EBayAuctionViewer is easy to use! This section describes how to:
- Start and stop EBayAuctionViewer
- Add, modify and delete searches
- Run a search
- Pause a search
- Cancel a search
- View search results
- Customize EBayAuctionViewer
Starting and stopping EBayAuctionViewer
To start EBayAuctionViewer, run C:\EBayAuctionViewer\EBayAuctionViewer.exe. To stop EBayAuctionViewer,
click the "X" at the upper right corner.
Adding, modifying and deleting searches
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First, search for your item on EBay. When EBay displays the first page of its results,
copy the search url from your browser, click Add on EBayAuctionViewer's "Searches"
tab, and paste the url into the "URL" box in the "New Search" window. Click OK
to add the search.
To modify a search, select it and click Modify. Enter the new information in
the "Modify Search" window, and click OK to modify the search. To delete a search,
select it and click Delete.
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Running a search
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To run one or more searches, select them in the "Searches" tab and click Start.
EBayAuctionViewer runs multiple searches sequentially.
When you start searching, EBayAuctionViewer switches to the "Progress" tab and displays
its progress.
When a search completes, EBayAuctionViewer updates the information in the "Searches"
window. The "Run" column displays the time the search started. The
"Auctions" column contains 2 numbers: the first indicates the number of auctions
downloaded, while the second indicates the number of auctions found.
The numbers may differ if you ran a search and chose to skip already downloaded
auctions, or if you cancelled a search before it could finish.
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Pausing a search
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To pause a running search, click the Pause button in the "Progress" pane.
To resume the search, click Continue. To cancel the search, click
Stop.
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Cancelling a search
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To cancel a running search, click the Stop button in the "Progress" pane.
EBayAuctionViewer eventually displays the "Cancel Search" window. You can choose
to cancel the current search or all pending searches. Select the desired
option and click OK, or click Cancel to continue.
A cancelled search isn't simply abandoned. EBayAuctionViewer will generate
an index for auctions that were found prior to cancellation. This allows you to
safely interrupt a search without losing its partial results.
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Viewing search results
When a search completes, EBayAuctionViewer creates the following files in the download
folder (eg: C:\Auctions)
- A search results folder (eg: C:\Auctions\Barclay_James_Harvest_CDs)
- Numbered auction folders (eg: 896863770) within the search results folder
- Downloaded auction file (eg: 896863770.htm) and image files (eg: 896863770_BJHCD.gif)
in the auction folder
- Timestamped search index file (eg: Barclay_James_Harvest_CDs_20020806_153441.htm) in
the search results folder
- Search log file in the log subdirectory
- Stock EBay images in the stock_images subdirectory
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To browse the search results, drag the search
index file into your browser. Click the links in the index file to view
individual auctions.
EBayAuctionViewer inserts the download timestamp at the
top of each auction,
along with a link to the live EBay version of the page.
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Customizing EBayAuctionViewer
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You can customize EBayAuctionViewer's operation to suit your needs. Select the
"Options" tab to modify EBayAuctionViewer's settings.
You can select the download directory, choose whether EBayAuctionViewer should skip
already downloaded auctions, or download auctions without downloading images.
You can also enforce various time and quantity limits, and select one of
3 error handling modes.
Finally, you can instruct EBayAuctionViewer to automatically disconnect from the
internet and shutdown your computer after completing its task. If you choose
these options, EBayAuctionViewer will display a count-down timer before disconnecting
or shutting down, allowing you to cancel the disconnect or shutdown.
Most options can be changed in the middle of a search!
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