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Watcher::Discussion: Welcome to WoW Watcher

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      CommentAuthorNorganna
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2006 edited
     
    What is WoW Watcher?

    We like to do things well.

    We feel that there's a lack of a truly community driven and personalized WoW information portal and we don't want to upset the big 3, but we think we can do something unique and raise the bar.

    Not only that, but all of our addons are very heavily into the item information gathering, storing and displaying, and we find that we just can't easily get the information that we need to keep the data in our addons up-to date.

    A good example of this is the Informant addon which is using a really old price database; we would love to put up-to-the minute accurate price data into every release of the addons, but it just isn't feasible yet.

    What do we want you to do?

    We want you to go to the watcher site and download the upload client for your platform (Windows and OSX supported, as well as the source code if you want to compile it yourself) to send your data to our site.

    We know that it's a risk for you to download our binaries and install them on your computer, that's why we provide the source code. So you can see exactly what the application is going to do. You can take our source code and compile it yourself after you've checked it over if you want to do it that way... Heck you can even adapt it to your own purpose and re-release it for your own website (as long as it remains open-source).

    If anyone wants to investigate the source and post your findings in this forum, we would totally welcome that too. It might convince people that there's no keyloggers in our code.

    How to upload

    Start up the application, click the "..." button, search for your wow directory, click the "Enable reading of WoW data files contents" checkbox, click upload, close the app.

    It doesn't do anything tricky like hang around after you close it, do automatic updates, or install anything without asking you (heck, it doesn't even install anything at all)

    If you want to install a companion addon and are running on TBC or the current WoW 2.0 PTR, you can also install our companion addon which collects information from in the game. Stuff that can't be collected from the game files. You can get this addon from http://media.wowwatcher.com/addon/Watcher-1.0.34.zip if you want to try it out.

    Thanks.
    • CommentAuthorMarth
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2006
     
    Norg - will the Watcher site allow folks to download server specific lua files for gatherer/auctioneer/enchantrix to be used? I know you can do this with DisenchantList.lua by sharing enchantrix data, but having a ton of folks, all uploading their auctioneer data, to allow folks to download server specific data that is highly up to date and accurate would be a godsend.

    M
    •  
      CommentAuthorNorganna
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     
    Marth: Eventually that is the plan, at least for data that is server specific (like auction data, maybe loot tables if we notice big differences)
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      CommentAuthorHarshmage
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     
    Hey Norg, is there a way to utilize UniUploader in place of the Watcher application? Since UniUploader takes care of my guild roster and Census+ data, having it upload the data automatically after WoW closes would be very beneficial and time saving.
    •  
      CommentAuthorNemelis
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     
    Question: if you are not running in the TBC beta or the PTR, is it still usefull to upload data already?
    •  
      CommentAuthorNorganna
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     
    Harshmage: I'm sorry. No, there isn't. UniUploader does not support all the features we need for running a data website. While it's fine to run a guild roster etc, unfortunatly we need access to more data than just the data available by UniUploader.

    Nemelis: Yes. The data we are primarily focussed on is the real (live) data. I just want people to test out the addon on the PTR/TBC beta to make sure it works and doesn't have any bugs, but more than anything, I want people who are actually playing on the live servers (especially on non-english locales) to upload their data.
    • CommentAuthorMarth
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006 edited
     
    Loaded the Watcher UI mod. Using the latest release version of the game. After logging in, get the following error:

    Interface\AddOns\Watcher\Watcher_main.lua:31:unexpected symbol near `...'

    This is v1.06 of Watcher, freshly downloaded from the webpage.

    After clicking Okay to close the error box, the following error pops:

    [string "WatcherFrame:OnUpdate"]:2:attempt to index global `Watcher' (a nil value)

    Clicking OK doesn't make the above box go away - have to exit back to login and disable the mod.
    •  
      CommentAuthordinesh
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     
    are you testing this on PTR or 2.0? the companion addon only works there.
    • CommentAuthorMarth
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     
    Dinesh - After reading Norganna's comment above, I tried it there based on her comment about people trying it on Live.

    M
    • CommentAuthorjtribe
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006 edited
     
    Im trying to upload about 7meg of data but the uploaders just hanging? perhaps im doing something wrong. Will keep at it but just on a side note , theres no confirmation of connection to the server or a time out when theres an error. Hope i can solve it. May be a fire wall problem my side.
    Edit

    Sods law I turn my back and its uploaded lol, never mind just took a while before i seen any reaction on the uploader
    •  
      CommentAuthorNorganna
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006 edited
     
    Ok, I'm sorry for misleading people... Theres 2 components.

    The AddOn only works on the PTR and TBC beta
    The Uploader works on Live and the PTR/TBC

    You cannot use the addon on live, but the uploader will still upload non-addon data from the live server.

    Edit:
    Ok, so I re-read this and it's still probably not clear enough...

    Everybody (especially Live people and especially non-English Live people):
    Download the uploader, locate the WoW folder, check the "Enable reading of..." check box and Upload (be patient cause there's no progress indicator at the moment)

    PTR/TBC people only:
    There's a TBC/PTR only companion AddOn that needs testing. I'd be much obliged if you could check it out for bugs on the PTR/TBC. The uploader will *also* upload this addon data if you point it at your TBC / PTR directory.
    • CommentAuthorLaoTseu
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     
    Hi Norganna, very nice idea!

    I've uploaded my data from Ursin. Any way to see that it actually got there?

    Best
    •  
      CommentAuthorNorganna
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     
    Hi, just to let you all know how we're going:

    http://wowwatcher.com/objects
    Here's a page which outlines the stuff we need right now for Gatherer...

    Where there's a blank box, we need more people from that region who may have seen that item to upload their data.
    •  
      CommentAuthorNorganna
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     
    PS: If you notice that there's no Asian languages there, that's 'cause nobody with Asian clients has uploaded anything yet, so get cracking if you want to see you locale supported in your client language...
    •  
      CommentAuthorNorganna
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2006
     
    Ahh, excellent, we've started getting some Chinese data in there.. Keep it coming guys :)
    •  
      CommentAuthorNemelis
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2006 edited
     
    After I upload, the mainwindow is locked. I can only exit by pressing the x. Is this only happening to me?
    Version: 1.07
    special: Game is running as well.
    /*edit*/ it is reproducable. (Did not try it when the game was closed, since I only tried to pass some time while I'm flying from Darn to Un'Goro ;-)> )
  17.  
    I have a similar issue to Nemesis. I'm running the OS X version of the uploader program, and while Cmd-Q is an key for the "Quit" menu item, neither that key-sequence nor the "Quit" item on the menu cause the application to exit. If I click the "close" button, the application will close. Minor nit, but worth fixing.
    • CommentAuthorQuati
    • CommentTimeDec 5th 2006
     
    Same with me - but since X seems to be terminating the Uploader I can live with it. Btw. Win OS but I think it's the same on every other as well.
    • CommentAuthorPelion
    • CommentTimeDec 8th 2006 edited
     
    Posted By: NorgannaHi, just to let you all know how we're going:

    http://wowwatcher.com/objects
    Here's a page which outlines the stuff we need right now for Gatherer...

    Where there's a blank box, we need more people from that region who may have seen that item to upload their data.


    How often is this page updated ?
    I'm asking as I've uploadet some hours ago datas from TBC (german) and they still don't appear in the list...
    Same happens to the Quest area side
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      CommentAuthorNemelis
    • CommentTimeDec 9th 2006
     
    With the current 2.0 release and problems... expect that the TBC upload is low. But on the other hand... anything uploaded to the 2.0 release will help the TBC entries.
    • CommentAuthorPfc J
    • CommentTimeDec 10th 2006
     
    I hope this is the correct area to post this. First thanks for all your work Norganna. :clap:

    With Watcher-1.0.39 and WoW 2.0.1 I recieve this error with at least one character.
    It occurs on log in, accepting/abandoning quests and sometimes when you bring up the quest log.

    Interface\AddOns\Watcher\Watcher_utils.lua:51 attempt to index field 'bagSearch' (a nil value)

    Tks in advance.
    • CommentAuthorbiffu
    • CommentTimeDec 14th 2006
     
    Hi all, yep I'm new here but trying to help.
    I have loaded watcher and in the Main Window it wants my WoW directory, I have pointed to the correct directory but is says at the bottom "Unable to find WoW files in selected directory", could you give me the correct directory tree please?
    Thanks
    Biff
    • CommentAuthorSalian
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2006
     
    This seems like a nice project.
    I wonder what direction you're taking this in though?

    You say community driven, the code however is no longer GPL but instead under a very restrictive license.
    Will the collected data be available for everyone or will it be kept under wraps and only be used for a select few other addons?
    If this is mainly a 'for profit' project then I'm not to interested in supporting it, if not then things are different.

    No offense intended with these questions, it's just that the world really doesn't need another Thott or Allakhazam. :)
    •  
      CommentAuthorNorganna
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2006
     
    No, you're completely within your rights to ask these types of questions.

    When I say community driven, I mean that the community will have control of it. It won't be overly restrictive on content editing and will be able to evolve to meet the needs of the community.

    The addon's licence is designed as it is to stop people from tampering with the code. I don't use obsfucation or any tricks to hide what's going on, but I can't have people modifying it when the uploader application and the database require it to be in a given format. Can you imagine the chaos that would occur if there was another Watcher app out there? *shudder*

    The uploader application is however completely open source and will be LGPL when I get around to putting in the licence files, etc.

    The collected data will be available as downloadable database dumps, most likely.

    I want to state that this project is "for profit" in the sense that it needs to generate income "somehow" in order to pay for itself. I'm looking at spending (initially) around $10k on server infrastructure on it when it goes live, and I'd kinda like to get some ROI on that. This is a big gamble for me, a database site is not a trivial project and I'm taking it seriously and giving it the resources it needs to launch. We'll see how we go on donations/subscriptions alone, but from past experience, I haven't had much luck with donation systems, having to absorb a lot of the hosting costs myself. I don't know. I guess we'll see. If donations work that'll be great. I have my suspicions that they wont. In any case the website will be fully functional for every user regardless; there won't be any sections you can't go to or use just because you're not paying us money.

    Really it comes down to you. We're trying to do something different and raise the bar as far as WoW database sites are concerned. We're going to try and build a fully Web 2.0 style WoW database website such as the world has never seen before. We'll be using best practice technologies such as:

    AJAX (I was using AJAX way before it was, actually)
    Digest authentication (your password will never leave your computer)
    Fully boolean capable search engines (as in Google-style)
    Fully content editable webpages (wiki style)
    Karma-style user and content/post/thread moderation (ie: people who make stupid posts will disappear)
    Multilingual seperation between website language and content language (you can view a German item in the English website etc)
    Multiple views and queries of the same data (sometimes you just need to look at things from a different angle)
    and most importantly:
    We'll be listening to you

    I really want to make this project a success. At the moment, I'm doing it in my spare time, and out of my own pocket becuase I truly believe in it. This is not a "get rich quick" scheme for me, it's a passion that's driven by my ire when I can't find what I want to at other sites. But ultimately the choice is yours.
    • CommentAuthorSalian
    • CommentTimeDec 21st 2006
     
    Ok, my fears are alleviated.
    Hopefully I'll be able to help out in some way.
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      CommentAuthorNemelis
    • CommentTimeJan 4th 2007
     
    What is the current status of WoWWatcher? Is there already a new uploader?
    And what about the addon, can it be used with WoW 2.0?

    If I go to www.wowwatcher.com the site looks terrible and I can't find where I can download the things, that is why I'm asking here.
    •  
      CommentAuthordinesh
    • CommentTimeJan 4th 2007
     
    norganna is concentrating on getting Auctioneer up and running first, I believe. The addon is not in a functional state yet, iirc. You can download the EXE and upload data, however.
    • CommentAuthortedrock
    • CommentTimeJan 20th 2007
     
    I installed the addon... Loaded WoW and didn't see any "Watcher loaded" in the chat log (should be something telling us it's working). So to see if it did anything when I browsed an NPC I right clicked one and boom!
    Date: 2007-01-20 11:42:07
    ID: 51
    Error occured in: Global
    Count: 1
    Message: ..\AddOns\Watcher\Watcher_quest.lua line 30:
    attempt to index field 'scans' (a nil value)
    Debug:
    [C]: ?
    Watcher\Watcher_quest.lua:30: processQuestDetail()
    Watcher\Watcher_main.lua:46: onEvent()
    [string "WatcherFrame:OnEvent"]:2:
    [string "WatcherFrame:OnEvent"]:1
    • CommentAuthortedrock
    • CommentTimeJan 20th 2007
     
    would it be possible to make this a loader so we just run the watcher, it uploads then runs wow? that would be great.
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      CommentAuthorNemelis
    • CommentTimeJan 20th 2007
     
    If we do that make it configurable so you can also say, run watcher and then run another loader (e.g. the official loader or cosmos.exe). Else I still have to swap to cosmos.exe after I have finished watcher.
    • CommentAuthorThortok2000
    • CommentTimeJan 20th 2007 edited
     
    All I'd really like is an automatic uploader. I love things that are automatic. Although, uploading and then going to Blizzard's default loader wouldn't be too bad.
    •  
      CommentAuthordinesh
    • CommentTimeJan 20th 2007
     
    as i mentioned above, i do not believe the AddOn is functional at the moment, just the EXE file uploader.
    •  
      CommentAuthorNemelis
    • CommentTimeJan 20th 2007
     
    Lol Dinesh, this was about the EXE.
    •  
      CommentAuthordinesh
    • CommentTimeJan 20th 2007
     
    tedrock's initial message:

    "I installed the addon... Loaded WoW and didn't see any "Watcher loaded" in the chat log (should be something telling us it's working). So to see if it did anything when I browsed an NPC I right clicked one and boom! [...] Message: ..\AddOns\Watcher\Watcher_quest.lua line 30:"

    was not about the EXE. He downloaded and installed the WoW Watcher AddOn, which is not functional.
    •  
      CommentAuthorNemelis
    • CommentTimeJan 21st 2007
     
    Lol, mixup.

    I thought you were replying on the same sub-thread as I was replying on. And that was about the exe:
    Posted By: tedrockwould it be possible to make this a loader so we just run the watcher, it uploads then runs wow? that would be great.
    • CommentAuthorBladewing
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2007
     
    Yes, an automatic updater would be great, perhaps even one that Syncs with Trac.
    • CommentAuthorelcon
    • CommentTimeJan 31st 2007
     
    will this also track gather data that is sever speffic? I have to say I really respect the work you have done on auctioner/ench/gather without them wow would suck. So in the near future I wil try and help the cause this sounds like an ammazing project. let me know once you have some sorta auto updater, ill try without the auto updater but sometimes i cant find the right files but i'd love to help. I understand your need for $ to run the severs and such but please dont make it so comerical driven as wowecon that just is a total turn off.

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