Home page template
The home page template that is included with Emaze Auction is the default option. Simply choose the template you wish to use from the select list. Only templates which have been designated as auction home page templates are displayed. (All templates are designated as being for the auction home page, category home page, or lot page.) Please note that this is the only option on this page for which you must check the checkbox to change the setting.

Title
Determines the title in the HTML header of the auction home page, which appears at the top of the browser window.

Banner
Text at the top of the auction homepage.

User
The auction and category home pages contain a table on the left side of the page for users to edit their information or check the status of all of their bids. This section determines the text at the top of that table.

Special
The templates for the auction and category home pages contain a table on the left side of the page for daily/weekly/whenever specials, or just a message. The text field determines the title at the top of the table, and the text area is the actual message.

Header
Header of page which appears before table of auctions opening today.

Middle
Middle of page which appears between table of auctions opening today and table of auctions closing today.

Here is an explantion of the fields that you can fill out.

FROM NAME:
(This is the name that will appear in the From field when your users receive this message)

FROM E-MAIL:
(This is the reply address that will appear in the reply address section when your users receive this message)

SUBJECT:
(This is the subject or title of the newsletter)

This page is divided into three main sections.

>> TOP EDITING SECTION
>> CATEGORY STATS SECTION
>> LEGEND SECTION

TOP EDITING SECTION
This top section allows you to select any category that is found in on your auction website and then determine what you would like to do with it. The options are:

() Edit
(selecting this and clicking on the "go" button will take you to a page where you can edit the selected category)

The Edit Page has the following fields and functions that you can edit:

Category Name:
Button Image for category:
Page Logo:
Template:
Description:
Header:
Footer:
Special:

In order to make the changes that you have done on this page, you must click on the "Edit Category" button at the bottom of the page.

This lot display page has a number of sections that are explained below:

Lots
Viewing the list of lots in a category will display a screen which includes the lots and the options available for each. The category name and URL to the home page for that category are also included at the top of the page. The lots are initially listed in alphabetical order, but you may order them in either ascending or descending order by name, open date/time, close date/time, date created, date last edited, or the number of times the lot has been viewed. Just choose the field by which you want to order the lots, and then click on either the plus (+) or minus (-) image. The lots are listed in the appropriate order at the top of the page, with a link to that lot in the page below.

At the top of the page are the following tables which summarize the lots. They list the appropriate options and the applicable lotIDs, with a link to the lot information in the page below.

Summary of lot status
- Inactive, preview, open, closing (waiting to be closed) and closed.
Summary of lot reserve price
- Reserve price met, reserve price not met, and the number of times the lot has been extended.
Summary of lot bids
- No bids, and the number of times the lot has been extended.
Each lot lists the lot ID, lot name, URL to that lot, status, open date/time, close date/time, how many times that lot has been viewed, and whether the lot has any bids. If the lot has been extended due to no bids, it will list the number of times the lot has been extended in parantheses. If the lot has a reserve price, it will also display whether the reserve price has been met, and how many times the lot has been extended because the reserve price has not been met.

The following options are available for each lot: view lot, edit lot, determine private bidders, copy, view all bids, view winning bids, submit an offline bid, email winners, email losers, archive, and delete. All option are displayed, but only those options which are applicable for each lot may be chosen. Each option is described in more detail below.

View
View the lot as users would see it. If the lot is open, the lot will display in the proper mode: Preview, Open, or Closed. If the lot is inactive, this is the only way to view the lot, i.e., as the Admin user. This option is available for all lots.

Edit
Edit all options of the lot. This presents the same screen that you used to create a new lot, except that you are now editing that lot. After editing the lot, Emaze Auction will reload this screen. This option is available for all lots.

Private
This option is available only to lots which have been designated as private. For private auctions, this enables you to grant users permission to that lot. Upon clicking on the link you will be presented with a list of users who have permission for this lot and a form to add new users. The interface to choose users is the same interface used to choose users to edit. To revoke permission for a user, click the checkbox next to their name, and then click on the Remove Users button. The checkbox below the button must be checked to verify your request. For new users, you may choose the users by userID, username, or name; or search for the users by last name, first name, organization, username, or email address. You will then be presented with a list of users that satisfy the search. Simply check the users grant them permission for this lot.

Copy
This enables you to copy the lot fields to create a new lot. This option is available for all lots. The theory here is that it is likely you will have multiple auctions in succession for the same product, i.e., the bidding closes for one and then opens for the next. This enables you to save the original lot information to avoid deleting the bids. When you click on the Copy link, Emaze Auction will display the Create new lot page, but with the values for that lot filled in. It is similar to editing a lot, except that you are creating a new lot.

Bids
View all bids for that lot, including winning and losing bids. The bids are initially listed in chronological order, i.e., the order in which the bids were submitted. However, you may re-order them in either ascending or descending order by name, date/time, current bid, quantity, whether it is a winning bid, whether they are using the auto-bid feature, the initial bid, or the maximum bid. The current bid and maximum bid apply to bidders who used the auto-bid feature. The user's name is linked to their email address. There is also a link to edit each user's information (not their bid).

Winners
View winning bids for the lot. This option is available during the auction as well as after the auction has closed. The bids are initially listed in chronological order, i.e., the order in which the bids were submitted. However, you may re-order them by name, bid price, quantity, or date/time of the bid. The table contains a link to a list of the user's full information below. The list includes the user's email address, phone number, address, organization, and a link to edit the user's information.

Offline Bid
This enables you to submit a bid for a lot on behalf of a bidder. It is the same form that normal bidders complete except that you can enter the full date/time of the bid. Because an earlier bid beats a later bid of the same price, the date/time of the bid is very important. For now, you need to use the bidder's username and password.

Email Winners
Send the automated email to all winners of the lot who chose to be notified. This option enables you to send the email if you choose not to send it automatically upon closing the lot. It also enables you to customize the message for the lot rather than use the default winning message. You may also choose to send the email to all winners regardless of their individual email options.

Email Losers
Send the automated email to all losers of the lot who chose to be notified. This option enables you to send the email if you choose not to send it automatically upon closing the lot. It also enables you to customize the message for the lot rather than use the default losing message. You may also choose to send the email to all losers regardless of their individual email options.

Archive
Archives a lot, including all bids, related files and database fields. For lots which are closed and done, this enables you to save all information for that lot, yet get the information out of the database. This will make the database quicker by reducing the number of bids it must search through. All information is archived to text files in the EmazeForums/archive/ directory. Archiving a lot means it will no longer be displayed on the category page. For all intensive purposes, it will be deleted. All information will be available in the text files though in case you ever need them. Emaze Auction will ask you to verify your request before archiving the lot.

Delete
Deletes a lot, including all bids, related files and database fields. We don't really recommend doing this unless you hate the thought of archiving the lot. However, we have provided the functionality. And don't worry about clicking it accidently -- Emaze Auction will ask you to verify your request before deleting the lot.

() Lot Summary
(Selecting this option and clicking on the "go" button will take you to a page that gives you a summary of information for the category that you chose)

The page is divided into three main Sections:

>> SUMMARY OF LOT STATUS
>> SUMMARY OF LOT RESERVE PRICE
>> SUMMARY OF LOT BIDS

SUMMARY OF LOT STATUS
This table tells you the activity that is currently present within this category. You are given information about how many lots fallunder being inactive, a preview lot, open, closing, and closed. It also gives you a list of the lots that fall under each status and links them to their respective lot detail pages.

SUMMARY OF LOT RESERVE PRICE
This table simply tells you how many lots have met reserve price and how many have not, and which lots have what current reserve price status along with hyperlinks to their respective lot detail pages.

SUMMARY OF LOT BIDS
This table simply tells you which lots have been bid on and the amount of bids.

() Winning Bids

() Delete
Selecting this and then clicking on the "go" button will delete the selected category. N.B. In order to delete a category it must have no lots contained in it.

Name:
The name of the lot. This can be anything you want, and it does not need to be unique. It cannot be blank though.

Status:
Determines whether the lot will open at the specified time. If active, the lot will be in preview mode until it opens. If inactive, the lot will not be listed. Users will not even know the lot exists.

Open date/time:
The date and time when the auction will open, assuming its status is active. Enter the 2-digit month, 2-digit date, 4-digit year, 2-digit hour, 2-digit minutes, and select AM or PM. The default time is based on the default time options from the Options screen. If you want to open the lot immediately, you can also just check the Open lot now checkbox. This will ignore the above time and just use the current time instead.

Close date/time:
The date and time when the auction will close. Enter the 2-digit month, 2-digit date, 4-digit year, 2-digit hour, 2-digit minutes, and select AM or PM. The default time is based on the default time options from the Options screen. If you would prefer to close the lot at the same time X days later, simply enter the value for X in the text field on the following line. Doing so will ignore the above closing time. Please note that you can still use this option even if you check the Open lot now checkbox.

Close basis:
All lots are closed at the designated time. However, you may also choose an inactivity setting. This means that the lot will remain option as long as there are active bids within the activity time period. For instance, if the inactivity setting is 5 minutes, the lot will remain option indefinitely past the designated close time as long as each new bid is within 5 minutes (4 minutes and 59 seconds, actually) of the previous bid. To enable the inactivity feature, select the appropriate radio button.

Inactivity:
Number of whole minutes the lot will remain open past the closing time if the next bid is within X minutes of the previous bid. In the default lot template, this setting is displayed for users.

Quantity:
The quantity available in this lot.

Max. Quantity:
The maximum quantity a bidder may bid on, and thus win. A value of 0 (zero) or a number greater than or equal to the actual quantity means there is no limit. If the lot only has one quantity, this field is not used.

Opening bid:
This is the minimum opening bid you will allow for this lot. The bid can be greater than the opening bid though.

Bid increment:
The minimum amount by which a bid must be greater than a previous bid. This does not necessarily apply to lots which have multiple quantities where the same bid can be used by multiple bidders as long as they are all winning bids.

Reserve Price:
The price at which you are not willing to sell the lot, even to the highest bidder. The reserve price is not displayed, but the default lot template will tell bidders whether the reserve price has been met on lots with a reserve price. For now, the reserve price applies only to lots with a single quantity.

Shipping:
This is the shipping/handling price that will be added onto each winning bid for the lot. Please note that we do not actually do anything with this field yet. It is there in case you want to display it with the lot information or automatically add it to the winning bid.

Sell Price:
The price at which you are willing to sell the product outright. Some auction sites like to give bidders the option of simply buying the product at a set price. The sell price is not displayed in the default lot template, but you can add should you decide to use it.

Category:
Select from the list of all categories, including all sub-categories.

Template:
Select which template is used to display this lot. Only lot templates are listed.

Public:
Public lots are open to all bidders. Users must be given permission for all private lots, and they must log in to ensure they have permission. Private lots are not listed on the default category home page. Users are given permission for private lots via the Category section described above.

Contact name:
The name of the person who will be emailed when the lot is closed. Depending on the email setting, this is also the name that is used for the automated emails. This can also be used to display on the lot page for more information.

Contact email:
The email address of the person who will be emailed when the lot is closed. Depending on the email setting, this is also the reply-to email address that is used for the automated emails. This can also be used to display on the lot page for more information.

Image:
You may choose an image to display with this lot. We have provided a lotimage/ directory specifically for your lot images (thus the name). You may also enter the full URL to an image if you do not wish to upload it or it is already somewhere on the Web. To upload an image to the lotimage directory, select the image from your computer by clicking the "Browse" button. This will upload the image to the server when you create the lot. If using an image in another directory, enter the full URL in the text field below the field with the "Browse" button. If not using an image, just ignore both fields.

Thumbnail:
A thumbnail image is a smaller version of an image. This is useful if the real lot image is either too big for the page or too big a file. The thumbnail image will be displayed on the lot page, but will link to the full image. The thumbnails options are the same as the normal image options above.

Summary:
A short summary of the lot. This field is not used in the default templates, but could be used in your own templates. It is intended for the auction or category home pages, but could also provide a quick summary at the top of the lot page. May contain HTML and even Cold Fusion tags.

If more than 100 users, Emaze Auction will present 3 select lists: userID range (by 100), username range (by letter), and last name range (by letter). Choose the range of users by highlighting any or all options in the three select lists, and then click on the List Users button.

For both types of searches, you can choose the order in which you want the users to be listed: userID, username, last name, or first name. You can also choose to search for the user(s) you wish to edit by searching based on first name, last name, username, email address, or organization. If you are looking to edit a specific user or all users from a specific organization, this can be much easier than scrolling through the whole list.

Emaze Auction will then output a list of users which meet your criteria in a table. For each user, it will list the useID, username, last name and first name. To edit a user, click on the userID. This will bring up that user's information in the right frame, where you can edit it. After editing the user's information, click on the Edit User button and Emaze Auction will update the information and return a message that the information was updated.

If you change the username or password, Emaze Auction will also check that the new username is not already taken, or that the password was verified properly. Please note that the password field is blank. You cannot actually view the password for that person. But there is no need to enter a new password unless you want to change it. Submitting the form with both password fields blank will simply not change the password.

There is also a checkbox next to each user which allows you to delete that user from the user database. For each user you want to delete, check the checkbox next to that name and then click on the Delete Users button at the bottom of the table. You must also check the checkbox below the buttons to delete the users.

If you delete a user who has posted messages to any forum, Emaze Auction will update the message to that of a message posted by an anon user so that the user's name and email address are still available when the messages posted by that user are displayed. Master
This enables you to edit the information for Master, i.e., the Admin user. Rather than find the Master user like a normal user, we have added a link to the Admin Table of Contents to make it much easier. For security purposes, the automated login via cookie option does not work for the Admin screens.

Create
To create a new user, you must enter at least a username and password. The password must be entered twice to verify it was entered correctly. You can also choose to enter the first name, last name, email address, or any of the other user fields. After entering the user information, click on the Create User button to add the user to the database. Emaze Auction will check that the username is not already taken. If the username is already being used, it will ask you to choose another username. Emaze Auction will also verify that the password was entered the same both times. If not, it will ask you to re-enter the password. If all is well, the screen will reload with a blank add user form, telling you that the user has been added and enabling you to add another user.

Import
You can import users via a comma-delimited text file. The text file may contain any of the user fields, including:

Username
Password
First Name
Last Name
Email
Organization
Phone
Address
Address2 (2nd line)
City
State / Province
Zip Code
Country

You need to enter the path to the text file being imported and then choose the order in which the fields appear in the text file. The fields can be in any order. The file must contain at least one field. Many databases add the field names at the top of the file. So you can choose to either delete the first line manually or tell Emaze Auction to ignore the first line of the text file when importing the users.