I was thinking about this this morning, and my only problem is that I don't really want to leave a computer on 24/7. I could rent a computing instance off amazon or something, but I don't really want to cover all the costs just for instantaneous syncs. At least for now, I don't get that many orders that leaving it unsynced overnight is a problem.
I also thought about two suggestions partly related:
1. Get a trusted circle of sellers that wouldn't mind sharing the cost of running a server for this. Which would also mean that there would have to be 1 trusted person with access to all the API keys.
2. Depending on how motivated you are @stragus, or if someone else with the knowledge wanted to help (I wish I could!), make some kind of Android port for users to be able to, when they get an order notification, just go to the application and hit the sync button.
@Brick_Top If you don't like leaving a computer on permanently, there's also an online service called BrickPacker that does inventory synchronization: http://brickpacker.com I haven't tried it but some sellers are using it, so I'm sure it works fine.
There will be a way to interact remotely with BrickSync but it's not quite there yet.
@Brick_Top I run Bricksync around 6:30 'till 6:50, then my wife runs it around 13:00 and it stays on untill 21:00, sometimes later, sometimes I shut it down earlier. So on daily bases (weekdays), it runs less then 9 hours a day for me (maybe 12 hours during the weekends) and so far I did not run into trouble with 'identical' lot's during my downtimes, the chances you'll get an order that would contain the exact same lot('s) are quite slim. I know there is a risk offcourse, reason I usually keep 'offline' stock on the more particular items, but so far in over 6 months and +500 orders, not a single 'duplicate'...
@stargus: Does Bricksync keeps running when my Laptop is in 'auto' standby? I could probably check the log to find out, but I'm sure you can answer that in a second :-)
@RobErNat If the computer is on standby/sleep/hibernation/coma, the processes are not running, including BrickSync.
When the process resumes execution, the background watchdog thread is also likely to panic when it realizes the software hasn't been doing its homework for minutes/hours (it's harmless but it will print warnings and output a debugtrack.txt).
@stragus, the remote option would be nice. I'm traveling for work right now and have a need to blmaster. Would be awesome if i could ping my computer and tell it to do that!
BrickSync 2.0, now with achievements posted automatically on Facebook and G+! Seriously, I know absolutely nothing of Wordpress or anything web related. My field is real software, I wouldn't know how to make a web page counter.
@DadsAFOL Adding remote access by telnet or such would be trivial, but it implies the user knowing the IP, having a port forwarded to the machine if behind a router, etc. It also seemed like a tech support headache but I'll give it some thought.
There are softwares to log in remotely on a desktop, which would also work.
Quik question mate does the app sync prices after the initial sync?
@dadsafol No... I want to sell higher end stuff using the woocommerce plugin for wordpress has i already stated. Not to mention if its a wordpress plugin we could have stats, better printing, and many other things in with it.
Hello, just had a small problem where I forgot to go into blmaster mode while adding new parts to BL, which, when I discovered, I figured "sync" would do. Didn't pay much attention and what, instead of adding the new parts in BL to BO, did the contrary, remove the parts in BL. It also didn't make a backup, which was strange, I guess backups are made only with orders?
Anyways, since I had no order in the meantime unfortunately I lost those parts. Is there any ways to get them back?
Also, since I never ever make changes to BO and always to BL, is there a way to never take the BO one as reference?
Backups are always made for the tracked inventory, not for any remote inventory. A sync does not change the tracked inventory, therefore there's no backup.
The log file will contain all the changes applied to correct the BL inventory.
Came in to work today and seen this "==== HEADERS ==== http/1.1 200 ok server: nginx/1.4.7 date: mon, 11 may 2015 21:08:10 gmt content-type: text/html;charset=utf-8 content-length: 149 connection: keep-alive
==== DATA ==== {"meta":{"description":"TOKEN_IP_MISMATCHED: consumer: CA3D212BBB4B4DD4816F10081B647672 IP: 70.189.228.56","message":"BAD_OAUTH_REQUEST","code":401}} ==== END ==== "
5. Heeelllp! BrickLink is throwing me BAD_OAUTH_REQUEST, SIGNATURE_INVALID and/or TOKEN_IP_MISMATCHED errors!
You probably created a BrickLink API key that was restricted to a IP submask, and then your IP address changed. Create a BrickLink API key with an "allowed IP" and "mask IP" both set to 0.0.0.0
Stragus, I would like to use the prune command but need some help. Can you tell me exactly what exactly I would type if I wanted to get rid of everything older than 30 days? Thanks sherry
@stragus, I recently removed the folders (therefor files) in the BS 'backups' directory (jan-march), I assume prunebackups does the same thing or does it do 'more' then removing the backup folders?
@RobErNat Same thing, only old stuff in data/backups. Deleting old orders or log files doesn't seem worth it (I have 50mb in log files and 9mb of orders after six months, you have to be desperate to start deleting that).
Like i said using BLMASTER and editing prices on BL they never update on BO when taking BLMASTER off. And im not sure what its talking about with the bsx file. Why doesn't this just sync after turning blmaster off?
@BlocksNBodies. If you're using the % based discount on BL, your prices adjust on BL because the discount has been set, but these % based discounts are not handled by Bricksync and neither forwared towards BO, so on BO nothing changes. If you want the same discount on BO, then you'll need to set a discount as well from your BO settings. If you would adjust a price manually on BL (really change it's price), then BS will update your BO inventory without a problem.
I uploaded 1 item to test to brickstock. I saved the file and named it "test". I guess I am not understanding what my file name really is because when I typed "loadprices test.bsx" it comes back "current working directory is blah blah some long name" I typed in "loadprices blah blah some long name" and that didn't work. I am obviously doing it wrong. any help would be appreciated.
Some JSON value used to be either null or an integer, not an empty string, so the code didn't expect that. I'll post an update with the fix later tonight.
@stragus, quick question, is bricksync not taking into account stockrooms because it's just not possible or is it that you designed it that way? I use stockroom for my parts to remember their locations, and when using the sort function, the parts that are on stockroom won't update remarks, so I will think that they are new lots to inventory. Is it possible to do anything about that?
@Brick_Top, I think this might be the same bug that I reported to Stragus. Are you seeing that when you add parts to a stockroom item in that you had saved in BL that it's creating a new lot on BO instead of reopening the old?
The part of your question about the remarks should be okay. If you have a location code in a remark of a stockroom item, even if it does create a new BO lot instead of reopening the old, it will update the remarks correctly. The only thing it can't do is update remarks on an item that stays in stockroom.
@Brick_top The sort command uses the inventory tracked by BrickSync to assign comments/remarks to matching lots. It doesn't know (or even see) BL stockrooms. I guess I could make a variant of the sort command, using some flag, that would fetch BL stockrooms to find matching lots...
@DadsAFOL I'm sorry I haven't got around to properly investigate the issue you reported... Too many non-Lego matters are keeping me very busy lately!
Yes, that would be very nice @Stragus, I'm sure I'm not the only one that has fixed remarks for every part. My parts are ordered in boxes numbered AA1-AZ1, etc, and I keep them in stockroom once they have no quantity to keep their location in case of adding new ones.
@Dadsafol hadn't seen that bug before, but will pay attention the next time about it. My problem was that the sort function didn't get the remarks on the item, making me think it is a new lot that I didn't have on my ivnentory before.
@Brick_Top I use A00-Z99 sorting codes myself, but when a part is gone, I don't need to know where it used to be stored. I just pick a new drawer and assign it.
The difference between evalset and evalpartout is very subtle. If you provide an optional path to write an output BSX file with per-part statistics, evalset assumes the cheapest variants while evalpartout outputs them all to the BSX file for closer examination.
Yes, however, I'd rather use the same location to not end up with empty bins overtime. Is it possible to set an option to also sort remarks for stockroom items, or is it unavailable? Just a feature request.
@Brick_Top Don't see the point of what you're asking... Whatever system you use, if you use the BL master function, your BO stock will adjust automaticly. A little explanation/example: I use the retain function on both BO and BL, however, when a lot becomes 'zero' on BO, when I reactivate a lot on BL, it generates a new lot on BO (so I have the same lot twice, once at zero, once with the new quantity). For this reason I just clear my 'zero' lot's on BO on regular bases (can be done from your inventory). When I need to, I simply reactivate my existing lot's on BL (= move it out of stockroom), and they get fully regenerated on BO after the BLmaster command, as a matter of fact, I don't actually need the retain function on BO (but it needs to remain active for technical reasons), so I could do without. I don't use a 'fix' system for storage at the moment, but if I would, my storage location could either remain the same, or could have a new location, depending how I use the import feature on BL (old remarks or new remarks and/or consolidate). There isn't really a 'stockroom' function on BO (and if using third party software it only knows '1' stockroom and not 3) and currently the lot's do not get reactivated anyway, so pretty pointless to try to 'adjust' anything on BO, just erase the lot's once in a while and let the BLmaster function in Bricksync handle it ;-)
Maybe that is because you don't understand what I'm asking @rob
What I mean is not on import, but on using the sort function. The sort function takes a bsx and updates it with the remarks of your inventory if you have matching parts. How it is now, if you have something on stockroom, it doesn't see it so it has no remarks, making me think it's a new item and giving it a new remark. What I'm asking for is the sort function to also look at items in your stockroom and update things accordingly, if it's possible that is.
@Brick_Top: What file are you using? The sync BSX file? Or the original store file from BL (not even sure if possible)? The sync BSX doesn't hold stockroom items, only the 'active' items (afaik), probably the reason it creates new lot's all the time. I do not think the 'sort' function would be usefull for myself at this point, so yes I'm a bit puzzled on what it does exactly to ones inventory (working straight in a BSX file), I find the BLmaster mode far more conveniant, mainly because I still mainly do 'used' items with manual uploads or PO's from BSX's into my BLinventory (with retain of remarks). One more question: when using the 'sort' function (if it would work properly) does it generate a file telling you 'where' to store (I mean with your existing locations)?
The process that Brick_Top refers to is: - Use sort to fill in a BSX file with prices/comments/remarks matching his live inventory - Edit that BSX file as desired; prices, remarks, whatever - Do a merge of said BSX file
It's pretty much what I have always done. I never use "blmaster" myself, the command was added because everybody was asking for it.
Comments
Fixed in BrickSync 1.5.8, thanks @Brick_Top!
I also thought about two suggestions partly related:
1. Get a trusted circle of sellers that wouldn't mind sharing the cost of running a server for this. Which would also mean that there would have to be 1 trusted person with access to all the API keys.
2. Depending on how motivated you are @stragus, or if someone else with the knowledge wanted to help (I wish I could!), make some kind of Android port for users to be able to, when they get an order notification, just go to the application and hit the sync button.
Now those two would be nice!
http://brickpacker.com
I haven't tried it but some sellers are using it, so I'm sure it works fine.
There will be a way to interact remotely with BrickSync but it's not quite there yet.
I run Bricksync around 6:30 'till 6:50, then my wife runs it around 13:00 and it stays on untill 21:00, sometimes later, sometimes I shut it down earlier. So on daily bases (weekdays), it runs less then 9 hours a day for me (maybe 12 hours during the weekends) and so far I did not run into trouble with 'identical' lot's during my downtimes, the chances you'll get an order that would contain the exact same lot('s) are quite slim.
I know there is a risk offcourse, reason I usually keep 'offline' stock on the more particular items, but so far in over 6 months and +500 orders, not a single 'duplicate'...
@stargus:
Does Bricksync keeps running when my Laptop is in 'auto' standby? I could probably check the log to find out, but I'm sure you can answer that in a second :-)
When the process resumes execution, the background watchdog thread is also likely to panic when it realizes the software hasn't been doing its homework for minutes/hours (it's harmless but it will print warnings and output a debugtrack.txt).
@stragus, the remote option would be nice. I'm traveling for work right now and have a need to blmaster. Would be awesome if i could ping my computer and tell it to do that!
@DadsAFOL Adding remote access by telnet or such would be trivial, but it implies the user knowing the IP, having a port forwarded to the machine if behind a router, etc. It also seemed like a tech support headache but I'll give it some thought.
There are softwares to log in remotely on a desktop, which would also work.
@dadsafol No... I want to sell higher end stuff using the woocommerce plugin for wordpress has i already stated. Not to mention if its a wordpress plugin we could have stats, better printing, and many other things in with it.
Anyways, since I had no order in the meantime unfortunately I lost those parts. Is there any ways to get them back?
Also, since I never ever make changes to BO and always to BL, is there a way to never take the BO one as reference?
@Brick_Top That is not what sync does. See the help page:
http://www.bricksync.net/guidecommands.html#cmdsync
Backups are always made for the tracked inventory, not for any remote inventory. A sync does not change the tracked inventory, therefore there's no backup.
The log file will contain all the changes applied to correct the BL inventory.
"==== HEADERS ====
http/1.1 200 ok
server: nginx/1.4.7
date: mon, 11 may 2015 21:08:10 gmt
content-type: text/html;charset=utf-8
content-length: 149
connection: keep-alive
==== DATA ====
{"meta":{"description":"TOKEN_IP_MISMATCHED: consumer: CA3D212BBB4B4DD4816F10081B647672 IP: 70.189.228.56","message":"BAD_OAUTH_REQUEST","code":401}}
==== END ====
"
http://www.bricksync.net/guidefaq.html#faqblapikey
5. Heeelllp! BrickLink is throwing me BAD_OAUTH_REQUEST, SIGNATURE_INVALID and/or TOKEN_IP_MISMATCHED errors!
You probably created a BrickLink API key that was restricted to a IP submask, and then your IP address changed. Create a BrickLink API key with an "allowed IP" and "mask IP" both set to 0.0.0.0
Thank you. :-)
sherry
I recently removed the folders (therefor files) in the BS 'backups' directory (jan-march), I assume prunebackups does the same thing or does it do 'more' then removing the backup folders?
http://www.bricksync.net/guidefaq.html#faqpriceupdate
If you're using the % based discount on BL, your prices adjust on BL because the discount has been set, but these % based discounts are not handled by Bricksync and neither forwared towards BO, so on BO nothing changes. If you want the same discount on BO, then you'll need to set a discount as well from your BO settings.
If you would adjust a price manually on BL (really change it's price), then BS will update your BO inventory without a problem.
http://www.bricksync.net/guidefaq.html#faqpriceupdate
I suggest putting test.bsx right into BrickSync's directory (where the executable is), then run:
loadprices test.bsx
JSON PARSER Error, integer parse error, offset 731
JSON PARSER Error, token 5 when token 15 is expected, offset 731
Some JSON value used to be either null or an integer, not an empty string, so the code didn't expect that. I'll post an update with the fix later tonight.
Thanks.
I would like to thank you for this amazing program; it saves my life and saves me a lot of work
Thanks a lot
Ale
The part of your question about the remarks should be okay. If you have a location code in a remark of a stockroom item, even if it does create a new BO lot instead of reopening the old, it will update the remarks correctly. The only thing it can't do is update remarks on an item that stays in stockroom.
@DadsAFOL I'm sorry I haven't got around to properly investigate the issue you reported... Too many non-Lego matters are keeping me very busy lately!
@Dadsafol hadn't seen that bug before, but will pay attention the next time about it. My problem was that the sort function didn't get the remarks on the item, making me think it is a new lot that I didn't have on my ivnentory before.
The difference between evalset and evalpartout is very subtle. If you provide an optional path to write an output BSX file with per-part statistics, evalset assumes the cheapest variants while evalpartout outputs them all to the BSX file for closer examination.
Don't see the point of what you're asking...
Whatever system you use, if you use the BL master function, your BO stock will adjust automaticly.
A little explanation/example:
I use the retain function on both BO and BL, however, when a lot becomes 'zero' on BO, when I reactivate a lot on BL, it generates a new lot on BO (so I have the same lot twice, once at zero, once with the new quantity). For this reason I just clear my 'zero' lot's on BO on regular bases (can be done from your inventory). When I need to, I simply reactivate my existing lot's on BL (= move it out of stockroom), and they get fully regenerated on BO after the BLmaster command, as a matter of fact, I don't actually need the retain function on BO (but it needs to remain active for technical reasons), so I could do without. I don't use a 'fix' system for storage at the moment, but if I would, my storage location could either remain the same, or could have a new location, depending how I use the import feature on BL (old remarks or new remarks and/or consolidate). There isn't really a 'stockroom' function on BO (and if using third party software it only knows '1' stockroom and not 3) and currently the lot's do not get reactivated anyway, so pretty pointless to try to 'adjust' anything on BO, just erase the lot's once in a while and let the BLmaster function in Bricksync handle it ;-)
What I mean is not on import, but on using the sort function. The sort function takes a bsx and updates it with the remarks of your inventory if you have matching parts. How it is now, if you have something on stockroom, it doesn't see it so it has no remarks, making me think it's a new item and giving it a new remark. What I'm asking for is the sort function to also look at items in your stockroom and update things accordingly, if it's possible that is.
What file are you using? The sync BSX file? Or the original store file from BL (not even sure if possible)? The sync BSX doesn't hold stockroom items, only the 'active' items (afaik), probably the reason it creates new lot's all the time. I do not think the 'sort' function would be usefull for myself at this point, so yes I'm a bit puzzled on what it does exactly to ones inventory (working straight in a BSX file), I find the BLmaster mode far more conveniant, mainly because I still mainly do 'used' items with manual uploads or PO's from BSX's into my BLinventory (with retain of remarks).
One more question: when using the 'sort' function (if it would work properly) does it generate a file telling you 'where' to store (I mean with your existing locations)?
http://www.bricksync.net/guidecommands.html#cmdsort
The process that Brick_Top refers to is:
- Use sort to fill in a BSX file with prices/comments/remarks matching his live inventory
- Edit that BSX file as desired; prices, remarks, whatever
- Do a merge of said BSX file
It's pretty much what I have always done. I never use "blmaster" myself, the command was added because everybody was asking for it.