Within this admin tool you can add more file types that will be allowed to be uploaded and attached to a listing for display. Most of the basic image types are already setup within the admin to be allowed by default. The file types setup at initial installation and to be allowed on the site are the jpg, jpeg, bmp, gif, png or tif image file types. These are setup to be allowed at installation. To allow more file types than those above you will use this admin tool to insert those file types into the allowed uploads list for possible allowance onto the site. Any mime type not listed within the LISTING SETUP > ALLOWED UPLOADS admin and set to "allowed" will not be allowed as a file type to be allowed to be uploaded by clients to attach to their listing.

You get to this admin tool by clicking the "Add New File Type" link within the LISTING SETUP > ALLOWED UPLOADS admin tool.

This admin tool contains four fields three of which are required to be filled in to be allowed onto the site. The required fields are: File Type Name, File's Mime Type and Extension File Type.

Enter the name of the file type you wish to allow. This name will only be used to describe this file type within the LISTING SETUP > ALLOWED UPLOADS admin tool and will have no affect on the client side at all.

To add a new file type like a video mpg file get an example of the file you want to allow. If the file is something like a video (or another file type that can not be directly displayed within a web page) also collect/create an icon you wish to use for the file type. Click "add new file type" within the admin tool above. Enter a name into "type name" that you will associate with the file type within the "allowed uploads" admin tool. Within "file mime type" enter the mime type directly if you know it or click browse and choose the example file containing the file type from your local computer. Having the software extract the mime type from the file in this way is usually the most efficient way of extracting the mime type.

<tip c n>This is the most important part of the upload process that needs to be right for the server you have. If you want to allow video/audio files make sure the default mime types we have placed in the default configuration are the mime types your server pulls from those file types are the same. You can test this by uploading a file of the type you want to allow within the "add new file type" admin tool and see what you server detects. If your server detects something different you may need to check your server/host configuration to see if they allow those types of files. If they do you will need to make sure you insert those "custom" mimetypes into your admin tool.</tip>

Image file types that can be displayed directly within a browser do not need an icon to represent them. The image file types that come default within your initial installation are of this type like jpg, gif or png.

The Icon to Use field is only required if you are trying to allow a file type that can't be represented directly within the html page by the browser. Many file types that cannot be displayed directly within a browser (like mpg,wav,..etc) can be represented within the listing display by an icon of your choice. This icon will appear within the listing details page of the listing and can be clicked to view that file. You must associate an icon with this type of file or they will not be visible within the listing details they have been attached to. If an icon is associated with a file type allowed to upload that icon will be used where ever that file is displayed on the site (within the place an , edit images and ad detail display) instead of trying to display the uploaded file directly within the browser. Anyone wanting to view that file within the listing details page can click the icon and they will be prompted to download the file the client uploaded.

If the file type will require an icon enter the url of the icon image you wish to use. This icon needs to be any standard image type like jpg, gif, png…etc that is easily displayed by the browser within html. This icon image needs to be uploaded to your site before you try to enter it into this admin tool. This icon will need to already be on your server somewhere as it cannot be uploaded to your site through this admin tool. If you use a relative path to that image/icon here make sure that path is relative to the client side and not the admin tool. It is more important to have that image display on the client side than the admin tool.

In the "extension of file type" field enter the file extension that identifies the file. This file extension value (without the period) will become the file extension of the file uploaded and attached to a listing.

Click "insert file type" and the file type should be added. You may have to wait for the uploaded file to complete uploading before the action is complete.

<tip c n>There is a word of warning. You may have a file type listed on the allowed file types admin tool and allowed by clicking "yes" for accepted and the file type will still not upload to the site. This happens because there could be more than one mime type for a specific file type used around the Internet. If this happens get the file that was not allowed from your client. Return to this admin tool with that file type saved locally on your computer. Add another file type to be allowed as a possible duplicate to another mime type. You will need to upload that file into this admin tool so the proper mime type can be extracted and added to the allowed upload list.</tip>

<tip c n>Note that many hosts have restrictions on what types of files they will allow to be hosted on their servers. Hosting videos and audio files takes quite a bit more to host and serve up than simple HTML, images or most dynamic scripts like ours. So you may correctly configure your Geo software to allow video and/or audio files and still not be able to upload them to a listing. At this point check with your host to see if they allow those file types to be hosted given your current hosting plan/configuration.</tip>

You only need to follow the instructions above to allow them to be inserted into listings on your site. But note that these three types (and many other included) cannot be represented directly within a webpage. While several file types can be displayed by a browser they cannot be displayed in a webpage. For these file types you will need to create icons for each. So that when a client browses to these listings they need something to see that the listing they are viewing has these file types attached but also that they can click on these icons to view those files by download and play within a media player or within an PDF viewer locally.

<tip c h>Note: When placing a listing, the upload step is worded specifically for photo uploads since that is what the majority of sites allow, but the uploader can be used to upload any of the allowed file upload types you have set in the admin panel. In other words, the standard uploader or legacy uploader that is used to upload photos, will also be how other non-photo files are uploaded for the listing. If your site allows other types of uploads besides photos, we recommend changing the wording on the page to make it clear that this is the page to upload any file for the listing.</tip>

Also note that these file types tend to be much bigger than other file types. While images are large files themselves the script has the ability to optimize/resize the jpg image type so that the image can be viewed easier. This also makes it easier on your server/bandwidth limits attached to your site. Video, audio and PDF (as well as all other file types) are not resized when uploaded to the site and are inherently large to begin with. So note your hosting limitations when dealing with these file types. Many hosts do not allow them to be uploaded to their servers.