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RealtyPress Premium Installation Guide

So you have purchased RealtyPress Premium and you’re ready to install & configure the plugin.

Step 1: Create your CREA DDF® feed

The first step to installing RealtyPress is the creation of the CREA DDF data feed which provides real estate listing data to your website. Please visit our dedicated article How to setup a CREA DDF® feed at RealtorLink® for details on how to create a CREA DDF® feed.

CREA does state that propagation time for a new DDF® feed is up to 24 hours. In our experience feeds generally propagates within a few hours.

The username and password will be sent to the email address specified in the “Technical Contact Information” field during feed creation.

Step 2: Install and Activate RealtyPress

Now that you have created your CREA DDF® feed which should be propagating we can move to installing RealtyPress on your WordPress website.

When you placed your order you were sent an email with download links for RealtyPress Premium and your license key you will require the links and license from that email for these steps.

  1. Download RealtyPress from the link received after purchase. You can also download the installer from your https://realtypress.ca account.
  2. Login to your WordPress admin.
  3. Go to Plugins » Add New.
  4. Click on the Upload Plugin button.
  5. Click the “Choose File” button and select the RealtyPress plugin zip file downloaded in step 1. Click “Install Now” and wait for the installation to complete.
  6. Once the installation has finished click Activate.
  7. Now that RealtyPress Premium has been installed we’re ready to activate your license.
  8. Go to RealtyPress » License.
  9. Enter your license key into the License Key text box and click Activate License.

If the activation was successful the page will state the license is active and display the expiry date, as well as the option to deactivate the license should the need arise to move our license.

Step 3: Connect RealtyPress to the DDF®

It’s time to configure RealtyPress with the DDF® feed credentials so listing data can be imported.

You will require the CREA DDF feed and username and password sent to the specified technical contact email after feed creation in Step 1 of this guide.

  1. Go to RealtyPress » CREA DDF® Data » DDF® Connection
  2. Choose a Connection Type of live.
  3. Copy and paste the username from the DDF® email to the username text input.
  4. Copy and paste the password from the DDF® email to the password text input.
  5. Click the save changes button. After saving a connection test will be automatically run.

If your connection test failed confirm that the credentials do match and try copying and pasting again.

If the connection was successful it’s time to confirm that the feed has propagated and is providing DDF® listing data. Please visit our dedicated article How many listings are in my DDF® feed?

If your master list is empty either your feed is still propagating or filters are configured in a way that no listing data is being provided. If it has been 24 hours since your feed was created and you’re still receiving an empty master list review your filter settings for your DDF® feed.

Step 4: Configure Geocoding / Mapping API’s (optional)

This step is only required if you are choosing NOT to use the RealtyPress location services included with your active license.

If you choose to use a third party for your geocoding and mapping needs rather than use RealtyPress location services with OpenStreetMap you can find details below on the supported providers.

Google
As of June 11, 2018 Google Maps Platform now requires a credit card to use their API, even for the free tier of their services. Prior to to the changes made starting June 2018 Google Maps API’s were the primary source for maps and geocoding in RealtyPress. Changes to their mapping platform include;

  • Requiring a credit card to access their free services
  • Reduced free tier
  • 1000% price increases for premium services.
  • No budget or spend limit set by default.

You must always set API caps to control spending and always protect your keys by HTTP or IP so they cannot be used by another server or website if compromised.

Because of these changes, Google should only be used if you are comfortable with Google API’s since there is risk of being incorrectly billed if not setup properly.

Step 5: Final Testing

Were ready to do some final testing to make sure RealtyPress is configured properly and start to import listings in mass through cron.

  1. Go to RealtyPress » System » Debug.
  2. Click “Test DDF® Connection” to confirm a connection to the DDF® can be made.
  3. Click “Show Master List Count” to confirm that listings data exists in the DDF® feed.
  4. Click “Test Geocoding” to confirm the key is correct and API calls can be made.

If all of the above passed we can now run a test import. If any of the above failed revisit that step and resolve the error reported.

  1. Go to RealtyPress » System » Debug.
  2. Enable the “Enable Limiting of Listing Transactions” checkbox.
  3. Set a limit of 1 under “Limit Transactions”.
  4. Click the “Save Limit” button.
  5. Below “Sync New Listing Data click the “I understand the effect of this debug action.” checkbox and click the “Sync New Data” button revealed after enabling the checkbox.
  6. Go To “Listings” to confirm that the listing was imported succesfully. If it wasn’t go to RealtyPress » System » Logs and review the log for notices, warnings or errors.
  7. Important: Remove the transaction limit of 1 set in step 3 above, disable the “Enable Limiting of Listing Transactions” checkbox and click “Save Limit”. If you fail to remove your limit your automated syncs will also be limited to 1 listing.

Now that we have tested and and confirmed that RealtyPress can import successfully we can setup our cron jobs to start importing data in mass.

Step 6: Cron Job Syncs (Automation)

If your host includes cPanel or allows SSH access than you have the ability to create a unix cron job and should use that method to run your cron jobs and keep data up to date.

Unix Cron

Use this method of cron if you are able to set cron jobs at the server level with your hosting.

If you are using cPanel follow our dedicated article How to Configure RealtyPress Unix Cron in CPanel

If you are using another method  such as directly with crontab please follow these steps.

  1. Go to RealtyPress » CREA DDF® Data » DDF® Sync Options.
  2. Enable the cron job checkbox.
  3. Choose Unix Cron as the cron type.
  4. Click “Save Changes”.
  5. Copy the command displayed by RealtyPress after saving use paste it as the command when setting up your cron job on the server.

Make sure you don’t apply an interval that is less than 4 hours unless a transaction limit has been set that can finish within the set time. Syncing a large data set hourly can create overlapping syncs if the cron job is unable to finish within the interval time.

WordPress Cron

  1. Go to RealtyPress » CREA DDF® Data » DDF® Sync Options.
  2. Enable the cron job checkbox.
  3. Choose WordPress Cron as the cron type.
  4. Choose an interval to run the cron (default is once every 24 hours.)
  5. Click “Save Changes”.

The scheduled cron job will be displayed in the “RealtyPress CRON Schedule” section below the cron settings. You can see the next run time under the “Next Run” column.

Unix WordPress Cron

Unix WordPress cron is rarely used and is only required in special circumstances

  1. Go to RealtyPress » CREA DDF® Data » DDF® Sync Options.
  2. Enable the cron job checkbox.
  3. Choose “Unix WordPress Cron” as the cron type.
  4. Choose an interval to run the cron (default is once every 24 hours.)
  5. Click “Save Changes”.
  6. Copy the command displayed by RealtyPress after saving use paste it as the command when setting up your cron job on the server.

Make sure you don’t apply an interval that is less than 4 hours unless a transaction limit has been set that can finish within the set time. Syncing a large data set hourly can create overlapping syncs if the cron job is unable to finish within the hour.

Allowing the cron job to run
At this point RealtyPress has been fully tested and a cron job set to sync listing data to your website. We now have to wait for the cron job to run. Wait at least the amount of time you set as the interval before checking your site. If you’re cron job is running every 6 hours you should wait at the minimum 6 hours before checking your website.

You can view all of your listings on the “Listings” page in the WP admin which also shows a total. The listing count should be rising as the cron job runs at the set interval.

If your count is not rising the first place to check is the RealtyPress logs for any notices, warning and/or errors. If you see no activity in the logs it indicates that the cron job is not able to run the PHP script.

If you’re having trouble getting your cron job to run please contact support through your https://realtypress.ca account.

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