Advanced collection manager: feedback requested

 

  • Advanced collection manager: feedback requested

    Posted by Huw, 09 Jun 2010 10:03. Filed under Brickset.

    For some time I've been thinking about adding an 'advanced collection manager' to Brickset to enable you to record more information about your collection. The discussion and interest in the 'cost of your collection' comments suggest that there is a lot of interest in having such a facility, so I will make it a priority (perhaps when the World Cup is on and my wife is glued to the TV :-) ).

    I'd like your input before I start to help determine how it should work and what data it should allow you to record.

    First, the philosophy behind the current 'I own/I want' mechanism is to keep it as simple as possible and we need to recognise that not everyone will want or need enhanced features, so whatever is provided has to work in conjunction with the simple mechanism. This causes a bit of a problem straight away because the database table structure for your collection is roughly as follows:

    User ID, Set ID, Own (yes/no), Want (yes/no), Qty Owned

    i.e. there is one record for each different set you own, regardless of quantity. If we are to record information like condition and price, we will need one record for every single set:

    User ID, Set ID, price, condition, etc. etc.

    It will be relatively easy to create the second data set based upon the data already in the first and to create records in the second as you tick the 'I Own' box but I'm less clear about what should happen if you untick it, or reduce the quantity owned. You could wipe out a lot of data unintentially and if, for example, you own two of a set and sell one so change the quantity owned to 1, the system would not automatically know which of the two records in the second data set needs to be deleted. So this all increases compexity. How do you think it should work? If you use the advanced features, should the system prevent you from reducing quantity or unticking 'I Own' from the current interface?

    Assuming we can agree on how to resolve that problem, what data would you like to record? Here's my suggestion to start, with some questions:

    • Date acquired -- would you need an exact date, just a month, just a year? Or free text?
    • Price paid (currency automatically determined from your country, but overridable), default to RRP where known
    • Acquired from -- free text box
    • Condition when acquired -- drop down list: MISB, As new, Used/complete, Used/incomplete (any others?)
    • Condition now -- drop down list: MISB, As new, Used/complete, Used/incomplete (any others?)
    • A series of tickboxes to indicate which parts of the set you own:
      • Parts
      • Minifigs
      • Instructions
      • Box
      • Stickers
    • Location -- free text box to record where you keep it
    • Notes -- free text box

    Anything else?

    The 'advanced collection manager' is likely to be a separate page and not part of the search/browse pages (but linked to from them), so what information about the sets should it show? Obviously set number and name, but what other data is essential? Is the thumbnail important? What other features shoud it have?

    I welcome your input as comments here, and I will probably invite the more vocal among you to provide more input by email, and to beta test it when it's done.


    77 comments, latest one posted 36 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by natro220 in United States, 09 Jun 2010 10:13

How about a "Pieces Missing" function, where you can list the pieces that you know are missing from a set. I currently have to use an Excel Spreadsheet to keep track of these, that would make that much more easier.

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 09 Jun 2010 10:28

If you go to your sets, you should be able to either enable or disable this feature.

You could set up this new system like how bricklink.com is set up.. example..catalog..

Once you click on catalog you get these options:

Browse Catalog Items:

Sets 8,987
Parts 21,464
Minifigs 4,687
Books 1,392
Gear 5,213
Catalogs 2,363

from this point you can add either single parts or mini-figures, or etc.

if you go to a certain set..
it should list all the parts for that set. plus have a quantity box next to the picture of the part it comes with with a default to what it normally comes with, including extra pieces it is supposed to come with.. this is where you could change it to reflect missing parts.. or you could increase it to show that you bought extra parts on either amazon, ebay, bricklink, lego stores.

Posted by Sky-guardian in United States, 09 Jun 2010 10:37

Seems a little complicated...
@natro220 I like your idea.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 10:42

I have no plans at present to go into the detail of individual parts, either owning them or whether you have them in a particular set. To do it would require set inventories and that is not something I have, and probably not something that BrickLink would be willing to share (although I'd like to be proved wrong)

Posted by BrickBob09 in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 10:46

@Sky-guardian, I agree.

It does sound rather complicated. I like the 'cost of your collection' and the minifig counter. But saying what condition it's in, where you got it, when you got it, how much for, etc, seems a little pointless. Also I can't remember most of this information.

It would be good though to add individal pieces and to record missing pieces, but anything more than that would make it too complicated.

Posted by natro220 in United States, 09 Jun 2010 10:49

What about just a blank space to list them if you already know the part number missing (also you could describe the parts missing like "2 black 1x2 plates")? No Bricklink collaboration needed then.

Posted by DrathMaul1997 in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 10:53

on the untick 'i own' box part mabey just a warnig box pop up that says:

''are you sure that you want to delete (set number) (set name)''

after that, again:

''are you sure? this record will be permantly deleted!''

everything else seems brill! :)

Posted by djfooboo in United States, 09 Jun 2010 10:58

On my personal spreadsheet I have a column to that divides piece count by price I paid giving me a price per piece so I know what sets were good values.

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 09 Jun 2010 11:05

The grading idea is great but it needs to be simpler at first and you can change it later..

to start with you should have one option for MISB and one option for loose/ opened and played with/ displayed..

MISB is prone to creases on the edges due to the weight of the pieces sitting in the boxes for years..etc..
one rating for MISB is great rather than how they do it with coins.. we don't need no MS 60, 65, etc..

Posted by andy0306uk in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 11:09

for the untick 'I own' box, I'd only allow it to be unticked if the user hadn't entered details in the "advanced collection" section for this set.

Examples :
a) I tick the box for set 375 and say I own 3, but provide no further details. I can untick the "I own" and/or increase/decrease the number owned

b) I tick the box for set 375 and say I own 3, fill in the advanced details for 2. There would be 3 records in the database and these would be displayed as individual lines with a checkbox for "Remove". Ticking the 'Remove' box would remove the details in the record and reduce the I own quanitity.

Posted by cjg in United States, 09 Jun 2010 11:21

@Huw: No offense, but you have a typo! You said, "So this all increases compexity." It's supposed to be "complexity".
@DrathMaul1997: I don't think there should be two warning messages because if you accidentally delete a set, you can just re-add it again.

Posted by Jito in Belgium, 09 Jun 2010 11:27

Maybe it's interesting and fairly easy to have like a "collection-score", based on the average scores of the sets. This way you can have a feel how 'popular' your collection is...

Posted by DrathMaul1997 in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 11:29

@andy0306uk thats far better then my idea :)

@cjg but if you enter a page or two of informaun then you don't whant to delete it

@jeffjcc yes, not bad...

oh, what is MISB?

(sorry for the spelling)

btw if this counts as being 'vocal' then no i dont want to beta test

Posted by jeffjcc in United States, 09 Jun 2010 11:36

Huw - one thing that I'd like to see when managing my collection... Is some way to differentiate my collection seperated by.. Sets I aquired as a teen. AND sents I aquired after my dark ages being an AFOL.

Posted by andy0306uk in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 11:41

@DrathMaul1997 : MISB = Mint In Sealed Box

@jeffjcc : wouldn't you be able to do this using the "date acquired" field?

Posted by DrathMaul1997 in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 11:43

Ah, thank you :)

Posted by Formentar in Sweden, 09 Jun 2010 11:47

I've given this nowhere as much thought as you have, Huw, but for what it's worth:
I'd consider keeping the 'simple' information more or less separate from the more detailed information *on the database level*. As you said, otherwise you'll have no sensible way to simply decrease the count, and increasing the count would mean creating records with the defaults (which probably would be null for most fields). So it makes sense to handle the connection between simple and detailed information in business logic, though how (and whether) to keep it in sync is a problem to be solved. On the user interface side andy0306uk's suggestion makes sense. I guess it'd be too perverse to allow the user to change the total count to a number lower than the number of detailed records, but the other way around makes sense, if only as a step on the way to specifying details about all the individual sets.

Posted by tmdrtn in Netherlands, 09 Jun 2010 11:53

How about a function that will give you information on which sets could be built with the sets you currently own, this would expand the possibilities

Posted by EdwinJackson in Norway, 09 Jun 2010 12:03

I would love a missing minifig tickbox under each minifig in the set detail minifig list.

There is so many sets i have complete, but some of the minifigs are missing.
And the green background behind the minifig, could turn pink, when i tick the missing box.

Posted by The Guy With The Bricks in United States, 09 Jun 2010 12:44

I don't know if this is possible but maybe a cross reference of the RRP price of a set to what its average price on Bricklink is now. This way we could see not only the price paid for sets but also an estimated current value of our collections.

Obviously there are many complexities inherent in this set up (condition, Bricklink policy) that may make it impossible.

Posted by Redbullgivesuwind in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 12:59

I think the condion is a good idea just to remind me how batter sets are.
I love the new additions my misses saw how much the sets you have a price for cost now and now is planning what to do with the money.

However i can kinda under stand the idea that thinks have to change. But it seems over technical i can't remember half the infomation listed.

@crzypainter and others who had same though. Problem is on brick link and ebay etc you can massivly overprice sets. like some sets go for 300 quid but definatly aren't worth that amount of money. Im sure maybe lego have have rough idea of what sets are worth but i doubt it.

I personally and i can appricate jobs etc get in the way and family. And you guys do an amazing job balancing all the bits you must do. but i would prefer to have a more complete lego database like finding more prices and peice listings for sets. Cause i have no idea how hard it is and like i said your doing an amazing job. But i think work on that first then expand it.

Posted by vynsane in United States, 09 Jun 2010 13:11

I think you'd have to kind of go back in time to a simple 'own/want' form for those that don't want to use the enhanced features - only allow multiple quantities of the same set for the enhanced version. That would make it easier on you to keep data intact when removing copies of a set.

Either that, or change the structure of the current 'Have' table to create a new record for each copy of a set, instead of making that a data column.

Instead of these columns

SetID
UserID
Own
Want
Qty

I would make it

WantOwnID (unique to each row/record)
SetID
UserID
OwnWant (enumerated column with the only options being O or W)

This way you could not only have multiple quantities of own AND want, but create a relationship based on the unique ID of each WantOwnID record for reference in a new table for the enhanced features, making it a true add-on to the existing infrastructure as opposed to duplicating that info. Then add the new table with just:

WantOwnID
Condition
PricePaid
LocationPurchased
etc...

As for the 'enhanced collection manager', instead of a separate page, I could see it as another tab on the set detail page alongside ebay, instructions, reviews, etc. This way you wouldn't need to add the thumbnail or anything to a new page. On the tab, it should be a table or list of how many copies of a set you've submitted and their details, with a form to add another one below them and a 'remove' and 'edit' button/link for each one. I guess we'd need a way to quickly identify each copy, so a 'title' (for lack of a better word) field for each could be a good idea.

An enhanced 'My Sets' listing page could have the same table we currently have, with an 'expand/contract' type of ability to show the details of each copy we own, basically the same markup as would be in the tab on the 'set details' page, but perhaps in a read-only state - you'd be sent back to the set details page to add another copy.

Posted by simonskluk in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 13:11

All looks good to me huw. You need to be able to have own the set/ complte/ incomplete, then box , instruc, stickers etc and a box for comments or to list parts missing.... That would be perfect for me anyway!

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 13:23

@All, thanks for the feedback so far. Just to be clear, this will not in any way replace the current simple system which is good enough for 80% of users here. But the other 20% want something more so I will provide it and make it optional. Nobody's going to be forced to remember all this stuff and enter it, but some people do and do want to record it.

@andy0306uk, good ideas, thanks.

@Formentar, exactly what I plan to do: the simple interface and data will remain and the stored procedures that handle its change will deal with the additional business logic to keep the additional data in sync. It will mean there is some redundancy in the relational database model but I can live with that.

Also, I'm proposing that people have to opt-in to the advanced features, if only because I don't want to replicate all 2.3 million rows in the current collection table.

@vynsane, your message came in as was typing this: you have some excellent suggestions, thank you. Your proposal makes perfect sense from an ideal perspective, although I probably won't go back and change the database as it is at the moment, I'll add business logic as described above to keep it in sync.

I like your additional tab idea but I also see a need for more of a spreadsheet-like view which gives a concise overview of your collection and makes it easier to maintain.

Posted by Ypres in Canada, 09 Jun 2010 13:48

Seems like a lot of work... for something the person would take forever to fill out and something 99.99% of the time they're only going to look at. Besides, a lot of the questions asked I don't even remember the answers to... like what price I got them at, and whether I have the boxes still stored under my stair?! I mean, it does sound great for those odd few, it just seems like a lot of data. I don't really think people view other people's 'own' profiles, so why would anyone need to have their entire collection history online when the real collection is sitting probably right behind them.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 13:59

Good points Ypres, but it is a often requested feature. Personally I think I'd use some of it, mainly to record where sets are and whether I'd opened them, kept them intact, or split them for parts. I have so many, I've lost track :-)

Posted by iadams in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 14:03

The only extra feature I'd like right now is to have a count for number wanted (which would automatically decrement as I increased the number I own). I'm outside the target market for the other features.

Posted by Moebius in United States, 09 Jun 2010 14:04

Is there a way for us to manage, show or export our collection to Facebook?

Posted by e_agersborg in Norway, 09 Jun 2010 14:15

As a father to 4 children I have so far all the sets we have as a family in one big list. It woulld be very nice to have the possibilty to have sublists. E.g one list for each of my children and one for myself.

Posted by natro220 in United States, 09 Jun 2010 14:23

@iadams - that feature already exists in the "My Sets" tab

Posted by vynsane in United States, 09 Jun 2010 14:27

@e_agersborg - NICE suggestion, good show.

Posted by vamproe in United States, 09 Jun 2010 14:31

If nothing else just the price bought for would be great.

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 09 Jun 2010 14:39

Wow - Huw DOES have a lot of sets! :o)

Posted by legofan1 in United States, 09 Jun 2010 14:44

How about a printer friendly page?

Posted by brickmatt in United States, 09 Jun 2010 14:57

To resolve the problem, perhaps a drop down menu could be included for each set in a person's collection, that would list each of the sets of that type that the person owns - i.e.
{set name} #1
{set name} #2
etc.
or something of that nature, and have the option of viewing the information for a set or deleting it. That way, a person could keep notes about each individual set of the same type and the computer would know which one to delete.

Posted by legobob in United States, 09 Jun 2010 15:13

cool but why miss the world cup

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 09 Jun 2010 15:22

@Huw - Perhaps instead of having us edit a number field to reflect the quantity we own, you could instead have us click on a button such as "I own this" which would then "add a row" to a second database table. This second table could then have as many or few fields as you see fit, whether they be toggle, number, memo, etc. in nature.

Then, the number of units we own would no longer be a field we could edit but would simply be a read-only field summation of how many "rows" we have added to this second table. If we then sell one of our sets, we simply have to go into that set (record/row) and delete one of the units.

You could then prime the pump, so to speak, by creating all of our initial records based on the quantities we've currently notated in Brickset. We would then just need to go in and fill in any of the details for each unit as we see fit. After you've finished the initial additions to the second database table, you could then change the "Qty Owned" to read only and linked to a simple formula adding up the number of rows entered for that SET ID and USER ID.

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 09 Jun 2010 15:29

what I said earlier would make it a lot more complex, you should allow us to modify the value of our own sets., Since you can't get the prices off brick link..we can input the prices ourselves . then you can take a overall value of what we think they are worth on average and put what we think it is worth on average of XX users think that a top grade is worth $$$$ top value to a low value of $$$..

you can even go into more detail and show by person who thinks it is worth $$$$ compared to only $$.. like hoiw they list prices on brick link..

this way you won't get people saying it's worth a million dollars... maybe it is to them... but when just need an average for lowest, middle, and best...

open lost pieces no minifigs................... lowest.. .......average prices/values
open on display...................................middle..........average prices/values
Mint in sealed box.................................best..............average prices/values

Posted by jpags in United States, 09 Jun 2010 15:50

Not sure if this is on topic or not but I wouldn't mind being able to see how many PAB cups I own. You don't have to add it as sets (since they technically aren't sets) but just a little tab on the my sets page.

Posted by atkinsar in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 16:00

@Huw, I emailed my ideas for an advanced collection manager a few months back now, you responded at the time and it seems a lot of what you are suggesting to implement covers my 'wants' (and more!). If you want me to resubmit my email, just give me a shout.

One extra suggestion, once I've input all this info, it would be great to be able to export it back to Excel.

This feature gets a massive thumbs up from me, I would DEFINITELY use it, I've recorded most of that information in the comments anyway so I'd just need to transfer it.

I'd be more than happy to be involved in beta testing too.

Finally, I just noticed today that there's a notes button when viewing set lists that displays them in a pop-up window, is that a new feature or have I just missed it all this time?

Posted by jonbuddy in United States, 09 Jun 2010 16:15

For the date, I would have MM/DD/YYYY, but there is an option to put "?" in any of the slots. When you first get to it it should show --/--/----.

Putting a condition that is under fixed answers would give a better search result within a user's collection. (Were you planning on implementing a search like that?)

Personally "location" is unnessecary.

Everything else is fine.

P.S. Please put me on the beta test list if you can.

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 16:26

Thanks, Huw - a collection manager would be another useful feature which I'd definitely use.

I'd keep it pretty simple :
- add a collection manager tab on the home screen
- show the user's sets as a simple list containing some fixed and some editable fields for each entry
- limit the editable fields to set number (which once entered would automatically populate set name, year and show a small pic), price paid and condition (I'd suggest a drop-down with the following options : sealed box, open box, loose). You could also allow a 'free text' field for brief notes (helpful, but hard to police unless you moderate which would be virtually impossible if there's good uptake of the service)
- for duplicates, the user would enter the set number as usual and the system would simply add another line to the listing and treat it as a separate set to allow separate price and condition info for each duplicate
- need to include a delete and an edit function
- allow the user to specify how many records should be shown on the screen at once, e.g. I have tons of sets and lightning broadband, so I'd like all the records to be shown at once and scroll through them rather than have to painstakingly click through 25 pages of 20 records each, while others with slow connections will only want a few sets on screen at once for speed
- nice to have some sort options, e.g. display in set number order, display alphabetically by set name etc.

And that's it. Just like the Word document I use to catalogue my sets, in fact, but automated, and calculates how much I've actually spent, e.g. for interest, insurance purposes etc.

Happy as ever to be a beta-tester.

Dr. D.

Posted by fingol in Slovakia, 09 Jun 2010 16:29

Well, what I'm missing is to somehow update (mostly increase) the minifig numbers (could be right within the sets they are included in), as it happens I've bought some through auctions and there is no way to increase the minifig collection number at the moment...

This could go in hand with the missing piece/minifig feature, using just the opposite numbering and calling it probably with an universal name...

Posted by Peter1975 in Netherlands, 09 Jun 2010 17:51


Hi,

I would like a kind off system I use at home in Excel with the following futures.
And of corse a Pic of every set in front, see example below.

-number of the set including picture
-name (U.S. name and "other country names")
- Us only/ or re-released or what ever is special about it.
-instructions and box for me to fill in whether I buy a new orriginal set or a second hand on eBay which often comes without the orriginal box.
- piece count
- original price
-realease date
-and below the list all the totals

Something like that.

Set Name Instr. Complete Box Pcs. Figs. Price Released

1 1464 Pirate Lookout yes yes no 16 1 $2,00 1992 us only
2 1481 Pirates Desert Island yes yes no 20 1 $2,00 1991 us only
3 1492 Battle Cove yes yes no 25 1 $2,00 1992 us only
4 1729 Barnacle Bay Value Pack yes yes no 85 4 $0,00 1992 us only
5 1733 Shipwrecked Pirate yes yes no 22 1 $2,00 1994
6 1747 Treasure Surprise yes yes no 21 1 $2,00 1996
7 1788 Treasure Chest yes yes no 154 4 $22,00 1995 us only
8 1970 Pirate's Gun Cart yes yes no 29 2 $0,00 1993 us only

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 17:54

@fingol

> there is no way to increase the minifig collection number at the moment...

You can add 'loose' minifigs here: http://www.brickset.com/minifigs/myCollection/

Posted by dfenz in United Kingdom, 09 Jun 2010 18:15

To keep it simple I'd only need two categories, new and used and the incorporation of Bricklink pricing data, i.e. lowest available. This won't be perfect as matters such as condition, unusual pricing and location of Lego (US locations tend to be cheaper but would cost more to import to Europe or Australia than perhaps locally sourced Lego) could affect prices but it would give me an approximate value which I could use as a starting point for insurance purposes.

Posted by wolfgang514 in United States, 09 Jun 2010 18:19

I sure would like it if when you ticked the 'I own' box on a set if I could select whether or not I own all or just certain parts or pieces of it. For example, I own the newest version of the LSW X-wing, but I do not own any of the minifigures that were sold in the set, but they are shown in my minifigure collection here on brickset as if I own them. Personally, I find this rather annoying.

Posted by moctagonjones in United States, 09 Jun 2010 18:36

The feature I have always wanted to see, was a "total # owned" for each set when sharing the set list. For example, when viewing someone else's list, it would show that they own Qty 1 of a particular set, and Qty 3 of another set. The data would be pulled from the box that allows input of the quantity owned for each set.

Posted by ceroknight in Canada, 09 Jun 2010 19:21

This seems like a good idea but please dont over do it please :-P

Posted by K@czor in Poland, 09 Jun 2010 19:31

The feature I would really like to see is the ability to add notes to loose minifigs - I have many loose minifigs in my collection and many of them are customized (by adding a custom weapon or a dollar plate to Dollar Bill for example) so it would be great if I could note it here, on Brickset where the database of my LEGO collection is :)

Just a simple 'notes' button (the same as in normal sets) would suit perfectly :)

Please consider it when you'll work on the database :)

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 09 Jun 2010 22:19

love the new ability to add loose minifigs...

Posted by Brickmatic in United States, 09 Jun 2010 22:37

Ok, so a few thoughts:

I don't really see the sync of the two databases as a problem. So let's say a user reduces the number of sets they own. You would need to reduce the number of set entries in the advanced database to match the new set count, but you don't know which one of the duplicate sets was eliminated. Well you can prompt the user for that information. When it changes bring up a popup (the dynamic web app kind, not a new window) that is a dialog box asking the user to select the sets for removal. Until the user confirms the changes, no changes are made to either database. The sync problem is thus avoided.

Now you can take the idea of dynamic dialogs a step further. You mentioned activating the advanced features. I think a dual simple/advanced system is great. You could make it so activating the advanced features actually activates a different interface that includes dynamic dialog box prompts. When in advanced mode, when a user adds an owned set or whatever, a dialog box pops up and prompts for further information for the advanced database. Therefore the updating the simple side automatically leads to populating the advanced side. Thus you simplify managing sets for the user. If big edits need to be made, the user can access the advanced database on a separate page. But they get to manage their sets in an advanced way as they go. For simple users, that interface doesn't exist and all works just as it used to.

Finally, I always viewed Brickset's forte as managing sets, not parts of sets. But the addition of minifig counts is kind of interesting in that it pushes the boundary towards managing inventory of parts. Now, a minifig count is a property of a set, but with the listing of minifigs owned, people really think of it as a resource, not a property. And then the demand for managing that resource grows. I'm assuming that the minifig database is separate from the set database, just like the advanced database would be separate from the sets database. My suggestion would be to make it more modular and ma

Posted by Brickmatic in United States, 09 Jun 2010 22:40

ke the distinction more clear. Then develop your minifig management tool as an add-on module for the simple sets management. Likewise, your advanced sets management would be an add-on to your simple database.

Yeah, so I have more thoughts on this, but I think the most important take-away point I'd like to make is if complexity will be added to the information stored, you're probably going to need to rethink you interface to handle the added complexity.

PS Thanks for all the work you've put it. It really is a great site that has been put together. And thanks for allowing us to give you feedback. Its easy to give ideas if you don't actually have to implement them.

Posted by disneywizard in United States, 10 Jun 2010 00:18

@tmdrtn - http://www.peeron.com/

Posted by brickapolis in United States, 10 Jun 2010 00:53

I'm not exactly sure if adding yet another layer of complexity to the site is a good thing. I've never felt the need to have anything other than an "I own" and an "I want". But hey, that's just me.

It's a really amazing site and incredibly easy to use. I appreciate all the work that is and has been put into it.

Posted by v3dev in United Kingdom, 10 Jun 2010 02:17

It is always nice to visualize stuff.
So once you have the the data (any data discussed above) simple quick charts via the Google Chart API (http://code.google.com/apis/charttools/) would be a nice addition.

Like:
- Line chart of the value of collection/set count/piece count/minifig count over time.
- Pie chart of the current theme/release year distribution.
- Pie chart of the Wan/Own ratio.
- Completion level of a given year/theme
Just some ideas.

And to make things simple, users should be given the option to remove unwanted charts or to ad them again.

Posted by Novelty in Brunei Darussalam, 10 Jun 2010 05:02

I'd like a sortable list of the sets I own in the order that I bought them - to do that, the Date Acquired field would probably have to be ddmmyyyy format.

And without reading through the suggestions, I'd like to have yes/no fields for "Opened" and "Complete"

Posted by Topsy Cret in Sweden, 10 Jun 2010 05:06

I think the "price" function is the best, and only good one to have, as I believe the others won't prove as useful in the future. Also, only having this function, not the "condition" function, will greatly simplify the level of complexity needed for the site.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 10 Jun 2010 07:54

@Brickapolis, my intention is to leave the current interface exactly as it is now. If you opt in to advanced features, additional options will be presented at various places on the site. If you don't, you'll notice no difference.

So nobody need fear increasing complexity: simplicity has always been one of my main goals here and continues to be so.

Posted by shootvolio in United States, 10 Jun 2010 10:21

@Novelty the yes/no fields for opened and complete is a simple and wonderful idea. I know disneywizard earlier mentioned http://www.peeron.com/ . Could each set listing in the database have a link to peeron's part inventory for an easy cross reference? Also peeron.com allows you to import your set list from other sites (LUGNET) as well as export your list to a tab-delimited file then your listings can be fully transferable between all sites and your collection could be tracked with its inventory with out having to visit several sites to add/edit your collection when it changes. Why reinvent the wheel with adding inventory here when someone else has already done the hard work and this site can be linked to it?

Just my thoughts.

Posted by ejcmoorhouse in United Kingdom, 10 Jun 2010 10:33

all for diehard proper collectors, however I would find some sort complete uncomplete/pieces missing etc would be useful

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 10 Jun 2010 11:39

@shootvolio, you can export your collection from here and import at Peeron: go to 'My Sets' and see the options in the 'Export' panel.

There are links to Peeron and BrickLink's inventories on the instructions tab of the set details pages.

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 10 Jun 2010 13:03

getting back to my idea of putting a value on the set, I noticed you now have links to ebay and amazon on there with prices..

Nice changes it looks good.. I like it.. plus I noticed you added links with Peeron and bricklink..

what I don't see is part lists you can edit.. I like how you send us over to BrickLink to view the parts, but we need to be able to edit the lists on this site allowing us to get a better and more exact figure on what parts we have and which parts we are missing..

then when we know which parts we are missing, you can cross reference those exact parts with e-bay, bricklink, amazon to help us locate the best price..

These sites should allow you to do this because it will help them generate money. It would be advertising for them. You could even make money on this site because of the clicks generated taking you to there site to buy goods.. kinda like how google gets paid..

I am thinking about how you have the minifigs set up, but the same things just in terms of all the pieces you own..

once you put in which sets you own, it unlocks and fills certain fields with what parts you own along with minifigs.
then once you have it set on the amount of sets you own in one data base, this automatically fills the numbers in another for what parts you have.

this other parts list/ database
will allow you to edit which pieces you have or maybe have split up. It will not directly effect the first data base. even if you remove 99.9 percent of the parts for the set or add 99.9 % of new parts to that same set. (you should count the instructions and the box as pieces) (I like to buy pieces on bricklink, ex. wall pieces, I bought 200 pieces and I can not input these pieces anywhere that I own them. and they cost me a dollar a piece but on this site I have no record of them..;-(

this is where my thoughts on parts completion and value of the set come into play. this is where you could write a script that calculates how complete the set is based on the data given.

[continued ...]

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 10 Jun 2010 13:04

[... continued]

you could have different options "open and played with ex. missing pieces ??% complete", "open and on display 100% complete", " MISB (mint in sealed box).

each one of these choices should then allow you to fill in where you purchased it, date, value and etc. that you input. which then can be show your total stats on "my sets" page where there could be a link taking you to different charts and graphs inputting your total value from different categories, etc.. we might have to get a google account for this but you site can just input our numbers into their charts you have set up already.. unless you can do it from this site..

thank you for allowing me to contribute and voicing my opinion..

Posted by jackaroo in United Kingdom, 10 Jun 2010 13:15

Hi there, sorry not sure if this was requested but i would like to see in the 'my sets' relating to minifigs, the drop down section to have a 'show all my minifigs' without having to pick a theme.

I really do like to see the prices of the pieces i've bought for my son and i would defiantly would like a section where people could input what store brought from and price as this can vary in some major stores and obviously i would like to purchase the cheapest. I would also like to see the all 'sets owned by me' without the i own section but maybe how many i owe; the ratings removed; maybe a section that i can highlight and it shows me all the collection in that series. For example i thought i purchased the entire atlantis range but when i found this site i realised i hadn't; reduce the size of the buy column; if you already own it why would you tick to want it again; a section to find missing pieces of a collection like mentioned before.

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 10 Jun 2010 13:16

I love what you have done already and I am not trying to complain, it's just that I have bought over 50 orders from bricklink , worth thousands of USD$ and I have no way of accounting for them with your system you have in place now..

I am an AFOL and I am not rich.. making $30k a year.
I just want a way to track what I have and the value of it..
thank you..

Posted by roar15 in United States, 10 Jun 2010 14:12

Not sure if it would fit in with the new stuff you're planning or just on the my sets page. But I'd like a way to filter my view to see the sets that don't have pricing information.

My "My Sets" page looks like this at the moment:
You own 394 sets (371 different).
We have piece counts for 346 of them.
We have retail prices for 343 of them.

I'd love to be able to just see the sets with no retail price info or no piece counts so I know which ones aren't being counted.

Thanks for all your work Huw. Me and my 7 yr old (they're his Lego's, just ask him) love the site.

Posted by mlavwilson in United States, 10 Jun 2010 14:40

Not exactly a fit into the advanced collection manager, but this is something that I was going to write, that would be a nice feature to have on your site. Plus I would not have to write the 20+ lines of code :)

A text area that you enter in 1-n lego set numbers. Clicking enter will give you a listing that can be shared via a message board. The listing would looks something like: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=8156&st=120&p=754241&#entry754241

Posted by Brickmatic in United States, 10 Jun 2010 17:41

Speaking of prices, how do you figure in taxes? and shipping? I mean, its not the price of the Lego set, but it does change the total amount spent. In my spreadsheets I actually break the price down to get a sense of total dollars spent, not just total value of sets.

Posted by mars4life in United States, 10 Jun 2010 23:38

I don't know if this has been said yet, but one feature I think would be interesting is if I could group sets by where I bought them, such as Bricklink or Ebay. It wouldn't be terribly useful, just interesting. As for the other features you have mentioned, I don't think I would have much use for them personally.

Posted by Renegade007cjh in United Kingdom, 11 Jun 2010 03:33

I like the idea of the advanced collection manager functionality and I would certainly make use of it (and would welcome the chance to beta test). Loads of useful ideas / suggestions being posted on here by the good folks of BrickSet, regarding how to keep the data separate from the main database!

To throw my twopenny's worth into the mix, if not already mentioned, I feel it would be useful to show whether the set is still boxed, or if it is currently built (or built and then dismantled). Also, when you mark a set as being in your collection, the ability to pick and choose WHICH minifigures you own in a set (if you've bought it second-hand, for example), would be highly useful, so you can identify those you need.

On a practical note regarding the advanced manager; an extremely useful function as far as I'm concerned would be the ability to import that secondary data (perhaps from a CSV file), so I don't have to manually type in the location, purchase price, date acquired etc. for each of my 500-odd sets. For this to work, I would imagine we would need to download an import template provided by BrickSet (so the header columns are labelled correctly) and it should then be a simple matter of populating it (maybe with a vlookup function) and then uploading the data ourselves.

Keep up the good work, Huw. BrickSet just gets better and better...

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 11 Jun 2010 08:07

Renegade007cjh - I agree about the boxed set thing.. we need a way to show our MISB's.. being able to value them would be awesome...
You can add 'loose' minifigs here: http://www.brickset.com/minifigs/myCollection/
I wish you could add parts along with the minfigs too..

Posted by Renegade007cjh in United Kingdom, 11 Jun 2010 08:57

legowomen1980p... yes, you're right that you can show loose minifigs, but you can't currently show sets which are missing from a set (for example, when I got my Cloud City #10123, it was missing several of the figures, most of which I've since tracked down (still need Leia) and it would be useful to show that my set is not 100% complete.

Posted by vynsane in United States, 11 Jun 2010 13:18

This has nothing to do with the 'advanced collection manager' development, but was thinking it might make sense to make the categories of the news articles a link, that would then filter the news article display to only that category. Like 'shopping news', which shows up below the title of appropriate news articles, would be a listing of only news articles that fall under the 'shopping news' category. Just a thought.

Posted by rj2uman in United States, 11 Jun 2010 21:35

I would love to see a Actual Price paid option in addition to the retail amount. I know that for me, and hopefully, others, it would useful to know how much we really have spent on our collections vs. how much LEGO would should have charged us.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 13 Jun 2010 15:57

@vynsane, done!

Posted by ejcmoorhouse in United Kingdom, 15 Jun 2010 11:06

just think for the wanted lists have need and in your dreams or what ever sort of list that would be very useful in deciding what to buy for my town and weather I need it or just want it

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