Center for REALTOR® Technology Web Log

Here is a quick review of some of our more popular projects. All of these are cross-platform (Windows, OSX and Linux) Open Source projects so in addition to no licensing fee you have access to the underlying source code. There are licenses though. Please refer to the project page for each project and take the time to read the licenses.

• ezRETS - A RETS ODBC Driver that can be used by developers as well as REALTORS® to integrate RETS into you desktop applications. This project is currently at release 1.1 with 1.2 being imminent. Version 1.2 will support Microsoft’s DTS. Version 1.3 is expected by the end of February and will include image and prepared statement support.
• libRETS - A RETS client Library supporting many languages. Version 1.0 has been released with Version 1.1 anticipated before the end of February. Version 1.1 will support C#. If you are writing a RETS client, I wouldn’t even think about coding my own RETS code. This library allows you to focus on the application features, not the RETS protocol.
• PolicyPage - An internet display policy checking tool for Associations and MLS. Currently at release level 0.9.7 (BETA) with a a 0.9.8 version expected in February. Version 0.9.8 will include “batch” processing. If more organizations would join the testing efforts, PolicyPage would drive towards version 1.0 faster.
• Retriever - A PHP RETS client applicatin that generates HTML versions of listings. This project is currently at version 2.0 with no plans for major feature enhancements (unless there is a human outcry for MAP API support from the various search engine providers). The project is updated regularly with fixes for bugs though. If you are looking for RETS-based listing support for a website, I would recommend OpenRealty.
• VieleRETS - A PHP RETS downloader supporting RDB, XML, CSV and OpenRealty. Version 1.0 is about to be refreshed with Version 1.1 that supports “update only” fetches. The future direction is to replace the PHP RETS engine (stolen from the Retriever project) with libRETS. This would be an example of “eating our own dog food” and emphasizes the comment I make regarding libRETS and how crazy it is to write your own RETS protocol code
• Variman - A most excellent RETS server that is fast, free and able to support huge MLS operations. Version 2.1.8 was released this week and is used in production at MLS operations ranging from 8-45K members. It is also resold as part of a commercial product (not by NAR!). It is a natural for distributing listings to remote offices if you are a large brokerage.