[Software] Brickficiency - Find the cheapest BL stores to buy parts

[Heppeng]

My problem is that it is still running my four vendor solution from this morning, 1382 million solutions and counting... Is there any way of interrupting it and just going with the best its found so far?

[mdoupe]

1. Is it possible for the program to be updated to retrieve minimum order values? Occasionally it comes up with combinations that have just a few cheap bricks from one vendor which are below their minimum spend, it would be good if it could automatically discount those combinations.

This (and other reasons) is why I added the ability to list as many matches as you want. I probably won't add this functionality, as it would generate a very large number of page requests to bricklink (one for each potential store). I'm trying not to anger the new Bricklink overlords, as technically this program is not approved and therefore against the TOS.

2. The time it takes to find solutions seems to rise exponentially according to number of bricks and vendors, I am currently running the program on 61 types of bricks in various quantities from four vendors and it is taking hours compared with the minutes a three vendor solution takes. It seems that it analyses every possible permutation, so that a combination that is only a couple of bricks different from another already high priced solution will still be calculated. Is there any way the program can eliminate a whole range of combinations, and thus not spend time calculating them, based upon results of combinations already calculated? i.e. maybe it can eliminate all combinations that include a particular high priced vendor and not spend time calculating them?

The program starts with the most "rare" brick so that it can discard matches as quickly and efficiently as possible. Usually when I run a list there will be a few parts only available from 10-50 stores, so any match automatically has to have one of those 50 stores in it. the same for the second part, third part, etc.

The first problem is, if all parts are available from lots of stores, it can't rule out a lot of matches.

The second problem is, I have no surefire way to test Brickficiency from other countries, so it might be that the regex matches are just not working from your country. If you want to see if this is the case, cut your list down to 2-3 pieces and see if it successfully finds a match.

There could also be another problems I'm not forseeing :) sorry. If you want me to troubleshoot the list, you can PM it to me and I will have a look.

I have a great problem: i don't know where i'm wrong, but any list (bricklink wanted list or brickstore list) give me a solutions, also if in the list there a only 2 piece. It seems that there isn't ant store with the bricks or they don't ship to me.

I've put in the store list IT,FR,UK,DE,PL,HU,CZ,RO,ES,AT,DK,FI,LU,NL.

You might be suffering from the country problem I stated above. I could try to fix it if you download a price guide page from bricklink and send it to me (log out first, I don't want to be accused of hacking :P )

My problem is that it is still running my four vendor solution from this morning, 1382 million solutions and counting... Is there any way of interrupting it and just going with the best its found so far?

This isn't currently possible. It could be added in the future, but I have a severe lack of time at the moment. The bulk of this program was written while I was on vacation.

[Heppeng]

Don't worry, I very much appreciate the program as it is. I understand its not something done on a commercial basis so I don't want you to feel pressured! one thing I often do is try and substitute any rare bricks with a cheaper/more easily available alternative in order to try and keep the costs down. It seems that this will make the process longer. However, I am prepared to wait! (1859 million solutions and counting....)

[Bob De Quatre]

Hi,

I've used Brickficiency for some project, and it works well in most cases.

I think it would be nice to have a way to select stores by regions, instead of giving a list of country. For exemple, I only buy from european stores, and its hard to get the exact country list.

Also I coudn't get my WL by typing it's number, I always have to input it's name.

For my latest project, I've run Brickficiency a few times.

As the WL contains some rare parts (one is only available in 1 store in the world at the moment) and some inexistant parts (wrong color/part combinaison), Brickficiency didn't gave me any vendor solution.

I'm a web developer, so seeing what info you managed to get from bricklink, I've build my own application. And I must say that bricklink is quite tricky to work with, and as you said, we don't want to query too much pages.

Edited October 19, 2013 by Bob De Quatre

[Lego Otaku]

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p101/uzumaki_arashi_album/messy_ui_zps7e4cb698.jpg

UI looks messed up to me? Windows 7 64-bits, I think the problem is in Windows display setting. It is set to 125% of default size.

[mdoupe]

It is set to 125% of default size.

I guess TK doesn't like changed font sizes. I will look into this.

[mdoupe]

I think it would be nice to have a way to select stores by regions,

I've seen many different interperitations of which countries make up a "region". I'm not sure which ones people would want. Since the US raised prices on shipping I've started searching all countries, as the shipping cost is usually cheaper from the EU.

Also I coudn't get my WL by typing it's number, I always have to input it's name.

That's a bug I've been too lazy to fix.

[nantokuto]

You might be suffering from the country problem I stated above. I could try to fix it if you download a price guide page from bricklink and send it to me (log out first, I don't want to be accused of hacking :P )

I'm sorry, but i'm not an hard-user of Bricklink, so i don't know how can download a price guide page?

[legolijntje]

I'm sorry, but i'm not an hard-user of Bricklink, so i don't know how can download a price guide page?

I think he just means saving the page. I don't know which browser and OS you use, it it would be something like right mouse button and then "save page" or "save as". The shortcut CTRL+S also often works.

[nantokuto]

How can i send it?

I've no permission to send PM.

[5cooter]

_{Howdy. Just found Brickficiency. Unfortunately like quite a few others it doesn't work for me. I keep getting the known "No stores that a> ship to you and b> are on your list of valid countries have this part" issue. I have a VPN and have tried US, Canadian and European portals with no success.}

_{Is there any word of a fix for this issue? The program promises so much...}

_{So I can try a little more debugging from my end does anyone have a BSX file, that worked for them, that I could try?}

_{Since it seems to be a deeply ingrained error, it occurs in all versions for me, I don't hold much hope for a solution.}

_{Are there any other options other than Brickficiency that people have found to work?}

_Cheers.

Edited November 5, 2013 by 5cooter

[Lego Otaku]

If you have a very large want list and it contains many rare parts, you will have trouble finding results. Also if you have something in want list that is in unusual color (ie blue monorail track, trans-neon-orange tire, etc), the program will fail to find. Make sure you want list contains items that do exists in desired color.

If all else fails, make a new wanted list and move 3 items you need the most (or 3 rarest items) and try searching just from that 3. It'd make the rest of the list a tad easier for program to find match.

I've used it without major problem. I still get issue with wanted list # instead of name, and one of the wanted list won't work for some reason. I keep getting wanted list not found even when I changed the name to make sure it wasn't a weird letter or hidden space that broke the earlier attempts

[Heppeng]

Brickficiency has just stopped working for me, cannot find any of my wanted lists despite some of them being identical and unaltered from ones it successfully found last week. Perhaps something has changed on bricklink that is stopping it?

[Lego Otaku]

A few days ago it was giving me unusual trouble. It was having a hard time finding sources for parts that isn't on my wanted list (like white technic axle, I don't have any technic axle in any of my list!) and another time it reported no source for a common part like 1x1 tile with computer pattern (I checked, over 100 sources for new and used)

[Heppeng]

This is what I got from my 'main' wanted list, the only one it seems to be able to find:

[WaysofSorting]

Yes - I see Bricklink has a maintenance message dating November 21 on their front page. I guess something they changed yesterday has interrupted whatever queries this software was making?

I hadn't heard of this program until now, but I think there's a great potential here. Hopefully it's just a matter now of remapping the queries for the software, and not a case where BrickLink has permanently locked them out of the database.

[mdoupe]

It is indeed because of the maintenance message. My maintenance checking is not complex at all. I will fix it an upload a new build in the next day or so.

[Heppeng]

It has to be said though, that so far it has done me proud in getting bricks at a good price. Its amazing how much you miss it when it does not work! Keep up the good work!

[Lego Otaku]

Now I am getting wanted list not found error. Even those that worked a couple weeks ago is not working now.

[mdoupe]

I have removed maintenance checking entirely. Just don't use it while bricklink is doing maintenance. Otherwise it should work as it did before. :)

Now I am getting wanted list not found error. Even those that worked a couple weeks ago is not working now.

Please let me know if you are still having this issue with version 0.86.

Edited November 24, 2013 by mdoupe

[Lego Otaku]

Please let me know if you are still having this issue with version 0.86.

Still getting error. I tried the number and by name. It seems inconsistent to me. Wanted list that I named such as "minifig parts," "toys," and "forestmen" is giving error but another wanted list named "spare," "moc," "ruby night," and "vf01" is downloading OK. I tried changing name, and even switched both working and non working name, the non working want list is not downloading for some reason.

[Heppeng]

New version is working okay for me!

[Andromeda]

Well done and keep up the good work! I, like Heppeng, found the same error with 0.85. Although this has not finished processing, I am feeling really confident...!

[Andromeda]

I am finding that 0.86 is giving back results from some sellers that are only selling in multiples. So I can get the part cheaper, but only if I comply with the sellers multiple rules.

Is this a setting I've missed? Has anyone else experienced this at all?

Edit:

I have also found that I have been pointed towards a shop that has not included 25% VAT.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Andromeda

[Vee]

My problem is that it is still running my four vendor solution from this morning, 1382 million solutions and counting... Is there any way of interrupting it and just going with the best its found so far?

I miss this feature the most. Sometimes I just want to stop its processing and see whatever solution it may have found, if any, but it is impossible.

Also, if there was a way to save the prices so that when you start again the application it does not have to download everything again from Bricklink,that would be useful. I know that prices and stock change in real time but the chances are small for a certain batch and even if some of them change (and we would only know when we tried to actually buy them), we then would ask the application run again and "refresh" the prices. Or we could refresh when we finally find a good combination. That would be up to the user to decide.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Vee