RETS Connector FAQ

Q: Do I have to uninstall my current version of RETS Connector to download and install the new version?

A: No, a new version of RETS Connector should begin installing over an existing version without removing any user configuration.


Q: Will I loose the scripts I have already created when I upgrade to the latest version?

A: No, scripts are saved on your disk and are not removed when installing a new version.


Q: I would like to see the option to put in a custom user-agent in the server setup. Some RETS servers authenticate with a user/pass and the User-Agent. Right now your software has a default User-Agent of RETSConnector/1.0 and it doesn’t allow you to customize it.

A: For security reasons we do not want our tool to be used to mimic other RETS clients. Therefore, for authenticity purposes the UserAgent credentials of RETS Connector cannot be customized. The UserAgent credentials are used by RETS servers for additional security as well as for reporting and auditing allowing the credentials to be edited would risk the security of the tool.


Q: Why is the incremental download option disabled?

A: For the incremental download to work, the server must provide a field with standard name "ModificationTimestamp". If such field does not exist, the incremental download is not enabled.


Q: How can we get the incremental download to work?

A: Due to the way the incremental download depends on how the server / client deals with timezone shifts and the fact that this is not very clear in the RETS specification, this is a frequent source of problems.

However, Connector allows for some compensation for this problem. In the View menu, select Server List, then select the server you deal with and click Edit. In the server description window, click More Options. You'll see a Query Time Offset field, which specifies the timezone the server uses. (Positive values are used for western hemisphere). If you know for sure the time difference between GMT and the timezone used by the server, type the number in. If you are not sure, you may guess and check: create a search which should find a record with a known modified date, then try values for the Query Time Offset until your search works correctly.