Macro Processor Quick Start Tutorial

Getting Started

1. Run HarvEX. Go to the HarvEX Macro Processor page
2. In the macro list double-click the preloaded hello_world macro => The macro script appears in the script edit window.
3. Click Execute or use [Ctrl-Return] or [F5] from inside the script text body => The Script runs, a text appears in the Output window and a MessageBox is coming up.

First macro : Using the Bid Manager, Storing & Loading the macro

1. Hit the New Button for a fresh macro script. Type the following lines to the script editor or copy & paste : mark the stuff > Ctrl-C (=copy) > place cursor to script editor > Ctrl-V (=paste)

   b = bm.GetItem(1234567890)    # should be a valid auction ID in bid manager
   print b.mybid

    

2. Hit Execute Button => you've extracted a mybid value from this auction !
3. Save this fresh macro to the intern macro list by pressing Save As => you are asked to enter a macro name; e.g.: my_first_macro
4. Store this macro to a disk file : Mouse-right-click on the macro inside the list and select Save to File from the popup context menu.
5. Loading a macro from disk file : Mouse-right-click somewhere in the macro list and select Load a Macro from File

Logic Bidding Conditions (Bid Editor)

1. A logical sniping condition is the most simply type of (special) macro: A one-liner function, which can be set in the Bid Edit Dialog of snipe items in the Bid Manager: If it computes a zero value, the bid sniping is not executed.
2. Test with dummy conditions: In the bid Condition field in the Bid Edit Dialog enter a "0";  press the "!" button => sniper bid would not be executed; enter a "1" (or "---"); press the "!" button => sniper bid would always be executed. 
3. Enter a condition in the Condition field by selecting a template from the drop-down list and edit it. E.g.:

   BMItem(123456789).won()

   =>  the sniper bid on current auction is only exectued when this other item #123456789 is already won. (Example motive: you want to win a HIFI amplifier only when the fitting HIFI receiver was already won)
4. Note: the Logic Bidding Condition "Macro" is normally set in the Bid Edit Dialog for each snipe in the Bid Manager. Yet it can be also set via

   <bid_manager_item_object>.condition = "<condition-macro>" )

   from a regular HarvEX script
5. Create a new bid sniping in the bid manager

Sandbox Protection

Please Consider: For executing certain critical functions in the examples below, you are requested (by an error message) to set the sandbox restrictions to a lower level. This "sandbox" level system is useful for protecting yourself from unintentionally executing critical actions.

	High Restrictions	No direct I/O, no critical manipulation in the HarvEX application. E.g.: changing sniper bid values not allowed
	Medium Restrictions	Enables non-critical I/O and advanced internal manipulations. E.g.: manipulating bids, preparing emails in MS Outlooks draft folder, limited Internet access (ScanItem, ...), reading disk files, ...
	Low Restrictions	Enables critical I/O : directly sending out email, free HTTP/URL access, writing disk files, ...

Macro Editor

The macro/script editor in HarvEX is Python syntax aware.

Keyboard Bindings:

• Ctrl-A  : mark all
• Ctrl-C/V : copy/paste
• Ctrl-F : rind
• F3 : repeat find
• Ctrl-G : goto line (line number asked from dialog)
• TAB: indent line / marked region
• Shift-TAB : un-indent line / region
• Ctrl-I: create real TAB ( \t )
• RETURN : new-line & indent  (aware of Python syntax / ":", open brackets etc. )
• Ctrl-RETURN : execute script
• Shift-RETURN : check script for correct Python language syntax
• F5 : execute script
  

Macro Language & API

• The Python Macro Language
• Top Level Functions
• Top Level Objects
• Modules
• Objects
  • <bid> Object (Bid Manager item)
  • <oscan> Object (scan item)
  • <osearchitem> Object (search item)
  • <query> Object (for SearchItems function)

Note: the tag "[HX+]" marks functions which are only available with HarvEX+ license level - many of them are yet available during the 14 day trial period. How to test: You'll get a License Error message when executing without sufficient license level

The Python Macro Language

HarvEX(+) has a Python Language interpreter built-in. A general introduction and tutorials for the Python language itself are found here.

This chapter shows HarvEX specific Python usage (about: invoking other macros, returning macro return values, persistent data and more).
The following chapters document the HarvEX Python API.

# '#' starts a comment

CallMacro('hello_world')      
                  # calls another macro (sub macro call)

value = CallMacro('hello_world', a=1, b=2)        
                  # calls another macro with arguments and saves the return value

print a, b        # print the arguments which are 
                  # available directly in the namespace of the called macro
raise Return, [1, 'hello world', 2.0]    
                  # exits and returns a list ( to the optional caller of this macro)
exit( [1,'hello world',2.0] )          
                  # alternate return statement

raise Exit        # exit a macro (before its natural end)
if MessageBox('really process mails?','Congratulations Mailer',1) != 1: 
    raise Exit
MessageBox('really process mails?', 'Congratulations Mailer', 1) != 1 or exit()        
    # the same

if not hasattr(ps,'a'): 
    ps.a = 0      # ps is the global persistent namespace : 
                  # data persists between consecutive macro calls
ps.a += 1         # increments attribute a in the namespace
print ps.a        # prints 1 on first run, 2 on 2nd run, 3 on 3rd run ...

fps = util.FilePersistent( 'C:/data/mypersist.hxp' )
                  # Defines a disk persistent namespace
                  # Data persists between HarvEX runs, thus its a Object-Database.
                  # Only serializable data types should be set in such namespace
if not hasattr(fps,'a'): 
    fps.a = 0       
fps.a += 1        # increments attribute a in the namespace
print fps.a       # Prints 1 on first run, 2 on 2nd run, 3 on 3rd run ... iteratively 
                  # even if HarvEX is restarted

time, re, string, sets and math are pre-imported python modules in HarvEX scripts. For example use "print time.time(); print math.sqrt(2)" without importing time or math !

Upon HarvEX startup the macro [init] is called if present. This init script can be edited in order to configure a special startup.

Top Level Functions

q = AuctionQuery()     [HX+]

Create a query object for usage in the 'SearchItems' Function. See also GetQueryFromForm.

Example: 

q = AuctionQuery()
q.subjects = 'Pentium Computer'
q.completed = True
SearchItems(q)

Query object attributes:

Normal query object attributes can be generated by the "Gen. Macro" button in the search form.

q.searchurl = "http://search.ebay.de/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&query=...." f

If this attribute is used, this direct search URL is used. All other attributes are ignored, thus the URL is not computed.

 

Beep()

Create a 'beep' sound signal.

SearchItems(query/url , adding=0, cached=0, quiet=0)      [HX+]

Searches Auctions. The output goes to the search page. In case of quiet=1 the resulting lines are the return value and do not go to the search page.

Arguments: 

query / url : a AuctionQuery() object or flat url string
adding : 1 = add to existing content in the search page
cached : 0 = no/download; SC_CACHED=cached only; SC_CACHEDORDOWNLOAD
quiet : 0="GUI":same as manual search to search page; 
           1="return string": returns only TAB/NEWLINE spaced result string of all
           2=same as 0 but no error message boxes; 
           5="return list of search item objects": [<OSearchItem>, ..]

Return value: 1 = search result OK (when quiet=0/2); or list of <OSearchItem> objects (when quiet=5)

Example: 

lresult = SearchItems(q, quiet=5)

q = GetQueryFromForm()          [HX+]

Create a query object (see AuctionQuery) pre-filled from the current selections in the Search Form page ! Use full for creating "Multi-Searcher" macros

Arguments: 

[q] : query object

Example: 

q = GetQueryFromForm() 
print q                # see attributes you may alter in q !

rc = MessageBox( text="test", title="Macro Message", opts=0)

Displays a MessageBox and waits for user confirmation. This function may not be used in background tasks (Threads). Use AMessageBox in order to not block the programm flow.

Arguments: 

opts : 0=OK Button, 1=OK+CANCEL Buttons, 3=YES+NO+CANCEL Buttons, 4=YES+NO Buttons, 2=ABORT+RETRY+IGNORE Buttons, 16=Error Box, 48=Exclamation Box, 64=Information Box (options can be combined with the "|" (OR) operator)

[return value] : 1 = OK pressed, 2 = CANCEL pressed, 3=ABORT pressed, 4=RETRY pressed, 5=IGNORE pressed, 6 = YES pressed, 7 = NO pressed

Example: 

if 1 != MessageBox("This is a message", "Hello World", 1 | 48):
    print "user canceled the operation"
    raise Exit
print "lets continue ..."

util.AMessageBox(text, title="Message", opts=64)

Raises assynchronously a Message/MessageBox in the GUI (HarvEX multi-message display system). Doesn't block program flow or wait for user confirmation. No return Value. This function can be used in scheduled jobs and background tasks (Threads) too.

Arguments: 

opts : see MessageBox

Example: 

util.AMessageBox("a small problem occurred, but we don't stop", "Warning", 48)
print "lets continue ..."

oscan = ScanItem( itemno, cached=SC_CACHED )

Arguments: 

cached : SC_CACHED, SC_DOWNLOAD [HX+], SC_CACHEDORDOWNLOAD [HX+]
[oscan] : <scan item object> with attributes : item,title,endtime,currentbid,... like Scan Page / Config table columns. 

See also: <oscan> object

Example: 

o = ScanItem(1234567890)
print o.nbids

Top Level Objects

bidmanagerpage

The Bid Manager Object

Shortname: bm

Access / Examples: 

bid = bm.GetItem("1234567890")    # returns a <Bid> object
print bid.get_mybid(),bid.title
bid = bm.AddItem("1234567890")    # creates new or returns existing
bm.DelItem("1234567890")
items = bm.GetItems()             # returns item numbers of all Bid Manager items
items = bm.GetSelectedItems()

for bid in bm.Iter(): 
    print bm.title    #iterates directly over bid objects

bid = bm.GetItem("1234567890")
bid.mybid = 7.03
bid.set_snipe()
bid.ExecBid(no_msg=True)

See also: <bid> object

Bid Manager Functions

AddItem

scanpage

Shortname: scp

Examples: 

scanpage.Show()    #shows the scan page
scanpage.SetMatrix( [ ['abc','def'],['ghi','jkl'], ... ] )   [HX+]
scanpage.SetLines( [ 'abc\tdef' , 'ghi\tjkl',... ] )   [HX+]
m = scanpage.GetMatrix()
print m[0,0]

See also: <oscan> object

searchpage

Shortname: sep

Examples: 

searchpage.Show()      #shows the search page
searchpage.SetMatrix( [ ['abc','def'],
                        ['ghi','jkl'],  ] )   [HX+]  

macropage

Shortname: mp

Examples: 

macropage.Show()            #shows the macr page
macropage.ClearOutput()

persistent

carries variable values over the execution time of a macro. 

Shortname: ps

Example: 

try: persistent.my_globalcounter
except: persistent.my_global_counter = 0

persistent.my_global_counter += 1
print persistent.my_global_counter

Modules

util

Utility module functions.

ls = util.ScanOutlook( folder, filter=..., pattern=..., errorlevel=1)

[ HX+ required for scanning more than 10 emails ]

Arguments: 

folder : MS Outlook folder in directory slash (/) notation like "inbox/somewhere/ebay_in". "inbox" is language independent lockation for the Mail Inbox, the rest of the dirs are identical with your Outlook folder names

[ls] : list of strings of result lines; strings tab spaced columns according to the pattern.

Example:  ( see more real world example in the template section ! )

# retrieve buyer email addressses from german ebay.de emails

outlookfolder   = "inbox/ebaynew"
subjectcontains = "Sold Item|Verkaufter Artikel"  # read only emails containing this
columns = '$item;$email;$ebayname;$fullname;$street'
pa_all  = [
'(\d{8,10})', # extractor pattern for: item no.
'Käufer:.*?([\w.+-]+@[\w.+-]+)',                  # email address
'Mitgliedsname:(.*)',
'Name:(.*)',
'Straße:(.*)',
]

l = ScanOutlook(
   folder=outlookfolder,
   filter=subjectcontains,
   pattern=pa_all,
   errorlevel=0
)
print l

scanpage.SetList( l, headers=columns )
scanpage.Show()

 

f = util.Str2Money( s )   

Example: 

print util.Str2Money('2,345.50')
print util.Str2Money('2.345,50')

s = util.Money2Str( floatvalue ) 
s = util.Money2StrUS( floatvalue ) 
s = util.Money2StrDE( floatvalue ) 

( The first one uses the current country settings. )

Example: 

print util.Money2Str(2345.50')
print util.Money2StrDE(2345.50')

s = util.ExtractCurrency( "EUR 230,00" ) 
s = util.ExtractMoney( "EUR 230,00" ) 

=> "EUR"
=> "230.00"
works for any currency and country specific format ( , .  style etc. )

s = util.matrix2text( matrix )

Parameter: 

matrix : list of lists like [[11,12],[21,22],[31,32]]

Example: 

util.matrix2text([[11,12],[21,22],[31,32]])   #=> Tab & Newline spaced text 

m = util.lines2matrix( lines )

Turn tab spaced lines into a list-of-list-matrix.

Parameter: 

matrix : list of lists like [[11,12],[21,22],[31,32]]

Example: 

util.lines2matrix(['abc\tdef','ghi\tjkl') #=> [['abc','def'],[...]]

util.isfile(path)
util.isdir(path)
util.remove(path)

os functions within sandbox.

TL = util.ReadTurboListerCSV( fname )    [HX+]  

Read and understand a TurboListerCSV (template) file. Details: See the extensive example above.

It is not wise/possible to create a TurboLister file from scratch, because there are around 100 fields to be set. The field layout  may also change in future releases of TurboLister. 
Best practice: Use a template file already exported from TurboLister (TL/menu/File/Export to CSV) and load it with util.ReadTurboListerCSV, then manipulate the fields in this template and write the final TL CSV file and re-import in TurboLister.

Using a TL Object:

TL = util.ReadTurboListerCSV( "C:/data/mylistings.csv" ) 
print TL.headers        # prints the names of available Listing attributes
t = TL.copy(0)          # take the first listing ( #0 )

print t['Title']        # => 'Nice Auction' 
t['Description'] = 'my nice auction: this is my new text'
t['Category 1'] = '1234'  # set the new category number
TL.clear()              # clear all other listings,
TL.add(t)               # set only the modified and ..
TL.write("C:/data/modified_listings.csv")   
                        # .. create file for re-import in TurboLister

SetMenuMacro( title, macroname_or_function, id=None , pos=1000 )

Set a menu item in the "+Tools" menu of the HarvEX GUI. 'id = None' always appends. 'id = 123' writes or overwrites a certain item. using 'pos' you can control the exact position of the menu item.

util.SetMenuMacro('&Filter Search Results with 1..4 bids on [filter_search]', 
                  'filter_search', 
                  202)

def hello():
    print "hello"
    print "this is a function"
util.SetMenuMacro( '&Hello',  hello ) 

util.SetMenuMacro( '&Hello', lambda:MessageBox("Hello HarvEX User") ) 

mailitem = CreateOutlookMail( subject="hello", text="this is a message",
                                                     toaddr="hello@hello.world.net" , send=0 )   [HX+]  

Set a menu entry in the "+Tools" menu of the HarvEX GUI.

folder = util.GetOutlookFolder(folder='inbox/my/sub/folder')     [HX+]  

Return a folder object from folder path.

url_data = util.GetItemPicture( item, url=1, index=0):    [HX+] 

Returns item picture data; or None if not existing.

url: 1=return url only; 0=return raw data, 2=return (image_content_type, raw_data)
index: 0=standard preview image; 1=tumbnail icon; 2=full-image 1st; 3=full-image 2nd; ..; -1=last full-image; -2=second to last full-image

item = bm.GetSelectedItems()[0]   # '123456789012'
print "GetItemPicture", item
for ix in range(10):   
    url = util.GetItemPicture(item, index=ix)
    print ix, ":", url
    if not url:
        break
imgtype, data = util.GetItemPicture(item, url=2, index=1) # thumbnail icon
print imgtype, len(data)
open('C:/tmp/thumb-' + item + '.jpg', 'wb').write(data)

w = util.WaitCursor():    [HX+]  

A WaitCursor will be displayed until the w object disapears.

s = util.GetUrl("http://xx.yy.com/mydoc.html")    [HX+]  

Gets the content of a url page

s = util.GetUrlEbaySignin(ebayurl [,userpwd='otheruser'])    [HX+]  

Gets the content of a url page at eBay where eBay Sign-In is required. the main ebay account from config page or 'otheruser' is used. These passwords have to be registered in menu/Config/Mulitple Accounts.

s = util.GetClipboardText()

=> "Hello, this is a Text from Clipboard"

util.SetClipboardText("Hello!")

Sets the Windows clipboard text

s = util.GetMainEbayUser()

=> "my_nice_account"

t = util.GetSyncedTime( bmitem.endtime )

Translates a linear server (auction) time to the local synchronized time ready for comparing it to time.time() (current PC time) values.

s = util.GetSimpleInput(name="", s="")

Requests an input string from the user. name is the question/term presented.

name : promt string
s : pre-filled string

util.SetAuctionRetrieveHandler( handler_func, id=1)    [HX+]

Installs a function to be called after auction data update in bid manager. The handler_func is called with one parameter bid : a bid manager bid object. For example: Such handler may be used to post-process auction data after retrieving from ebay. E.g.: generate computed comments; 
Several handlers maybe installed with different id's - handlers with lowest id's are called first.  Setting a handler again with the same id overwrites. Setting None or lambda bid:None  uninstalls the handler with ID id.

util.Schedule( macro_or_func, period_or_pattern=2, id=None ) [HX+]

Installs a periodically executed background macro or function. It is recommend to use a function, because of 2 reasons: 1) A function has far less time overhead when being called. 2) You can use the persistent namespace of your macro.

macro_or_func : function or macro name or None (None = kill the job for a certain id)
period_or_pattern : Period in seconds
id : e.g. id=123 : Scheduling a new job (or None) with same id replaces the old job with that id

Example "Command execution through file interface & polling":

#init 777
cmd_in  = "hx-cmd-in.txt"
cmd_out = "hx-cmd-out.txt"

def poll():
    if util.isfile(cmd_in):
        cmd = open(cmd_in).read()
        util.remove(cmd_in)
        ret = eval(cmd)
        open(cmd_out, 'wb').write(repr(ret))

util.Schedule(poll, 1.0, id=177)
          # schedules the function poll to be called every second

bkcall = util.BackgroundCall((self, func, args=(), kwargs=None) [HX+]

( For expert use only! Most time you are better off with util.Schedule )
Runs the function func in background - as extra thread / task / job / service. The task may run as long as HarvEX is running. Communication to the func running in background can be done via any variables or parameters accessibly by func.
If func is intended to run as sort of long time service (and not just compute a result as fast as possible), it should use time.sleep(..) in order to not "loop" at maximum CPU load.

args (tuple) and/or kwargs (dict or None) are parameters passed to func.

[return value]: A object representing the background call execution:

<bkcall> Object members:
bkcall.is_done()   : returns 1 if func finished regularly, 2 if func terminated by exception, 0 if func didn't finish so far.
bkcall.get_return(timeout=10.0) : returns the return value of the executed function func. Raises an exception if func terminated by exception.

Example:

# starts a background task

if hasattr(ps, 'mybkcall') and not ps.mybkcall.is_done():
    print "task already/still running!  I'm requesting a stop"
    ps.mybkcall_run = False  # request a stop
    exit(-1)

def background_task(a, b, c):
    print a, b, c
    while ps.mybkcall_run:
        print "background_task"
        util.AMessageBox("I don't waste CPU time, but raise a message every 10 seconds", 
                         "background_task")
        time.sleep(10.0)  # do not consume CPU time while doing nothing
    return a + b + c

ps.mybkcall_run = True
ps.mybkcall = util.BackgroundCall(background_task, (1,2), dict(c=3))
print "started."

# request termination of background_task and tell return value

ps.mybkcall_run = False  # request stop
r = ps.mybkcall.get_return(timeout=3.0)
print "the background task return value was:", r

util.COMDispatch( com_name )    [HX+]

Retrieve a COM Interface in order to control other applications like MS Excel, MS Word, etc. on this computer.

xl = util.COMDispatch("Excel.Application")
xl.Visible = 1                            # want to see it live!
workbook = xl.Workbooks.Add()             # new .XLS workbook
sheet = workbook.Sheets(1)                # get first Sheet of that
sheet.Cells(1,1).Value = "First Cell!"
sheet.Cells(2,1).Value = 1.0              # 2nd row, 1st column
sheet.Cells(3,3).Value = "=SQRT(2+3)"   # Excel computed expression
tab=[
     [1, 2, 3, 4],
     [5, 6, 7, 8],
     ]
sheet.Range(sheet.Cells(4,1), sheet.Cells(5,4)).Value = tab

# write some Bid Manager values out to Excel :
for ix, item in enumerate(bm.GetSelectedItems()):
    bid=bm.GetItem(item)
    sheet.Cells( 7+ix, 1 ).Value = bid.item
    sheet.Cells( 7+ix, 2 ).Value = bid.title
    sheet.Cells( 7+ix, 3 ).Value = bid.mybid
workbook.Save()

Objects

Bidmanager Item Object <bid>

Get a bid object like:

bid = bm.GetItem("1234567890")
for bid in bm.Iter(): 
    print bid.title

Setting of certain attributes requires [HX+]

<bid> Object Attributes:

item = ''           # item id  e.g. '123456789012' [read-only]
title = ''          # item title [read-only]
endtime = 0         # item end time e.g. 1324216383.0 [time.time()] [read-only]
comment = ''        # comment string [HX+]
mybid = 0.0         # my maximum bid e.g. 50.11  [HX+]
quant = 1           # number of items to bid on in this auction  [HX+]
state = 1           # item state [integer value 0..9] [HX+]
    # INACTIVE,INACTIVE2,SNIPE,BIDOK,OUTBID,TOOLATE,FAILURE,MISSED,WON,GBLOCK
currentbid = 0.0    # current bid/price e.g. 47.5  [read-only]
currency = ''       # e.g. '$' ; 'EUR'  [read-only]
binprice = 0.0      # buy now price if available e.g. 60.0 [read-only]
nbid = '--'         # current number of bids on this item e.g. '3' [read-only]
ship = ''           # shipping price value/info e.g. '5.90' 
seller = ''         # seller id e.g. "Sir.Prise"   [read-only]
high_bidder         # current high bidder id (mangled) [read-only]
finished = False    # non-zero if the auction/item has ended  [HX+]
group = ''          # bid group e.g. "bike" ; "bike(2)" [HX+]
on_sale = 1         # number of items on sale e.g '1' ; '-' [read-only]
alarmdt = 300       # alarm seconds before auction end (0=OFF)
userpwd_ex = None   # tuple or None e.g.: ("ebay_freak","secret_passwd")  [HX+]
condition = ''      # advanced bidding condition formula / script  [HX+]
                    # e.g. 'not BMItem(123456789012).won()'
ibidtimemargin = 0  # item bid time marging [seconds] (0 = use global default)

won()               # returns True if item was won
set_snipe(standalone=True, se=False)   [HX+]
                    # shortcut for setting sniping ON/OF and/or SE-snipping ON/OFF
ExecBid(no_msg=False, bidcmd=0)     [HX+]
                    # Execute a Bid/auto-Buy-Now (bidcmd=0) or force Buy-Now (bidcmd=1)  
                    # example: bid.ExecBid(no_msg=True)
GetShippingFloat()  # returns shipping costs as float, 0.0 if unknown
Update()            # updates data from server/market
  

Scan Item Object <oscan>

Get a scan item object like: oscan=ScanItem("1234567890",SC_CACHEDORDOWNLOAD)

<oscan> Object Attributes & Default Values:

item = ''           # item id e.g.: '123456789012'
title = "?"         # item title e.g.: u'Wonderful eBay Item'
words = ""          # matched special terms
titlewords = ""     # = title + words
finished = False    # non-zero if the auction/item has ended 
on_sale = 1         # Quantity (how many items are on sale)
privat = False      # if its a privat auction
bid = '0.0'         # current bid/price e.g. '40.55'
bidq = '?0.0'       # e.g. '40.55' ; '?40.55' (? = uncertain/not finished)
buynow = False      # if its a buynow item 
binprice = 0.0      # buy now price, if available
currency = '?'      # e.g.: 'EUR' ; '$'
currencybid = '??'  # e.g.: 'EUR 40.55'
nbid = 0            # number of bids up to now
sold = ''           # number of sold items if nonzero
available = ''      # number of available items if nonzero
da = ''             # e.g. '18-Dec-2011'
ti = ''             # e.g. '13:53:03'
dati = ''           # e.g. '18-Dec-2011 13:53:03'
dati_local = ''     # '18.12.11 14:53:03'  (local timezone)
timezone = ''       # EST ..
own = False         # if we probably won/bought it [unreliable]
endtimetime = 0     # auction end time e.g. 1324216383.0 (->time.time())
scantimetime = 0    # last HarvEx scan time e.g. 1324219247.021
high_bidder = ""    # (mangled) id of current highbidder e.g. 'e***x'
seller = "?"        # seller id e.g. 'Sir.Prise'
seller_rating = ''  # e.g. '100%'
sellerhighbidder = ""   # 'Sir.Prise -> e***x'
ship = "???"        # shipping costs e.g.: '6.50'
total = "?"         # current total price bid+ship e.g. '47.05'
html_path = ''      # path of cached html on disk
charset = 'utf-8'   # charset of HTML

GetBidFloat()       # returns current bid/price as float or raises ValueError
GetShippingFloat()  # returns shipping costs as float or raises ValueError
html : property	    # [str/unicode] complete item page html
text : property	    # [str] description part of item page html
textW : property    # [unicode] description part of item page html    

Search Item Object <OSearchItem>

Get a search item object like:

l_osi = SearchItems(q, quiet=5)
osi = l_osi[4]
print osi.title, osi.bid, osi.shipping

<OSearchItem> Object Attributes & Default Values:

item = ''           # item id e.g.: '123456789012'
bid = ''            # current bid/price e.g. '40.55'
buynowprice = ''    # buy now price, if available
buynow = False      # if its a Buy Now item
currency = '?'      # e.g. 'EUR' ; 'US$'
nbid = '-'          # number of bids up to now
shippingprice = property(lambda self:self.shipping)  # shipping price #$pycheck_no='classic' 
shipping = ''       # shipping price
remtime = ''        # time remaining for this auction/item
htmlitem = ''       # HTML code of this search item
paypal = ''         # __nonzero__ if paypal payable item
                    # [if Paypal option in MyEbay search result customizations AND LogonEbaySearchSite done]
seller = ''         # Seller User ID 
                    # [if Seller User ID option in MyEbay search result customizations AND LogonEbaySearchSite done]

get_nbid()          # returns integer of nbid or 0, if none
get_bid()           # returns float current bid/price value
GetBidFloat()       # (alt. name)
get_buynowprice()   # returns float buy now price or 0.0 if none
GetBuyNowPrice()    # (alt. name)
get_shippingfloat() # returns float shipping costs value, 0.0 if 'Free'; raises ValueError if unknown
GetShippingFloat()  # (alt. name)

Auction Query Object <query>

Note The "Generate Query Template" button in the HarvEX Search Form pane helps to generate a query template.

<query> Object Usage Example:

query = AuctionQuery()
query = GetQueryFromForm()  # fetch from HarvEX Search From
query.cat = "#1234"         # Category Id 1234
SearchItems(query)

q = AuctionQuery()
q.searchurl = "http://search.ebay.com/..."    # search from a URL
q.maxpages = 10
for osi in SearchItems(q, quiet=5):       
    # iterate over result list of <OSearchItem>'s
    print osi.title, osi.get_nbid()

<query> Object Attributes & Default Values:

subjects = ""       # search term(s) e.g. "dvd player"
excl = ""           # words to exclude e.g. "refurbished used"
cat = ''            # category ID e.g. '1234' ; '#10614 Audio & Hi-Fi'
region = "0"        # region ID ; "0" = all
minPrice = 0.0      # minimum item price
maxPrice = 0.0      # maximum item price
anddesc = False     # True = search item title and description
searchopt = '1'     # '1'=AND (all words)  2=OR (any of the words)
                    # '3'=exact match/sentence  '4'=exact words 
completed = False   # True = run a completed items search
daysback = 30       # completed search: max. number of days back
                    # (still not supported well by eBay (1/2012))
auctions = False    # True = search Auction items (only)
buynow = False      # True = search Buy Now items (only)

morethan1 = False   # True = find multi-items/auctions only
multiple_min = None # min and ..        e.g. 2
multiple_max = None # max multi items   e.g. 5

paypal = False      # find only PayPal payable items
inclstores = False  # search in stores as well
sortby = 0          # sort order index [0..10]
resultsperpage = "50"   # max number of items per server result page
worldlocation = 0   # 0=preffered; 1=located_in; 2=available_to
available_to = "0"  # country ID
located_in = "0"    # country ID

distance = ''       # kilometers / miles  e.g. '20'
sellers = ''        # include/exclude sellers e.g. 'seller1, seller2, Sir.Prise'
sellers_exclude = False
                    # if True, then `sellers` means: exclude

searchurl = ''      # ! overrides the search URL at all. If set, then
                    # none of the above query attributes take effect
maxpages = 1        # max number of result pages to retrieve

New API suggestions: feedback@xellsoft.com.

Continue reading the FAQ, Tips & Trick page.

Power Macros

This chapter describes the Standard Power Macros for HarvEX / HarvEX+. They add powerful bulk processing options and/or other new features to HarvEX

Power Macros with extra Homepage

eBay Auto Search & Snipe/Bid :: Power Macro
eBay Auction Search Collector :: Power Macro

Excel Bulk Sniping :: Power Macro

Sets up sniping jobs in the bid manager using bulk data from an Excel Table or CSV/TabSV file.
Columns: itemno, my_max_bid, [group, group-N, margintime, SE_flag

Price  :  US$ 30
Use Case  :  Bulk sniping after preparing jobs in Excel/table files
Status : v1.05 ;  Existing / Widely Used; ships with 1 business day.

Buy : 

Contact: sales@xellsoft.com

Screenshot Pieces

Details / Usage:

• Set up an arbitrary amount of bid tasks in an Excel table. 
  Table columns are: <item number>, <my maximum bid> and optional: <bid-group> + <group-N> (number of items you want to win in this group)
• You copy the Excel lines to clipboard (press Ctrl-C in Excel)
• Hit Menu/+Tools/Import Excel Bids : Sniping bids are imported
• Works internationally with any float number format in the mybid columns

Scan Item Specifics :: Power Macro

This Power Macro extracts extra standardized "Item Specifics" of auctions/items - as they are shown on top of the Description section of eBay Item Pages. The existence of Item Specifics depends on the eBay category of the item. The new attributes can be rendered as new columns in the Scan pane results table, and are available for other macros as new <OScan> attributes.
In addition, extra item information outside of the standard Item Specifics can be extracted too as shown in the Macro Head section below.

Price  :  US$ 20
Status : v2.0 ;  Existing / In use; Ships within 1 business day.

Buy : 

Contact: sales@xellsoft.com

Macro Head / Configuration:

#!init 777   # auto-run this macro at HarvEX boot time
# HarvEX+ Power Macro [scan_itemspecifics] v2.0: 
#
#    Installs a scanner for additional Item Specifics or other attributes from an auction/item page.
#    Exposes them as new <OScan> object attributes plus adds a combo-attribute 'Itemspecifics'
#    To add them in HarvEX GUI Scan results pane, add the new attributes in Menu/Config/TableColumnFormats like:
#    "$item;...;$Itemspecifics;$Size"
#    In other macros you can use the new attributes for example after ScanItem(...) like: 
#    mysize = oscan.Size

# MACRO CONFIGURATION

# Variables from the Item Specifics section, which shall be set as extra <OScan> (Scan Column) attributes

extra_scan_vars =  [
    'Condition',
    'Brand',
    'Color',
    'Size',
]

# extra things to scan outside of the Item Specifics section

extra_scan_patterns =  [
    ( 'Location', r'(Item location):.*?>([^<]+)<' ),
]

...

Screenshot:

eBay Smart Bulk Feedback Tool (Positive-on-Positive Feedback) :: Power Macro

Smart bulk feedback tool for HarvEX / HarvEX+. Supports bulk-putting of eBay feedback - particularly positive upon positive feedback selectively. Yields warnings for negative/neutral Feedback.

Price  :  US$ 20
Use Case  :  Posting feedback on eBay after bulk purchases effectively - positive feedback for positive feedback selectively.
Status : Existing / In use. Ships within 1 business day.

Buy : 

Contact: sales@xellsoft.com

Details / Usage:

• Load macro with Menu/File/LoadMacro
• Execute the macro once for installing the new Menu Command. (will be done automatically after HarvEX start from now on)
• Run Menu/Tools/LeavePositive2PositiveFeedback(Bulk Operation) etc.
• Follow the exection flow in the Macro Magic Web Browser ...

Bulk Extract Auction Details :: Custom Power Macro

Description: Searching and bulk extraction of particular details of auction/item descriptions to a table / output file. 
Details can be standard category details withing certain eBay folders (e.g. book attributes, ISBN number ...),  or can be things found by expression matching etc.

Typical Price       :  US$ 30; depends on specific task.
Example Use Cases :  Bulk extract sports ticket data for further processing in Excel; re-search book prices in completed auctions; 
Status     :  Existing template, will be adapted to the need of the user. Ships within 1 .. 5 business days.

Buy / Question : sales@xellsoft.com

Bulk Feed Data to TurboLister :: Custom Power Macro

Description: Grabs product data from a Reseller Web Page, XML, CSV ... and pre-computes eBay listings for TurboLister

Typical Price   :  US$ 100 ; depends on specific task.
Use case  :  eBay re-selling

Buy / Question : sales@xellsoft.com

Details:

• Scans a certain list of products and prices from this reseller.
• A custom algorithm detects changed prices and interesting products
• Feeds TurboLister with pre-filled listing & computed sell prices for selected products from this reseller; 
• After a short check & edit these items can be listed on eBay using TurboLister with a very small amount of work !

Ask for other custom solutions: Request Form

Macro FAQ

" What can I do and not do with macros "

• HarvEX provides a full sized object oriented scripting system, but it is very easy to use for smaller tasks. 
  You can program and automate nearly all tasks of interest for eBay bidders and seller. You can automate and manipulate most aspects of HarvEX through the API. Table computation & manipulation is especially easy. You can do free web programming ( including automated reading, parsing and sending of emails, calling and parsing HTTP/HTML from eBay or from any URL, ... ), writing & reading tables and files, etc. You can do user interface programming. You can program background processes & scheduled tasks. A macro connected browser is built into HarvEX. The API is continuously growing.
• You can also program tasks, which have not much to do directly with auctions / eBay - its more easy than with most other programming systems - The HarvEX macro language is especially strong at internet programming, manipulating files, tables and automating email, MS Outlook, Excel, Databases. 
  Its often more efficient & easy to use HarvEX macros in comparison to using a low level software developmet kit: A stable application framework, functional table grids, a display system, a task system and a error handling system are already in place. 
  Thus this tool offers a very fast edit-run cycle.

" What language syntax is used for HarvEX macros? "

• It is the Python language: A modern state-of-the-art object orient script language, which encourages readability and short code.
• For beginners getting started is more easy than even BASIC.
• For power users this language offers more flexibilty and syntactic power than languages like Javascript, PHP, Perl & C#

" How do I quickly learn this macro system? "

• Trial & Error  
  (The HarvEX macro "sandbox" is very robust and points you quickly to the problems.)
• Go through the HarvEX Macro Tutorial and the Python ultra short tutorial
• Walk through the most interesting examples above. 
• Alter the code, execute & see what happens
• Have a walk through the HarvEX API description