FW Real Estate – Documentation

The FWRE Multi Currency plugin enables multi-currency price display on your property portal. Prices are entered in a single base currency by the administrator; visitors can switch to any configured display currency using a frontend selector, with exchange rates applied automatically.

How It Works

All property prices are stored in the admin (backend) currency you define. When a visitor views listings, prices are converted to their selected display currency using stored exchange rates. The visitor's choice persists throughout their session. When this plugin is active, it replaces the simple Currency sign and Currency position fields in Settings → General → Localization with its own currency selectors.

Currency Settings

Two currency settings are added to Settings → General → Localization:

• Admin (backend) currency — the currency used when entering prices on property edit forms. All stored price values are in this currency. Changing this after prices have been entered does not auto-convert existing values.
• Frontend default currency — the currency shown to visitors when they first open the site.

A third setting appears under Settings → Properties:

• Show currency selector — when set to Yes, a dropdown is displayed on the listing page and property detail page, allowing visitors to switch between available currencies.

Managing Currencies

Currencies are configured in FW Real Estate → Dictionaries → Currencies. Each currency entry has the following fields:

• Name — currency name shown in the selector (e.g. "US Dollar").
• 3-letter currency code — ISO 4217 code (e.g. USD, GBP, EUR). Required for automatic rate updates.
• Currency sign — the symbol displayed with prices (e.g. $, €, £).
• Currency sign position — before or after the amount.
• Exchange/Cross rate — the rate relative to the base currency. The base currency itself has a rate of 1.
• Currency update — set to Automatic to fetch the rate from the European Central Bank, or Manual to maintain the rate yourself.
• Published — controls whether the currency appears in the frontend selector.

Automatic Exchange Rates

Currencies with Currency update = Automatic fetch their rates from the European Central Bank (ecb.europa.eu) XML feed. Rates are updated once per day on the first page visit of the day. If the base currency is not Euro, rates are cross-calculated automatically — for example, if the base currency is USD, the GBP rate is derived from the ECB's USD and GBP rates relative to Euro. Currencies set to Manual use the exchange rate entered by the administrator and must be kept up to date manually.

Frontend Currency Selector

When Show currency selector is enabled, a dropdown appears on listing and property detail pages. The visitor's selection is stored in the session and persists while they browse the site.

Additional Features

• GeoIP Auto-Detect — automatically selects the visitor's display currency based on their detected country. The selection is stored in a browser cookie so it persists across visits. Visitors can still override it manually.
• Dual-Currency Display — shows a secondary converted price alongside the primary price on listing cards and detail pages, so visitors see two currencies simultaneously without switching. The secondary currency is configurable globally or per menu item.
• Mortgage Calculator Match — when the visitor switches currency, the Mortgage Calculator plugin recalculates and displays the estimated monthly payment in the same currency. Requires the Mortgage Calculator plugin.
• PDF Brochure Currency — when a PDF brochure is generated, the currently selected display currency is used for all price values. Requires the PDF Brochure plugin.
• Saved-Search Alerts in Preferred Currency — prices in saved-search alert emails are displayed in the subscriber's preferred currency as stored at the time they saved the search. Requires the Saved Searches plugin.
• Tax-Inclusive/Exclusive Toggle — a toggle on property pages lets visitors switch between tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive pricing in real time without a page reload. The tax rate is configured globally in Settings.

To install this addon, open the Add-ons panel inside FW Real Estate. See Getting Started → Add-ons for details on free addons, paid addons, and site verification.