SmartBroker Server v6 is a big update to the SmartBroker system, and a few things are done differently to previous versions. This page is here to help you with the transition, or to help you find your feet if you’re completely new to SmartBroker.
The main changes to SmartBroker are:
To help you get the most out of SmartBroker v6, here’s a couple of hints and tips that’ll help:
SmartBroker Server v6 is broken up into 4 main sections:
Server v6 has several new configuration options that allow you to customise your system to suit your business. Head to Settings -> Config to view all the available options.
Most of the options have sensible default values, but check through them and make any changes necessary.
There’s a new section of configuration options based around user messages. These are used both on your site and via the WordPress plugin to set items such as your standard disclaimer and enquiry response messages (previous versions of SmartBroker didn’t share message between the server and WordPress, but now it’s all in one place).
One setting to pay particular attention to is ‘Listing page id’ – this should be the same as the listing page ID in your WordPress plugin, otherwise OpenMarine feeds will contain faulty links to your site.
Unlike previous versions of SmartBroker, the order items are listed in is important in v6 – for example, listings will appear in search results in the order specified under Taxonomy -> Status Options. Similarly, photos and videos will appear on listings in the order they are displayed on your server.
To re-order items, select the Reorder button at the bottom of the table and then drag the rows up and down to suit.
Handling of photos and videos has changed in v6. There’s no longer any ‘Interior-‘Exterior’-‘Technical’ categories, just one long list. In addition, photos have to be listed as ‘Live’ in order for them to appear online.
Upload handling has been re-vamped and can now handle a wider range of image sizes, and uploads should be quicker.
Single-listing photo exports are now possible, avoiding the massive ZIP file downloads required before.
SmartBroker server v6 requires that you use Plugin v6 (or later). Older plugins will not work with v6, and the v6 plugin will not work with old SmartBroker servers.
While the essence of the plugin has not changed, you’ll need to do a little re-coding of your WordPress site once you install the updated plugin. For full details, read the Installation instructions for the plugin.