Empty string values in feed (Global MLS)

retag add tags

We're experiencing an issue where we get empty string values (i.e., "") for more than 30 fields that should have actual values associated with them. We started seeing the issue on 5/23, when we were assigned a new account for accessing the feed.

In particular, we're seeing empty string values for the L_StatusCatID and L_IdxInclude fields for every listing we've fetched since that date.

Here are our login details:

Username: ESTATELY
IP address: 54.203.201.202
Login URL:http://globalmls-rets.paragonrels.com...

Let me know if I can provide any additional information.

Thank you.

bspatafora

asked 2019-06-12 10:20:22 -0500, updated 2019-06-12 10:21:43 -0500

edit flag offensive 0 remove flag close merge delete

Comments

Can you give me some L_ListingID values where you are seeing this issue?
Using your account, I see the status and idx field values being populated.
I'm also not seeing any disabled fields in your profile.

bwolven (2019-06-12 18:33:29 -0500) edit

Thanks for the response, Bruce. We investigated more on our end and it turns out that requesting the data in COMPACT-DECODED format fixes the issue. We had previously been doing so in COMPACT format.

The strange thing is, we've been requesting data in that format for years without format. Not sure what changed, or why requesting in COMPACT format would result in the empty string values we were seeing, but glad to be up and running again.

bspatafora (2019-06-14 12:18:44 -0500) edit

add a comment see more comments

1 Answer

Sort by

oldest

newest

most voted

Requesting the data in the COMPACT-DECODED format resolved the issue.

bspatafora

answered 2019-06-14 12:19:55 -0500

edit flag offensive 0 remove flag delete link

Comments

That is weird. If anything I would think it would be the opposite.
COMPACT is the value we store and the COMPACT-DECODED value is a lookup from that value.

bwolven (2019-06-14 15:44:08 -0500) edit

Sounds from the RESO glossary like COMPACT-DECODED uses full, human-readable field names (if I'm reading it right). Though the field names in the responses from Global MLS appear to be the same regardless of which format we request (which seems unexpected, given the RESO definitions). Instead, the difference is that many of the values are not present when we request the data in COMPACT format. Surprising, but maybe I'm misunderstanding the standard.

bspatafora (2019-06-14 16:02:38 -0500) edit

Here is a listing example in both formats:

L_ListingID: 10139

// COMPACT
L_Class: 1
L_StatusCatID: 4
L_StatusID: 0
L_Status: 4_0
L_IdxInclude: 0

// COMPACT-DECODED
L_ListingID: 10139
L_Class: SINGLE FAMILY
L_StatusCatID: Expired
L_StatusID: 0
L_Status: Expired
L_IdxInclude: Yes

bwolven (2019-06-14 16:07:36 -0500) edit

Ah, I was misreading the RESO definitions—thought it was talking about keys, not values. Thanks for the example. Prompted me to dig in some more. Root cause here was that we had somehow cached bad metadata for Global MLS. It was missing all the lookup table mappings, so we ended up with missing values for all fields based on lookup tables. So, while switching to COMPACT-DECODED did fix the issue (since we didn't need the lookup tables), we can (with correct metadata) switch back to COMPACT.

bspatafora (2019-06-14 18:20:37 -0500) edit

add a comment see more comments

Empty string values in feed (Global MLS) edit

Comments

1 Answer

Comments