Tutorial for Bricklink

Legoaizer - Help

Tutorial for Bricklink

Legoaizer has a fully integrated option to use the Bricklink database. The biggest advantage is that you can directly use colour, brick, pricing and amount available data, while you are creating your mosaic. This way the pricing of the intended mosaic is pretty accurate. In addition it will allow you to create a wanted list for upload to Bricklink, and start trading on the parts right away.

But first we show some important features that enables the Bricklink interactions (see also Functions and features):

the Bricklink database
use Bricklink wanted list

The Bricklink database
This pop-up window shows the current database from the Bricklink website. The selection of bricks is limited to the ones that are most used in mosaic creation. The corresponding brick colours are shown, all the known combinations of brick and colour, and for all these the new and used prices that are found in the market place of Bricklink.com.

This database of colours, bricks and prices is updated regularly, and you can update it manually by pressing the 'Check for update' button. Then follow the information in the table: if an update is available the update button will become active. After a successful update this button will become inactive.

Export Bricklink wanted list
The full brick list with colour data, price etcetera can be exported in the Bricklink xml file format. This file can then directly be uploaded via Bricklink website as your wanted list and continue to buy your parts via Bricklink. This will only be effective when you have created a fully compatible Bricklink brick-colour table. In case colour and brick codes are not recognized you will risk an error via Bricklink.

Lesson 1: My first Bricklink colour-brick dataset

Select via the main menu 'Bricklink' 'Bricklink colour table'. The following interface is started:

Carefully look at the table:

at the top you find the brick ID's from the Bricklink database (e.g. 2356), the number of studs (e.g. 4x6) and the type of brick (Brick, Plate, Tile). On top of this table you also see a check 'area' (each brick has such a check area). If you scroll to the right you will also notice the 'x' in that row, indicating 'there is no pricing information for any colour of this brick / plate / tile'.
at the left you find a similar overview for the colours: code (e.g. 11 = black), name ('Black') and the Hex code for the colour (e.g. '212121'). Also a similar area for the checkboxes is seen, also with the 'x' in (meaning 'no brick pricing is found with that colour').
The white area in the middle shows the pricing and amount data as found in the Bricklink database. The pricing is given in the Bricklink currency! (Please check with your view as you find in the Bricklink database on your own computer!).
The two radio buttons 'Amount' and 'Prices' show the data in the white area.

You can now build your own Bricklink database by checking the boxes on the left and top areas. In the example above you can see the tickboxes in 2356, 2465 to 3004, and the colours 1, 86 to 11. In case you encounter a 'x' sign in the tickbox you can ignore this warning (no Bricklink data is available), and still apply this brick or colour (e.g. you have plenty of these yourself).

When all checkboxes that you want to use are done, then press the button 'Create colour table' and provide a table name. The table is created, and is immediately active, replacing your current table! And then you're ready to start to create any mosaic.

Picture above: the inset shows the new colours that were selected, the table name that was provides was 'NewTable'.

Lesson 2: Synchronising the dataset with your current table

In some cases you would like to edit your previously created Bricklink table. That is easy: first load this table, then press the button 'Copy from current' (don't forget to first show the Bricklink colour data: via main menu 'Bricklink' 'Bricklink colour table'). This way the current table is copied in the Bricklink window. You can now do the same as explained in lesson 1: check and uncheck bricks and colours. Then save the table again:

Save: the current table overwrites your current table (and saves the data in the current table file).
Save table as... : this will show a pop-up to provide a new name for this (edited) table. The new table is not loaded.
Open table: open an existing table. Not necessarily a Bricklink table.
Create Combo's: see lesson 5

Lesson 3: Synchronising the current table with the current dataset

Alternatively, in other cases you wish to copy the selected checkbox-brick combinations of the Bricklink table to your current dataset. This would be the same as lesson 2 and then select the option 'Update table'. The button 'Copy to current' is exactly doing the same. It's a kind of shortcut.

Lesson 4: Create a Wanted List for upload to Bricklink

After pressing this menu option an interface is shown in which you are requested to complete the data for the xml file (see picture below). On the left side (not editable part) is the data that is currently available via the Bricklink website on colours and prices. On the right side (white area) is the editable part of the xml file.

Most data is already filed in like requested amount, maximum price, notifications and condition. In case you wish add a remark, you can use the still empty column. If ready, then press the 'Create Export xml file' button. The file is stored in the same location as the mosaic picture and spreadsheet (the 'Results folder', as in 'Folders' in the main menu). In the top corner the associated brick is shown when you click on a row in the editable area (here referred to as 'PartID' , basically the Bricklink part code for that brick part).

The XML file follows the Bricklink convention and naming of xml tags. This file is stored as 'BrickLink_WantedList.xml', in the same folder as the results (via the main menu: 'Folders' 'Open results folder'). The name of the wanted list file is fixed, so in case you have a previous list, please remove or rename this list first. Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<inventory>
<item>
    <itemtype>P</itemtype>
    <itemid>3001</itemid>
    <color>8</color>
    <maxprice>0.12</maxprice>
    <minqty>321</minqty>
    <condition>N</condition>
    <remarks/>
    <notify>N</notify>
</item>
...
</inventory>

Lesson 5: Combos

Combo-brick creation has a special feature that may be useful to create unique brick-colour combination. A combo is a 1x1 round plate on top of which a 1x1 square plate is put. Examples are shown in the picture below.

There are two ways to create Combos: you create your own (photographed) combinations of the plates you have in your collection, or you let the application create the tiles for you based on the Bricklink database. The first option creates by far the most realistic and lively coloured results, while the latter creates pretty much accurate colour combinations but will sometimes result in wrong colour impressions. The application tries to differentiate between transparent and non transparent round (top) plates, but is not always successful in doing so. A bit of trial and error to see what colour impressions are created is encouraged.

When you make your pictures from your own collection please make sure you apply a strict rule for file naming. This naming is important to allow an automated cost calculation from the current bricklink database! If no correct color code is found it will generate a default cost value of 10 units (so: when you have selected a unity of 100, this value represents 10 cents). To load these pictures is identical to creating a picture library, but the file naming is essentially different (you should first read the details on library creation and loading).

The file naming rule is (the <> signs are used to explain; it's content only):

<square plate colour name>+<round plate colour name>_<square color ID>+<round colour ID>_<remark>.bmp

Examples: 'Black+Light Gray_11+9_Combo.bmp' and 'Red+Red_5+5_Combo.bmp'.

The file name must therefore have two '+' characters and two '_' characters to be a valid filename. And the last + must be put between the two colour codes ('Color ID' in Bricklink terminology). The remark after the 2nd '_' will not be used but is useful for your own identification. Spaces in the colour names are allowed. The names of the colour should ideally follow the Bricklink convention, but not necessarily. The colour ID is used to identify the Bricklink data.

In case you wish to use the computer generated combo's follow these steps:

Open the Bricklink colour table via the main menu: 'Bricklink' 'Bricklink colour table'.
Select the colours you want to combine (no need to select bricks here). Only the combinations of a 1x1 plate (parts ID 3024) with a 1x1 round tile (parts ID 4073) is created. You need to check the columns in the table on the left (the 'v' sign will appear if you have checked a colour).
Via the main menu select 'Colour table' 'Create combo' from the Bricklink colour-brick table. Now for every possible colour-brick combination a picture file is created, where the round tile is put on top of the square tile. Only those colours that are available for each part is taken. This way computer generated pictures are created, and stored in a subfolder of the indicated directory (pop-up question).
The application can also automate the picture library loading and creation (another choice to make). The cost of the combined bricks is also calculated and stored in the data file. In some cases colour pictures are created that are different in brick combination but appear to have identical colour impressions. In those cases automated library created is stopped; and you have to manually remove the indicated picture files, after which you can now load the picture library manually (see here). In that case also the cost data is correctly recalculated from the file name. In this case you don't need to worry about the file naming rule, the application automatically creates the correct names and codes (like in the example picture above).

In both cases (self-made pictures or computer generated combo pictures) the bricklink data can be read, but there will not be a link made between Bricklink and your files. This is only possible from libraries that are created using the Bricklink data itself (like here).

For normal Bricklink datasets the data can be read back to the Editor ('Copy from current' and 'Copy to current', see here). For Combo sets this is not possible anymore. When pressing one of these buttons nothing will happen. To edit a Combo set you need to make a new one, or use the checkboxes to include or exclude a colour.

The resulting output can be saved in one blueprint file with two tabs: one for the round top bricks, the other for the underlying square bricks. If no combo dataset is detected the output remains simply one tab of blueprint data.The picture below shows the different combo results in Excel spreadsheet format. Left the round top layer; in the middle the square bottom layer; and on the right the summary for the two types of bricks ('3024' and '4073' Bricklink codes) of amount and cost.

Epilogue: What else is there to do?

Legoaizer has basic functions available to work with Bricklink data:

Update the Bricklink database. This has a risk when you are using brick-colour combinations that are not offered any more. You will soon find out when this is the case: the colour is not used in your mosaic any more.
Copy your bricklink database and the project file in a zipped file and send it to a friend. Using the same database and project file he can recreate your mosaic exactly as you have made it. Of course you also need to send the source picture.