Live Mode is built but is not switched on in the current version of the plugin. The screen described below does not appear under MLS Import Design Settings yet, so the steps here cannot be followed on a live site today. They describe the screen as it will ship.
Live Mode is one checkbox on one screen, and it takes effect on the next page load. There is no import to run, no connection to set up and no data to migrate, because Live Mode reuses the MLS credentials you entered during setup.
The screen also holds the cache lifetime, which is the single setting that decides how fresh your listings are and how hard your site leans on the MLS.
Before you start
- Standalone mode is selected in MLS Import Settings.
- Setup is finished: account connected, MLS chosen, credentials saved and the MLS metadata fetched.
- Your MLSImport subscription is active.
All three are required. With any of them missing the switch stays inert and the site keeps serving whatever it served before, which is deliberate. There is no broken half state.
Turning it on
- Go to MLS Import Design Settings and open Live Mode.
- Tick Enable live mode.
- Leave Cache lifetime at its default of 3600 seconds for now.
- Click Save.
Expected result: your listing grids and search results are now answered by your MLS, the Import Tasks menu entry is gone, and property pages open at addresses beginning /listing/.
Check one grid and one property page before moving on. If both render, the connection is good and nothing else needs configuring.
The cache lifetime
Every live read is cached for the lifetime you set here, so the second visitor to the same page gets an instant answer instead of another MLS query. The default is one hour.
Shorter means fresher listings and more calls to your MLS. Longer means fewer calls and data that can be up to that old. The minimum is 60 seconds.
- 300 seconds. Data is close to real time. Suits a small market or a site with light traffic, where the extra queries do not add up.
- 3600 seconds, the default. Right for almost everyone. An hour old is fine for a price and a status, and the query volume stays modest.
- 21600 seconds. Six hours. Use it when your MLS enforces a tight quota, or when a busy site is making more calls than your agreement allows.
The cache has a second job you get for free. Entries are kept for a full day even after they go stale, so if your MLS is unreachable the last known answer keeps being served rather than an empty page. Outages your visitors would have noticed pass quietly.
The two buttons
Clear live cache empties every cached answer at once. Use it after changing something at the MLS end, or when a listing you know has changed is still showing its old details. The next visitor to each page triggers a fresh read.
Refresh MLS config re-fetches the technical details of your MLS connection from MLSImport. These are filled in automatically at setup, so this is a repair button rather than a routine one. Use it if listings stop loading after your MLS changes something on their side.
The override fields
Below the cache setting are six text fields for the API import URL, the token URL, the media URL, the provider type, the expand value and the field correlation.
Leave every one of them blank. Each shows the fetched value as its placeholder, and a blank field means the fetched value is used. They exist so support can point a site at a corrected endpoint without waiting for a release, and filling one in by guesswork stops listings loading.
If you have typed into an override and things stopped working, clear the field back to empty and save. Empty is not a missing value here, it is an instruction to use the value fetched from MLSImport.
Turning it off
Untick Enable live mode and save. The site goes back to serving stored listings on the next page load, the Import Tasks screen returns, and the hourly import and daily reconciliation resume on their normal schedule.
Anything you imported before is still there and still current as of its last sync. Nothing was removed while Live Mode was on.
If it does not work
- The Live Mode screen is not in the menu. Standalone mode is not selected. The screen only exists in that mode.
- The checkbox saves but nothing changes. One of the three requirements is not met. Confirm the subscription is active and that your MLS credentials still work from the settings page.
- Grids are empty. The query reached the MLS and matched nothing, or the MLS could not be reached. Clear the live cache and try a wider filter.
- Property pages return a not found error. Open Settings then Permalinks and click Save to rebuild the address rules.
- A red admin notice says the subscription is inactive. Renew, then reconnect from the plugin settings so the MLS data is fetched again.
Frequently asked questions
How often is the subscription checked?
Once a day. A failed check because of a network problem changes nothing, and only an explicit rejection from the server pauses the mode.
Does the cache lifetime affect the map?
Yes for the pins, which are cached like everything else. The counted bubbles you see when zoomed out come from a separate index that refreshes daily.
Will clearing the cache slow my site down?
Briefly. The first visitor to each page after a clear waits for a live query, and everyone after them gets the cached answer.
Can I set the cache lifetime per page?
Not from the settings. A developer can vary it with the mlsimport_live_cache_ttl filter.
Related
- What Live Mode is and when to use it
- Live Mode limitations
- Verifying your MLS connection
- The Design Settings page
Send us a screenshot of the Live Mode screen and the page that is empty and we will find which requirement is not met.