Adverts — module overview#
A classifieds board. Users post adverts, others reply to them. Paid categories and promotion are handled by the Payments module.
What it consists of#
| Part | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Adverts | the posted listings |
| Categories and parameters | classification and form fields |
| Replies and saved searches | responses and new-listing alerts |
| Tariffs and payments | paid categories and promotion |
| Module settings | how the classifieds behave |
🔴 An advert has no fixed fields#
The most important thing about this module. The title, description, price, email and region are not database columns. They are parameters that you define and assign to categories.
Without parameters the posting form is empty
Before anyone can post the first advert, you must create the parameters — title, description, price, contact — and target them at categories. The system ships with no ready-made form, because every classifieds board needs a different one.
Some of them carry a reserved key, because the system relies on them:
| Key | Purpose |
|---|---|
name |
the advert title |
price |
the price — used for sorting and filtering |
email |
the contact replies go to |
regionId |
the region for filtering and saved searches |
Do not rename these keys
A renamed price means sorting by price stops working; a renamed email means
replies stop arriving. Nothing reports it.
When an advert is visible#
An advert is active only when all of the following hold at once:
- it is approved,
- it is paid for (or sits in a free category),
- it is not banned, deleted, deactivated or marked as sold.
This state cannot be set by hand
The database computes it from those flags. That is why there is no "active" toggle in the administration — change the individual flags instead.
Expiry is not in that list
An expired advert stays formally active; only the listing filter leaves it out. It may therefore still be reachable by a direct link.
Recommended order for the first setup#
- Parameters — title, description, price, contact, region.
- Categories — the tree and parameter targeting.
- Prices on categories, or the "free" flag.
- Tariffs for promotion.
- Module settings — validity, approval, image sizes.
- A test advert all the way: posting → confirmation → approval → display.