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MyRealPage: The Web Cookbook

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

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

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

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).

photo-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

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

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.

street-view-global1

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:

misc-mapping

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

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

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

street-view

Hope you enjoy this new feature!

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in this blog are mine and may not necessarily reflect those of MyRealPage.
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MyRealPage: The Web Cookbook
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