Placester Inc.

Hi whyknott.

The plugin integrates with Placester IDX feeds, and we support just about every MLS in the US. Access to a feed requires a monthly subscription and completion of the approval process required by the local association. Usually the member must be involved in this himself or herself. But to get started you would need to know the name of the MLS, the name and MLS-assigned id number of the agent, and the names and id numbers of the broker and/or office with which the agent works.

It you download, install, and register the plugin, you will have an account created with us and can then request an IDX integration from within your account dashboard at Placester.com. You can contact [email protected] if you run into any trouble.

Hi Agbams,

Listings you create are stored on servers hosted by Placester, and so internet access is required for the plugin to operate correctly. It’s fine to run your site on localhost; the lack of internet is what is causing the issue.

Hi rykcon,

The Listings Quick Search Widget works only when you are using a Placester theme.

What I would recommend instead is that you create a [search_form] shortcode with a target URL in the shortcode builder, and then use the standard WordPress Text Widget to reference your form by id as you would within page content.

You’ll be able to customize it completely via a search form template.

Best,
Placester

Hi rykcon,

We’re unable to provide much help when it comes to conflict with third-party products, particularly commercially licensed ones that are not available to us for testing and debugging.

However, please describe in more detail what you see. (Are all pages white? Only property detail pages? Only pages using Placester shortcodes? Do you see error messages in your PHP logs? In your browser’s JavaScript console?)

With additional information I may be able to suggest some things you can try.

Hi James,

You need to configure the Listing Quick Search Widget with the URL of your search page. It will pass search criteria to that page, which will perform the actual search.

If you are using a Placester theme, you create a search page by Adding a new Page and assigning it the Listings Search page template. If you are using your own theme with shortcodes, you create a search page by Adding a new Page and putting both a [search_form] and [search_listings] shortcode on it.

Best,

Hi Jo,

There isn’t any specific provision for video at this time. But there are a couple of different things I can suggest.

The IDX feeds we offer that include video resources use a custom field called virtual_tour_link. Most Placester themes format this as a clickable URL link on the property detail page. If you have an IDX subscription, and your MLS provides this information, it will be available on your listings. If you’re creating your own listings, you can define and use this custom field yourself.

With Placester shortcodes, you can customize the HTML markup and CSS for your property detail pages, and you can access virtual_tour_link or any other custom fields you wish. So with some coding, you might integrate with a JavaScript library to render video based on the info you pull from the listing data.

Best,

Hi bw3em and internetisours,

We haven’t seen any problems with WordPress 4.4, and we haven’t been able to reproduce anything like the issue described on PHP 5.3 or greater.

If you know how to generate a phpinfo() page, I’d be eager to see the output of that so we can get to the bottom of this problem. And/or if you would be willing to give one of our technical support team temporary wp-admin access to your site, it would allow us to see the exact circumstances under which it occurs.

Please contact [email protected] if so, specifying that you are following up on an issue with the WordPress plugin.

Hi bw3em,

Upgrading to PHP 5.3 or higher should eliminate this error. If you continue to have trouble after upgrading please contact support -at- placester.com.

Best,

The Placester plugin is under an open source license, and it’s free to use accordingly. Specific terms are detailed in the source code.

You can make PHP function calls directly into the plugin code, but we don’t officially support, or document, a plugin API. Rather, we recommend the use of our shortcodes. (See https://placester.com/developers/placester-shortcode-overview/)

We do offer an IDX Data API from our servers that supports most US multiple listing services. (See https://placester.com/developers/placester-api/) Our plugin acts as a client of that API, and we suggest using it rather than the API directly–if you are using WordPress as your platform.

MLS integration requires a subscription and a monthly or annual fee. You can contact [email protected] for info on pricing and MLS coverage.

Hi patricio7,

This is a problem that came up with some changes in WordPress as of the 4.3 release. We are working to fix it, and new releases of both the plugin and our themes will be available soon.

While some of the features of the plugin are real-estate specific, you are free to use it in any way that it compatible with the terms specified in the source code. Refer to the file placester.php in the top level directory of the installed plugin.

Best,
Placester

We determined the issue to be that Placester and Inceptio load incompatible versions of the fancybox JavaScript library. This can be addressed with a minor code edit to one of the PHP source files.

Hi Darryl,

I’m not familiar with the Inceptio theme, and we don’t have a copy here to work with. But it does sound like the conflict must have to do with either CSS or JS that we are loading. Our plugin doesn’t provide wp-admin configurability for controlling this, but there are a couple of PHP files that can be edited.

Is your site publicly visible? I may be able to determine just from the front end which file(s) are involved, and then see about a workaround. Send a request in to [email protected] and we can troubleshoot.

Hi rykcon,

I suspect that your server is running PHP 5.2. The Placester plugin requires version 5.3 or higher.

You hosting service will be able to help you upgrade or otherwise provide instructions relevant to your particular installation. In many cases it’s simply a matter of configuration options–choosing which of several PHP versions to use from among several already installed on your system.

WordPress itself still maintains compatibility with PHP versions as far back as 5.2.4, but see their cautionary note: https://www.ads-software.com/about/requirements/ and that from the PHP Group: https://php.net/eol.php

If you continue to have trouble you can reach us at [email protected]

Best,
Placester

Hi wonderwin,

Our plugin is designed to be used only with Placester’s listing service, which provides the ability for you to manage custom property listings or to integrate with your local MLS via IDX. (IDX integration is currently available only in US markets, but custom listings are available anywhere, free of charge.)

When you register the Placester plugin after installing it, you will receive an account with our listing service and login credentials to access it. It is not possible to use a local database or alternative data source.

Best,
Placester