bricksyn dropped 20000 pcs from BL

PolBricks

hi

3 weeks ago I used Bricksync for the first time to copy data from BL to BO, Bricksync program was ON all the time, selling on BO did not update my data on BL, today I turned off then turned on Bricksync and the program started updating, but when finished I saw I lost over 20000 pcs on BL and about 1000 lots ..... !! how can i get back it ?? please help. thank you

Stragus

Problem resolved through private messages.

And I wish more people would read the BrickSync documentation...

brickfeverparts

Hi Stragus, Although I read the documentation, something strange is happening with our stock. I checked the bsx files and from one to the other back up the stock drops down with a high qty. But we still have stock so it isn't removed but it goes from over 1000 pcs for an item to 2 pcs. Because we faced issues before I closed BrickOwl for a while but kept the sync running to have the bsx files which came in handy. But I can't keep my finger on where it goes wrong from time to time. Hope you can help me out. Regards, Ray/BrickFeverParts

Hoddie

Stragus is currently on an extended holiday. The issue you describe is usually to do with incorrect use of the blmaster command. Is this a command you use?

Graham

@Hoddie any idea when stragus returns?

Hoddie

Nope, sorry.

brickfeverparts

Yes, we only use blmaster on/off for many years an we never faced issues up untill a few months ago. Then from one day to another we saw items jumped to stockroom with a stock of exactly one in our BL inventory. We corrected a few weeks later we noticed that items went from a an x qty to zero. When I went through the backup that are made by bricksync I saw the size of the file was changed for more then 1MB and there I found many items dropped in qty while other qty's where raised. And I really have no clue where I can find the source of it.

Hoddie

blmaster is a tricky command.

BrickSync is keeping track of your main inventory, but you can over-ride this temporarily and make Bricklink you main inventory with use of the blmaster command. If, however, you use it incorrectly and make changes to your stock on BL while BS is running but without having turned blmaster on, this can seriously screw up your inventory.

Normally:
1) Enter blmaster
2) Update stock on BL
3) Leave blmaster
4) BS checks for updates on BL and updates its local inventory, then updates BrickOwl

If you forget blmaster, even once, here's what happens:
1) Update stock on BL
2) BS finds a discrepancy between BL and its local inventory (usually when an order is received)
3) BS runs deep sync and removes all the stock updates you made on BL. If further orders have been received/processed before the discrepancy was noticed, this can screw things up even more.

It's better not to rely on blmaster for anything other than a quick update (say, changing a quantity of a single lot). Larger updates that can take a while to work through, after a stock check or parting out new sets, it's better to introduce them via BS with a .bsx file.

As far as I know, BS doesn't interact with BL's stockroom in any way.

Regardless how you got here, this is how to fix it:

(0) Optionally, reinstall BrickSync
(1) blmaster on
(2) Make absolutely sure your inventory on BL is accurate
(3) blmaster off

This will update BS's local inventory and your inventory here on BO.

brickrepository

Hey @Hoddie just wondering why you'd follow this approach:

"It's better not to rely on blmaster for anything other than a quick update (say, changing a quantity of a single lot). Larger updates that can take a while to work through, after a stock check or parting out new sets, it's better to introduce them via BS with a .bsx file."


Because in my experience, BrickSync works really wall in the opposite way, and the available commands reinforce that.

For large updates (parting out new sets, stock checks, large price updates):
1) blmaster on
2) Upload .bsx file to BL
3) blmaster off

For small updates:
- use the setquantity command to change a quantity
- use the setprice command to set a price
- etc...


Works every time.

Hoddie

Every time you switch blmaster off, BrickSync has to download your entire BL inventory in order to determine what's changed. If you have a large inventory, and do several daily updates using blmaster, you could hit your API allowance reasonably quickly. This could prevent BS from working entirely until your API allowance resets.

But, most importantly of all, the scenario outlined above where your inventory gets all screwed up without an easy fix, could be the result of simply failing to type blmaster on just once.

BS allows you to merge .bsx files into your inventory. While it does have commands to make small updates, it's equally well suited to updating thousands (even millions) of lots with just one command.

I would also recommend the BS commands you quote for making quick updates. I'd personally avoid use of blmaster at all, but think it's fine for quick updates that take a few seconds. Any longer than that and you can forget to turn blmaster off, or forget whether you turned it on at all. It just isn't worth the risk imo.

brickrepository

Your concerns do make a lot of sense... Now you got me a bit worried. Although I never ran into problems, and I don't anticipate changing my usage patterns significantly.

I might try importing the .bsx files into BrickSync directly, but since I'm running it on a remote VM that I SSH into, handling files is a bit more cumbersome and I never tried it. Something to consider, I guess.

Hoddie

When I use BS I have it on a micro Windows 10 PC. Never considered a VM so that's interesting

If you've been using blmaster for years and it works for you, there's no need to change your routines unless perhaps you're close to hitting your API usage threshold. What works for you works for you.

brickfeverparts

Hi Hoddie,

I think you gave us the answer which we where looking for.
We use the blmaster command when we upload a whole new set but during the week we also add smal qty which are left over to BL without using the sync every time because we forgot and also because we didn't knew it could screw things up.

As stragus said in his post, I think it's time we need to read the documentation...

Hoddie

The blmaster command should come with a big flashing warning It's a great function to have but should be used sparingly in my opinion.

Key thing to remember about BrickSync is that it now holds your mastery inventory, not BL. So making changes on BL does nothing unless BS is expecting it (via use of the blmaster command).

All the best with sorting it out

leopard37

I use the blmaster function regularly... If used correctly it works fine.

Tyson.

brickfeverparts

For uploading sets we also use the BLmaster. A bsx file isn't working for us since a bsx file doesn't show the current locations of the items we do have in stock. We developed a tool which shows the location of the parts we have. Now I was wondering if it is possible to create a hotkey for the BLmaster of and off instead of typing it.

Hoddie

Here's what I used to do:

(1) copy the BrickSync master .bsx file to the same location
(2) ensure this temporary file is open in BrickStock, as well as the file you have your new parts in
(3) make sure the file with your new parts is the active one
(4) in the edit menu, 'copy remarks from...'
(5) then select the temporary file in the list (should be the only one in the list)

This copied all the location IDs from my current inventory to the file with the new parts. Any parts without a current inventory will be left blank, leaving me to update them before saving the file and merging it into BrickSync.

Only thing left to do is delete the copy of the master .bsx file created in step (1), and it's not a problem if you forget.