1 Topic by gregnorz

(0 replies, posted in Site Discussion)

Sebi and gang --

So I've been out of Magic for about 2.5 years due to medical treatments. I've used Deckbox some, but now that I'm back to where I can play regularly (and I'm buy cards regularly), I've been digging through all of the new stuff in Deckbox. I gotta say that I'm just floored. The Card Database, the way I can see Editions now, the growth of the Marketplace and Trade capabilities. Man, you all have done a fantastic job. Please keep it up! As a geek who manages comics, Magic, Pokemon TCG, Star Wars Destiny, X-Wing, I know there's just nothing like this out there for other collectibles.

Please, keep up the good work! As I said in a previous post, please let me know if I can be of assistance to help with any bugs or feature requests.

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2 Topic by gregnorz

(2 replies, posted in Site Discussion)

Would there be any interest from the community in getting Star Wars Destiny added? I know I'd love to manage my SWD inventory with Deckbox, even though there is a pretty decent offering with SWDestinyDB.com. It's a bit behind the curve on features, unfortunately, like export and import for inventory management, no marketplace, etc.

It might be hard to add new products to Deckbox, so perhaps my suggestion is too difficult. Thoughts from the site admins and community?

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3 Reply by gregnorz

(6 replies, posted in Site Discussion)

Who is someone in charge of development? I'm recovering from leukemia treatment and would love a project to work on to keep my dev skills flowing. Not sure if we would be a match, but I'd offer up some of my time to work on features or bugs.

Sebi, would you be the right one to contact?

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4 Topic by gregnorz

(0 replies, posted in Site Discussion)

To whom ever has been working on Deckbox...

I haven't had the chance to use the site much due to medical treatment taking me out of the game for the last 2 years. Now that I'm back and using the site more, I just wanted to pass on how impressed I am at the work you've done. The site has always been my favorite inventory and deck building site, but the current version just makes it even more fun and easy to use. The UI is incredibly slick, and things seem to run quickly and smoothly for me all the time.

So, kudos to all of you and your hard work! I'm proud to be a paying member of this fantastic resource. Keep it up!

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5 Reply by gregnorz

(3 replies, posted in Announcements)

What I do is copy the set price guide from TCGPlayer.com (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/magic_price_guides.asp) and paste that into Excel. I then do the following formula in a new column: =CONCATENATE(4, ' ', <cell number>) where <cell number> is the first cell with a card name (usually A2). I then just autofill that down all the way and paste that into Deckbox as a deck so I can track my acquisition of a playset.

You could do something similar to just add the inventory, making sure that you get the column headers correct before importing.

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6 Reply by gregnorz

(7 replies, posted in Site Discussion)

IIRC, their app just returns a blob of data that has all of the info in there. I would assume that they have some sort of API for that, but it's encrypted and likely uses auth or a token of some sort to keep you and I out.

Based on the amateur nature of their app, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they're just pulling pricing out of a DB. It would be nice to have an API, but I'd look to TCGPlayer for any of those needs.

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7 Reply by gregnorz

(7 replies, posted in Site Discussion)

Not only does SCG lack an API, they make it extremely difficult to screen scrape the data with JavaScript by using random images in the pricing. There's probably a way to crack it using OCR, but that's still a bit suspect as they could constantly change how they reference the images.

IMO, they should have an API - the whole Magic community knows that many LGS use their pricing. Seems to me it would benefit them to share it and stabilize prices for themselves.

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8 Reply by gregnorz

(5 replies, posted in Announcements)

Here's another work around for sets, albeit way more complex:

1. Go to magic.tcgplayer.com and use the "Cards" dropdown menu. Click on the set you wish to import. You'll get a price list that is alphabetized.
2. Click on the link for a Printable Price Guide.
3. Highlight all of the cards in the grid. Copy and paste that into an Excel spreadsheet. I used Excel, but other programs that have decent functions will work.
4. After you get your spreadsheet populated, insert a column before column A.
5. In the first cell, put a "4". Using the drag-to-fill, pull down the entire column to the last card. This will get you a "4" for each column.
6. In the first empty column after the cards (for me this was column J), use the following formula: "=CONCATENATE(A2, " ", B2)". You don't want the quotes around the function name. Also note that the middle quotes have a space between them. This is necessary.
7. As in step 5, use the drag-to-fill all the way down column J. This will get you a list of cards that can be imported into deckbox. An example of what each column should look like: "4  Afflicted Deserter".
8. Select all of column J (or the column with your cards and the 4 in front). Paste that into a new deck in your inventory through the add cards interface.
9. Voila! You now have a deck that serves as the entire set you selected!

I did this for all of current Standard (SOM, MBS, NPH, M12, ISD and DKA as of the time of this post). As I enter and remove cards from my inventory, I can see what I need if I'm looking to complete playsets of anything from a particular set.

I haven't seen a good way to export a deck as CSV which would allow me to filter in Excel the cards that I need. Instead, I just add missing cards to my wishlist, then export that to CSV and filter in Excel. Makes it really easy when you go to a card shop to dig for commons or uncommons. Another way is to take the exported wishlist, use that CONCATENATE function in Excel, then paste that column into TCGPlayer's Mass Card Entry. Optimize the cart for few retailers to pay shipping on!

Hope this helps a few people out there.

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