Location System Launched

by maffo of http://www.classified-software.co.uk/modshop/mod-shop-items-/location-system-for-68c-v4/prod_8.html posted 2008-03-18. Views 35

The Module any 68 Owner simply cant be without!

Take control of the Countries, States, Towns & Cities with this easy to use, easy to install and highly efficient Location Module

Although Im a huge fan of 68classifieds, I felt that the way locations are dealt with isnt quite up to scratch so I have pretty much re-written it into a parent and child system.

When a user registers for your site at present, they choose a country, then they choose a state if one is available, they then enter a town/city, which depending if they were able to select a state could be pretty pointless.

Also, what happens if people use different spellings for their cities? For example, one customer types 'New York City', another 'New York', another, 'NYC' another 'NY'. You are going to have four users all from the same location, all with different addresses.

What then happens when somebody performs a search? They can see all four entries in the Town/City Drop Down. Which do they search? Do they have to search all 4? They shouldnt have to.

The Maffo Location System starts with your states. Upon installation some new columns are added to your 'States' table. Using the custom built State fixer you can quickly apply them a 'Parent Country'. For example, your website may have all states of the United States of America and Canada.

With the state fixer you grab the US states and adopt them under the US, then apply exactly the same method to the canadian states.

The Maffo Location System also adds a 'Towns' Table to your database and just like the states table any towns/cities that you add will need 'adopting' by a state.

I have built a custom function which allows you to cut all of the Towns/Cities from any one state and simply paste them into a textarea. This way you can completely organise the names and 'parents' of all the Towns/Cities in your country, the neighbouring country, or maybe your entire continent if your DB can handle it!!

Is that it?

No, far from it, I have redesigned both the userjoin and useraccountmodify systems for both the user and the admin.

AJAX Location Drilldown

Im very proud of this and you will want it on your site!!

When a user registers for your site, they choose from a list of the available countries which you have listed in your 'countries' table.

Upon selection and if available, the user is presented with a list of available states from which to select. Should no states be available for the selected country, a text input appears for our user to enter their state an other for them to enter their town/city. Should the user be presented with a list of states, they can select their state, or if the state in which they live is not on the list, they click 'none of these' and are presented with a text input to inform us of the state in which they live and also the town in which they live.

Should the user be presented with a State in which they do live, upon selection, they will go through the same process. If towns/cities are available for that state, a dropdown list created with a 'none of these' option. Should their town/city be on the list, simple, they select it. Else they click 'none of these' and tell us which town they are from.

If the user manages to get through the entire list with dropdowns, we have a clean system!!

If the user needs to type a location, lets say a new town, this will be added to your town table but awaiting approval.

Within the admin, you can easily view all unapproved areas and decide whether to approve the New Location, assign them to an existing Location, or create a new location for them, for example if they spelt the name wrong or used an abbreviation.

What if I already have a database full of unorganized users?

When writing the mod, I realised many site owners already have a database full of user from all different locations. With this in mind I have created a function that allows you to fix them and get them all of them in uniform, quickly and easily.

Features

• Easy Installation: 10 Code Changes
• Neat & Seamless Ajax User Registration and Account Modification
• Cleaner Searches
• Cleans Up all users
• Enhances States Usage
• Enhances Town/City Usage
• Fully well written online Installation Guide
• Available for both 68c V3.1 & v4

See a live Demos -- Have a play around with the UK countries to see how this works.

version 3.1 http://www.classified-software.co.uk/68-classifieds-v3/userjoin.php
version 4 http://www.classified-software.co.uk/68-classifieds-v4/userjoin.php