I have always thought that the Merchant frame could use some sprucing up :)
so this is where i am at so far
instead of pages i went with a ScrollFrame.
also i have added a buy button and an edit box so you can buy as many as you want without having to use that damn splitstackframe where you can't input anything :)
Things i plan to implement:
filterbox so that you can narrow down your choices.
an autosell option -- so you can get rid of those pesky grays
an autobuy option -- so you can keep stocked up with reagents
a reminder when you go into a city to restock your reagents if you get low
The split stack frame does let you input a number from your keyboard.
Anyway... http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info9267-ImprovedMerchant.html Was even a Pick of the Week. :) Though I'm not sure if Macniel plans to update it any time soon... There's a fanfix patch up in the additional files. Macniel has been on wowi recently (Feb. 7th), but hasn't touched the addon.
also never knew you could type stuff into the stacksplit frame (damn that would have made the last years alot easier it doesn't have a cursor so never thought you could type in it) but i in my implementation you can buy as much as you want (even multiple stacks)
The split stack frame does let you input a number from your keyboard.
Anyway... http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info9267-ImprovedMerchant.html Was even a Pick of the Week. :) Though I'm not sure if Macniel plans to update it any time soon... There's a fanfix patch up in the additional files. Macniel has been on wowi recently (Feb. 7th), but hasn't touched the addon.
The patch posted is by me.
Macniel contacted me by PM on wowi about a month ago asking if I would like to adopt
ImprovedMerchant as he has very limited time for development and didn't feel he could support it properly.
(I had provided another bugfix/wotlk compatible patch during wotlk beta)
Unfortunately I'm in a similar situation and I already provide limited support to my own mods,
so best I could offer was a suggestion to put it on the wowi svn so I can push maintenance releases to the main file
until he gets back into the swing of things or another author is found that would be willing to fully support it (with new features etc).
I haven't gotten a reply to that so best I could do is submit the fixed version as an optional patch.
If you would like to build on ImprovedMerchant instead of starting from scratch I'd try to contact Macniel on wowi,
he will probably be happy to pass ownership/maintenance of the mod to you and it already has a rather large use base that will welcome the updates.
not sure if thats a good idea since i never used the original mod and am starting from scratch gives me the ability to make the way i want it instead of having to work from an original base and then if i do make any changes piss of old users
Just don't make yours ass-slow. I considered writing my own as you are now because ImprovedMerchant takes roughly 5 seconds or more to show everything in the frame.
i'd leave the buy/sell stuff to other addons specifically designed for that purpose. an interface for freerefills might be nice, tho.
to me, the biggest issue with vendors is all the crap you don't care about getting in the way of the crap you do care about. you should prioritize the things people want and put them first.
like: recipes you could learn right now, items that have limited quantities, things you've bought before, stuff you can actually use, etc.
i'd lose your frames around your buttons, too. the extra detail doesn't help the legibility. if you think you need to make the buttons read next to each other, maybe you could alternate black and dark gray background colors (just enough to see the diff).
as for auto restock feature i was thinking about having a popout window to the right of the merchant frame where you can set all your autorestock settings
i'd throw limited supply item that i can't use up there as well. maybe as the #2 priority. it might be a recipe you could learn later or even one you can sell on the ah.
i'd also think an ignored item would be the last priority, but unusable stuff of limitless supply also seems like a pretty low priority. guess it depends on what unusable means. does it include reagents for trades you don't have? sometimes those are actually useful -- like if you want somebody to craft something for you...
it'd be nice if some kind of grouping scheme could be implemented, but i suspect it's probably more work than it's worth.
maybe it'd be cool to have a comparison feature. like you identify an object as being interesting this visit so it gets locked into the #1 position on the scroll bar. you find another interesting item and it gets locked into #2, etc. then you can quickly mouse over to see how they compare. right now you potentially have to mouse around a big list of items to see what pvp gear you might want. this could also be done as a separate break-out window. sort of the equivalent of a real life vendor taking items out of the display case for you to look at more closely.
also attached my current code if anyone wants to try it (use at your own risk)
the buy buttons are also now fully working (successfully bought 1000 Coarse Thread with one click)
also if an item is sold in stacks of 5 but you type in 6 then it will automatically round up to buy 10
Or someone can install BuyEmAll to enhance the default split-stack frame to buy custom quantities. Why reinvent the wheel and bulk up your addon in the process?
for unusable items, maybe you should ghost the text as well -- like alpha it down to 60 or 70 percent just so those items recede a bit.
not sure that iLevel is so important that it should make the front page, so to speak. don't think i've ever cared about the iLevel of an item. now, if you subbed the recipe level (color coded!) or the min toon level for the item, then i could see how it'd be worth-while.
also, if clicking the icon buys the item, why do you need the buy buttons?
lastly, i would leave off the 1's and assume a blank edit field means 1. again, just trying to clean up the info so the important stuff is easy to see. might even suggest moving it to the left side of the icon (moving everything over to right to make room). maybe you could use that room to also identify/edit quotas or display current inventory counts....
One thing I would like to see for such an addon would be the currencies I need to buy the stuff at the merchant instead or in addition to the gold. It could even be a little window hanging to the right with multiple currencies that are used if there are more then one.
One thing I would like to see for such an addon would be the currencies I need to buy the stuff at the merchant instead or in addition to the gold. It could even be a little window hanging to the right with multiple currencies that are used if there are more then one.
I filter of what I can buy would be great to.
not sure what you mean ???
but even the default frame displays exactly what you need to buy an item
Or someone can install BuyEmAll to enhance the default split-stack frame to buy custom quantities. Why reinvent the wheel and bulk up your addon in the process?
first its a personal choice cause i never liked the split stack frame :) also i will need most of the code for the auto buy feature
for unusable items, maybe you should ghost the text as well -- like alpha it down to 60 or 70 percent just so those items recede a bit.
not sure that iLevel is so important that it should make the front page, so to speak. don't think i've ever cared about the iLevel of an item. now, if you subbed the recipe level (color coded!) or the min toon level for the item, then i could see how it'd be worth-while.
also, if clicking the icon buys the item, why do you need the buy buttons?
lastly, i would leave off the 1's and assume a blank edit field means 1. again, just trying to clean up the info so the important stuff is easy to see. might even suggest moving it to the left side of the icon (moving everything over to right to make room). maybe you could use that room to also identify/edit quotas or display current inventory counts....
not bad ideas though blank edit frames tend to be confusing since at first glance they are just an empty rectangle but if you put something in them they are easily recognized as such (hopefully) currently they display the min buy quantity for an item. was thinking though to remove it and the buy button and simply make the min buy quantity on the itembutton itself editable and then if you either hit enter or click the item button it would buy the entered quantity on esc i would reset the value to its default value
not sure what you mean ???
but even the default frame displays exactly what you need to buy an item
Look at the first screenshot you posted in the thread. The price for items is 68K honor points but the frame shows how much gold you have, not honor points. The normal frame does the same thing. It always show the gold you have even when the items that are sold require another type of currency.
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so this is where i am at so far
instead of pages i went with a ScrollFrame.
also i have added a buy button and an edit box so you can buy as many as you want without having to use that damn splitstackframe where you can't input anything :)
Things i plan to implement:
What do you guys think?
Anyway... http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info9267-ImprovedMerchant.html Was even a Pick of the Week. :) Though I'm not sure if Macniel plans to update it any time soon... There's a fanfix patch up in the additional files. Macniel has been on wowi recently (Feb. 7th), but hasn't touched the addon.
also never knew you could type stuff into the stacksplit frame (damn that would have made the last years alot easier it doesn't have a cursor so never thought you could type in it) but i in my implementation you can buy as much as you want (even multiple stacks)
The patch posted is by me.
Macniel contacted me by PM on wowi about a month ago asking if I would like to adopt
ImprovedMerchant as he has very limited time for development and didn't feel he could support it properly.
(I had provided another bugfix/wotlk compatible patch during wotlk beta)
Unfortunately I'm in a similar situation and I already provide limited support to my own mods,
so best I could offer was a suggestion to put it on the wowi svn so I can push maintenance releases to the main file
until he gets back into the swing of things or another author is found that would be willing to fully support it (with new features etc).
I haven't gotten a reply to that so best I could do is submit the fixed version as an optional patch.
If you would like to build on ImprovedMerchant instead of starting from scratch I'd try to contact Macniel on wowi,
he will probably be happy to pass ownership/maintenance of the mod to you and it already has a rather large use base that will welcome the updates.
i'd leave the buy/sell stuff to other addons specifically designed for that purpose. an interface for freerefills might be nice, tho.
to me, the biggest issue with vendors is all the crap you don't care about getting in the way of the crap you do care about. you should prioritize the things people want and put them first.
like: recipes you could learn right now, items that have limited quantities, things you've bought before, stuff you can actually use, etc.
i'd lose your frames around your buttons, too. the extra detail doesn't help the legibility. if you think you need to make the buttons read next to each other, maybe you could alternate black and dark gray background colors (just enough to see the diff).
and i will look into how it will look with alternating backgrounds instead of the hard frames
how about this for priority
as for auto restock feature i was thinking about having a popout window to the right of the merchant frame where you can set all your autorestock settings
i'd also think an ignored item would be the last priority, but unusable stuff of limitless supply also seems like a pretty low priority. guess it depends on what unusable means. does it include reagents for trades you don't have? sometimes those are actually useful -- like if you want somebody to craft something for you...
it'd be nice if some kind of grouping scheme could be implemented, but i suspect it's probably more work than it's worth.
maybe it'd be cool to have a comparison feature. like you identify an object as being interesting this visit so it gets locked into the #1 position on the scroll bar. you find another interesting item and it gets locked into #2, etc. then you can quickly mouse over to see how they compare. right now you potentially have to mouse around a big list of items to see what pvp gear you might want. this could also be done as a separate break-out window. sort of the equivalent of a real life vendor taking items out of the display case for you to look at more closely.
which is given by
a compare feature would indeed be kinda cool though i think it would be nicer to have that as a separate addon where you can just drag items to it
its always a pain to compare tanking drops to my tank set since i generally leave it in my bank but can access the items via itemrack
also attached my current code if anyone wants to try it (use at your own risk)
the buy buttons are also now fully working (successfully bought 1000 Coarse Thread with one click)
also if an item is sold in stacks of 5 but you type in 6 then it will automatically round up to buy 10
not sure that iLevel is so important that it should make the front page, so to speak. don't think i've ever cared about the iLevel of an item. now, if you subbed the recipe level (color coded!) or the min toon level for the item, then i could see how it'd be worth-while.
also, if clicking the icon buys the item, why do you need the buy buttons?
lastly, i would leave off the 1's and assume a blank edit field means 1. again, just trying to clean up the info so the important stuff is easy to see. might even suggest moving it to the left side of the icon (moving everything over to right to make room). maybe you could use that room to also identify/edit quotas or display current inventory counts....
$0.02
I filter of what I can buy would be great to.
not sure what you mean ???
but even the default frame displays exactly what you need to buy an item
first its a personal choice cause i never liked the split stack frame :) also i will need most of the code for the auto buy feature
not bad ideas though blank edit frames tend to be confusing since at first glance they are just an empty rectangle but if you put something in them they are easily recognized as such (hopefully) currently they display the min buy quantity for an item. was thinking though to remove it and the buy button and simply make the min buy quantity on the itembutton itself editable and then if you either hit enter or click the item button it would buy the entered quantity on esc i would reset the value to its default value
Look at the first screenshot you posted in the thread. The price for items is 68K honor points but the frame shows how much gold you have, not honor points. The normal frame does the same thing. It always show the gold you have even when the items that are sold require another type of currency.