MGW Figure Search – 0.4.0 – Release Notes

0.4.0 – 2022-04-04 – Nobody’s Fool

Added

• Pagination with infinite scrolling.
• Searches with no keywords show "Latest Products" instead of nothing.
• Option to display price in a currency other than Japanese Yen.
• Card Layout.
• Option to switch between result layouts.
• Search in a new tab.
• Automatic scrolling with "Cruise-Control"
• Jump to the top of the page.
• Multi-threaded searching.
• OpenSearch support.
• Password reset functionality.
• Users need to complete a captcha before logging into their accounts.
• Matomo analytics.
• Sentry for runtime exception tracking in front and back-ends.
• MGW Ranks navigation link.

Changed

• Only scripts required for a page are included on that page.
• The feedback link lists the open issues instead of creating a new one.
• The navigation menu links excluding the login ones hide on smaller screens.
• Passwords can now be longer than sixty-six characters.
• AmiAmi International specifies pre-owned items to align with AmiAmi Japan.
• Mandarake now uses the TOY category for searching.
• Mandarake results now have a fully-transparent logo.
• The search box button is visible on all screen sizes.
• The text in the user input is now normalized. Issue #2
• Home link removed from the navigation menu when on the home page.
• The ‘Card Layout’ is the new default layout.
• The search button now uses an icon instead of text.

Fixed

• Fixed price filter bug.
• Negation filter is now case-insensitive. Closes Issue #1

Known Issues

Some AmiAmi Japan products are reported as available in the search, but the actual page says it’s out of stock. This is the case when AmiAmi Japan’s pre-owned products have additional buying options. See Issue #3 for information.

Some older AmiAmi Japan product thumbnails are blurry. See Issue #4 for information.

Duplicate results. While not in issue per-sé, it can be annoying. MGW Figure Search delivers live results. But as the search goes on, the store might add new products. So a product originally on the first page will now be on the second page. See Issue #5 for information.

Remarks

Instead of a next button, more results load when you reach the bottom of the page.

When submitting a query without a keyword, the latest products from AmiAmi and Mandarake are now shown. This is opposed to the "No results for " page which was shown. NOTE This feature is still in an experimental state. Filters currently do not work with it.

You may now choose to display product prices in thirty-five currencies other than the Japanese Yen (JPY). Main currencies include the United States Dollar (USD), British Pound Sterling (GBP), and Euro (EUR).

The Card layout was added. It’s designed to show more products on a page than the original layout. The amount of information shown has been reduced to achieve this. It is also the new default result layout.

With the addition of the Card Layout, the result layouts may be changed between it and the previous default layout, now known as the Detailed Layout.

The "Search in New Tab" feature allows users to perform a new search in a new browser tab while continuing the current one. The button is next to the magnifying glass. Depending on the browser’s settings, it may open a new window instead of a tab.

"Cruise-Control" allows users to automatically scroll through search results. Pressing Esc, the up arrow, or scrolling the mouse wheel will stop the automatic scrolling. Feedback on the scroll speed and experience of the feature is appreciated.

The Back to Top feature is self-explanatory, but I’ll explain it anyway. Users may now jump to the top of the page when clicking the "Top" button.

To improve performance, both regular searches and parallel ones take place on separate threads. In other words, the results are returned quicker. Due to the nature of the service, the individual retailer’s server performance and availability might impact the speed at which the results are returned.

OpenSearch has been implemented to allow members to search for figures directly from their URL bar or the Omnibox. It’s also referred to as "Tab to search" in Chromium-based browsers.

Passwords can now be reset from the login screen.

Users now need to complete a captcha when logging into their accounts. While it can be annoying, this is a measure taken to curb automated login attempts and user accounts.

The Google Analytics alternative, Matomo has been introduced to track user interaction. It’s a self-hosted instance that we use for MyGrailWatch properties. Data collected includes your browser, browser language, operating system (Windows, macOS, Android, etc.), device screen size, and how many times you’ve been to the site.

Sentry has been integrated to automatically alert us of errors that might occur while the service is in use. Their privacy policy applies. To send as little data as possible, we’ve elected to not send personally identifiable information (PII).

The companion service MGW Ranks now has a link on the homepage.

The link to The Figure Search on its homepage is unnecessary since you’re already there. It has thus been removed.

Scripts like hCaptcha are now only added to pages that require them. This change will result in faster load times. The infinite scrolling feature requires support for the IntersectionObserver browser feature. Polyfills have been added for browsers that don’t support it.

The feedback link now goes to the issue tracker’s open issues instead of going to the new issue page. This change is to encourage users to see if their issue was already mentioned.

To avoid a cluttered experience, the navigation links are hidden on smaller screens.

The password-hashing method has been improved to allow passwords longer than sixty-six (66) characters. The minimum password length is twelve (12) characters. As a friendly reminder, don’t ever reuse your password.

AmiAmi’s international website now shows results from the pre-owned section instead of the general search. This is how searches from the Japanese region work.

Some of Mandarake’s figures aren’t placed in the correct sub-category. As such, figures that were expected to show in the search did not. The general TOY category is now used to provide search results. It affects both international and Japanese regions.

Mandarake’s logo has changed. The previous one was a GIF image that showed white specs against darker colors. It was also one of the reasons why a dark mode would have taken more effort. If you are interested in a dark mode, please express your desire for it on the issue tracker.

Previously, the search button would only be visible on smaller screens like phones. It’s now a magnifying glass and visible when the search box is focused. This change is to make it easier for users to copy and paste with a mouse.

User input has been normalized so that filters work properly. A non-English user might have full-width Latin characters. So price:<3500 would become ｐｒｉｃｅ：＜3500. This change converts the full-width input to half-width like in the first example.

The price filter would fail if the product didn’t have a price attached. This occurred with some results from AmiAmi Japan.

The negation or exclusion filter is now case-insensitive. Excluding "Tiger" will also exclude tiger, TIGER, and TiGeR.

What’s next on the agenda?

Will be formally implementing Suruga-ya support for the Japanese region. The latest items will also support filters like regular searches. Improving stability along with identifying and correcting any issues that arise.

The infinite scrolling feature brought ushered in the user search history. We have a few features planned around it, but there’s no set time when they will be implemented.

Conclusion

The first update, as with the initial release, took longer than expected. Much longer really. The service is still in development, but we hope you are enjoying it nonetheless. Ah, these development versions are named in honor of the 1994 movie, Nobody’s Fool.

Thanks for reading.