Why arent ads expiring?

[tugbrian]

When you enter an ad...it asks you how long you want the ad to run...and the max time is 90 days.

Why then do these ads not expire in 90 days? I have some still in the system placed back in August.

More importantly...how does one edit that? or extend an ad? I do not see any feature to do this anywhere in the admin section?

[Chuck S]

Cron Job: sendnotice.php

That thread should assist you. Once the ad expires a user is sent an email and they are given the option of relisting it

[tugbrian]

hrm...is there any way to remove that option or disable it? do they have to "repay" when it comes up? am I notified that the ad is relisted?

(edit ignore this if the thread explains all that...going to read it now) =)

[tugbrian]

Ok...read that...doesnt help or answer my question. We dont have auction type ads....just classified ads that should ONLY run for 90 days and then expire (and provide the option to renew the ad).

How is this done?

[Chuck S]

That thread clearly explains how to set up the cron task which expires ads which is called sendnotice.php

[tugbrian]

hrm....doesnt it already do this but sends the user an email asking them to renew it (which they always do in the case of our site).

Users should NOT be able to renew their own ads (in my situation)...perhaps I am missing something (then again...noone ever accused me of being bright!) =)

I read that thread as implementing something that already runs once a day..to run every few minutes....I do not want this. I have no problem with a once a day interval...I just want to eliminate a users ability to renew an ad and just have the ad expire in 90 days like it should.

As well I would like it to go into the expired queue...and then I would have the ability to renew the ad manually via the admin control panel.

I really hate to be a pain (again)...but I dont see anywhere in that thread that tells me how to do this.

I dont want to "delete" the expired ads...because then users will bitch about having to put the same ad in again every 3 months.

What on earth is the "Expired queue" for in the program anyway if not for expired ads?

[Chuck S]

Well users are always given the option to renew there ad if it expires and they have not sold it. if you are trying to do something that script is not suppose to normally do you may alter it to suit you but as noted the script to expire ads is sendnotice.php

Read your post 4 you say it should offer the renew option and now you do not want it in your post above. well this is what you would need to hack cause the program sends renewal notices as default option. Maybe you should just hack your sendnotice.php script and remove the mail line

[tugbrian]

nono..sorry for the confusion.

I dont want users to be able to renew an ad under any circumstances on their own. (is this possible)?

I would like to be able to renew the ad myself..as the administrator (is this possible?) (Is it possible if we disable the above ability for users to renew?)

If 1 or 2 arent possible....can I be notified as the admin when any ad is renewed by a user via email?

I am just trying to duplicate the functionality of the 15 year old classified ad program we are replacing with your software.

[Chuck S]

Any of the things you describe are possible. You would just need to code those in. We do have a code modification forum to ask questions which fall outside product support called the mod corner

[tugbrian]

ok..ive updated to the new version...was assuming this was a bit more intuitive with the next version of photopost classifieds...I still dont see a button or whatever to "delete expired ads"...is there an instruction list for how to do this in the latest version?

Thank you!

[Chuck S]

You need to read the thread I posted in my initial post. You need to setup that cron script on your server as noted in that thread

[tugbrian]

oh...well I coulda done that with the old version...I thought the new version made this a bit easier?

[Chuck S]

No the new version just ads code to delete expired ads after two weeks if you forget to dump the expired que.

The cron script is still very much a necessity

[tugbrian]

well then just as a piece of feedback...how about a simple "delete expired ads" button that is simple to find and use via the admin control panel.

I am still confused as to why this feature doesnt exist in a program as complex and designed specifically to deal with ads.

[Chuck S]

You can run sendnotice.php in your browser like so

http://www.domain.com/classifieds/sendnotice.php

I still dont understand your issue with setting up a cron task it is a basic part of any hosting account and is the sure fire way to automatically run scripts a certain time and in the background

[tugbrian]

Im not a unix person...so I dont have the foggiest idea what you are telling me.

=)

[ReignForever.com]

Chuck can you install this mod as I do not understand anything about coding. Can you give me a quote?

Thank you

[Chuck S]

It is not a mod it is a cron task your host should be able to help install a cron task

[ReignForever.com]

Chuck, can you tell me what exactly I need to tell my hosting company about the "cron task"? They need to know what exactly needs to be done. I don't know what to tell them or what needs to be done. Is there a line of code you can provide or instructions for the "cron task" so that ads will expire?

Thank you

[Chuck S]

The link I provided above to that thread will explain how to setup a cron task. it is essentially a task that runs the classifieds file sendnotice.php and your host will know their specific cron setup as that does vary server to server