Ryan Ilg

Well the time has finally come. After many months of slaving away at the keyboard. HFG has launched. As one of my biggest Drupal projects to date, it took a lot to come to fruition. Using over 30 different community contributed modules, plus a few custom built ones, it boasts a CMS structure that would scare many. Line after line of code, brought together for one purpose… Charity.

Over the next 5 months, homeowners/hosts will create home stays on the site. Allowing visitors from around the world to come to Home For The Games to find temporary housing during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The system gives hosts the control to select which days they want their home available, and which days they don’t. Day by day control is what makes this system so robust. If uncle Bob is coming to stay for a few days, the host can make certain days in a time span unavailable to bookings. Each home stay can be booked by multiple visitors, but on different dates. Not only does it provide the host the ability to state day by day availability, it also allows the visitor to book on a day by day basis. This is perfect for when a visitor wants to stay in Vancouver for the events at Cypress Mountain, then head off to Whistler for a few days, and return to the same home stay when they return to Vancouver. In the end, it gives the users complete control over everything to do with their stays. When they have finally made a decision, they are taken to Paypal to finalize their booking and pay their deposit.

Now this all seems pretty simple, but building a system like this wasn’t. I had to build a few custom modules from scratch, just to get the functionality we needed. Using a few database tables to store the data, the module collects host information, saves dates and date status (open, closed, booked), as well as some basic transaction data (No credit cards or personal info). A host creates their profile, selects dates to open their home, and all the data is processed and stored. They can even edit their property after it has been created, but cannot modify any dates that a visitor has already booked. They can add more dates if they decide they want to open their home longer, or close dates if something has come up. A visitor can then come to the site, browse site listings, and find one that fits all their criteria, such as location, if there are children in the house, is a smoking household, etc. etc. They can then select any dates the host has made available, pay their deposit, and book their home stay in Vancouver right from the comfort of their living room. All the payment processing is done through Paypal, so you know its secure.

There are so many things going on in the background of the site. Cron is constantly running, clearing up abandoned transactions, releasing any dates a visitor has selected, but decided not to book. Everything is verified, transactions are double confirmed. Images are automatically resized. In fact, it’s hard to sit down and think of everything that the site does. Over the last few months I have put in many long nights, and haven’t had much of a social life. But it’s all worth it when you see the project launch, and that first booking comes through.

I really hope you all enjoy HFG. We can thank Seven25. Design & Typography Inc. for the slick, clean visuals of the site. Be sure to check out Home For The Games, and if you know anyone with a little extra space they would like to rent out over the Olympics, don’t hesitate to pass the word along. It’s for a good cause.