Ad types
In order to setup the ad types for your classifieds system, you will need to login to your System Administrator account. You may login by clicking "Login" on the top menu of your classifieds. After you are logged in, you will be presented with the user account screen. On the left hand menu, you should see a link labeled "System Admin". Clicking this link will take you to the admin control panel.
When you enter the admin control panel, you will see a list of links in the left hand column. This section of the manual deals with the "Manage Ad Types" section of your control panel. After clicking the "Manage Ad Types" link, you will be presented with the ad types setup for your classifieds.
Only System Admininistrators are able to view this section of the admin panel.
Ad types, what are they
Ad types allow you to customize what types of ads to accept, and in which categories they may be accepted in. Through the use of ad types, you can configure your system so that "For Sale" ads collect one type of data, while "Wanted" ads collect a different set of data. You may also change how the ad is displayed, by changing the template for the ad types. By using the template, you'll be able to layout "For Sale - cars" differently than you would layout "For Sale - houses".
Creating
To create a new ad type, enter the name of the ad type into the supplied box and click process. Please keep in mind that the name for the ad type will be presented to the user as one of their options. After you submit the new name, you will then be presentd with a screen which will allow you to configure which data fields to collect. If you wish to use a particular data field, check the USE box for that data field. If you wish to require that the user submit information for the data field, check the REQUIRE box.
Each ad type can have up to 10 custom fields. The custom fields allow you to create radio button selectors, pulldowns, textarea and more which will allow you to collect the data you want, in the method you want. An example use would be if you were setting up an ad type for "Homes for sale". You would be able to create pulldown selectors for number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, etc. For more information on how to create a custom field, please read the optional fields section.
The template section will allow you to arrange elements of this ad type so that the ads display how you want them to. If you mess up the template, you can always reset it to the default by simply emptying the box and submitting the edit. If the box is empty, the system will default the template back to the original.
Using
After you have created an ad type, you will need to assign them to the categories you wish the ad type to be used in. To do that, you will neeed to edit your categories in the Manage Categories section. You may globally assign the ad type to be used by all categories, or edit individual categories to use the new ad type. Once an ad type is assigned to a category, it may not be deleted.