Pricing (Scripts and Notes)

[wilmheath]

So would anyone be interested in helping secure my site(mtgotraders.com) from scrapping? I would pay of course.

[woogerboy21]

So would anyone be interested in helping secure my site(mtgotraders.com) from scrapping? I would pay of course.

I actually have something like this on my list of things to do / learn. Not necessarily to secure your site specifically but figure out how to generate images using php. Its a low priority at the moment though. Lately been working on my firearm proficiency

[wilmheath]

So would anyone be interested in helping secure my site(mtgotraders.com) from scrapping? I would pay of course.

I actually have something like this on my list of things to do / learn. Not necessarily to secure your site specifically but figure out how to generate images using php. Its a low priority at the moment though. Lately been working on my firearm proficiency

Yeah i'm hoping to find someone that knows how to setup bot traps without catching legit bots and users.

[woogerboy21]

Yeah i'm hoping to find someone that knows how to setup bot traps without catching legit bots and users.

There may be a way, unless the bot making the request uses some fancy way to identify itself when making an http get request the only other way I can see would be identifying and blocking source IP address's. If anyone has any other idea's I can't see how the web server itself would be able to determin what is a bot and what isn't. When your presenting data to the general public most communication is generic and with that makes it hard to identify specifics.

[wilmheath]

Yeah i'm hoping to find someone that knows how to setup bot traps without catching legit bots and users.

There may be a way, unless the bot making the request uses some fancy way to identify itself when making an http get request the only other way I can see would be identifying and blocking source IP address's. If anyone has any other idea's I can't see how the web server itself would be able to determin what is a bot and what isn't. When your presenting data to the general public most communication is generic and with that makes it hard to identify specifics.

Well the way a trap works is you setup a hidden icon with a link. The bots always go to it since they are going through the site's code instead of viewing the site like a human would with a browser. Once the bot hits the "trap" it is added to the block list and then immediately banned from the server.

[woogerboy21]

Yeah i'm hoping to find someone that knows how to setup bot traps without catching legit bots and users.

There may be a way, unless the bot making the request uses some fancy way to identify itself when making an http get request the only other way I can see would be identifying and blocking source IP address's. If anyone has any other idea's I can't see how the web server itself would be able to determin what is a bot and what isn't. When your presenting data to the general public most communication is generic and with that makes it hard to identify specifics.

Well the way a trap works is you setup a hidden icon with a link. The bots always go to it since they are going through the site's code instead of viewing the site like a human would with a browser. Once the bot hits the "trap" it is added to the block list and then immediately banned from the server.

That would work but wouldn't stop "approved" bots (if there were any in your mind).

[wilmheath]

Approved bots stop and read the robots.txt file. So you would have to make sure that the bots that obey the robots.txt file are marked as "good".

[Mr.C]

Any ideas on why the TCGPlayerLOW takes overnight to run, while the others finish in minutes? I'm doing in again now, and it looks like it will take a billion years again...

[woogerboy21]

Any ideas on why the TCGPlayerLOW takes overnight to run, while the others finish in minutes? I'm doing in again now, and it looks like it will take a billion years again...

Not off the top of my head, the script code is exactly the same between the 3 scripts. The only difference would be the variable that defines what html block to identify containing the specific pricing data. My guess (just a guess) there site has something going on.

edit:
I just tried the "low" script and it only took maybe 12 minutes or so to run?

[woogerboy21]

Went through all the pricing sites and added the "Fire & Lightning" set to those that had card prices listed. Also updated AbuGames and GamingEtc scripts for newer page layouts. If I missed anything let me know and I can take a look. I'm finding it difficult to keep track of which site has been updated up to what set so I may end up dropping that information from the main page but have to think about it.

[woogerboy21]

Looking for a way to import your own prices into the Magic Album application? Maybe you own your own shop or think you can collect prices using other methods than writting a LUA script? Here's your solution. The LocalPrices.lua script will read the contents of a text file named cardprices.txt located in the same directory as the magicalbum.exe file and import the pricing contents. Inside the zip is an example cardprices.txt file to give you an idea of the format and more details are outlined in the .lua script file. Just open it and read the details along the top of the script.

I plan to incorperate this into the pricing scripts release but didn't feel the need to re-release the release posted today.

Code: Select all

script version 1.0
this pricing script is designed for individuals to create or collect there own pricing information in whatever means they so choose and import that information into the magic album application.
to do so create the file "cardprices.txt" in the root folder of the magic album application.  inside the file each line represents a card and its associated information.  the expected line format is as follows:
(cardname{tab}cardprice{tab}setname{tab}cardlanguage{tab}cardversion{tab}foil/nonfoil)
valid complete example line:
Abuna Acolyte   0.24   Scars of Mirrodin   English   *   nonfoil
Abuna Acolyte   0.24   Scars of Mirrodin   English   0   nonfoil

valid part-complete example line:
Abuna Acolyte   0.24   Scars of Mirrodin         

invalid line examples:
Abuna Acolyte   0.24   SOM   eng   0   nonfoil
Abuna Acolyte   0.24   Scars of Mirrodin   english   0   nonfoil
Abuna Acolyte   0.24      eng   0   nonfoil

requirements:
setname must match setnames defined in "tab" table (see below)
cardlanguage must match a language  defined in the suplang table (see below)
price values must not contain commas
you must define a card name
you must define a card price
you must define a card set nam
all other values if not present will use default values listed below

defaults:
cardlanguage will default to english (eng)
cardversion will default to * (all versions)
cardfoiling will default ot nonfoil


[woogerboy21]

All sites with available MBS card pricing scripts have been updated. I have NOT done any testing on the scripts so if you find any problems let me know. One thing to note, if you arent getting prices for the newest set check the site you are not getting prices for first to make sure the card names dont have some indicator that they are a "pre-release" sale item. Commonly sites such as www.starcitygames.com or www.abugames.com will have an extra set of characters in the card name indicating a presale causing the located name to not match the name of the card in the database. After the cards are released those sites will drop the extension to the card name and prices should begin collecting properly.

[kristijanH]

Is it possible to make a dollar/euro etc. converter inside MA?

[woogerboy21]

Is it possible to make a dollar/euro etc. converter inside MA?

That would be a feature request that Goblin Hero would need to implement. There isn't a way for me to have that in the lua scripts (kinda). I could put in a conversion variable and it would convert the US dollar to Euro but a user would always have to set the variable value for the current price of the Euro and inside the application you would still always see the US $.

[kristijanH]

I know Goblin Hero would have to do it but I just comented here because this is the thread for prices. Another question that hopefully you can awser. How does the updates work? I'm updating prices for TCGPlayer LOW and it's taking ages to update. More than 8 hours and I'm still at one third let say. If I stop can I continue tomorrow? Will that work or do I have to update it in one shoot? Also I would like to see update all function. That would make it easier to update so you don't have to look for every store if it's updated yet before going on another one. Cheers