iPaB Parts Data

I was adding a new part to the database this morning, when I did something catastrophic -- the part name don't show up correctly.  I'll be spending the next few days correcting this error, as well as find a way to make the process of adding a new part less tedious.

Stay tuned...  I'll post updates as I make progress.

New Download Feature

New Download Feature,
originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Before I continue one with the commissioned building talk, I wanted to take a few moments and announce a new feature to iPaB. Now on the summary page for each store, you can download the summary to a CSV file.

What next, you may ask? Well, print it off, take it to your local LEGO Store and verify what it says in the spreadsheet still holds true. If it doesn't, there should be room (under each part description) to make notations. Then at your leisure, go to the BrickBuildr web-site & update your store's inventory! :)

Let me know if there's any problems with the download.

Update iPaB on BrickBuildr

Now anyone can update the iPaB database with a few simple clicks! From the "View iPaB Walls" page, select a store, then select a container or bubble. From there you'll be able to select part to go into that container (remember to enter the 2 digit code), then voilà! The database has been updated.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

BrickBuildr

I created a web-site called BrickBuildr using Flickr's API (via phpFlickr). I read a few post on Lugnet about people found it hard to find AFOL's LEGO pictures on Flickr, that their LEGO pictures were mixed in with their personal photos. It was hard to browse, etc.

So far, I've asked 20+ people to join. An small cross-segment of LEGO photos total. From those photos, I created a tag-cloud from people's photos -- I think the cloud is a neat idea, btw. You're able to figure out what people are building & taking pictures on based on how many photos are tagged the same.

The only thing frustrating about it, Flickr seems to be having problems the last few days... It's been making indexing of pictures hard. And there seems to be a lag between adding a tag to a photo and for it to show up in the Flickr API. I spider out people's photos then add some of the information to a database. I plan to change it where instead of signing up for an account on BrickBuildr, you just authroize it via the API & this will created the enough information in the BrickBuildr database to start indexing a person's pictures. Maybe I'll get that finished next...