Raptor Services

Since its release, EZ Autos has proven to be an extremely popular component for Joomla! users wanting to run an online automotive sales site.  One of the frequent enquiries over the months has been whether EZ Autos was available in french - and we're proud to announce that these translation files are now available.  We now have a french language file for the EZ Autos component, along with translations of the various modules.

Also new and available for clients who require multi-language support are a range of JoomFish files for EZ Realty, EZ Autos and EZ Rider.  These are currently designated beta releases until more testing and live use has been completed.

Main Features include:-

• Runs in 2 modes - have a sales site, or if yours is a club site - run it in library mode so members can show off their bikes
• Category support
• AJAX chained selectors handle the make/model
• WYSIWYG editor support
• Extensive configuration area allows you to easily control how EZ Rider looks and works
• Reset hits functionality
• Category access privileges support
• Easy image management system with thumbnailer allows you to add/delete images from within the listing page - supports GD and GD2
• Configurable image widths to fit your template width
• Javascript roll-over image displays for a slick presentation
• List up to 12 images per listing, and all thumbnails open the full size image in a new window
• Automatic deletion of all images when a listing is deleted
• Recommend to friend email feature
• Enquire about listing email feature
• Add to mailing list email request
• Print page feature
• Add to favourites link for IE explorer users
• Leads management system
• New listings page
• Full language support
• Flexible search filter
• SEF-friendly URL's - currently only tested on Joomla's SEF system
• Fully-compliant RSS 2.0 feed of new  listings
• Fully-compliant XHTML front-end output
• Supports FREE and PAID listings when run in sales mode, so registered member's can sell through your site
• PayPal IPN enabled to automate the paid listings process
• 2 sales levels allow you to charge for upgrades from free listings to "premium" and "featured" listings
• Limit member listings based on hits/impressions - just like in banner advertising
• Easy to use "clean listings" function to remove expired listings
• Displays contact details when run in member listings mode so prospective buyers can initiate contact with sellers
• Javascript roll-over box colours and hyperlinks
• Front-end templating system makes changing the look and feel of the full details page and print details page just like editing html - comes with 2 different layouts
• Extensive instructions and tips built in to help you get going quickly
• Built in error checking to prevent deletion of categories, makes & models that are still being used by listings
• Front-end pagination and changeable display numbers per page
• Built-in security enhancements to reduce the risk/incidence of spam and spoofing via email forms
• Extensive list of technical specifications allows sellers to provide a detailed overview
• Show off your sales prowess - assign "sold" and "contract" notices etc to vehicle listings rather than just unpublishing them
• Filter and narrow your listings by category, make etc in the admin back-end
• Additional bonus modules include:- featured listing, newest listings, random listings and loan calculator

Version 3.2.0 of both EZ Realty and EZ Autos will soon be available, and they're currently undergoing live testing over on their demonstration sites.  This is a minor upgrade release that includes both new features and a couple of bug-fixes.  With v 3.2.0 you'll be able to limit member listings based on a pre-defined number of impressions - just like in banner advertising - and there's a nifty "clean database" button which will make deleting expired listings as easy as pressing a button.

Other news at Raptor Services is the addition of a secondary payment processor.  We've added MoneyBookers as an online payment method for people from countries not serviced by PayPal, and hope this meets the needs of those who have enquired about this in the past.

With the current spate of attacks on Joomla-powered sites, we've taken this as a timely reminder that you can never be too complacent about security - hence the 3.1.0 release is now available.

EZ Realty and EZ Autos 3.1.0 is a minor upgrade release that addresses a couple of bug-fixes, introduces improved image deletion for admin listings in the administration area, as well as a couple of additional security enhancements.

EZ Realty and EZ Autos have grown beyond my wildest expectations, and I'm extremely pleased to announce the public release of version 3 for both software programs.

In general, both EZ Realty and EZ Autos have the following main features:-

• Category support - you're only limited by your imagination.
• Configurable image/thumbnail widths to fit your template width.
• Javascript roll-over image previews for a slick presentation - display up to 12 images.
• All thumbnail previews can also be opened up to full image size in a new window.
• Various customer links can be displayed on the right-hand side, and these can be set to show/hide status - eg. request more information, add to mailing list, recommend to friend, print page and bookmark.
• Leads management system so you can collect potential buyer information
• Javascript roll-over box colours.
• Fully coded for language support - so you're able to modify much of the static output by editing the language file, or have it translated into another language.
• Show off your sales prowess - assign "sold" and "under contract" notices to listings rather than just unpublishing them.
• A flexible search filter allows your visitors to pick and choose their search parameters.
• Additional bonus modules include:- featured listings, newest listings, random listings etc (see the full product information for specifics).
• Fully-compliant RSS 2.0 feeds, so your visitors can get your listings delivered to their email or desktop.
• Fully-compliant XHTML.
• SEF-friendly url's.
• Supports FREE and PAID listings by registered site members, so you're able to run a sales portal.  Both are PayPal IPN enabled to automate the paid listings process.
• If run as a member's listing site, both will display seller details so prospective buyers can initiate contact via the built-in mail form.
• A new templating system makes changing the look and feel of the full details page and print details page much the same as editing the layout of a html page.  EZ Autos currently has one layout while EZ Realty has two layouts available, but additional layouts for the templating system will be created in the future.
• Extensive admin area explanations - to help you get to know your software quickly as you use it.

Feedback from customers who have been using the 3.0 beta version has been very positive, so it's now time to present the new EZ Realty v3.0 and EZ Autos v3.0 to the public.

Each has its own new demonstration site which you can visit using the following links:-

EZ Realty 3.0

EZ Autos 3.0

For more information and screenshots of the key administration areas, please refer to the product information pages for each by following the "Our Software" link in the top menu.

The new XHTML-compliant EZ Autos 2.2 release is available!

EZ Autos 2.2 has been a quality improvement release, to achieve full XHTML compliance based on testing to date - and a new fully validated external RSS 2.0 feed in place of the previous RSS 0.91 feed that had some validation problems running inside Joomla's index2.php file.  The new 2.2 release also addresses a number of cross-browser issues that affected Firefox browsers, and the result is a solid code-base that should perform well in a range of browser environments.

EZ Autos now has a new demonstration site to avoid the clutter of numerous components, and it includes validation buttons so you're able to test the code for compliance.

The new XHTML-compliant EZ Realty 2.2 release is available!

EZ Realty 2.2 has been a quality improvement release, to achieve full XHTML compliance based on testing to date - and a new fully validated external RSS 2.0 feed in place of the previous RSS 0.91 feed that had some validation problems running inside Joomla's index2.php file.  The new 2.2 release also addresses a number of cross-browser issues that affected Firefox browsers, and the result is a solid code-base that should perform well in a range of browser environments.

EZ Realty now has a new demonstration site to avoid the clutter of numerous components, and it includes validation buttons so you're able to test the code for compliance.

Work will now start on EZ Autos to bring it up to the same quality benchmark, so you can look forward to a new EZ Autos release with the same XHTML compliance and RSS 2.0 feed in the coming weeks.

EZ Realty and EZ Autos both have new version 2 releases available as of today!

New in version 2 is a leads management system, so you can collect potential buyer information, an improved zip archive uploader, configurable RSS feeds, additional customizable information options and more.

We've forwarded update packages to all of our commercial clients contact emails today, and have included upgrade instructions that should make site updates very simple.  Contact us if you experience any problems with your upgrade process though.

You can read more about EZ Realty and EZ Autos features in our software section, as well as view screenshots of various administration areas.