Resources: hippoRENT - What’s New in the Latest Version?

Welcome to the latest version of hippoRENT! If you are a new user, you may safely ignore this document — it’s aimed at people who have been using previous versions of the product.

This latest version builds upon the success and stability of the previous version, a business tool used by almost 15,000 people. It contains a number of useful new features, as well as dozens of minor improvements across the whole product. This document summarises these new features in one handy place.

You can choose to read about ...

... What's new in hippoRENT v4.5 ...

... What was new in hippoRENT v4.0 ...

What’s new in hippoRENT v4.5

1. What’s new in the inworld part of the system?

(1a) Rental box can be told to lock itself when the current tenancy ends. Use the LOCK ON END voice command to achieve this.

(1b) You can easily copy a tenancy from one box to another within the same sim. Click the box that is to *receive* the tenancy, choose 'Voice Cmd', type RECEIVE. Then within 60 seconds visit the box that will sending the tenancy, click it, choose 'Voice Cmd' and type TRANSMIT.

(1c) The server has entirely been redesigned (it's smaller and has fewer prims) and there is a new, lower-prim version of the single panel rental vendor.

(1d) You can grab a rental box (or vendor's ) server key from a web page. To do this, put the text [HIPPORENT SERVER KEY: <key of your server>] e.g. [HIPPORENT SERVER KEY: 2040de8d-f19c-b066-8272-a486f45c3e09] somewhere on the page (it needs to be in the first 2,000 characters, due to Second Life limits). Then in your rental box or vendor's configuration notecard, use SERVER KEY: <web page> e.g. SERVER KEY: http://www.myblog.com/myrentalkey.php ... Why is this useful? It means if you accidentally delete and have to re-rez your server you can just change the web page, rather than have to wander round and edit dozens of configuration notecards. How do I make my boxes reload themselves ... one way is to use the new CHECK FOR NEW SERVER KEY EVERY: <time in seconds> configuration command.

(1e) Some Second Life scripts can fail to work properly if the object they're in is not set to the same group as the land under them; this is a common cause of some rental box issues (e.g. payment sharing failing). To alleviate this, a rental box, vendor or server will warn you (on rez and when you reset it) if you've not set it (don't deed it, just set it to the group!) to the wrong group.

(1f) A "Rental Sign" is provided. This can be connected to a rental box in much the same more as the rental door, for those of you familiar with that (or any of our plugin devices). Once connected, when a tenant rents a connected box they will be able to change the texture on the sign simply by clicking it and following the easy to use instructions / menu. For full details of how it works and how to connect it, see the instructions included in it.

(1g) Rental boxes, vendors and servers in the same region will communicate by chat (well, llRegionSay() to be precise) as well as email, making communication more effective when Second Life is being slow and sticky (which never happens, huh?) There is a very, very small performance hit for this, as devices need to maintain a listener. If you don't wish to take advantage of this and would prefer to kill the listener script, use DISABLE REGION SAY: Yes in the vendor, server, or box's configuration notecard.

(1h) Rental boxes can apply a special texture when they're locked. Just include a texture called "Locked" in the rental box's inventory.

(1i) A common cause of some payment sharing failures (Second Life now throttles payment requests by scripts) has been dealt with ... one consequence is that boxes need debit permissions granted twice (once for the main script, once for the payment sharing script).

(1k) Prim counting has been improved and optimized, improving the results especially on slower sims.

(1l) You can now include a partner's name in the Configuration Notecard (e.g. PARTNER: Frodo Baggins or PARTNER: None) if you wish to, as well as using the voice command method you were able to before.

(1m) For those of you using the door plugin, the latest models have a new "Lock" and "Unlock" command in their menus ... if for example a tenant is holding a party, she may wish to temporarily let anybody in (so use "unlock") and afterwards, when everybody has gone leaving just a sea of vol-au-vant crumbs, she can use "lock" to revert the door to normal behaviour.

(1n) Boxes have a new "Test Mode" feature. This will count down 1 day off the tenancy every 6-7 seconds until the tenancy ends, or you click the box. Useful for testing things like instant message settings ... you can rent the box yourself, for example, click it, choose 'Voice Cmd' and type TEST MODE and watch what happens and when.

(1o) Fixed a glitch whereby somebody attempting to pay by proxy (e.g. a friend paying for a tenant) couldn't if the tenant was in arrears and 'In Arrears Others Can Rent' was set to 'No'. Bear in mind, if you have PAYMENTS BY PROXY: Yes turned on, there's now little point in having IN ARREARS OTHERS CAN RENT: Yes, as the box first assumes (and asks, for confirmation, from the payer) that the payment is for the current tenant.

(1p) Fixed a minor issue that could cause a vendor's "Show on Map" button to fail to hide when no properties are available.

2. What’s new in the web-enabled part of the system?

(2a) Payment sharing has been made more robust, with a couple of new Second Life annoyances that could cause payment sharing to fail worked around.

(2b) You can tell a rental box to lock itself when a tenancy ends (see 1a above).

(2c) Rental boxes can be removed from the website by clicking them, choosing 'Voice Cmd' and using the new UNREGISTER voice command.

(2d) When deleting a rental box (either on the web or using (2c) above), any vendors displaying it will automatically refresh themselves. (Note: you should still refresh your vendors after *adding* new rental boxes ... this is because after rezzing a rental box you normally wish to configure it first, not have it automatically appear on every vendor you own!

(2e) You can group boxes into collections on the website for easier management! See http://www.hippo-technologies.co.uk/resources/hipporent/box_groups.php page for full details of how to do this.

(2f) Web-enabled servers could occasionally get confused as to what inventory they contained, causing rental boxes relying on them for notecards or landmarks to lose that connection. This has been fixed ... you'll need to "convert" your box configurations to the new internal format we use to do this fix ... do this by simply opening a box's configuration on the web and saving it again.

(2g) Rental boxes no longer load their configuration twice when asked to refresh themselves via the web interface.

(2h) Web-enabled rental boxes can *also* load a configuration notecard as well as their web configuration, allowing you to mix-and-match where you configure them. The main use of this, we foresee, will be connecting web-enabled rental boxes to inworld servers as well as the web. To use this new feature, add a notecard to your rental box called "Configuration Extra" and use any of the usual configuration commands you wish. Your rental box will load it *after* downloading from the web, so any changes you make in "Configuration Extra" will *overwrite* what the box loads from the web.

(2i) You can see at a glance what percentage of your currently selected rental boxes are rented; just scroll to the bottom of the list of boxes (PAGE-DOWN key works quickly in most browsers) to see this new piece of information.

(2j) Communications between rental boxes, vendors, servers and the web site improved — following the major Second Life problems of the last month, we've heavily rewritten some of our communications sub-systems, so you should notice a speed increase.

(2k) When editing the configuration of more than one rental box at once, only the fields that you have changed will be copied across to the other boxes. (As you edit text fields, you’ll see their background colour changes to indicate you have edited them).

What was new in hippoRENT v4.0?

By far the biggest new feature is that hippoRENT v4 can now be web-enabled. A simple plugin may be purchased from any of our store locations that will allow you to monitor and control your rental boxes and vendors using any web browser. It’s a brilliant way to make rental management even easier and its functions are described in the ‘Using the Web Plugin System’ document.

What’s New in the Rental Box?

• Rental boxes can now be rented daily, weekly, or monthly. The period it rents in is defined by the PRICE PER ... command; e.g. PRICE PER WEEK: 100 or PRICE PER MONTH: 5000 or PRICE PER DAY: 25. You can use any date label for the MIN and MAX commands (MIN WEEKS: 4, MAX DAYS: 10, MAX MONTHS: 12) and it won’t effect the rental unit. To illustrate, the following examples would have exactly the same result:

PRICE PER MONTH: 1000
MIN MONTHS: 1
MAX MONTHS: 4

PRICE PER MONTH: 1000
MIN DAYS: 1
MAX WEEKS: 4

In both cases, you’d be telling the rental box to charge L$1000 per month and allow a minimum period of 1 and a maximum period of 4 months. For neatness and lack of confusion, we recommend you use DAYS, WEEKS or MONTHS throughout.

Important Note: The rental box works in calendar months. So one month from 31 May is 30 June; two months from 31 May is 31 July etc. The box knows about leap years.

Another Important Note: Internally, the box converts months into days for its counter. That means you can, if you so desired, switch the rental unit from months to days to weeks and back again during a tenancy and there would be a seamless transition.

• You can now silently" boot a tenant via the "REMOVE" menu as well as the "SILENT BOOT" voice command.
  
  
• Rental information and tenant information notecards can be held remotely, on the server, rather than in the rental box if you wish. Use “(remote)” before the information notecard or tenant information notecard configuration commands to do this; e.g. NOTECARD NAME: (remote) General Property Info. Do make sure you remember to add an appropriately named notecard to the server’s inventory, lest you really confuse people.
  
  
• Pictures can also be held remotely in much the same way;
  e.g. PICTURE: (remote) My Apartment Block


• Rental box picture used on vendors can be specified by key rather than name, if you prefer;
  e.g. PICTURE: 163b5ca3-2786-af19-c090-cc94addb1c5a
  Remember, you can get a snapshot or texture’s key from your own inventory by right-clicking it and choosing ’Copy Asset UUID’ to copy it the clipboard.
  
  
• Rented and unrented textures can also be specified by UUID key if you wish.
  
  
• The rental box can give out a landmark to people who click it (directly, or via a vendor) for information. It will give out the first landmark, alphabetically, found in its inventory. (If you’d rather hold the landmark remotely on the server, we suggest adding it to a remotely held information notecard ... see the point directly above).
  
  
• Rental boxes can hovertext the prim count (if you have prim counting turned on). Use the configuration notecard command HOVERTEXT PRIM COUNT: Yes. The prim count is also displayed in a rental box’s status report. Do bear in mind that prim counting in Second Life is still not 100% reliable, so if in doubt, always use the counts shown in Second Life’s “About Land” window.
  
  
• More control is offered over prim counting with three new configuration notecard commands ...
  
  
  • PRIMS SUBTRACT: <number> (e.g. PRIMS SUBTRACT: 10) will subtract the number shown from any prims counted on the land before it decides whether to report prim violations by the tenant. This is useful if you want to rent land with a house already on it, for example.
    
    
  • You may also use IGNORE PRIMS OWNED BY: <avatar key> (e.g. IGNORE PRIMS OWNED BY: db089ef5-dc75-4c03-4c55-9965c5a7fe94) to tell the rental box to subtract/ignore any prims on the parcel owned by the avatar with a given key.
    
    
  • Finally, if you want the box to count prims on a parcel other than the one it’s sitting on, use PRIM COUNT OFFSET: <vector> (e.g. PRIM COUNT OFFSET: <10, 0, 0> to count on the parcel 10m along the x axis from here) or PRIM COUNT OFFSET: !<vector> to count prims at an absolute position; (e.g. PRIM COUNT OFFSET: !<100, 200, 40>). Most users will never need to use this, but we have occasionally been asked for it. Please note, you need the appropriate rights on any land you want to get prim counts for.
    
    
• A SEND PRIM WARNING NOW voice command has been added; as the name suggests, this forces the rental box to send a prim warning IM now (if prim counting is turned on, the prim count requires it, and you’ve specified IMs to be sent).
  
  
• A rental box can send management IMs (on payment, refund, eviction) to more than one recipient. Use ALSO IM: <key> in the box’s config card (e.g. ALSO IM: db089ef5-dc75-4c03-4c55-9965c5a7fe94). You can specify multiple recipients here by separating them with commas (e.g. ALSO IM: db089ef5-dc75-4c03-4c55-9965c5a7fe94, cb08aef5-de75-4c03-4c55-9966c5a7fe9). Do make sure you enter keys carefully, as a wrong key can cause the script that sends IMs to suffer problems.
  
  
• A rental box can send emails (on payment, eviction or refund) to multiple email addresses, just separate them with commas. So, for example, in the configuration notecard - EMAIL: bob@hmmmtoast.com, liza@neednewhat.co.uk. (Don’t get too carried away with loads of email addresses, three or four is about the maximum due to the time penalty SL places on a script each time it uses an email).
  
  
• You can use the TENANT MENU voice command to see the menu the tenant will see.
  
  
• The tenant can use the new “Prim Counts” command on their menu to see their prim allocation and prim count (if you’ve turned prim counting on).
  
  
• You can set the length of a reservation by using the "reservation length" voice command. If the reservee has not rented within the specified number of days, the reservation is cleared and anybody can rent. (You need to set the name of the person the box is reserved for, then use e.g. reservation length 4


• Those of you using the door plugin module will be pleased to know that if you collect the updated door plugin module scripts, doors can now be opened by people listed as managers in the rental box configuration notecard.
  
  
• You can now control how the minimum payment term actually works. By default, e.g. MIN WEEKS: 3 now means a tenant must pay for at least 3 weeks each time they pay. The old boxes considered MIN WEEKS: 3 to specify the minimum contract length, only applicable on the first payment. To revert a new rental box to the old type of minimum processing, insert the command MIN TYPE: 0 anywhere into the configuration card (boxes are running with a default MIN TYPE: 1, so you don’t need to specify this). But we think most people will prefer and stick with the new way.
  
  
• The rental box can report an alternative location to the server and vendor than the actual spot it’s sitting at. This is useful if you want to put all of your rental boxes in a rental office, away from the actual spots they’re renting, for example. To use this, use the REPORT LOCATION: configuration command followed by the location, e.g. REPORT LOCATION: Rodeo (75, 50, 23). The server will then list this as the box location as will the vendor, which will also show it on the map when the “SHOW ON MAP” button is touched.
  
  
• For those of you using the rental system to manage land and tier, you can change the language that the box uses so it’s more appropriate to tier payments and estate management. The default box now has this command ...
  
  TERMINOLOGY: Landlord, Tenant, Rent, Rental, Plot, Rental box

• ... to determine the language used in menus and messages. If you were managing an estate and people were paying for land/tier, you might use something lke this instead ...
  
  TERMINOLOGY: Estate Owner, Land Owner, Tier, Contract, Land parcel, Tier management box

As you can see, each word/phrase should start with a capital letter. The terminology you choose gets used in messages and menus throughout, allowing you to more easily customise a hippoVEND to what it is you’re renting/leasing/hiring/collecting money for.

• Rental length can be edited much more flexibly. The old “LENGTH” voice command can now work in all these ways ... LENGTH 52 (sets days to 52); LENGTH +3 (adds three days); LENGTH -7 (subtracts 7 days); LENGTH +10% (adds 10% to the days); LENGTH -25% (subtracts 25%) ... (these last two can also be expressed more simply, for the maths wizards, as LENGTH 110% or LENGTH 75%).
  
  
• A new “PRICE” voice command works similarly to length, changing just the price (but not the "unit", for that use PRICE PER WEEK). So the following would all work: PRICE 100, PRICE +50, PRICE -25, PRICE +50%, PRICE -10%, PRICE 90%
  
  
• You can add a second tenant to a rental box, who will be able to pay, click to get the tenant menu, have their prims counted (if you’re using PRIM COUNT: Tenant mode) and receive warning IMs about aspects of the tenancy. This is useful if a couple are renting a property, for example. To add a second tenant, click the rental box, choose ’Voice Cmd’ and type PARTER followed by their Second Life name exactly;
  
  e.g. PARTNER Pathfinder Linden
  
  Please note they won’t get IMs until they either touch or pay the box (so it has their key). Please also note the partner name/key is not “hard saved” like the main tenant, so if you take the box into inventory and re-rez it, or the sim crashes spectacularly, it may have to be re-entered. You can remove a partner with the PARTNER REMOVE voice command. The server will list partner names and you can also send a “partner” command from the server.
  
  

What’s New in the Server?

• Lower prim server design (down to 8 prims now).
  
  
• The box list now shows which rental boxes are locked or reserved
  
  
• Rental reports can be sent from the server to multiple email addresses, simply by separating them with commas. So, for example, in the configuration notecard:
  
  EMAIL REPORTS TO: fred@jambutties.com, jemima@shoottringo.org.uk

The same trick works if using the “EMAIL REPORT NOW” voice command.
  
  
• You can set reservation lengths on a rental box from the server. For example, use the voice commands “box 1 reserve Fred Smith” followed by another, “box 1 reservation length 3” to reserve a rental box for an avatar called Fred Smith for 3 days. After 3 days, the reservation is cleared and anybody can rent again.
  
  
• The terminology command (see above under the rental box) works in the server, too.
  
  
• The server can make use of the enhanced tenancy length editor, so for example the following voice command would add 10% to all tenancy lengths: BOXES LENGTH 10%.
  
  
• The server can make use of the flexible pricing command, so for example these voice commands would all work ...
  
  BOX 1 PRICE +100
BOXES [rented] PRICE -20%

... etc. etc.
  
  
• You can set the second tenant (or “partner”) on a rental box remotely; e.g. voice commands like “box 1 partner Fred Flintstone” or “boxes partner remove”.

What’s New in the Vendor?

• A vendor can give out an information card to anybody who clicks it when it has no properties to show (e.g. when everything is rented). Just add any notecard to the vendor’s inventory ... it will give out the first notecard alphabetically it finds there (but not the configuration notecard or user guide of course!)
  
  
• Vendors now count how many people have rented property via them and how many lookup a property’s location on the map from them. See these statistics by clicking a vendor and choosing ‘Status’. To reset the counter, perform a hard reset (click vendor -> choose ‘Voice Cmd’ -> type HARD RESET.
  
  
• More control over how hovertext is displayed. You can now display just the rental price, just the prims available, both, or neither. (Use HOVERTEXT PRICE: Yes/No and HOVERTEXT PRIMS: Yes/No instead of HOVERTEXT PRICE/PRIMS: Yes/No (this older command is still supported and will still show or hide both pieces of information).
  
  
• You can also choose to turn all hovertext off or have it only appear when the vendor is in use, then disappear afterwards. The new HOVERTEXT configuration command controls this; use HOVERTEXT: On, HOVERTEXT: Off or HOVERTEXT: Auto
  
  
• You can choose to have the vendor only allow people to teleport to property that is currently available for rent, by using the new AUTOHIDE MAP BUTTON: Yes/No command. If you turn this on, the show on map button will hide and disable itself if the current property being viewed is unavailable (e.g. rented/reserved/locked).
  
  
• Rental boxes that are reserved or locked will not be shown on a vendor that is set to show unavailable properties only — they’ll also be tagged “Unavailable” in vendors set to show anything, so that potential tenants don’t waste time trying to rent properties that are reserved or temporarily locked.
  
  
• The terminology command (see above under the rental box) works in the vendor, too.

We do hope you enjoy the new features and that it makes running your rental business that much easier!

We recommend to all customers that they join the Hippo Technologies Users Group in Second Life (search for it, the group is open enrollment). It’s a friendly community and lots of advice, tips and support can often be found by asking nicely!

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