Brickset ForumThe Advanced Collection Manager beta test phase has begun!
Huw
Brickset Towers, Hampshire, UKAdministrator Posts: 6,439
OK, so I don't know how I found the time this week to get this written, but between several early evening cycle rides round the Solent and erecting a greenhouse yesterday, I did, and it's now just about ready for you to test.
So, the ideas behind this are as follows:
- If you don't want to use it, you don't have to. If you don't opt in, Brickset will look and behave as it does now
- Its purpose is to allow you to record information about your collection beyond just own/want and a simple notes field and to manage your entire collection on one page.
To get started, go to http://www.brickset.com/mysets/acm/. Click on the button and wait a minute or so. This initialises the database (creates a row in a table for every copy of every set you own) and, once done, provides information about how the ACM manifests itself and also some customisation options. You can change them straight away or leave them as the default and come back later to do so.
Now, when you view a list of sets you'll have an extra icon in the collection column which'll bring up the ACM data for that set. I'm sure you'll work out how to use it.
As I mentioned in another thread, the way it handles you increasing/decreasing the quantity owned (in the normal way) is as follows:
-If you increase the quantity, additional rows will be added to the ACM table
-If you decrease quantity and you haven't added any ACM data, the rows will be deleted in the ACM table
-If you decrease quantity and you have added ACM data, the rows will be marked as deleted and appear greyed out in the ACM window. You can manually delete them from there.
-If you subsequently increase quantity, any rows marked as deleted will be unmarked and appear normally again.
That should thus work seamlessly with the 'I own' tickbox/qty input, while ensuring data is not lost.
You can also export all the data you've entered as a CSV from the main ACM page.
There's still some stuff to do, but the core functionality is there and we can now work together to refine it.
Still to do: [List edited 5 Jun to show progress]
- Indicate in the set listings when the set has ACM data, probably by changing the icon like with notes [Done]
- Display it on the set detail pages, maybe in a tab (although available page width may be a problem) [Done]
- Create the 'entire collection on one page'. This will break out of the Brickset page template and use the full available width of your monitor so that all columns can be viewed. [Still to do]
- Refine the fields in terms of drop-down list options and maybe add a few more if we identify any (perhaps even some user defined ones) [Done]
- Decide what best to do about the date field, which at the moment is still free-text [Still free text]
- Implement any other suggestions you come up with [Ongoing...]
That's enough for now. Get on and have a play...
So, the ideas behind this are as follows:
- If you don't want to use it, you don't have to. If you don't opt in, Brickset will look and behave as it does now
- Its purpose is to allow you to record information about your collection beyond just own/want and a simple notes field and to manage your entire collection on one page.
To get started, go to http://www.brickset.com/mysets/acm/. Click on the button and wait a minute or so. This initialises the database (creates a row in a table for every copy of every set you own) and, once done, provides information about how the ACM manifests itself and also some customisation options. You can change them straight away or leave them as the default and come back later to do so.
Now, when you view a list of sets you'll have an extra icon in the collection column which'll bring up the ACM data for that set. I'm sure you'll work out how to use it.
As I mentioned in another thread, the way it handles you increasing/decreasing the quantity owned (in the normal way) is as follows:
-If you increase the quantity, additional rows will be added to the ACM table
-If you decrease quantity and you haven't added any ACM data, the rows will be deleted in the ACM table
-If you decrease quantity and you have added ACM data, the rows will be marked as deleted and appear greyed out in the ACM window. You can manually delete them from there.
-If you subsequently increase quantity, any rows marked as deleted will be unmarked and appear normally again.
That should thus work seamlessly with the 'I own' tickbox/qty input, while ensuring data is not lost.
You can also export all the data you've entered as a CSV from the main ACM page.
There's still some stuff to do, but the core functionality is there and we can now work together to refine it.
Still to do: [List edited 5 Jun to show progress]
- Indicate in the set listings when the set has ACM data, probably by changing the icon like with notes [Done]
- Display it on the set detail pages, maybe in a tab (although available page width may be a problem) [Done]
- Create the 'entire collection on one page'. This will break out of the Brickset page template and use the full available width of your monitor so that all columns can be viewed. [Still to do]
- Refine the fields in terms of drop-down list options and maybe add a few more if we identify any (perhaps even some user defined ones) [Done]
- Decide what best to do about the date field, which at the moment is still free-text [Still free text]
- Implement any other suggestions you come up with [Ongoing...]
That's enough for now. Get on and have a play...
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Comments
- need a key to let people know what P (pieces ?), M (no idea), I (instructions) and B (box) refer to
- need to include ACM icon/link within box displaying "I own [X] of the set" on set page. Too cumbersome to access ACM at present.
- I can't find the totals (amount paid etc.) anywhere - are they yet to be added, or did I miss them ?
- need to be able to change which fields to show or hide; I selected all to start with in order to have a play, and can't now find how to hide some of the ones I don't want to see
- if you don't enter an estimated value, box should be blank, not show "0.00"
More to follow.
- M=Minifigs, but I agree some form of key would be useful.
- I think Huw was thinking of putting the ACM info as a new tab on the Set Details page, which would address this issue
- The total is calculated from the 2 Price Paid values you can enter.
- There is no link to the page you're referring to yet, you'll need to use http://www.brickset.com/mysets/acm/ for now to get to it. Not sure where Huw is planning to make this accessible from in the long term.
- Yes, I agree, null/blank is very different to 0.00.
OK/yes to the first 3; the ACM link will be on my sets tab page when it goes live; OK to #5, I'll change it.
^ When exporting, could you export the total price paid as well as the individual amounts?
OK
^ One suggestion, if you select the Condition Now as MISB, the P, M, I and B checkboxes should default to selected to save a bit of input time.
Agreed, that is a refinement I intend to make.
Regarding totals, I was talking about the location of the grand total for all sets entered into the ACM rather than just individual total for set + postage.
From the messages above and Huw's responses, it looks like most of my 'wants' and suggested refinements so far, including the ability to show a 'master list' of ACM data all on one screen (and scroll through it) are already on the 'to do' list - great !
The export now includes the sum of the two values.
It should be possible, although it will complicate the search stored procedures somewhat. I'll have a look later...
It'll all come in time...
Sure is ! You'll feel utterly useless - I've been there - so might as well use the time for SOMETHING constructive...........
:-)
You're kidding me, right? Today was my seventh (and last) day off in a row and I'm still exhausted and feel I've accomplished nothing....well, one thing. :o)
Maybe this can be shown on the My Sets page (as well as on the 'entire collection on one page' page)? It would make the data in the box Sets You Own more complete.
This has been done.
The null/0.00 problem is causing a few headaches though, seems I can either display nulls as 0.00 or not display 0.00 at all, but not what we want. I'll continue to play but I don't see it as a show stopper.
@Huw - Your comment above about user 'kari's errors in the logs made me wonder if you are checking what is entered into the fields is valid and not an injection attempt? Just a thought as not everyone is as friendly as the crowd in this forum...
Kari's errors were to do with null values where a varchar/string was expected which is now resolved.
^ Thanks.
P M I B
What do they mean?
Minifigs
Instructions
Box
Tick them if you have them!
btw if possible put Bulgarian Lev in the currency list?
and keep up the good work, Huw!
Injection attack: http://xkcd.com/327/
- Set detail pages now have an ACM tab. The ACM data is still shown in the pop-up window, though, as there's not enough width available. Your thoughts on whether this is OK or not will be appreciated.
- The apostrophe problem noted above has been fixed
- Session timeout issue, which nobody encountered, has also been solved.
- I've made a start on the 'spreadsheet view'. It's very rudimentary at the moment and only really released to see how well it performs on the server:
http://www.brickset.com/mysets/acm/list/?theme=atlantis
Change the theme at the end to suit. That will be selectable via a drop-down list on the page eventually.
It needs optimising, but if I can get it working at a reasonable speed, is it what you were expecting? I hope to add sorting to the table, but I don't think it's going to be practical to show one's entire collection on one page given some of us have thousands of sets. So, to keep the page size down without having to resort to paging, I'm proposing to show just one theme at a time. Do we need set thumbnails on it?
LMKWYT...
Regarding the 'spreadsheet view', what's the downside to just dumping all the info into one large scrollable list using the format you've trialled with the Atlantis theme ? My current spreadsheet does this and it works fine - easy to scroll up and down it at speed as necessary. I'd certainly appreciate it if this option existed, even if some might find it cumbersome. I personally don't find filtering by theme very helpful as SW apart I don't generally conceptualise my collection in this way. What would be ideal is to have an 'all sets' view to scroll through, and then allow people to filter by theme, year etc. so the view can be customised to taste.
Thanks for adding the ACM tab to the set details page - that was number 1 on my wish list !
I've spent an hour or so playing around with pivot tables in Excel to do some basic data analysis, so I'd thought I'd share a bit of it with you all just for fun:
Where I've purchased my LEGO (by volume):
[email protected]: 30%
ebay: 13%
Bricklink: 12%
Daily Mirror(!): 12%
US Contact: 5%
TRU: 4%
Argos: 3%
Amazon: 3%
Play.com: 2%
WH Smith: 2%
Tesco: 2%
Other (various): 13%
Where I've purchased my LEGO (by value):
[email protected]: 41%
ebay: 20%
Argos: 7%
TRU: 7%
Amazon: 5%
Play.com: 4%
Bricklink: 3%
Tesco: 3%
Other (various): 10%
Highest Spending Month: September 2010 (£796)
I won't tell you the specifics (you never know who might read it!), but I spent almost exactly the same amount on LEGO in 2009 as in 2010, I guess this must be my natural cap. Shockingly I seem to have averaged over £300 per month since October 2008, and I have not had a single LEGO purchase free month since!
Current Set Condition:
MISB: 60%
Boxed: 29%
Assembled: 10%
Parted Out: 1%
Condition When purchased >95% MISB.
There's lots more I could do, but I'm going to concentrate next on valuing my collection.
Conclusion so far? Build more, buy less!!
From a usability perspective, I would prefer the ACM to be embedded directly in the details tab, even if it means having horizontal a scroll bar. Of course, even better would be for the ACM to take advantage of the full width of the browser, but I understand that would have further-reaching effects to the site.
I second drdavewatford's comment that filtering by theme for the spreadsheet view isn't critical, but as long as their is an "all sets" option, I am okay with it.
Thanks again! :)
Dominic