Changes to parts data and code
Posted by Huw,
I've made some changes to the data and code related to parts and inventories:
- The data tables have been normalised which will enable them to be used and queried more efficiently, and also enable future expansion and enhancement.
- Every set inventory has been updated from LEGO customer services. Many will still be incomplete or inaccurate but they will at least be the latest versions.
- Parts categories have been simplified to just 5: Duplo, System, Technic, Clikits and Outdoor R/C. This has been necessary because LEGO does not publish accurate categories in its inventories so we were reliant on additional data to provide them. That data is no longer available to us so rather than having thousands of 'category not known' parts we have used the inaccurate category LEGO does publish to determine the building system, and it is that which is now used.
I'll be adding a couple of new parts-related features in the coming weeks but in the meantime if you notice anything not working or displaying properly, let us know via the contact form below. Thanks!
32 likes
14 comments on this article
A shame you've had to simplify categories but frankly, their categories were so weird anyway I'm not sure it will be much of a problem. Looking forward to the new features!
Hi Huw,
I'm a little bit disappointed.
Personally I would like to have the possibility to sort / filter the parts e.g Bricks or Brick, Special.
Like you had in the past and that remains on the http://brickset.com/browse/parts page.
Pick A Brick knows about 42 different categories.
May thanks for your great site, my first reference and the first place I visit also before the LEGO one.
Kind regards
LEGO customer services inventories publishes the categories that were listed on that page but they are meaningless. All System parts are labelled 'Bricks, Special' except for a handful. Duplo as 'Bricks' except for a handful, and so on. (the page has now been corrected, BTW, to show the new categories)
As far as I can see the categories at PaB are the same: 300101, for example, a 2x4 brick in white is a 'Brick, Special' which is not correct.
RIP Old Categories
Eh, it's not the end of the world - would rather have less database information than lots of potentially inaccurate information. Thanks for all you do, Huw!
^ That is precisely the reason I removed it. I'm glad we are on the same wavelength ;)
Hi Huw, are those five categories purely based on the categories LEGO gives its parts or did you give them those broad categories? I ask because I was wondering if it would be possible to get all those Constraction (Bionicle/Hero Factory/buildable figure pieces etc) specific parts out of the Technic category and into a sixth category? As primarily a Constraction "geek" it's just bothering me a little bit, and also I think people who want to browse Technic might not want to see Constraction parts in the Technic category. If it's even possible I'm sure I could help with identifying Constraction pieces ;o)
Though having said that, at least they're somehow slightly easier to find through category browsing (after all, Constraction is a subsidary of Technic, but at the same time is considered a different system to it) so that's a good thing - LEGO's old categories for Constraction accessories were so similar to LEGO's category for minifig accessories it was so easy to select the wrong one and get minifig weapons instead of buildable figure weapons!
Just my honest thoughts of course :o)
It is not possible to differentiate between Technic and constraction parts from the data available unfortunately.
Hi, Huw. Thanks for your work on maintaining the site.
Regarding the parts, I always wanted to ask (for) a few things:
1. When listing "Sets containing part X" - can we get a sort order "Quantity of part in question"? There is only overall number of pieces.
2. Can we get "Sets containing Design" (all colours) in addition to "Sets containing Part"? Or at least a simple link to Bricklink, which already does it.
3. When viewing the inventory, can there be a sort mode "Rarity or Part" and "Rarity of design"? You already list the "In X Sets" stat - so it's a simple client-side Javascript to re-sort things. Actually, would be nice to get the sorting options w/o having to go to full-screen inventory.
Thanks for your work again!
1. Yes that should be possible.
2. The database normalisation should allow for that, I'll see what can be done
3. It might be tricky to provide sorting in the tab view but full screen I'll include another column for the number of sets a particular design appears in.
I used the detailed parts categories all the time. I am struggling to imagine doing the kind of searching I tend to do without them. For me it is better to get 50 hits at 50% accuracy than 0 hits because I cannot even drill down on an entire major category of data. Not to mention educated guessing about where a part might be "miscategorized" was often quite effective. I love the site in so many ways but honestly I will spend many less hours a months using it due to this change. I will just have to put up with the many annoyances of Brickset's interface for my parts-hunting.
Ooo, 3NF or BCNF? :)
Is it possible to get a list of sets with X color? I've been wanting to rebuild many of my sets, but I my grey box is so overwhelming that I would prefer to find my sets with little or no grey pieces.
Like you can list sets containing color light blueish grey, and sort from most to least, and also set it to only sets you own. It would be cool if that could be done here but if it can't. can it be done anywhere else?
Just get on and sort out your grey and never sort by colour again! :)