Brickstore Database

[Blakbird]

I use Brickstore nearly every day to keep track of parts I need for MOCs and to generate Bricklink wanted lists and keep track of my Bricklink store inventory. I was trying to add a new part (15100) which exists in Bricklink but not in Brickstore. This can usually be remedied by updating the database, but Brickstore says the database is already up to date. I know a lot of changes have been happening at Bricklink lately. Have they changed the database so it can no longer be imported by Brickstore?

[legolijntje]

I recommend to try BrickStock instead of BrickStore. Brickstore is old and is no longer supported and updated. BrickStock is a fork (using the source of BrickStore) of brickstore.

You could try if they fixed it in there

[Blakbird]

I tried downloading BrickStock but it doesn't seem to work at all. It runs, but as soon as I click "configure" (to set preferences such as my proxy server) it crashes. So BrickStock never even downloads a database. I tried to set the proxy server manually by using RegEdit and copying the settings from Brickstore, but it still doesn't work.

[Zimix]

I use the latest version of BrickStock 1.2.7 with no trouble. I did not set the proxy. Only login for Bricklink.

[Blakbird]

Are you using Windows or Mac? I can't set any preferences at all on Windows 7 because it crashes as soon as I select the "configure" dialog.

[Zimix]

Win 7 ultimate 64.

Where did you install it? (path)

[Blakbird]

I did not use the default location. I installed in my LDraw directory (which is where I have all my utilities).

[Zimix]

Give it a try to install BrickStock at his default location. It might be that your path is too deep.

[Blakbird]

Just tried the default path. No difference. Still crashes as soon as I pick "configure". I thought maybe it had something to do with opening a dialog while using multiple monitors so I tried reverting to a single monitor, but still no improvement.

[Zimix]

Which version do you use "for private use" or "for commercial use" ?

I only use the private one

[Blakbird]

I'm not sure what you mean by version. I don't see any place to choose a version.

Edit: This only pops up the first time you use the program. I chose "DEMO". I went back and deleted that registry entry so I could try "private", but it didn't help. Still crashes.

[Zimix]

I just tried to install it again in a Virtual Machine running under windows xp and no issue. updated the database also.

Big question is how to figure out the why it's crashing on your pc.

[Blakbird]

I'd still be interested in the answer to the original question. What has changed at Bricklink such that Brickstore can no longer download the database? If it works in Brickstock, which is just a modified version of Brickstore, then that means that someone understands what's changed and adjusted the software to compensate. I wonder what changed?

Since Brickstock doesn't work on my machine, I wonder if I could get an updated parts database from someone using Brickstock and just use that database with Brickstore?

[Zimix]

Brickstore has been created by Robert Griebl. He stoped to maintain it and unfortunately Bricklink also made some changes, and since February 2014 the database is not updated anymore in Brickstore.

BrickStock is created by Patrick Brans based on the source of Brickstore.

The story in french can be found here

There is no update for the Brickstore database.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Zimix

[Blakbird]

Thanks for the link. That explains why Brickstock exists and confirms my suspicions about Brickstore. I'm still not sure exactly what changed on the Bricklink end in February. I'll do some experiments at home tonight on my Mac and see if the databases are interchangeable.

[hrontos]

Since Brickstock doesn't work on my machine, I wonder if I could get an updated parts database from someone using Brickstock and just use that database with Brickstore?

Yes, you can use the database. I did a quick test by copying DB from BrickStock to BrickStore and the part 15100 appears in BrickStore. BrickStock DB is about 4MB zipped. A bit problematic to share.

Edited August 18, 2014 by hrontos

[Blakbird]

Can you host the DB file on Bricksafe? That file size should be no problem there. Obviously it is just a snapshot in time and won't be updated, but it would allow some testing.

[Zimix]

Good catch hrontos, here the database for trials.

I could not try it. I don't have the Brickstore program anymore.

[hrontos]

I am not sure if BrickStore can handle also the .lzma version, since such a file was not present in the BrickStore directory, so I uploaded zipped version here. I will remove the link, after Blackbird will download it.

Edited August 18, 2014 by hrontos

[Blakbird]

The LZMA version did not work, but the larger version in the ZIP file did work. Thanks! What is the difference between these file types?

[Zimix]

.lzma must be decompressed. 7Zip can decompress it.

[Blakbird]

Got it. Thanks for providing that file for me since I don't presently have a tool which could have decompressed it.

[hrontos]

I am glad it worked. Do not forget to backup old DB. Removed the link.

LZMA is a newer file format with better compression ratio than ZIP. May be that's the reason why it no longer works with BrickStore,

[Zimix]

Good to know that the temp solution is working.

Hope we can figure out why on your pc, BrickStock crashes on starting configure.

7zip is free

[hrontos]

Hope we can figure out why on your pc, BrickStock crashes on starting configure.

May be access rights are the source of the problems. As the program tries to create some config file, it crashes.

I run it on Win7 Home Premium 64bit, without problems.

By the way, what happens if you export BrickStore settings using RegEdit and import it as BrickStock settings. Will it start working?

I know, it is annoying, if you cannot configure it directly, but it may be still kind of workaround.

BrickStore settings are in: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\softforge\BrickStore.

BrickStock settings are in: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\patrickbrans.com\BrickStock

Just export the BrickStore settings into reg file, do some search/replace in some editor and import it back to registry by double clicking on the reg file.

Edited August 19, 2014 by hrontos