New in this version:

• Automatic cache folder detection! Everything happens under the hood, including when the EVE client updates
• Multiple client support! Multiple EVE clients are now detected and managed automatically.
• New icons
• Application remembers its tray status – it will relaunch to tray only if it was last hidden in the tray
• Little bug fixes

Get it from the software download page.

Obviously there are placeholders – the 3ISK tritanium would be prettied up (and contain actual data!).

(And yes, this is based on Twitter Bootstrap. I am not a web designer, but I can adapt as needed)

Highlights include:

• (Should) no longer reset its configuration at random
• The autodetect logic for cache folders is now fixed and actually works now
• EVE-Metrics uploading was removed (I know, kinda late)
• Locating a cache folder manually will no longer thrash your disk and take minutes/hours to complete
• Visual C++ Redistributables are now automatically bundled and installed for your convenience.

You can grab it from the download page at EVE-Central.com

Remember EVE-Central? The tool that first launched when you exported market data using the “Export to File” button, but has been chugging along (mostly) reliably since those dark days?

Well, I am “bringing back the fire” to the project, and upping my contribution. EVE-Central is still an invaluable resource in the EVE economic arena, but it can be so much better.

Currently, the following projects are under way:

Facelift: There is some advantage from moving from Web 1.0 to the future, and that is a better UI experience (also, accepting contributions for Logo redesign)
Contribtastic improvements: This program has been long neglected, and while a large number of you use it successfully, it needs some serious refinement. Streamlining, adding first class Mac support, supporting multiple clients, historical data, and more. We are also working on a unified uploader format to help interoperability.
Core technology: The uploader acceptance system is getting an overhaul, in the name of better statistics and error rejection. After that we will start overhauling user state and sessions.
New features: Hangar sells, API integration, and more.

The first chart is the makeup of just the top 7 systems (before statistics people shoot me, “Other” was omitted in this chart). As no surprise to anyone, Jita is the top, followed by the other capital systems.

Here is a view of the top 40 systems. Note the high ranking of two 0.0 systems, 6VDT-H and G-0Q86.

I am currently looking at bringing much better real time statistics to EVE-Central – leave a comment for what you find interesting!

Contribtastic has also dropped the “alpha” moniker – its not a sudden refresh of code, but at this point it was just silly.

In addition, the client version checks are now activated – any clients earlier than Contribtastic 2.0.0 should complain loudly and demand you download an upgrade.

First off, EVE-Central needs enhancements. Currently, even simple things like determining the buy and sell price in Jita are horribly flawed (due to gaming of the statistics). Uploads are accepted with very minimal validation work, leading to very obvious fakes and outdated data purging new good data. We’re still using a creaky old CSV exporter which has been known broken for the past 6 months or so (a phantom non-column is being exported). Our Contribtastic client has GUI elements which are basically unimplemented and confuse just about everyone (yes, I know, you can’t login). We’re still using the SMTP push service (it made sense when data volumes were lower, now it just breaks other people’s SMTP servers).

What am I planning on doing?

1. Augmenting the SMTP push service with a bare-bones, JSON over socket system. Rejoice in the lack of client library requirements, such as AMQP and its unused complexity.
2. Fixing some glaring bugs (like the CSV export, and a few input validation glitches)
3. Making sure we’re up to the latest item ID database (there are some holes)

However, these are simple creaky wheel fixes. This is the part of the post where I mention that both Contribtastic/libevecache and EVE-Central are Open Source, under the GPL and AGPL licenses respectively. Have an idea for a new statistic? Please implement it! Want Contribtastic logins to work? Time to work on that too .

If you actually want to help, I have established a mailing list/Google Group to discuss changes and contribute ideas. You can of course fine the relevant EVE-Central code on Gitorious.

Happy hacking!

• The usesystem parameter is now supported on the marketstat API call.
• Statistics are now recalculated on upload, flushing any cached data. The point-in-time statistics are now stored as well, which will lead to a future site feature.

Feel free to submit futher patches and features. I have a few patches to merge into Contribtastic and the website once they are tested.