UPDATE: Source Code and Application to Monitor Marketplace Threads

[ZirconJohn]

Very interesting

[msternin]

Very interesting

Glad you find it interesting. Since writing the application, I've found it to be quite expensive. :-) LOL. Since it helps me find targeted items for sale, I'm trying to buy more items than ever. Coupled with the fact that I just got my FFL 03, I'll be buying even more.

Oh well. I didn't make money to not spend it. :-)

[lasbrg]

I have been experimenting with alternative ways of pulling up the listings.

//internal const string mp_url = "http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/forumdisplay.php?f={0}&pp=200";

This is msternin's implementation. It is much faster than VBulletin search. The "{0}" takes the forum number from the check box.

internal const string mp_url = "http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/search.php?do=getnew&include={0}";

This is a nearly equivalent version that uses "search.php" instead of "forumdisplay.php". It works with CGNMON, but it's slower and doesn't return as many results. In fact, it works the exact same way as the native search. The reason I was playing with it was because search.php has options to access the first 200 characters of the post.

The URL search example below works something like clicking "New Posts", but it's tied to the 332 forum:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/search.php?do=getnew&include=332

h**ttp://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/search.php?do=getnew&include=332

adding "&showposts=1" returns excerpts of the posts.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/search.php?do=getnew&showposts=1&include=332

h**ttp://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/search.php?do=getnew&showposts=1&include=332

So far, there is no advantage to pulling up the listings this way in CGNMON. Also, adding "&showposts=1" breaks the code, but this could be a way to search a little deeper than just the words in the thread titles.

[msternin]

Interesting. You seem to want to use this more for finding interesting discussion threads.

For me, I actually like to leisurely peruse them.

I'm sure there's a few different ways to skin this cat. That said, I'm sure if I looked up the doc for vBulletin, there's probably a lot more that can be done. I just used a little bit of reverse engineering to get where I needed to be.

[lasbrg]

Interesting. You seem to want to use this more for finding interesting discussion threads.

For me, I actually like to leisurely peruse them.

I'm sure there's a few different ways to skin this cat. That said, I'm sure if I looked up the doc for vBulletin, there's probably a lot more that can be done. I just used a little bit of reverse engineering to get where I needed to be.

Your CGNMON app offers some intriguing possibilities, that's true. I also prefer slow browsing through the forums, but this is it's own thing and I am having some fun learning the ins and outs of VBulletin.

[msternin]

Your CGNMON app offers some intriguing possibilities, that's true. I also prefer slow browsing through the forums, but this is it's own thing and I am having some fun learning the ins and outs of VBulletin.

Well I'm truly glad you like it and find it a good learning experience for yourself. Have fun with it. Let me know if you have other code related questions.

I really didn't put a lot of effort into this so the code (IMHO) is pretty sloppy by my own standards. Normally, I would have created separate class files, and well constructed methods, classes, and multi-threading, etc... But I was really pretty lazy in building something that was pretty self serving.