Managing exports
When you access your BLM exports you'll be presented with a table highlighting any existing feeds that you have setup and the ability to create a new feed:
You can have an unlimited number of exports setup at any one time.
Adding and editing a new portal feed
To set up a new export click the 'Add new portal' button.
To edit an existing portal feed click the 'Edit' button next to the export in question.
You'll be presented with the ability to add/edit the portal feed with the settings explained below:
Portal details
Name - Give the feed an internal name (e.g. 'NetHousePrices' or 'Gumtree') so you have some way to differentiate between them. Especially useful if setting up multiple portal feeds.
Mode - Whether the feed is live or not. The options here are:
i) Off - The feed is completely inactive. No properties are sent and the feed doesn't show anywhere throughout Property Hive
ii) Test - You can select properties to be sent to the portal, but no properties will actually be sent.
'Test' mode here does not mean properties will be sent to the test version of the portals site.
If the third party requires you to send properties to testing/staging/sandbox site before going live, you would control this using the 'FTP Details' (see below) but 'Mode' will need to be 'Live'.
iii) Live - Properties saved in Property Hive are sent to the third party.
Overseas - The BLM format has a UK schema, and an overseas schema. If you're sending properties outside of the UK this checkbox should be ticked.
Send frequency - Select how often the exports should be generated and sent.
Just because you select to send it 'Every 15 minutes' doesn't mean it'll be processed every 15 minutes by the third party. We'll send the files but it requires the third party to process the files before property updates display.
Media sent as - Select whether media should be sent as 'URLs' or 'Files'. 'URLs' is preferred but please check with the third party to ensure they can support this.
Incremental - Specify whether media should only be sent for new or updated properties. This will greatly increase the efficiency and time taken to run a feed. Please check with the third party to ensure they can support this. Some third parties will insist this is enabled.
Send compressed - If enabled, all files will be put into a single ZIP file and one file will be sent to the third party. If disabled, the BLM and each piece of media will be sent individually. We recommend enabling this option but please check with the third party to ensure they can support this.
FTP details
FTP details - Please request these FTP details from the third party
Passive mode - Depending on your server configuration you may need to tick this. Our advice is to have it unticked by default. If you run an import and in the logs it says it has issues uploading the file(s), then try it with this ticked.
Branch codes
These will be provided by the third party portal. You will be sent a different branch code for each office.
The branch code might be the same for both sales and lettings but can also differ. If it's the same you can simply enter the same branch code for both sales and lettings as per the screenshot above.
Advanced settings
Unique property ID - We need a unique property identifier to link a property in Property Hive to the same property on the portal.
We recommend using the 'WordPress Post ID' as this will always be unique. However, if you wish to use the reference number entered on the property record you must ensure:
a) a reference number has been entered
b) it is completely unique
Changing this option once properties have already been sent will result in them being seen as completely new properties.
Please check with the third party portal before changing this option.