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Trade Paperback Swap

Started by techvoodoo,

89 posts in this topic

GIJOEISAWESOME-migration

GIJOEISAWESOME-migration

Posted
Posted
No one expects you to have work super hard on this free project. Do it when you feel like it and when it is ready it is ready. Everyone that plans on participating appreciates your hard work on this (thumbs u I think you will have plenty of people for beta testing. Do you want to post a list for people to sign up or anything? I have been saving up a nice stack of TPBs that I think people will enjoy reading.

 

Exactly. I am very excited for this and glad to be a part of it, but do this when you have time and don't feel pressured.

 

Also, if there's any way I can help that doesn't require any web developing skills, let me know. I can always put stuff into databases or whatever.

 

+1

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bffnut

bffnut

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Posted
No one expects you to have work super hard on this free project. Do it when you feel like it and when it is ready it is ready. Everyone that plans on participating appreciates your hard work on this (thumbs u I think you will have plenty of people for beta testing. Do you want to post a list for people to sign up or anything? I have been saving up a nice stack of TPBs that I think people will enjoy reading.

 

Exactly. I am very excited for this and glad to be a part of it, but do this when you have time and don't feel pressured.

 

Also, if there's any way I can help that doesn't require any web developing skills, let me know. I can always put stuff into databases or whatever.

 

+1101001010101

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techvoodoo

techvoodoo

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Just a little update about the TPBSwap.com project.

 

I got a lot done the last few days. I decided to switch to ASP.net and MSSQL, because I am much more familiar with that platform than PHP and MySQL. I wanted to use PHP/MySQL because my web host provides much larger databases if you use MySQL, but I'm just too rusty with that language to get it done in a time frame I'd like.

 

So, I converted everything I had done to the new platform and finished a bunch of stuff.

 

All of the main public pages are designed, with an exception. The programming and database design for account/membership sign up and login is complete. Of course no one can sign up for the site without an invitation code and I'm to the point to start passing those out yet.

 

I'm currently working on the programming to post graphic novels/trade paperbacks to your member bookshelf right now, then I'll move on to the code to request books from the library.

 

I also figured out a way to pull cover images from amazon's website. It's not as good as I wanted it but it's at least an option, so people don't have to scan their books if they want to provide an image.

 

Most books have a 13 digit ISBN number right on the barcode. I had hoped to be able to pull the cover image with a query using that easily available number. Sadly I can't make that happen.

 

Instead I can pull the image from Amazon if you provide their 10 digit ASIN number. So, if you want to post a book and provide an amazon image, you can go to the amazon site, get that number from that product's details, and include that when you post the book, and my site will then automatically pull that image over into the listing.

 

If you would rather scan your book and use your own image I'll have that as an option too, you'll need to host the image on an image hosting site and include the URL Link to the image.

 

Now I said there was an exception to the main public pages that are done. I haven't come up with a terms of service page yet. Maybe there is a nice lawyer around here with time on their hands that would like to write something up for me. If not I'm sure I can more-a-less copy the TOS from the paperbackswap.com website.

 

I also haven't created a FAQ page, because I don't know what sort of questions people will have. If you have any questions that you think should be included in the FAQ page feel free to post them here. That would be helpful.

 

That's all for now.

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techvoodoo

techvoodoo

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New update. I thought I'd share a screen shot of the current "Browse Library" interface. I just entered 5 books I currently have into the database to test my code against.

 

The images are getting pulled from Amazon's site, using the ISBN-10 (ASIN) number. It's annoying that when you are entering a book, you have to go to amazon and look up your book to get the ISBN-10 (ASIN) number from the product details, but probably less annoying than having to scan, crop/edit, and upload an image.

 

I've created the database with a field for Condition, which is displayed below the book. I'm going to allow members to enter the condition of their book using standard book conditions, not comic grading conditions. Those are:

 

• As New

• Fine

• Very Good

• Good

• Fair

• Poor

 

I may drop Poor as an option all together, I'm not sure if I want to allow people to list books in poor condition.

 

The default view shows all books. I will need to setup a paging mechanism, I will probably limit it to 20-24 books per page. There is also an option to view books by Publisher. Right now I only have the following publishers in the database. I can't decide if this list is extensive enough or if I should add more.

 

• Dark Horse

• DC

• IDW

• Image

• Marvel

• Other

 

That's about all for now.

 

tpbswap.jpg

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LanceTX

LanceTX

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Very very impressed. I can't wait for this.

 

As for the public library comment. You may have that kind of set up at your local library, but not everyone does.

 

You think someone living in the "Cowboy Capital of Texas" like I do is going to have comic books at the library? Not going to happen.

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techvoodoo

techvoodoo

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Made some big updates today.

 

I finished all the code to add and remove books in the library database, aka your bookshelf, with the exception of getting your 1 free credit for adding 5 books, and a 2nd free credit for adding another 5 books.

 

I haven't finished the whole credit/transaction system yet but that's next.

 

Here's a short list of what's done so far.

 

• The signup/create account functionality is working.

 

• A member can add books to their bookshelf, which then shows up in the library for everyone to see, or remove unclaimed books.

 

• You can browse the library and see all the books currently available to claim.

 

• The library browser interface lets you view everything available, or filter by publisher.

 

• The library browser interface has paging working, showing 12 books per page. I may increase this to 16 or 20 after a bunch of books get entered I'm not sure yet.

 

So it's getting close.

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ParamagicFF

ParamagicFF

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Though I would not meet the requirements for this project initially, I think it is a really good idea for those who do not have access to libraries with trades. In fact, I think I've only lived in one area that had those.

 

My only concern is that the cost of shipping a single trade would almost amount to the cost of buying them. With such low purchase prices on trades (especially digital), it would be hard to justify what is essentially a $5 rental fee per trade. Maybe I'm a shipping noob but wouldnt it be more cost effective to ship multiple trades at a time with flat rate?

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techvoodoo

techvoodoo

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Though I would not meet the requirements for this project initially, I think it is a really good idea for those who do not have access to libraries with trades. In fact, I think I've only lived in one area that had those.

 

My only concern is that the cost of shipping a single trade would almost amount to the cost of buying them. With such low purchase prices on trades (especially digital), it would be hard to justify what is essentially a $5 rental fee per trade. Maybe I'm a shipping noob but wouldnt it be more cost effective to ship multiple trades at a time with flat rate?

 

A TPB in a large padded envelope can be shipped media mail across the country for just under $3. Of course shipping "comic books" in TPB/Graphic Novel form may or may not be within the rules of of the USPS but I've never had any issues.

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vaillant

vaillant

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Do you have anyone in the US who's address you could use, have the books shipped there, and let them forward your books to you?

 

Oh, well, I have a pair of board friends which are holding books for me, but I should ask – I definitely don’t want to abuse their kindness…

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techvoodoo

techvoodoo

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I just wanted to mention I've only gotten 6 PM's from people expressing interest in participating in the TPBSwap.com website.

 

7 if you count GIJOEISAWESOME... But well, he's been taken off the list.

 

CAHokie has been helping me test some things this past week, just inputting data and reporting back bugs/errors/whatnot. It's been really helpful so thanks for that.

 

I think I might have over estimated the potential interest in putting something like this together. (shrug) Hopefully it wasn't a giant waste of time.

 

In any event I'm close enough to getting done that I'm going to get this finished, I've probably only got about 40 to 60 more hours of work to do on it, hopefully it will be ready to roll out in a week or so.

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