README

=========
Brickrake
=========

Brickrake is suite of tools for spending the least amount of money to get the
LEGO parts you need from BrickLink. Its primary purpose is to automatically
tell you what to buy from which vendors to minimize your total cost.  Features
include,

+ understanding Bricklink Wanted List XML and Brickstore XML parts lists
+ scraping store and pricing information directly from BrickLink
+ finding alternative colors when desired color/quantity is unavailable
+ finding the lowest cost solution possible using Gurobi, a powerful integer
  linear program solver, while considering where stores ship, what their
  minimum purchases are, and what their inventory is.
+ generation of BrickLink XML, one per vendor, for easy purchasing

Components
==========

Brickrake consists of 2 components: a python command line tool suite and a
javascript bookmarklet. The former does the heavy lifting -- scraping data from
bricklink, minimizing costs, and generating Wanted Lists -- while the latter
helps you fill out quantities in your browser automatically.

Usage
=====

1. Go to http://ted.mielczarek.org/code/mozilla/bookmarklet.html and copy the
contents of javascript/bricklink_choose.js into the "Input" window. Click
"Crunch" then drag the hyperlink directly under "Output" (named "Your
Bookmarklet, unless you changed it") to your bookmark toolbar.

2. Open a command line and navigate to the python/ folder in this directory.
Follow the instructions there for turning your parts list into a BrickLink
Wanted List for each vendor.