Surrey Van Sales trader website, Trading Vans, is a mash-up utilising data from Google Base and eBay, and mapping API, Google Maps. The development images, above and below, illustrate the home page and a search results page, respectively.
The vehicle results column lies to the left and is updated using AJAX to aviod page refreshing. Once a vehicle is selected, its details are generated in a content area beneath the map, which is set out in tabs for ease of use. The open tab’s a basic description for a brief overview, next to a tab of photos (see below) and a tab full of detailed information. The vehicle content area is also populated by AJAX.
The Google and eBay APIs are accessed using object orientated PHP. The script queries the server to see if cURL is enabled, if not, a socket connection is use to access the data.
