gillispie, thanks for that excellent description. I think I can really help you guys save some time, which is what I'm all about. First off, I use a java library called httpunit. I think it's probably a little outdated now, but it works for what I want. Apache's httpclient looks like it'd be better, but I've been too lazy to switch.
I started working on a full blown HD recruit tool last night (as opposed to the simple csv exporter that I just made). I'm basically taking my GD recruit tool and converting it for HD and will then slowly reimplement many of the features. Here's a breakdown of what it'll do at first
- Grab all the recruits for whatever divisions you specify and display them in an easily searchable, sortable, and filterable table. (it will show which division a recruit came from)
- Update recruits during recruiting for the latest considering/signed info. (may be able to get it to notify you about new dropdowns)
- Flag the recruits you're interested in so you can easily find them again later.
- Save each season's info (including flagged recruits) to a separate file to easily manage multiple teams.
- Differentiate scouted and unscouted recruits. Show bold names and colored attributes. Search/filter based on scouted.
- Provide extra columns for custom equations to rate recruits per position. You can then easily sort on those ratings.
- Click on a row to open that recruit's profile page in your browser.
I'll publish the tool when all that's done. Then I'll add the following
- Mass recruit phone calls (already do this with GD). Check a box for the players you want to recruit, then select Mass Recruit->Phone Call and hit go.
- Process recruit responses for dropdown (already process responses in GD for potential). Then have an indicator showing whether or not that recruit will drop down.
Another thing I might be able to work on later is the equation that WIS uses to rank recruits (and how they determine which ones will drop down for you). I actually figured this out for GD using a genetic algorithm. In GD though, it's like all the recruits that will drop down for you dropped down at the beginning of recruiting, so it's not very helpful to know how WIS ranks recruits. It sounds like it'd be very helpful in HD though.