
The initial state of real estate content should be offline, which means
anonymous can't view it and only owner, editor and manager can edit it. From
this state we can publish the content, which will bring it to the 'new' state.
>>> wftool.getInfoFor(home1, 'review_state')
'offline'
>>> wftool.doActionFor(home1, 'publish', wf_id='realestate_workflow')
>>> wftool.getInfoFor(home1, 'review_state')
'new'
After two weeks, new items will become regular items so that new items can be
displayed more prominently in the listing. Similarly, sold items will remain
visible for two weeks (which is important for getting the "this realestate
broker really sells quite some houses" impression).
Portal Properties
-----------------
RealEstateBroker installs under portal_properties a property sheet with
default attributes.
>>> pptool = self.portal.portal_properties
>>> self.failUnless('realestatebroker_properties' in pptool.objectIds())
Site Properties
---------------
Don't show Resdiential or Commecial objects in the navigation tree.
>>> navtree_props = pptool.navtree_properties
>>> types_not_to_list = navtree_props.getProperty('metaTypesNotToList')
>>> self.failUnless('Residential' in types_not_to_list)
>>> self.failUnless('Commercial' in types_not_to_list)
Vocabularies
------------
For the city field we make use of a vocabulary that reads it's values from a
propertysheet.
>>> from collective.realestatebroker.content.vocabularies import CityVocabularyFactory
>>> vocab = CityVocabularyFactory(self.portal)
>>> [item.value for item in vocab]
[u'New York', u'London', u'Amsterdam', u'Paris', u'Tokyo', u'Alberschwende']
For the house type field we make use of a vocabulary that reads it's values from a
propertysheet.
>>> from collective.realestatebroker.content.vocabularies import HouseTypeVocabularyFactory
>>> vocab = HouseTypeVocabularyFactory(self.portal)
>>> [item.value for item in vocab]
[u'Apartment', u'Villa', u'Mansion']
For the rooms field we make use of a vocabulary that reads it's values from a
propertysheet.
>>> from collective.realestatebroker.content.vocabularies import RoomsVocabularyFactory
>>> vocab = RoomsVocabularyFactory(self.portal)
>>> [item.value for item in vocab]
[u'1', u'2', u'3', u'4', u'5', u'6', u'7', u'8']
portal_catalog Indexes
----------------------
Test if the index have been created in the portal_catalog tool.
>>> indexes = self.portal.portal_catalog.indexes()
>>> for idx in ('getPrice', 'getCity', 'is_floorplan'):
... self.failUnless(idx in indexes)
Google maps support
-------------------
Realestatebroker uses the 'Maps' product for google map support. Our
contenttypes can be used by Maps:
>>> from collective.realestatebroker.interfaces import IRealEstateContent
>>> from collective.realestatebroker.interfaces import IResidential
>>> IRealEstateContent.providedBy(home1)
True
>>> IResidential.providedBy(home1)
True
>>> from Products.Maps.interfaces import IMapView
The maps javascripts aren't loaded on the main view (and several others) for
performance reasons:
>>> view = home1.restrictedTraverse('@@maps_googlemaps_enabled_view')
>>> view.enabled
False
We're showing it on the "edit" form and the "map" tab:
>>> class Dummy:
... url = 'dummy'
... def getURL(self):
... return self.url
>>> view.request = Dummy()
>>> view.enabled # still no.
False
>>> view.request.url = 'something/edit'
>>> view.enabled
True
>>> view.request.url = 'something/map'
>>> view.enabled
True
Authors
-------
Original 1.0 version made by Ahmad Hadi and Jean-Paul Ladage.
2.0 re-write done by `Reinout van Rees <http://vanrees.org/>`_, `Jean-Paul
Ladage <mailto:j.ladage@zestsoftware.nl>`_, `Fred van
Dijk <http://zestsoftware.nl/home/team/fvandijk>`_ and `Mirella van
Teulingen <http://zestsoftware.nl/home/team/mirellavanteulingen>`_, all of `Zest
software <http://zestsoftware.nl/>`_ .
.. _documentation: http://plone.org/products/realestatebroker/documentation/
collective.realestatebroker Installation
========================================
To install collective.realestatebroker into the global Python environment (or a workingenv),
using a traditional Zope 2 instance, you can do this:
* Install the dependency ReportLab, e.g.:
``bin/easy_install --find-links=http://ftp.schooltool.org/schooltool/eggs Reportlab``
Find out how to install setuptools (and EasyInstall) here:
http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/EasyInstall
* When you're reading this you have probably already run
``easy_install collective.realestatebroker``. If that failed
earlier because of a missing ReportLab dependency, try it again now.
* Create a file called ``collective.realestatebroker-configure.zcml`` in the
``/path/to/instance/etc/package-includes`` directory. The file
should only contain this::
<include package="collective.realestatebroker" />
Alternatively, if you are using zc.buildout and the plone.recipe.zope2instance
recipe to manage your project, you can do this:
* Tell buildout that it can find the ReportLab dependency on
ftp.schooltool.org, e.g.::
[buildout]
...
find-links =
http://dist.plone.org
http://download.zope.org/ppix/
http://download.zope.org/distribution/
http://effbot.org/downloads
http://ftp.schooltool.org/schooltool/eggs/
* Add ``collective.realestatebroker`` to the list of eggs to install,
e.g.::
[buildout]
...
eggs =
...
collective.realestatebroker
* Tell the plone.recipe.zope2instance recipe to install a ZCML slug::
[instance]
recipe = plone.recipe.zope2instance
...
zcml =
collective.realestatebroker
* Re-run buildout, e.g. with::
$ ./bin/buildout
You can skip the ZCML slug if you are going to explicitly include the package
from another package's configure.zcml file.
History of collective.realestatebroker
======================================
2.3 (2012-10-14)
----------------
- Moved to https://github.com/collective/collective.realestatebroker
- Reintroduce version specific pin of Products.contentmigration==1.0b4
because with other versions there are test failures.
[maurits]
- No longer require specific versions of archetypes.schemaextender
(1.0b1) and Products.contentmigration (1.0b4), but let those be
minimum versions.
[maurits]
2.2 (2009-06-10)
----------------
- Use unicode_vocabulary instead of SimpleVocabulary in all
vocabularies to catch UnicodeEncodeErrors like in
http://plone.org/products/realestatebroker/issues/6
[maurits]
- Copied code from Products.PloneFlashUpload 1.2rc so the upload on
the album management works again. (At least with Flash 10 on
Linux). [maurits]
2.1 (2009-03-26)
----------------
- Added French translations thanks to Benjamin Klups. [jladage]
2.0.9 (2009-03-04)
------------------
- Allow access to the AlbumView.first_image; an Unauthorized error is
triggered when using this in for example a collection portlet.
[maurits]
2.0.8 (2009-01-27)
------------------
- Fixed bug in floorplan filter: the photo management page also filtered them,
making them impossible to edit. [reinout]
2.0.7 (2009-01-27)
------------------
- Filtering out floorplans from all the photo lists. [reinout]
2.0.6 (2008-12-18)
------------------
- Some html fixes by jladage?
2.0.5 (2008-12-17)
------------------
- Fixed keyerror when floorplans aren't attached to floors. The keyerror
itself is caught now and the cause has also been removed. [reinout]
2.0.4 (2008-07-30)
------------------
- Added ReportLab and Products.Maps as dependencies in setup.py.
[maurits]
2.0.3 (2008-07-03)
------------------
- Unchanged from rc4.
2.0.3 rc4 (2008-07-02)
----------------------
- Creating our own img tags from catalog brains instead of doing a
.getObject() to use archetypes tag() method which wakes up the
object. [reinout]
2.0.3 rc3 (2008-06-25)
----------------------
- Fixed strange attributeerror on plone 3.1.2. Moving to that plone version
fixes a kss bug in the album view. [reinout]
2.0.3 rc2 (2008-06-25)
----------------------
- Added optional max_height attribute to insert_image() to allow protection
for overly large portrait image on the pdf's homepage. [reinout]
- Added css class to table cells that contain an image in the res/comm
listings so that the image can be aligned vertically if desired. [reinout]
- Added caching of rendered pdf in an annotation. Saves a lot of cpu
time. [reinout]
2.0.3 rc1 (released)
--------------------
- Moved rent_buy to the financial schemata for the edit view so that all
financial fields are on the same screen. [fredvd]
- Added a field for indicating if the price is a fixed price or is still
negotiable. Not used (yet) in the collective.realestatebroker package view
templates, but can be exposed in your own template overrides [fredvd]
2.0.2 (released 2008-04-21)
---------------------------
- no changes, make a final release for references [fredvd]
2.0.1 rc4 (released 2008-03-06)
-------------------------------
- Add new rented state and accompanying transition so that rented houses
have a proper listing [fred]
2.0.1 rc3 (released 2008-02-29)
-------------------------------
- View order fixed (state first, creation date second). [joris]
- Fixed test to reflect change done in rc2. [reinout]
- add house_type to the portal_catalog index (getHouse_type) [fred]
- added discreet color on formHelp [mirella]
2.0.1 rc2 (released 2008-02-04)
-------------------------------
- Fixed bug in the condition for googlemaps' javascript: it was not loaded on
the edit form. [reinout]
2.0.1 rc (released 2008-02-04)
------------------------------
- Fixed bug in display of houses/offices: the main thumbnail picture now
points at /album instead of /photo. /photo could result in an orgy of
redirects. [reinout]
2.0.1 beta3 (released 2008-01-25)
---------------------------------
- Google maps' js is only enabled if the url ends on '/map' now, so the other
tabs don't have to load it. [reinout]
- Changed sort_order in the realestate view, so that 'new' real estate
objects are always on top of the list. These are the most interesting for
visitors checking your real_estate. [fred]
- Removed size limit on the construction year field. This allows you to add
'2007-2008' as a construction year, for instance. [reinout]
2.0.1 beta2 (released 2008-01-17)
---------------------------------
- Added manager-only textual search form to the listing templates. [reinout]
2.0.1 beta (released 2008-01-15)
---------------------------------
- Capitalized the 'view' action so that the translation is picked up. [reinout]
- Dutch translation fix ("opslag"). [reinout]
- Removed an unused viewletmanager configuration and enabled the titlemanager
for every skin.
- Added two extra safe_unicode() calls to the pdf generator to prevent decode
errors.
2.0 final
---------
- Released on 2008-01-11, no changes from the rc6.
2.0 rc6
-------
- README updated. [reinout]
- Old temporary image size name renamed to something more
appropriate. [fredvd]
- Disabling special kk_von handling as the values of the field are the same
again as in the old database. Sorry for the noise. [reinout]
2.0 rc5
-------
- Fix for faulty images (width==0, so you get a division by zero error)
[reinout]
2.0 rc4
-------
- rent_buy vocabulary is handled by the propertysheet again.
2.0 rc2
-------
- Optionally disabled filtering of empty fields. [reinout]
- Translation improvement for boolean fields. [reinout]
- Small pdf page margin changes. [reinout]
- Rent/buy is now a fixed vocabulary (needed for a userfriendly default
value). [reinout]
- Added try/except for corrupt images (read: unaccessible images that redirect
to a login page). [Reinout]
2.0 rc
------
- Translated the schemata names and the workflow names (in a separate
old-style Product: reb_i18n) [Reinout van Rees]
- Added rent/buy field to Residential, too.