BiggerBids auction templates are made up of 4 main components - Text-based variables, an array of seller's policies, an array of links to specific sections of their eBay Stores, and a maximum of 12 images of the item they are selling. Although not all auctions use each of the available pieces of information, it is a good idea to have the placeholders for them available in your templates. BiggerBids templates use the Smarty Template Engine for rendering layouts. To get a better feel for how to develop custom auction templates for the BiggerBids system, we recommend downloading the current Smarty Documentation and reading through our simple online tutorial. NOTE: Smarty security is enabled for all templates. |
| Variables | |
| Each of the following variables is available to all auction ads. Unless otherwise noted, these are string values. | |
| Variable | Description |
| $AUCTION_TITLE | This is the title of the auction. It has a maximum character limit of 55. |
| $AUCTION_DESCRIPTION | This is the detailed information that the user has entered to describe the item they are selling. |
| $AUCTION_SHIPPING | This is the information that the user has enter to describe how an item's shipping will be handled once the auction is complete. |
| $AUCTION_PAYMENT | This is the information that the user has entered which describes how they handle receiving payment for the item being sold. |
| $AUCTION_ADD_INF | This is a "catch all" section that allows the user to enter any type of information they wish. An appropriate headng for this section might be "Additional Information." |
| $BUSINESS_DESCRIPTION | This is description about the seller's company or business. |
| $BUSINESS_LOGO_URL | This is the URL of the seller's business logo. |
| $EBAY_USERNAME | This is the seller's eBay username. |
| $EBAY_AUCTIONS_LINK | This is the URL of the seller's current auctions on eBay. |
| $EBAY_FEEDBACK_LINK | This is the URL of the seller's feedback on eBay. |
| $EBAY_ME_LINK | This is the URL of the seller's Me page on eBay. |
| $EBAY_STORE_NAME | This is the name of the seller's eBay Store |
| $EBAY_STORE_URL | This is the URL of the seller's eBay store. |
| Custom Inputs / Custom Template Variables | |
| You can create custom inputs in your account, which are then available in your own custom created templates. For each custom input you create, you assign that input a variable name. You can then call upon the value of that variable from within your custom template from the {$CUSTOM} array of values. | |
| Example Variable Name | How to call within your template |
| shipping_cost | {$CUSTOM.shipping_cost} |
| HandlingDetails | {$CUSTOM.HandlingDetails} |
| SOME_OTHER_VARIABLE_NAME | {$CUSTOM.SOME_OTHER_VARIABLE_NAME} |
| Indexed Arrays | ||
| Each of the following arrays is actually a 2-dimensional array where the the first index holds an integer and the second holds a textual description of the data. The referenced "x" value represents the first index. It is recommended that the designer use a "foreach" loop to display each field. All arrays are indexed starting with 1 , not 0. | ||
| Array Name | Available Indexes | Description |
| $EBAY_STORE_CATS | The seller can configure an unlimited number of categories from their eBay Store. This array is provided in alphabetical order based upon the name (e.g. title) of each category. | |
| $EBAY_STORE_CATS.x.title | This is the name of one of the seller's eBay Store category. | |
| $EBAY_STORE_CATS.x.url | This is the URL of the corresponding eBay Store category. | |
| $POLICIES | The seller can configure a total of 5 selling policies. Some examples could be "Our Feedback Policy" or "When Making Your Payment..." Each policy has a heading (60 character maximum) and a description. | |
| $POLICIES.x.heading | This is the heading of the policy. One could consider this to be the "title" or "name" of their policy. | |
| $POLICIES.x.details | This is the descriptive text that supports the corresponding heading. | |
| Item Image Objects | ||
| The seller can upload a total of 12 images to any auction. The BiggerBids system stores both a thumbnailed and full-sized version of each image uploaded to every auction. The BiggerBids template system provides each of these images to the designer as a workable object that holds its own unique properties and methods. The methods are used to retrieve HTML and/or information about each image. Each image object resides within the $IMAGES array and is referenced by an index (seen below as "x") from 1 to 12. | ||
| Available Properties | ||
| $IMAGES.x.image_height | This is the height (in pixels) of the full-size image. | |
| $IMAGES.x.image_width | This is the width (in pixels) of the full-size image. | |
| Available Methods | ||
| $IMAGES.x.getGalleryURL() | ||
| Each auction that a seller creates holds its own image gallery that can be viewed by prospective bidders. Within the gallery one image is highlighted and displayed full-size. This method returns the URL that will properly display the corresponding image within the gallery of the auction. | ||
| $IMAGES.x.getThumbTag(integer $max_width, integer $max_height, integer $hspace, integer $vspace, string $align, string $class, integer $border) | ||
| This method returns an HTML "img" tag based upon the thumbnailed image. All thumbnails have a maximum width and height of 200 pixels. If you need to reference an image larger than that, you should use the getURL() method for the full-size image. The "img" tag returned will reference the URL of the thumbnailed image within its "src" attribute. Most other tags can be manipulated via the method parameters. Required parameters:
$max_width: This is the value that will be returned in the "width" attribute of the "img" tag.$max_height: This is the value that will be returned in the "height" attribute of the "img" tag. Optional parameters:
$hspace: This is the value that will be returned in the "hspace" attribute of the "img" tag. If not passed this value will default to "1".$vspace: This is the value that will be returned in the "vspace" attribute of the "img" tag. If not passed this value will default to "1". $align: This is the value that will be returned in the "align" attribute of the "img" tag. If not passed this value will default to "1". $class: This is the value that will be returned in the "class" attribute of the "img" tag. If not passed this value will default to "" (e.g. a blank value) . $border: This is the value that will be returned in the "border" attribute of the "img" tag. If not passed this value will default to "0". |
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| $IMAGES.x.getThumbURL() | ||
| This method returns the URL of the thumbnailed image. | ||
| $IMAGES.x.getThumbWithLink(integer $max_width, integer $max_height, integer $hspace, integer $vspace, string $align, string $class, integer $border) | ||
| This method returns a group of HTML tags based upon the thumbnailed image. The returned tags are an "a" (or hyperlink) tag wrapped around an "img" tag. When the image is clicked a new window will open to the proper location of the image gallery (see getGalleryURL()) for the auction. This method also calls upon getThumbTag() to retrieve the proper "img" tag. Required parameters:
$max_width: This is the value that will be returned in the "width" attribute of the "img" tag.$max_height: This is the value that will be returned in the "height" attribute of the "img" tag. Optional parameters:
$hspace: This is the value that will be returned in the "hspace" attribute of the "img" tag. If not passed this value will default to "1".$vspace: This is the value that will be returned in the "vspace" attribute of the "img" tag. If not passed this value will default to "1". $align: This is the value that will be returned in the "align" attribute of the "img" tag. If not passed this value will default to "1". $class: This is the value that will be returned in the "class" attribute of the "img" tag. If not passed this value will default to "" (e.g. a blank value) . $border: This is the value that will be returned in the "border" attribute of the "img" tag. If not passed this value will default to "0". |
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| $IMAGES.x.getURL() | ||
| This method returns the URL of the full-size image. | ||
