Hubdub "Batch Create Markets" Extension
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What is it?
Hubdub "Batch Create Markets" is an extension to the Hubdub News Prediction Website.Hubdub extensions are realized as a client script designed to run within the Greasemonkey plugin for the Mozilla Firefox browser. They are designed to integrate seamlessly into the Hubdub website, but are not an official part of the website and they are not officially supported by Hubdub. Read more about Hubdub extensions here: About Hubdub Extensions.
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What is it's purpose?
Hubdub "Batch Create Markets" allows the creation of multiple Hubdub markets at once. To achieve this goal, a text file containing the complete details of the markets to create is used. The markets are created using the same procedures as when a market is created manually.
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Usage
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To use this extension, click the "New question" link, and click "Begin" in the "Batch Question Creation" section:
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To proceed, a list of markets is needed, which must be provided as comma seperated values (csv) text. This csv text can be created by any spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc. Since the values aren't actually seperated by commas in all cases (dispite the name), the correct value seperator can be chosen. This selection will be persisted and preselected when using the script the next time.
The csv must contain a header row and the fields must be provided in a specific order. To retrieve a valid piece of csv as a starting point, please use the "get csv" link on the details page of any Hubdub market (located above the "challenge friends" button). Copy and paste this text into you favorite spreadsheet application, add rows for the markets to be created and save the content to a csv file accordingly. Copy and paste the content of the generated csv file into the input text area.
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After parsing the csv content, a list of markets is displayed. The details of the markets can be edited and corrected. Please not that, on editing, the market details are re-validated. Any error in the restrictions is visualised.
An image can be provided in the csv by specifying an URL. On the editing screen files from the local system can be selected using the file input control. Please assure that the odds in the options sum up to exactly 100.
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As soon as every question in the list doesn't show validation errors, the "Start" button will be enabled. There are three modes available to process the questions:
- Just run through the markets, doing actually nothing
If this mode is selected, the creation process it executed, but without any invokation of Hubdub question creation mechanisms. This means that although the markets are processed by the script, nothing actually happened. - Create market, but leave unpublished
If this mode is selected, the creation process constructs the questions and posts them to the Hubdub site. This is similar with the manual steps 1 to 3, ending on the preview page. The question is not published and can be edited on the normal Hubdub question creation screen. - Create and publish market
Like the previous mode, this one creates real Hubdub questions. But when chosing this mode, the questions are published directly. No editing will be possible any more.
Whenever a question is created by the script, it will open the question in a new tab within the browser. Additionally, the first column will show the id of the question, as a link to the market. As soon as the questions are created, the script will end.
Important The script is executed in the context of the page. This means, that whenever the user leaves the page, reloads or closes it, the process is immediatly aborted. This may lead to incomplete questions, which aren't obtainable for further editing.
- Just run through the markets, doing actually nothing
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From the question editing screen, it is possible to retrieve the edited questions as csv again. Choose "Get csv" here, which displays the data in the text box from which the script started.
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Compatibility
Hubdub "Batch Create Markets" has been developed and tested to correctly work in Mozilla Firefox 3.5. Other platforms are probably working without any problem, but were not tested.
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License
This software is published under the Creative Commons License as descibed here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/.
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Installation
The extension is hosted for installation on http://userscripts.org/. Download and instal here: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/56668.
Please also read: About Hubdub Extensions.
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Support
In case you need any assistence when using this extension or notice any issues or unexpected behaviour, feel free to give feedback. Please visit http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/56668.