Why are requests for METADATA-TABLE are only returning a single value?
This reply code occurs when an invalid Format argument is included in the request. Standard-XML is the only supported format. The server should default to this if the argument is not included (as our documentation suggests). Unfortunately, it currently treats it as a required argument. This will be corrected in an upcoming release, so that Format is no longer mandatory.In general, RETS Metadata lookup tables provide a list of fields that can be used for 2 purposes:
- building queries (e.g. return all properties in the $300K-$500K range, with 3+ bedrooms)
- indicating which fields the user would like returned (e.g. return only Address, Price and BedroomCount for each listing)
By design, CREA’s DDF® service does not allow ad-hoc querying. Clients are expected to pull all listings available to them, and not choose a subset at runtime. If the registered owner of the destination wants filters applied to their data feed, they can be configured in the DDF® dashboard (http://tools.realtorlink.ca). The only value that can be directly queried is the ID field for each resource type.
CREA’s DDF® service also does not allow clients to customize the data included in the response. All DDF® clients receive the same Standard-XML data payload. The RETS Select concept that users can pick and choose which value to include is more practical when providing Compact (i.e. tabular) data, which is not supported. Since clients cannot customize the format of the results, data fields are not required in metadata calls.