Introducing the Trade Request Notifier app! Never miss a trade!!

[sly_squash]

Watch a Trade Request Notifier app demonstration on Youtube!

 

Abstract:

Let me set the stage for you:

You're playing Warframe, farming and trading away, when suddenly a clanmate reminds you the dev stream is on. This is one stream you don't want to miss.

The problem? You only have one monitor. Now you have a choice:

1. Turn your status in your warframe.market / riven.market accounts to offline.  You'll lose sales, but at least you get to watch the dev stream in peace.
2. Stay online and watch the dev stream anyway. You'll probably miss out on a bunch of sales from angry people who ultimately move on to the next seller (and may even report your account for being afk while your status says online), but who knows some people might still buy when you finally get back into Warframe after the stream ends.
3. Stay online and cycle compulsively between the stream and the Warframe window every few minutes. You're more likely to catch a trade request before they move on, but it completely breaks immersion and enjoyment in the stream (or whatever else you're doing).

What if there was a better way? What if you could watch the stream (or do anything else, from homework to making dinner) and let an app monitor your Warframe window for you (even while the Warframe window is completely obscured by other windows or straight-up minimized) and the app will let you know by whatever means you choose when it's detected a trade request?

Say hello to the Trade Request Notifier!!

 

How do you use it?

The video goes over the full interface in detail, but most of these crazy panels take care of themselves upon application startup. 
Really, all you need to worry about are the Action and Listen For Trades panels.

1. Choose how you'd like to be notified of trades. 
   Sound plays an alarm
   Notification gives you one of those Windows popup alert things in the bottom right of the taskbar (sometimes called "toasts")
   Email sends you a notification email to whatever address you provide in the box.
    
2. Choose the Interval, which is how many seconds between each check for trades. Lower intervals mean you'll discover the trade faster but it's slightly more resource-intensive.
    
3. Hit Start and do whatever you wanna do! Watch some youtube videos. Play another game. Bother your cat. The notifier will let you know when its time to hobble back to your computer and deal with those pesky customers always wanting to give you their moneys.

 

Can the Trade Request Notifer text my phone?

Yes, if your phone carrier supports free email-to-sms. Here's how it works:

1. Get your carrier email address by looking it up here: https://avtech.com/articles/138/list-of-email-to-sms-addresses/
2. Make sure the Email action is selected.
3. Enter <phone number>@<carrier address> in the Email box. For example, for AT&T you might use 55555555555@mms.att.net
4. The program will email your carrier, who will convert the email into a text and send that text to your phone!

 

Why not just use the Warframe Companion Mobile app?

It just doesn't really do the things I want it to do. I'd have to leave Companion App running on my phone instead of just passively get texts. I also struggle with Companion App and the Warframe game competing over who gets to be logged in (since you can't use the app to trade, you need both to be online for this to work).

 

How does it work?

The Trade Request Notifier uses Warframe's window handle to capture screenshots from the application even while its window is obscured or minimized. It then analyzes these captures to determine if there was a trade request. To detect the trade requests, it looks at the pixels that form the border of where your next direct message would appear. If those pixels are that default-gray-bordery-color it fires off its notifications; otherwise, it waits until another interval has elapsed and does it again.

 

Can I get this?

I have a few things I need to work out before I want to do a wide release (particularly regarding the email sender), but interested parties can message me for beta installation packages if they so desire. I do need to expand my testing infrastructure to make sure things work OK (different graphics cards, resolutions, quality settings, display modes, and even Warframe themes may come into play). 

 

Do you make other stuff for Warframe too?

I do, indeed! Check out my main thread here on the Warframe forums at