Pirce updates tied to online stores.

[bigchicken]

I'd love to see an option where you could select the online store you want your prices updated from for ingredients. I know there would have to be cooperation from the stores (Northern Brewer, Midwest Supplies, etc.), but I think this could be a great addition to this awesome software. Maybe there could even be links to add your shopping list to your shopping cart within the online store. Just throwing these ideas out there. I'm always looking for ways to save time when it comes to brewing and the preparation for brew day.

 

[kcolby]

This would be awesome.  If the ingredient addon's auto-update then this should be a viable method of handling this. The store (online or Brick and Mortar) would regularly upload an ingredient list with their current prices and then BeerSmith would update to the latest prices (automatically on start, or on demand possibly).

 

[sbbish]

This is a great idea in theory and I'd love it if it actually happened, but I don't see any practical way this could be implemented.

How would BeerSmith know which online sites to look at for prices? There are hundreds (thousands?) in the US alone. Just providing a URL to which site you want BeerSmith to look at wouldn't be enough.

How would it provide prices if you have more than one store available in your area and you're wanting to compare prices?

How would it retrieve those prices unless every homebrew store in the world agreed to provide prices in a specific database or format that BeerSmith could read? Some web sites list their prices in a table, some list them only on an individual page for each specific ingredient, some list their prices in a basic text layout. There's no way BeerSmith could read all the possible formats currently used by homebrew web sites.

BeerSmith would have to become a dominant enough software package, probably even used by commercial or craft breweries, before homebrew stores would be willing to agree to provide data in a standardized format.

It's a nice wish, though.

 

[kcolby]

There's no way BeerSmith could read all the possible formats currently used by homebrew web sites.

Agreed, they would indeed have to provide everything in a standard format. If this is simple enough and there is enough call for it from BeerSmith users that frequent those places, then I can see it being done.  Especially by the big guys.  Heck I'd volunteer to build a process to create the file automatically for my LHBS based on his Inventory/POS system.  Knowing exactly which malts/yeast/hops he has in stock (with some lag time between updates obviously) and their prices would certainly make my shopping and formulation easier!

BeerSmith would have to become a dominant enough software package, probably even used by commercial or craft breweries, before homebrew stores would be willing to agree to provide data in a standardized format.

I really doubt Commercial and Craft Brewery usage has anything at all to do with LHBS/online Homebrew stores as Homebrewers are the customers for Homebrew Shops, not Commercial breweries (except for those random odds and ends they may need quick).