MyRealPage launches Javascript Data API, pushes the platform to a new level

MyRealPage has released the first installment of its Javascript Data API. The API is designed to provide web designers and developers with richer tools to create dynamic and highly customized content on MyRealPage websites. 

As of this release, web designers and developers will be able to interact with MyRealPage Virtual Office Website (VOW) through the javascript calls. For example, it is now possible to signup and login a user into their VOW account; display their saved searches, favorite categories and listing email alerts, and more. It is also possible to obtain blog posts and listing information from the website owner account in order to create dynamic “feature” widgets.  These tools will make it possible to build widgets and user interface elements by 3rd parties using data from website owner’s services. Combined with MyRealPage Custom Template support, the API will also make it possible to incorporate dynamic data-driven elements inside static HTML.

Here is an example of how one would interact with MyRealPage Javascript API:

mrpapi.loadVowService( function() {

mrpapi.getCurrentVowProfile( function( profile ) {
displayProfileInfo( profile );
} );
});

function displayProfileInfo( profile )
{
...
}

[UPDATE] We have also included an easy to use Template support for javascript. It makes it possible to store small template files in MyRealPage WebDrive and retrieve them as needed and then merge them with javascript data. This makes it even easier for designers to separate the code from the presentation and have more control over the look and feel of the resulting web views.

The full documentation for the API is coming but if you would like to get a jump start, drop me a line to: bill-<at>-myrealpage.com

New Image Editor for MyRealPage Website and Listing Photos: fully integrated right inside your Private Office

Check out the new image editor which we have integrated for website and listing photos. It’s the work of the good folks at pixlr.com. The image editor is incredibly well written and sports functionality you would expect from a desktop software. It’s very fast and responsive and offers a lot of very advanced features. (For easy and fast cropping and resizing, you can continue to use our other built-in image editor).

DESIGNER COOLNESS ALERT :

What’s really cool about this editor is it can actually edit PSD files: yes, the Photoshop files (it also supports a PXD format which is its own slimmer and smaller version). We have also included support for the ability to upload and edit PSD and PXD files right from your WebDrive. As a designer, it may be possible for you to package a simple banner like file with just a few layers such as text and main graphic and let your client change the text as they see fit! The text layer can include built-in effects, such as shadow, inner glow, etc. Then, they can simply save it back to their MyRealPage WebDrive as a jpeg or png. Not bad for a banner editor out-of-the-box. Can you think of other uses? Let us know!

-- Brought to you by MyRealPage.com

A bunch of small cool features: Street View opt-out, Google Map fine-tuning, CoolIris all-out browsing

We have put together a few smaller features that we thought you may want to know about.

Google Street View Opt-out

We released Google Street View on Zero Day when it came to Canada. Today we added a little update to allow you to disable Street View either for all listings on your website or for an individual listing.  Google Street View car may have passed your listing when there was a construction or the view just isn’t right: now you can choose to disable it.

Google Map fine-tuning

MyRealPage applies a “best effort” technique to determine your listing’s location. Even so, sometimes, due to a rural address or some other circumstances, it may not be possible to accurately establish a listing’s location on Google Map. Sometimes, the location is half a block away from where it needs to be. Now, you can fine-tune your listing’s location yourself, without resorting to handling long decimal numbers for longitude and latitude. You can simply drag-and-drop a listing marker in an integrated Google Map in your Listing Editor in the Private Office:

CoolIris for Cool Browsing:

MyRealPage has also done some tweaks in its Listing RSS feeds. As a by-product of it, we now fully support CoolIris browser add-on. Why would you care? There may be an interesting way to use this feature. If you are a broker with a street-level windows or mall office, you may want to set up one or two TVs and showcase your office listings in your windows. It would be interesting to see if CoolIris could be suited for such a showcase. Check out the video below:

We hope you will enjoy these features.

-- Brought to you by MyRealPage.com

Google Street View comes to MyRealPage listings… automatically

Today Google launched Street View in Canada. Today we are also launching Google Street View for MyRealPage listings. All MyRealPage listings already get automatic mapping with Google Maps, Google Earth and WalkScore. Now, Google Street View is added to this list. Of note are the following points:

• Google Street View link will only show up if Street View is available for the area in which the listing is located
• Google Street View link will make the best effort mapping the property by going through several geomapping steps.
• Google Street View is automatically available in “My Listings”, Office Listings and Search Results, as well as in List views when the listing can be viewed on the map without navigating into Listing Details.
• Google Street View will benefit both customers who subscribe to Listings-only and to Listings+Website products

Hope you enjoy this new feature!

MyRealPage adds Virtual Tour links for your listings on MLS®

Some time ago, we have launched a Media Center for our listings that offered a compact and attractive way to showcase your listings: hi-res photos, videos, virtual tours, as well as Google Map, Google Earth and WalkScore. Now we are making it possible to link to this Listing Media Center on its own, without the rest of the details. Why would this be useful? This can serve now as an external Virtual Tour link which you can submit to your Real Estate board to be part of your listing’s information. You can use MyRealPage Private Office to “decorate” your listing with hi-res photos and videos and you may find that you don’t need to have external hosting for your virtual tours (which of course you may still do: the choice is yours).

This external Virtual Tour link can be generated in the “More…” tab in your Listing Editor, and you can even configure it to include the link to your main website and/or your contact details along with a contact form: please ensure though, that this abides by the rules of your Real Estate board as some disallow branding information in external virtual tour links.

 

Do you have ideas or suggestions? Send us an email to support-<at>-myrealpage.com or post your comments there.

Brought to you by MyRealPage.com

MyRealPage adds CoolIris to its Listing Photo Galleries

MyRealPage has added another great looking gallery to its array of Listing Galleries to provide the best possible showcase for your properties. This one is from CoolIris (http://cooliris.com). CoolIris is more than just an image gallery, it embraces an entirely new approach to browsing the web through rich media, such as images and movies. However, the component we used – the image gallery – is also very attractive and slick. The gallery below shows you a sample presentation in CoolIris of listing photos. (try dragging around and clicking in the gallery below)

You can choose CoolIris to be your default gallery through “Listing Options” under “Listings” tab in your Private Office. We hope you will enjoy this new addition to MyRealPage support for rich media in your listings: it’s available to everyone with Listings subscription.

Special thanks to Peter Colak of http://homesproperties.ca for seeding the idea to incorporate CoolIris into our galleries!

Have a comment or a suggestion? Drop us a line in the comments or at support-<at>-myrealpage.com.

--Brought to you by MyRealPage.com

MyRealPage QR codes for Listings and Contact Info = Mobile Coolness Factor

Have you heard of QR codes?  These little things are basically a variant of barcodes. (Here is a link to a QR wiki age) What is interesting about them is that many smart phones, such as iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm Pre have applications that can scan and decode them by using the built-in phone cameras. Decoded QR codes can be many things, such as URLs, contact records, etc. So we thought, why not use the QR codes to make it easier for mobile users to access listing information and your contact details on the go.

Here is a hypothetical scenario: imagine that someone is walking by your freshly planted “FOR SALE” sign for a property you have just listed. She notices the QR code with “LISTING DETAILS” caption nicely attached to the sign. Being a hip mobile savvy user, she pulls out her iPhone and scans the code; and within a few seconds she is looking at the full details webpage of your listing, complete with all the photos, contact form, etc. She also notices your phone number and next to it another QR code that says: “SCAN THIS FOR MY CONTACT DETAILS”. She does just that and instantly sees the QR reader create a contact record with your details and ask her whether she wants to add it to her Contacts. All this has happened without your lead typing a single character into her phone.

Think about the possibilities now. You can print a QR code at the back of your business card, on your listing materials, anywhere where you can save your leads some typing and increase your mobile coolness mojo! :)

The official announcement for this feature release will be forthcoming on MyRealPage official blog, but this little post is a special sneak peak for those who follow :)

Here is a quick schematic of how this works for Listing Details:

And the same but for Contact Details:

Here is where you will find your Listings’ QR Codes:

And your Contact Info QR Code:

Do you have comments or suggestions? Do you know of a creative idea to use the QR code? Let us know! Post your comment here or send us an email to support-at-myrealpage.com

(BTW, did you like the nice shadow effects on the images above? I created this post in Windows LiveWriter which I use now to publish to MyRealPage blog (check our latest support of the API) as well as the ones hosted by Blogger. I am very happy with this software: lots of great features: check it out!)

UPDATE: Helpful link for Blackberry users who want to install a barcode reader: http://www.beetagg.com/supportedphones/