FundaAuction Guide
Published on Friday, January 26th, 2007
Installation
Download the FundaAuction module from CVS or from fundanemt.com and place the extracted module in the fundanemt/modules directory.
Configuration
Inside the auction module, it is possible to specify different settings instead of having to edit configuration files as with previous modules. The settings dialog allow you to change
Which Fundanemt pages contains the different auction elements:
- Auction list page: The page contaning the category and auction lists.
- Auction details page: The page containing the actual auction including bidding
- User login page
- User registration page
- User activation page
- Password reset page
Currency information for auctions:
- The currency used for auctions
- Formatting of the currency labels
A user agreement text
A text displayed to new users registrering for an account, and they are required to check the checkbox indicating that they accept it. If this field is left empty the text and checkbox are not displayed during registration.
E-mail Notifications:
The "E-mail notifications" tab contains the e-mails sent to the administrators of the auction site as well as the users.
- E-mail address to send e-mails from: All e-mails sent by the auction system to both administrators and users will have this e-mail address in the "From" field.
- Account registration: When a new account is registered an e-mail is sent to the user with information on how to activate the account, and an e-mail is sent to the administrators
- Auction won: When an auction has a winner, the winner is notified by e-mail with the winning bid (AUCTION_BID) and the title of the auction (AUCTION_TITLE). The administrator is notified with the winning bid (AUCTION_ID) and information on the winner (USER_INFO).
- Auction without winner: If the auction does not have a winner, the administrator will be notified with the title (AUCTION_TITLE) and id (AUCTION_ID)
- Auction bid: When a new bid is placed on an auctioned item, the user with the previous bid is notified of the new bid (BID_NEWPRICE) and the user's bid (BID_OLDPRICE). The e-mail also contains a link to the auction (AUCTION_URL) and title (AUCTION_TITLE).
- Password reset: If a user has forgot the password, it is possible to request a password reset, which will send an e-mail, to the e-mail address associated with the account, describing how to change the password. The e-mail can contain a link to the password page (ACCEPTANCE_URL).
Pages
The module needs 6 pages to function, and I propose a page layout like this
- Auctions
- Auction (Hidden)
- Registration
- Activation (Hidden)
- Login
- Password reset (Hidden)
The hidden pages are either linked to from the parent page (and some of the other pages) or from the e-mails sent to the user.
Auction category and listing page
This page can be used as the start page, or placed on a separate page linked to from the start page. The page first lists all categories with information on how many auctioned items are in each category. When the user clicks on one of the auction categories, all auctions in that category are listed.
<?php
include constant('MODULE_ROOT').'fundaAuction/frontend/auctionlist.php';
?>
Auction page
This page show an auction, lists the bid history, and allow users to place new bids.
<?php
include constant('MODULE_ROOT').'fundaAuction/frontend/auctiondetails.php';
?>
User registration page
This page contains the account registration form.
<?php
include constant('MODULE_ROOT').'fundaAuction/frontend/userregistration.php';
?>
User activation page
When a user has registered for an account, an activation e-mail is sent to the user containing an url for the activation page. This page activates the account, and allows the user to login.
<?php
include constant('MODULE_ROOT').'fundaAuction/frontend/useractivation.php';
?>
User login page
This page contains the user login form.
<?php
include constant('MODULE_ROOT').'fundaAuction/frontend/userlogin.php';
?>
Password reset page
This page contains the form needed to request a password reset and the form to complete the password reset.
<?php
include constant('MODULE_ROOT').'fundaAuction/frontend/userresetpassword.php';
?>
Using the module
The module allow the administrators to create categories and new auctions. When creating a new auction you must specify
- Title, description
- Starting price
- The minimum amount a new bid must be above the current bid
- Start and end dates
Additionally it is possible to associate photos with an auction on the "Product images" tab.
Summary
This short article show how you can quickly install, configure and use the auction module to place items on the net for auction.