Having just wrapped up the release of TransparentRETS 1.2, I can tell you we completed and passed compliance testing for RETS versions 1.5 and 1.7. On top of this we have tested TransparentRETS 1.2 with a RETS servers from every major real estate server vendor in the U.S. I figured now would be the perfect time to discuss RETS compliance. More specifically why we as an industry need to get off of our ass and take serious look at the lack of compliance in the industry. Third parties and Realtors need to deal with the constant problems caused by non compliant servers on a daily basis when trying to retrieve IDX data.

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With our next release of Open-Realty we are going to be moving to version 2.5 and will be finished with the 2.4.x versions of Open-Realty.

2.5 will be a substantial upgrade over previous versions and that is why we have made the decision to move to the Minor version from .4 to .5. There are the usual small bug fixes however here are some of the features we are working on for 2.5:

File Attachments - This is probably the biggest new feature in 2.5 and one that has been requested for quite some time so hopefully this will make a lot of people very happy. We are implementing the File Attachment system for listings and after some consideration also for agents. Agents will be able to upload files to their listings or profiles such as PDF documents, Video files, Audio files, Word documents, ZIP files and any other file extensions that are configured by the site admin. These files will be downloadable from either links or a drop down menu that will be placed on the listing pages or agent detail pages. In addition to the basic file attachment functionality that will be built into Open-Realty this new feature should open up a lot of options and abilities for addon developers.

Other features we are working on for 2.5 include:

• A NEW default site template for a total of 6 new free templates added to the Open-Realty distribution. You can help choose the new default template by making your vote on this forum thread: Open-Realty Template Contest
• Form Field size limits
• Tool Tips for Listing and User Form Fields
• Send a forgotten Username to the registered email address
• Templated Next/Prev navigation
• Main image usable on the search results
• Ability for admin to change members into agents or vice versa

These are just some of the many features we are working on for 2.5, a more complete list can be found by checking the bug and feature trackers linked from the forums. Also, make sure to get any bug reports in as soon as possible to ensure they get fixed for the 2.5 release. If you have any suggestions on features we are working on, please feel free to post comments to the tasks on the feature tracking system.

Transparent Technologies, Inc. is very pleased to announce the release of TransparentRETS 1.2. The new version supports RETS 1.7 as well as RETS 1.5. These changes make TransparentRETS one of only five clients to pass RETS compliance testing  for both versions 1.5 and 1.7 of the RETS specification. This latest version of TransparentRETS includes many other positive changes that are all designed to make pulling IDX data from your MLS’s RETS server easier.
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