A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step--Lao Tsu.
Let your conscience be your guide--Pope
Just a few words of wisdom from some philisophical thinking folks.
I began my RETS Client journey about two years ago (circa 2001). At that time, I was working for a relatively large (and somewhat unstable) Internet-based company. Most of the data retrieval applications were designed and built in-house. Their purpose was simple--gather the disparately formatted data from each of the MLSs. Around the early part of 2001, it became apparent to management that a RETS Client was needed in order to communicate with several MLSs that were moving their data to this new format. I was asked if I would be interested in coming up with a design. I suppose anybody else in the company could have been chosen, but I guess they viewed my previous work with web-like service applications as a bonus. So, I accepted. And by mid 2001, I had completed a beta version of the RETS Client. It was marginally functional--supporting only Login and Search Transactions. Management was pleased (always a good thing), but I felt that there was a tremendous amount of work yet to be done. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to complete the project. I became one of the many "dot-gonners".
However, after several months past, and not wanting to leave a job undone, I decided to return to the RETS Client. But, this time around, I decided that the application would be designed and implemented using a purely Object Oriented Programming language (my initial application was designed using Perl--I know, Perl can be coded using Object Oriented techniques, but it is not built from the ground up to be an Object Oriented Language). So, I chose to go with Java. After several months of research and laying the groundwork for the application, I began coding. Sometime around the early part of 2002, I released the first version of the Open RETS Client (ORC). At this point, some of you might be wondering what is meant by the "Open" in Open RETS Client. Basically, this refers to the licensing scheme the application falls under. I've released the program under what is known as the GNU General Public License (or, GPL). Please refer to the GPL link if you'd like to learn more about the license.
This document is copyrighted (c) 2004 Robert Stagner and is distributed under the terms of the GPL license.
Unless otherwise stated, the ORC HOWTO document is copyrighted by the respective author. The ORC HOWTO document may be reproduced and distributed in whole or in part, in any medium physical or electronic, as long as this copyright notice is retained on all copies. Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author must to be notified of any such distributions.
All translations, derivative works, or aggregate works incorporating any ORC HOWTO documents must be covered under this copyright notice. That is, you may not produce a derivative work from an ORC HOWTO and impose additional restrictions on its distribution. Exceptions to these rules may be granted under certain conditions.
In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as many channels as possible. However, we wish to retain copyright on the ORC HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute the ORC HOWTO.
If you have any questions, please contact <restagner@ispwest.com>
No liability for the contents of this document can be accepted. Use the concepts, examples and other content at your own risk. As this is a new edition of this document, there may be errors and inaccuracies, that may of course be damaging to your system. Proceed with caution, and although this is highly unlikely, the author(s) do not take any responsibility for that.
All copyrights are held by their by their respective owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.
You are strongly recommended to make a backup of your system before major installation and backups at regular intervals.
This is the initial release of the ORC HOWTO.
You can find the most up-to-date version of this document at the ORC Project web site. It is available in the following formats:
HTML
RTF (Microsoft Word Compatible)
SGML source
This project would not have been possible without the continued support of my family. Particularly, my wife, who has allowed me to work late nights and some weekends (on my spare time). I would also like to thank those initial users of the Open RETS Client. Without their feedback (questions, comments and suggestions), this document would probably never have been written. Finally, I would like to give a big thank you to the Center for Realtor Technology (particularly, Mark Lesswing), for allowing me access to their RETS Server Implementation, and for putting up with some peculiar questions.
Feedback is always welcome for this document. Remember, without your submissions and input, this document wouldn't exist. Please send your additions, comments and criticisms to the following email address : <restagner@ispwest.com>.