Redisplay Messages: Compact | Brief | All | Full Show Messages: All | Without Replies| Author: | calsbricks  | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2018 03:03 | | Subject: | Re: New Catalog Roadmap | | Viewed: | 46 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In Catalog, jennnifer writes:
| | In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | Okay - our fist suggestions:
1. Get the dimensions field added to the catalogue page display as well as in
stores.
2. Introduce a level above the categories for the purposes of reporting and searching
e.g. Bricks would cover all sub categories of bricks e.g. modified, decorated
round etc. Without the catalogue it is unlikely Bricklink would still be here.
Just those two thoughts will take development time and careful planning and I
am sure those that are more heavily invoiced with the catalogue and inventory
updates will have tons more they wish to see.
Good luck getting any of that done - a roadmap is an interesting start and welcome
but it has to fill out with actions rather than just remaining a blueprint (as
the other one has done).
|
I would just like to quickly point out that the Catalog admins don't have
the ability to make developmental changes to the site. It won't be their
fault if your suggestions can't be implemented in a timely way. This road
map contains projects and ideas that don't require the BL office to facilitate.
Good ideas though!
Jen
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Pity really. Comments understood. Best we leave at that. When the single most
important element of your organisation (e.g. the catalogue) has no programmer
involved and has no direct influence on development plans - something is not
quite right?????
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| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Oct 28, 2018 02:57 | | Subject: | Re: New Catalog Roadmap | | Viewed: | 45 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
|
| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | In Catalog, calsbricks writes:
| | Good luck getting any of that done - a roadmap is an interesting start and welcome
but it has to fill out with actions rather than just remaining a blueprint (as
the other one has done).
|
The programming stuff is, as you say, out of my control. The projects you see
on the catalog roadmap, however, are things I have the ability to accomplish.
If you've been paying attention to inventories over the past year, you'll
see that this is not just idle talk. There were more changes to inventories
in the past year than any other year in BrickLink's history.
Not all of the catalog projects on the roadmap will be accomplished and some
of them may not even be attempted. But I can promise that you will definitely
see some catalog changes in the next 12 months.
| | Again - good luck with the new role.
|
Thank you! 
|
Your comments are noted and understood - so as far as development goes it remains
status quo. Pity really - getting the data right in the database is only half
of the equation - the other half - getting it out in a meaningful and helpful
way is the other half and so much more needs to be done there. That helps both
sides of the market sellers and buyers.
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| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Oct 27, 2018 13:40 | | Subject: | Re: New Catalog Roadmap | | Viewed: | 52 times | | Topic: | Catalog | |
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| In Catalog, StormChaser writes:
| | Want to know where we're going with the catalog? Hard to do without a map,
isn't it?
I'm excessively pleased to announce the all-new Catalog Roadmap in the Help
Center:
https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2473
If you lose that link, you can always find the page in the Help Center for the
catalog:
https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?topicID=21
This is an effort to increase transparency about what is happening with the BrickLink
catalog and to make it feel more like a community effort. And, of course, to
get some stuff done.
And no, before anyone asks, I don't know what's going on with the site
roadmap. I thought it was a fantastic feature and I'm quite excited to finally
have something similar for the catalog.
Feedback? Ideas? Comments?
|
Catalogue administrator - a promotion? More work and still in a queue for development
(despite the fact that the catalogue is the single most important asset of the
organisation - it is what brings both buyers and sellers to the site and is known
throughout the planet as the most comprehensive database of its kind for Lego.
You need a developer (one with SQL experience and knowledge) dedicated to it
and in your control.
Okay - our fist suggestions:
1. Get the dimensions field added to the catalogue page display as well as in
stores.
2. Introduce a level above the categories for the purposes of reporting and searching
e.g. Bricks would cover all sub categories of bricks e.g. modified, decorated
round etc. Without the catalogue it is unlikely Bricklink would still be here.
Just those two thoughts will take development time and careful planning and I
am sure those that are more heavily invoiced with the catalogue and inventory
updates will have tons more they wish to see.
Good luck getting any of that done - a roadmap is an interesting start and welcome
but it has to fill out with actions rather than just remaining a blueprint (as
the other one has done).
Again - good luck with the new role.
|
|
| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Oct 25, 2018 12:21 | | Subject: | Re: Price guide improvement | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, hpoort writes:
| | Reverse engineering and assuming the API provides us with a clue about the underlying
data structure, I would conclude that the price is recorded in the local currency
of the store. This makes sense as this would remove all currency calculation
from the equation when looking at the internals of a store.
The API for the GetPriceGuide says:
"This method returns price in the specified currency code
- If you don't specify this value, price is retrieved in the base currency
of the user profile's"
http://apidev.bricklink.com/redmine/projects/bricklink-api/wiki/CatalogMethod#Get-Price-Guide
The page generator will have to convert from many different currencies to the
currency requested by the viewer. No intermediate conversion through another
currency is needed, although mathematically there will always be any reference
currency in the currency conversion table.
For the 'items sold' prices, the engine will look up the currency conversion
table of that specific time frame, according to the help.
It seems pretty clear to me how it works.
|
Thank you for your thought's and comments they are helpful and it now seems
that several things are obvious. We do not have access to the API so it is not
possible for us to determine the information you have introduced.
A lot of calculations seem to be taking place when the price guide is called
up by an individual member, e,g, UK store looks up a common part which is sold
everywhere in the world and the system is converting all those store held currencies
(Could be 37 of them) to GBP at a rate that is being held in a currency conversion
table. That table gets updated by a link to xe.com on an hour by hour basis,
but the rate used for the page is not shown - this would be clumsy and create
a vastly complicated screen display. Maybe a link could be created against the
currency which would reveal the exchange rate used. Maybe that is not worth it.
Hmm. More to think through now.
Thank you again for adding your comments to this thread. They are helpful.
| |
Hans-Peter
In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
| | In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | | | I would prefer it on the price guide so I didn't have to go back and forth.
Mind you this is all hypothetical cause they really are not doing anything with
the classic site whilst they work on XP.
|
I understand why you'd want it in the price guide, but there are many (37)
exchange rates to GBP, or any other single currency. While many pieces are listed
in USD, plenty are also in EUR, with other currencies also used. That's a
lot of extra information to list. You also wouldn't need to go back and forth,
as if it was set for one hour, you could note down the exchange rates of interest
and you would know they are guaranteed until the next exchange rate update time.
|
Interesting point - might need a bit more detail from Bricklink now. We understand
how the currency thing works in certain areas but we thought that the underlying
base currency for all prices was USD which Bricklink converts everything to and
then uses the xe.com exchange rate as and when necessary. So if what you are
saying is correct and the prices being shown for each country on the price guide
are converted directly from their currency to gbp that is a different story and
more thought would have to go into this. Unfortunately the help page isn't
really clear on how they are holding the currency from the outset. What you are
suggesting that if someone in India adds items in rupees then the system would
have to convert from rupees to gbp as well as any other currency and that would
be a different proposition entirely.
I do believe Bricklink should clarify this issue which would be helpful.
|
|
|
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| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Oct 25, 2018 10:16 | | Subject: | Re: Price guide improvement | | Viewed: | 27 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | | | Interesting point - might need a bit more detail from Bricklink now. We understand
how the currency thing works in certain areas but we thought that the underlying
base currency for all prices was USD which Bricklink converts everything to and
then uses the xe.com exchange rate as and when necessary. So if what you are
saying is correct and the prices being shown for each country on the price guide
are converted directly from their currency to gbp that is a different story and
more thought would have to go into this. Unfortunately the help page isn't
really clear on how they are holding the currency from the outset. What you are
suggesting that if someone in India adds items in rupees then the system would
have to convert from rupees to gbp as well as any other currency and that would
be a different proposition entirely.
|
I would imagine so, as converting a to b to c doesn't always give a to c,
even at xe.com.
|
Agreed but the way most multicurrency systems work their is a base currency as
well as a reporting currency as well as individual, currencies. You define what
is the base and you advise how you wish that to be reported. You also have things
like spot rates, rate tables etc, which just about covers all angels. Here it
looks a little bit like a free-for all in trying to accommodate all frequencies.
In fact if this was the case the price guide is almost useless on current items
listed - as for those items sold - you would need to see what rate they were
converting at when they were sold and factor that in. All in all vry messy and
inaccurate. Mixing 37 different currencies into gbp is problematic at the best
of times.
Hmmm.
| |
For example, right now, 1 USD = 0.878393 EUR and 1 USD = 0.777160 GBP. Also 1
EUR = 0.884895 GBP. (They use six sig figs).
1 USD = 1 USD, so 0.878393 EUR should equal 0.777160 GBP. Yet this gives the
rate as 1 EUR = 0.884752 GBP, different in the fourth figure to the EUR-GBP rate
they quote.
|
|
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| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Oct 25, 2018 09:29 | | Subject: | Re: Price guide improvement | | Viewed: | 28 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | | | I would prefer it on the price guide so I didn't have to go back and forth.
Mind you this is all hypothetical cause they really are not doing anything with
the classic site whilst they work on XP.
|
I understand why you'd want it in the price guide, but there are many (37)
exchange rates to GBP, or any other single currency. While many pieces are listed
in USD, plenty are also in EUR, with other currencies also used. That's a
lot of extra information to list. You also wouldn't need to go back and forth,
as if it was set for one hour, you could note down the exchange rates of interest
and you would know they are guaranteed until the next exchange rate update time.
|
Interesting point - might need a bit more detail from Bricklink now. We understand
how the currency thing works in certain areas but we thought that the underlying
base currency for all prices was USD which Bricklink converts everything to and
then uses the xe.com exchange rate as and when necessary. So if what you are
saying is correct and the prices being shown for each country on the price guide
are converted directly from their currency to gbp that is a different story and
more thought would have to go into this. Unfortunately the help page isn't
really clear on how they are holding the currency from the outset. What you are
suggesting that if someone in India adds items in rupees then the system would
have to convert from rupees to gbp as well as any other currency and that would
be a different proposition entirely.
I do believe Bricklink should clarify this issue which would be helpful.
|
|
| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Oct 25, 2018 07:01 | | Subject: | Re: Price guide improvement | | Viewed: | 40 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, yorbrick writes:
| | | | | | I thought current items for sale were all displayed using the exchange rate of
this moment. Why is it that important though if the exchange rate would be an
hour older?
|
That isn't how it works unfortunately. They change hourly, according to the
help pages. It would be far simpler to show the rate used at the top of the column.,
hence the suggestion.
|
I imagine doing instant lookups is just not efficient, as every time someone
accesses the price guide or looks at a store or a cart in another currency,
BL would need to access the exchange rates from xe.com. Plus I don't think
their (xe) rates are continuously updated anyway - aren't they something
like every 10 or 15 minutes, plus they also have some lag. I can totally understand
why BL sets them and fixes them for one hour, given how slowly they change (at
least change significantly, not in the 4th or 5th decimal place).
|
Understand what you are saying but it all depends on how the code is put together
to display the current data. It would be highly unusualk as well as inefficient
if they were storing the figures - good code isn't written that way, so when
we call up the price guid for a given element it should be doing those calculations
then and presenting the data - if that is the case then it is a simple matter
to add a single or couplof fields to the display.
| |
It wouldn't do any harm to either have the exchange rate on the price guide,
or possibly better still, have a separate page where all the current exchange
rates being used are listed along with the time they were updated for those interested.
That way, it is one less thing on the price guide page. Of course, you can always
get the current BL exchange rate, by doing the calculation yourself, to about
4 decimal places.
|
I would prefer it on the price guide so I didn't have to go back and forth.
Mind you this is all hypothetical cause they really are not doing anything with
the classic site whilst they work on XP.
Still one can hope - it really isn't rocket science or a lot of development
time to simply display the number you have used for the calculation.
|
|
| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Oct 25, 2018 01:40 | | Subject: | Re: Price guide improvement | | Viewed: | 30 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, BricksThatStick writes:
| | In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
It's just a guide.
|
Yes, true so why not make it informative, rather than having to use guesswork
and trial and error.
| |
If sellers want to use it to actually price their listings to the averages they
accept its not 100% perfect.
|
I am not sure anyone makes that assumption - we don't it is supposed to be
a data average and the currency conversion should be dynamic not hourly. Not
sure why this would cause any real problem for any developer.
| |
Otherwise sellers should just see it for what it is and adjust their prices/set
prices as they see fit.
|
Many of us do but the adjustment should be based on real - not supposition.
|
|
| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Oct 25, 2018 01:37 | | Subject: | Re: Price guide improvement | | Viewed: | 39 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | |
|
| In Suggestions, Teup writes:
| | In Suggestions, calsbricks writes:
| | We are aware that nothing is going on on the classic site whilst the development
team focus on Bricklink XP, so we will make this as short and sweet as we can.
Having contacted the forum and put all elements of this together it is plain
that a subtle but important change needs to be in place for the price guide screen.
Understanding full well what happens with the 'sold at' columns those
can be left as they are until the whole price guide is revisited, whenever that
is going to be. The current items for sale, however needs s small but important
change, in our view. It is currently not possible to determine the currency conversion
rate for those figures. It could have been anyti8me in the last hour or this
hour or whenever.
Please simply add the two fields which are used to convert e.g. for example $1
= 'x' £;s and £1 = 'x$). This will enable any member, buyer or seller,
to at least get their figures correct when working offline. This is not a complicated
change/fix - it merely requires placing those fields on that screen each time
they change. The fields are held somewhere in the system even if it is a temporary
table, so it should be relatively straight forward to display them on the price
guide screen.
Thoughts ?
|
I thought current items for sale were all displayed using the exchange rate of
this moment. Why is it that important though if the exchange rate would be an
hour older?
|
That isn't how it works unfortunately. They change hourly, according to the
help pages. It would be far simpler to show the rate used at the top of the column.,
hence the suggestion.
Don't we all.
|
|
| Author: | calsbricks | | Posted: | Oct 24, 2018 13:01 | | Subject: | Price guide improvement | | Viewed: | 217 times | | Topic: | Suggestions | | Status: | Open | | Vote: | [Yes|No] | |
|
| We are aware that nothing is going on on the classic site whilst the development
team focus on Bricklink XP, so we will make this as short and sweet as we can.
Having contacted the forum and put all elements of this together it is plain
that a subtle but important change needs to be in place for the price guide screen.
Understanding full well what happens with the 'sold at' columns those
can be left as they are until the whole price guide is revisited, whenever that
is going to be. The current items for sale, however needs s small but important
change, in our view. It is currently not possible to determine the currency conversion
rate for those figures. It could have been anyti8me in the last hour or this
hour or whenever.
Please simply add the two fields which are used to convert e.g. for example $1
= 'x' £;s and £1 = 'x$). This will enable any member, buyer or seller,
to at least get their figures correct when working offline. This is not a complicated
change/fix - it merely requires placing those fields on that screen each time
they change. The fields are held somewhere in the system even if it is a temporary
table, so it should be relatively straight forward to display them on the price
guide screen.
Thoughts ?
|
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