Setting up an export of property data using VIA's API

Owned by Elliott
Last updated: Oct 28, 2021
3 min read

You can now provide any portal or third party access to your property data. This will enable you to integrate your property data with a host of third parties

Your data will be made available through an XML pull that can be downloaded every 4 hours. Please note, there will an additional monthly charge for any active exports you setup.

You must have an SSL secure website in order to transfer your property data. If you do not have SSL security installed, you will not be able to transfer data

Step 1 - Making your data available. Please note: Only Super User are able to generate an API Key

  • Log in to VIA

  • Click the top tab labelled CRM or Property Editor

  • Click the Property tab

  • You can now search for the criteria of properties that you want to make available through the VIA API. Click the Advanced button to reveal the full list of criteria you can select. These include:

    • Sales or Lettings properties

    • Status (active or archived)

    • Office (properties allocated to specific offices)

    • Owner (properties allocated to specific members of staff)

    • Set to (For Sale, Under Offer etc)

    • Property Type

    • Min Beds

    • Price From

    • Price To

    • Features

    • Events & Date Ranges (Choose from events such as registered or exchanged and the specific time frames of when those events occurred. This can either be dynamic, eg: last 30 days or between specific date ranges)

This enables you to completely customise what properties you would like to make available in your export.

  • Once you have selected your criteria, click Search. If you want to make all of your properties available, simply select Sales or Lettings then click Search

  • Click the API Key button in the top right hand side of the page

  • A pop up will appear asking you to name your API Key. Please ensure you label your API Key so that it is easily recognisable in future, in case you need to disable or delete it in future

  • Go to the left hand menu and select Settings > API Access

  • A list of the API Keys you have generated will be listed, as well as key information about them

  • Click the URL section of API Key you want to send to your third party. This will automatically copy your API Key. You can now paste this into an email to send it to your third party. IMPORTANT: Please ensure you only make your API Key available to the specific party that has requested it. You should not make your API Key public or publish it anywhere on your website

 

Step 2 - Instructions for your third party

  • The property data will be made available through a URL, allowing you to pull XML data every 4 hours (the data will be cached and refreshed every 4 hours)

  • The following fields will be available to download:

    • ID

    • Internal Code

    • Name/Number

    • Address 1

    • Address 2

    • Address 3

    • Town

    • State

    • Country

    • Postcode

    • Full Address

    • Type (Residential or Commercial)

    • Sub Type (Sales or Lettings)

    • Property Type

    • Property Style

    • Hide From Web

    • Exclude From Portals

    • Price On Application

    • Short Description

    • Long Description

    • Bedrooms

    • Bathrooms

    • Reception Rooms

    • Tenure

    • Terms

    • Office

    • Status

    • Price

    • High Price

    • Instructed Date

    • Created Date

    • Updated Date

    • Archived

    • Video Tours

    • Features

    • Media

  • The data will be made available in XML format and will be paginated. A summary of the amount of data and the number of pages available will be made available at the beginning of the file

If you are using this format to receive a priority export of property data before other portals, please take note of the following:

  • We recommend you make the property available on your portal using the Status field. We recommend you make all properties marked as For Sale or To Let available and ignore the Hide From Portals marker. This is because it is likely the hide from portals marker is marked as true for all properties to ensure the property remains hidden on any other exports which may be setup

  • We recommend you ensure any data received via an RTDF export overrides any data sent through this method. Each properties Internal Code will remain the same regardless of which export is used to receive data, so any duplicate properties contained in two feeds should be easily identifiable. In addition, most properties should disappear from the XML download when they are then sent via the RTDF