If anyone is interested in creating your own Classifieds section on your site and in the way I was doing it and getting it done then...
NOTE: play around with this on a test development site, NOT on your live site
1. Create a Page called Classifieds and turn a navigation menu on for it
2. Under that page create a forum for each category you want in your classifieds
3. Add a Latest Threads widget for the category forums to the Classifieds page
4. Create thread prefixes of For Sale, Wanted, Free etc and assign them to your category forums
5. Create Custom Fields like Price, Location, Condition (New, Used) etc and show at top of entry
6. Assign those custom fields to your category forums
You now have a basic Classifieds section
Next and this is what I was just trying to get developed...design, change, edit etc the css and fields of the category forums thread display to make it look like a high quality Classifieds listing. You can use a separate Style just for the category forums or you could just split the thread_view template to single out your category forums IDs and create a whole new template just for classified listings like:
Code:
<xf:if is="in_array({$forum.node_id}, [4,5,6,7])">
<xf:include template="thread_view_classifieds" />
<xf:else />
<<the normal thread_view template content>>
</xf:if>
From here the world is your oyster to create a classifieds view of what ever you like and my intention was to then to release a standard one for free and get everyone to contribute their templates so others have some to choose from...and all for free.
Don't forget there are a lot of fields you can call on in your template like the user's email address etc and by using the custom fields you can create say a contact types option that users can select whether a purchaser can contact by email...that's just one example.
The above is how these were being generated (although for the Classifieds page widget I used the Widget Thread Enhance addon to create a better listing look):
If you look at the actual listing you could:
Images = post attachments but with some click display mechanism
Advertiser = Thread starter username
Type of Advert = Thread Prefix
Item Condition = Custom field of select options
Time Left = Custom field the user enters a a close date and time and a calculation is made from thread creation date/time or instead of a custom field use a set # of days in the template calculation
Quantity = Custom field but user will have to edit each time they sell one to reduce to whats left
Price = Custom field
Test 1 = Custom field for PM seller
Test 2 = Custom field for Seller phone number (only display if entry in field)
Test 3 = Custom field for Seller email address covered with just text of "Email" (only display if entry in field) which triggers a mailto
Test 4 = Custom field for anything you want to add
See what I mean on how you can create a good working Classifieds system that through exchange of ideas with other users and helping each other you can grow from
