Marketplace users, tell me what you want! (Updated!)

[MrBobVilla]

Last week, I began working on a program to retrieve prices from marketplace items and store the results for easy trend lookups. This gives everyone a chance to tell me exactly what they are looking for in a website that stores information on the marketplace. Also, as soon as I can get a beta up, all code will be open sourced. If you have an apache server and java you too could have your own marketplace program built off of a convienent backbone. If you dont, you could still program up a few things and if I like the idea, I will be glad to add it to my version.
Currently, the program takes in a list of items and searches for the lowest price for each item. A main html page is then generated which shows each item, the date my program last checked the item, and the lowest price on the marketplace for the given item. Each item will then have a link to its own page that will list times and dates that each item has been checked, in reverse chronological order. The reverse chronological order is designed to allow you to more easilly spot trends. Wouldn't you prefer to start from the beggining of the items existance and then work your way down to its current price today?

So give me suggestions or comments on what you would like to see in a marketplace bot!
If you would like to gain some java programming experiance working in a team on a small project thats relatively easy to jump into, then this is a perfect oppertunity! There are tons and tons of improvements that could be made whose only limiting factor is really the time it takes me to build them.

Once I have the beta code distributed (Hopefully before next weekend) if you would like to join my development time (currently consisting only of me) simply talk to me about your programming experiance and what you would like to see in a marketplace bot.

Not interested in programming yourself but would love to see some specific things done? Post here and tell me about them! If I like the idea and I will gladly work on it. I just can't promise you instant results. smile

*EDIT*
Here is the beta release!
Check it out here!  

[Illoke]

I find the idea of this program interesting indeed.  

[MrBobVilla]

I think I finished work on the beta to a stage that it is usuable, but I don't have time to set it up and showcase it just yet, as I start my first day at Nokia tomorrow. I've become a 9-5er yay. ^_^  

[MrBobVilla]

Super lame beta is now up!
Better version tomorrow with more items and stuff I promise!

Check it out!  

[Aurora Sing]

WOW!!

I am definitely not a programmer...I would love to see the lowest prices on the coco and kiki kitties...


What about getting a list of the town items too so we can see what's worth selling etc...

mrgreen GOTO sub#28 to play games! mrgreen

 

[MrBobVilla]

It will be easilly possible to add anything to the list you want. I just have to install perl on the server and create a small script for that purpose. That wont be doable until next weekend for me though.
Until then, I'll see about manually adding the items you want to the list. 3nodding  

[bitingback]

I'd love to see the prices on tickets, and common game items.  

[MrBobVilla]

I've gotten myself really busy recently. Tomorrow though I will do the upgrade necessary to have just about any item working. (There is a slight logic problem in my parsing that I have been mulling over that is easilly fixed, but at the same time will take me a little while to fix it.)
Also, eventually you will be able to add items to the list. That should be nice. I just have to build a perl script to do it and then modify my website to work with perl.  

[MrBobVilla]

I fixed a bug in my code so now it should be more or less functional hopefully. You can now add items to the list yourself. It's not pretty yet but it is functional.

One important note!!
Items are not automatically put online once you add them tot he list. The program is set to cycle uploads on an 8 hour schedule. Once the correct time comes, your item will be on the list. But no sooner, sorry. Maybe I can do somthing about that later if its really a problem.

So check it out here, and follow the big link on the main page if you want to add an item yourself!

Check it out here!  

[MrBobVilla]

Well it looks like people have added stuff to the list. If anyone finds any pricing discrephrencies just tell me.
Also, just in case you want to confirm your item has been added to the list before the 8 hour span gets ticked, you can see what is on the list of items to be checked every 8 hours here

Whats up for the next release? I am next planning to change the individual items html files so that they contain links back to the main page as well as a link to automatically search for the item you are viewing. Please tell me any other suggestions you want. I would really like some feedback. 3nodding  

[Illoke]

Something isn't quite right with it...

Angelic Headband 5/30/06 10:47 PM 3,000
Golden Laurels 5/30/06 10:47 PM 475  

[gimme_chocolate]

Awesome idea--good luck on it ^_^  

[MrBobVilla]

Gaia's" or" and and "and" are screwed up and switch currently. Its wreaking havoc on my program and there is no easy fix. I will try to come up with a fix this weekend. Sorry about this sad  

[Illoke]

You could simply wait until gaia fixed the marketplace.  

[michael_austin2006]

A cape sore just capes