putonajonny
05-17-2012, 06:31 PM
How to make price grabbing calculators in Excel or Google Docs
Intro:
After seeing this (http://villavu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82115) thread by YoHoJo I ended up creating this tutorial in the thread, thought I would post it here so more people see it.
I have written some php that means you can generate a page with just the price of an item (without any other text) so that you don't have to trim it down in excel. The page is as follows:
http://putonajonnyspricechecker.host-ed.me/price.php?Item=ItemName
or
http://putonajonnyspricechecker.host-ed.me/price.php?Item=ItemID
Getting the Item ID:
It works better with the Item ID if the name of the item is more than 1 word long or there are items with similar names, you can get IDs from this website: http://www.itemdb.biz/index.php
How to:
In excel click on the Data Tab, then click "From Web":
http://i.imgur.com/EWtaR.png
Put the URL in like this, then click Go:
http://putonajonnyspricechecker.host-ed.me/price.php?Item=ItemName
or
http://putonajonnyspricechecker.host-ed.me/price.php?Item=ItemID
http://i.imgur.com/7yeFX.png
You should then see the price of that item appear, click the yellow arrow in the top left.
http://i.imgur.com/vv9Rh.png
Click on import:
http://i.imgur.com/RWO50.png
Select the cell you want the price to appear in:
http://i.imgur.com/bbsj1.png
You should then end up with the price like this:
http://i.imgur.com/UhXGT.png
You can repeat this for as many items as you want. To refresh the prices you just click:
http://i.imgur.com/RYj1W.png
You can configure some refreshing options by:
http://i.imgur.com/HVKKG.png
http://i.imgur.com/omxGM.png
Or in google docs:
http://i.imgur.com/tVDVO.png
Sorry about the mass of pictures, I thought this was the best way to show this. You can then make your self updating calculators like this one: (Have Fun!)
http://i.imgur.com/3KvSs.png
There seems to be an issue where you can't put something in the cell below an imported price, or that if you do when you update the price it will disappear, this is to do with it importing two lines when it downloads the price, this issue isn't present in google docs, so you could use that, or put the prices in one sheet then paste links to them in another sheet with your calculator on.
Intro:
After seeing this (http://villavu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82115) thread by YoHoJo I ended up creating this tutorial in the thread, thought I would post it here so more people see it.
I have written some php that means you can generate a page with just the price of an item (without any other text) so that you don't have to trim it down in excel. The page is as follows:
http://putonajonnyspricechecker.host-ed.me/price.php?Item=ItemName
or
http://putonajonnyspricechecker.host-ed.me/price.php?Item=ItemID
Getting the Item ID:
It works better with the Item ID if the name of the item is more than 1 word long or there are items with similar names, you can get IDs from this website: http://www.itemdb.biz/index.php
How to:
In excel click on the Data Tab, then click "From Web":
http://i.imgur.com/EWtaR.png
Put the URL in like this, then click Go:
http://putonajonnyspricechecker.host-ed.me/price.php?Item=ItemName
or
http://putonajonnyspricechecker.host-ed.me/price.php?Item=ItemID
http://i.imgur.com/7yeFX.png
You should then see the price of that item appear, click the yellow arrow in the top left.
http://i.imgur.com/vv9Rh.png
Click on import:
http://i.imgur.com/RWO50.png
Select the cell you want the price to appear in:
http://i.imgur.com/bbsj1.png
You should then end up with the price like this:
http://i.imgur.com/UhXGT.png
You can repeat this for as many items as you want. To refresh the prices you just click:
http://i.imgur.com/RYj1W.png
You can configure some refreshing options by:
http://i.imgur.com/HVKKG.png
http://i.imgur.com/omxGM.png
Or in google docs:
http://i.imgur.com/tVDVO.png
Sorry about the mass of pictures, I thought this was the best way to show this. You can then make your self updating calculators like this one: (Have Fun!)
http://i.imgur.com/3KvSs.png
There seems to be an issue where you can't put something in the cell below an imported price, or that if you do when you update the price it will disappear, this is to do with it importing two lines when it downloads the price, this issue isn't present in google docs, so you could use that, or put the prices in one sheet then paste links to them in another sheet with your calculator on.