Gixen mirror

[sttun]

Hi all

Just upgraded to the Gixen mirror and then downloaded the desktop client. Looking at the desktop client, the Status (Mirror) is N/A, whilst the Status (Main) is "SCHEDULED" - is this normal considering I have bought the mirror?

Also, the client seems to refresh on a very frequent basis (almost constantly)- would this be using system resources? Would it not be better to be able to set a refresh variable for >1 hour and a second refresh variable for < 1hour?

If this is using the eBay API, is it also not possible in a future release to pull in

1. any notes and append them to the comment field
2. the postage as calculated by eBay?

Still an xcellent product though

Thanks
Mark

[Cupid]

The Mirror statuses in the GDM should also be 'SCHEDULED' if the snipes are NOT grouped, if they are then that is correct because grouped snipes are not mirrored. However I think there is often corruption of that field for some reason. It is not an indication that the Mirror is not working for you though, you would not be able to access the Gixen data at all from the GDM if the Mirror were not live for you.

You can change the refresh raye under the Menu Settings>Preferences, yes it will be using your system to do the refresh, not a huge burdon but having more frequent updates on price is part of the advantage of using the GDM. I don't understand the requirement for two controls on the update rate though, can you explain that in more detail?

Mario will have to answer about the detail of the implementation, however I would think postal rates would be hard even with a personal session via the GDM.
_________________
Mark

[mario]

Mark, first - thank you for subscribing to mirror.

The reason why you see N/A is probably because that's a grouped snipe. These are not copied over to mirror, only single snipes.

Unlike web interface, price refresh in GDM is not server-side, it's done from the GDM itself. There is no harm in doing it frequently and in fact most users want this, but you can set the frequency in the settings menu if you wish.

GDM does not use ebay API - no sniping application is allowed to.

[sttun]

Excellent - changed the grouping and now solved I had each entry set to a unique group...


The reason for the variable refresh is purely down to the fact that with 9d to go on an auction, I'm happy with seeing an update every hour or so, but with 15 mins to go, I'd like 5 secs or so

Pity about the difficulty of implementing P&P :-/

[Gixen]

[mario]

Variable refresh is actually a good idea. I'll see how difficult it would be to implement.

[sttun]

Cool

Should I be able to see the comments in the desktop client? I can see them on-line...

[sttun]

If I enter a comment in the desktop client, sometimes I get a partial entry coming back to the on-line list. Every other time, I get nothing coming back.

If I enter a comment on-line, I get no comment in the desktop client.

Have I missed a trick?

[mario]

Let me see what's wrong.

[Cupid]

How do you enter a comment in the GDM?

Do you need to have that feature enabled online first?
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Mark

[mario]

There is a bug here regardless - if settings are not saved in the ini file, comment field does not even show up in GDM. I'll try to fix this, and release a new version tonight.

[mario]

sttun, can you please re-download Gixen Desktop Manager, I just released version 1.1.6. Let me know if it works better for you now.

Comments are improved - now they you will see an input field, and the same field when editing an existing snipe with comment.

You can see comments as "hints" when you click on the row that contains a scheduled snipe. I am open to suggestions on how to improve the visibility, I am aware this is not perfect.

[sttun]

Hi Mario

Downloaded 1.1.6 and can see the correct version in GDM>About.

However, whilst I can see the comment field (as previously) in the "add new snipe" and also the comment field in edit (this works ok), I can't see anywhere where a "hint" would appear if I click on a scheduled snipe.

Clicking on a snipe doesn't now open the eBay item in a browser window - it did used to, didn't it?

If I add a new snipe and comment "P&P GBP 4.50" in the GDM, I only see "P" on-line and editing via the GDM.

If I add a comment "P&P GBP 4.50" on-line, I can see "P&P 4.50" both on-line and editing the snipe in the GDM - i.e. the only currency character that Gixen allows both via the GDM and on-line is $.

I hope these comments help?

Thanks
Mark

[sttun]

If I edit a snipe in the GDM and change a comment & update. Re-editing and viewing the comment in the GDM, it is still truncated to 1 character.

[mario]

Weird, I tested this and it worked fine. What version of Windows are you using?

I fixed the double-click issue and released 1.1.7. Double click now opens a browser with the item.

[sttun]

Win7 x64

[mario]

I tried it on Win7 32-bit, and it works fine. I'll see that I find a Win7 x64 machine to test it there. Please download the latest version anyway (1.1.7) and try that one.

[sttun]

1.1.7 downloaded and the click to link back to the eBay item works fine

Interesting that there could be differences between 64 and 32 bit implementation...

[mario]

It's certainly related to Unicode handling in some way, that symptom is typical. I need to find a machine that has the same behaviour though in order to fix it. XP and Win7 32-bit, that I have available both work fine. I probably won't be able to fix this before some time next week.

[sttun]

Hi Mario

Don't stress

It's not that important that it can't wait

Thanks for a great product
Mark

[mario]

Mark, please try one more time - download the latest release (1.1.. This time I changed a few things that I think might have caused this, but I couldn't test it, as I don't have a 64-bit Win 7. It's not going to be any worse that's for sure, and it may be fixed. Let me know.

[sttun]

Tried 1.1.8 on my Win7 x64 machine and on an old XP machine. Works fine on the XP machine, but still no hints on the 64 bit laptop.

Also, it is still truncating any comments that are added through the GDM and the GBP character is still being removed.

It isn't that urgent Mario, but if you do manage to take a look, I'll be on & off the laptop over the weekend, so could test some more.

Is there anything I can do/run at my end to assist in problem solving/error trapping?

Thanks
Mark

[mario]

Mark, I am leaving this for some time next week when I should have a Win7 64-bit machine to test this.

[sttun]

Ok

[sttun]

I generally only reboot my laptop after updates, but I had an app lock up, so rebooted.

The GDM "hints" now work

It's good news I guess...

However, it still truncates any comments to 1 character if entered in the HDM and viewed in the GDM or Gixen.com. Currency characters in the comments field apart from $ is still an issue

[sttun]

The GDM truncating characters issue is and isn't an issue. I was adding the phrase P&P to the comments field and the GDM was truncating everything and inc the "&".

If I don't use "&", then it seems to work ok. I guess it's related to the issue of using non-US currency characters?

Mark

[Cupid]

I think that would be due to the mechanism used to identify variables in https requests, which is the way the GDM communicates with the Gixen server.

It is probably best to avoid using the & character in comments.
_________________
Mark

[mario]

Mark, in fact this is because GDM uses Gixen API, and sends parameters as HTTP GET variables... and guess what the delimiter is for HTTP GET? It's &.

I don't have a quick solution for this (if at all) - so I'd avoid using & in comments.

Thank you for the feedback, so it seems 64-but Windows was not an issue after all?

[sttun]

After the reboot, it appears as if 32 & 64 bit behaviour is the same. I have no idea why

The problem of using "&" is only when using the GDM. Adding them at Gixen.com and viewing them in the GDM is fine.

[mario]

That's expected, web interface is more robust.

Forgot to say - the latest GDM has variable refresh, and it's the default.

[sttun]

Variable refresh... as in the GDM refreshes more frequently the nearer it gets to a bid time?

[mario]

Correct. It refreshes prices 5 seconds under 3 minutes left, 1 minute under 30 minutes left, and every 5 minutes otherwise.