Lirril
	There are a number of scripts on the go at the moment for removing some of the 'accounting' tedium involved in trading (see the tradeforum for more info). If the date that the Phoenix trade pages were last updated could be included when the update is complete, this would assist everyone involved. Either including it on one (all?) of the pages (say at the bottom eg 'Last updated: 09:50 02 Aug 2003'), or if the update process takes a while to run (ie some pages would be updated a good while before others) including it in a separate page (a new page called lastUpdated.html or something which is updated when the entire run is complete) would seem like a good idea. The smallest amount of work would seem to suggest putting it in a new page when the update is complete, but this would mean that regular users browsing the site would be unlikely to see it, and I would think that this would be useful information for them too. If this was a concern, and if the trade pages update was a relatively quick process, putting it on one page like the markets page, or the items page might be a good alternative... - Lirril
Steve-Law
	As one of those involved in one of those pages my view is that the Phoenix Market data is updated every (turn) day. So all we need to know is, is the data updated automaticallyat the same time every day? If so, what time is it updated?, and then I can set (or get set) our page to update its data just after KJC's. We think, at the moment, that the KJC data is updated around 8am (so a 9am update for us would be good), but currently we are updating ours at 6pm (i.e. after all turns are usually finished processing). A definitive answer on this would be useful. (But in answer to the question above, it is a minor task to add a last updated line to the bottom of every page, and can be acheived several ways, though the easiest would be to write the info to a file when the update is run, and then just include that file as part of the page (in php).)
Lirril
	Yes the pages are updated every turn day, but just as the turns are often sent out at different times, from observation the update seems to be done at different times too. If we are asking for a change to the webpage to put in the date, it's negligable extra work to put in the time too (potentially even less work), and it allows the tools we write to be so much more accurate (logic like: if the date from the downloaded page is the same as yesterday, and it's a weekday, then try downloading again in say 1hr). From this point of view, it would be more efficient to have it on a separate page on the website, so that instead of automatic tools having to download and parse the source of a big page every number of hours, waiting for the update, instead they can just parse a one line text file. Obviously though, any improvement over the current situation would be most appreciated, so I'd take whatever we get hehe. People who chose not to use the time portion are under no obligation to do so, but it makes sense to put it in there anyway for those who do. - Lir
nortonweb
	Where might one go to get a look see at these scripts? I guess they would help out in going through the market sites? Which sounds way cool to me!!! Pete
Steve-Law
	Dewiek Elder Nation Trade Route Utility
Steve-Law
	Just to add to this thread, someone suggested that KJC could export the market data into a file (he said XML) or even a publically accessible database to make our updates easier and less of a strain on KJC's bandwidth. I don't know if David wants to comment, but I'll ask this when Mica returns.
nortonweb
	Thats so cool. Very very very usefull. Would anyone be will ing to let me take a peek at the code??? Peter
Steve-Law
	It will be even better once we get around to adding (well working out!) distances as well. Plus I'll also probably add a periphery filter as well at the same time.
ABBA
	All these enhancements sound all very nice to have, but what's more important is the most basic facility - having the markets pages updated daily. This is not happening at the moment. For those of us with a 'trade' focus within the game, having market reports days out of date totally degrades it's playability. I'm getting fed up of having buy or sell actions fail, despite the market page blithely showing the goods as available or required, even days afterwards. And it totally ruins my attempts to operate a stable market from my own starbase. I think attention to this is aspect of the game allowed to slide because it is less 'sexy' than the combat side of the game. TonyH
Steve-Law
	Is this that the market data hasn't been updated or is it that the item was bought/sold to it's quota before you got there during that turn?
ABBA
	The market site not being updated, overnight. I have to accept that for various high-demand items it's a race to see who can get their turn run first. But I expect the trade site to reflect the fact that the items were bought by SOMEBODY during the day, at the end of that day. Not two or even three days later. I've taken to doing regular tweaks to my own market, so I can tell when the general market has updated. TonyH
finalstryke
	QUOTE (ABBA @ Sep 11 2003, 01:35 PM) I've taken to doing regular tweaks to my own market, so I can tell when the general market has updated. TonyH yep. I do this as well. I was most disapointed last week when a ship purchased a specific amount of a unique from a starbase (3126MUs or something) because that's what the website showed. Actually, there had been another 1500MUs available for about 48 hours but the site hadn't been updated so I missed out on a sale
finalstryke
	Site updated today hours before my turns even get sent out... yay!
Frabby
	I was going to start a new thread but then I found this old one and dug it out again... Back in the BSE days, KJC generated a plain text file of market reports each week. This file was then sent to certain players (notably Brian/DTR) who maintained the DTR market site. That market site was a predecessor of the Phoenix market site we have today. One of its most useful features (to me at least) was that the text file was available as a download. I use a modem for internet access most of the time and to me, browsing a plain text file is much faster and sometimes even more comfortable than working through a script online. Can we have the textfile option back please? I reckon an automated routine could generate it after each day's turns were run, and make it available through the KJC website. I believe sooner or later players will develop fancy parsers to digest and browse the information, perhaps even tie this in with personal databases for starbase locations, travel route calculations, etc. And while you're at it, can you please include the last update date on the file! Another thing that bothers me is the current layout of the Phoenix market site. As it stands I cannot properly print out market reports - the menu bar on the left side takes up so much space that the buying market section is truncated. Can this be remedied? (On the DTR market site we had a link to a printer-friendly page for this purpose.)
finalstryke
	Sounds cool. A little something to link the starbase locations in with our own system maps would also be nice, which, if reversed, could show you known markets on a planet by clicking on hte planet. This would allow you to search for markets geographically close by a GUI. hmm...