Using VB2008 to acccess the Betfair API: A tutorial

[Mumbles0]

Price Increments

Waldjunge,

The table of price increments is here.

From this you will see that 5.9 is a valid price, but 7.9 is not.
Try 7.8 or 8.0 instead.

[gvigliani]

Placebets with low stakes

Hello Mumbles0 and friends,
I changed the placebet to accept even lower stakes in 2 ($ or €). I have developed only to back but it will be easy to modify for the Lay bet:

Private Sub bPlaceBet_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles bPlaceBet.Click

        Dim Market As Integer = Int(Val(Mark_id.Text))    'The Id of your market
        Dim Selection As Integer = Nothing    'The Id of your selection
        Dim BetType As BFUK.BetTypeEnum                         'For back or lay bet
        Dim tempIdBet As Long
        Dim secIdBet As Long = 0
        For i As Byte = 0 To 30
            If C_chk(i).Checked = True Then
                Selection = Int(Val(M_id(i).Text))
            End If
        Next
        If rbBack.Checked Then BetType = BFUK.BetTypeEnum.B Else BetType = BFUK.BetTypeEnum.L 'Select Back or Lay bet
        BetPrice = nudPrice.Value    'The selected price
        BetSize = nudSize.Value      'The selected bet size
        If nudSize.Value < 2 And rbBack.Checked Then
            Dim prev_odd = nudPrice.Value               'memorize value nudprice per future use
            Dim Prev_stake = nudSize.Value              ''memorize value nudsize per future use
            nudPrice.Value = 1000                       ' place nudprice to odd 1000,00 
            nudSize.Value = 2                           ' place nudsize to stake 2
            TheBetId = 0                                ' reset Thebetid variable
            PlaceBet(Market, Selection, BetType, nudPrice.Value, nudSize.Value)    'place the bet . it will not be placed
            While tempIdBet = 0                         'Placebet is too fast. I expect the variable to be matched
                tempIdBet = TheBetId                   'I store the id to cancel the bet after
            End While
            nudPrice.Value = 1000           ' I confirm Odd to 1000 
            BetPrice = 1000                 ' Odd to 1000 should not change
            BetSize = nudSize.Value         'Old value = nudsize
            nudSize.Value = nudSize.Value + Prev_stake  ' New value= oldvalue + prev_stake 

            TheBetId = 0 : secIdBet = 0
            UpdateBet(tempIdBet, nudPrice.Value, BetPrice, nudSize.Value, BetSize)        ' Update the bet at new values
            'Now I will have two bets. The first bet to odd=1000 with stakes= 2 Euro and the second Bet to Odd=1000 but with right stakes
            While secIdBet = 0
                secIdBet = TheBetId ' stores the id of the bet to change it later
            End While
            nudPrice.Value = prev_odd        ' new odd = prev_odd (the initial odd)
            BetPrice = 1000                  ' Odd to modify
            nudSize.Value = Prev_stake       ' original stake
            UpdateBet(secIdBet, nudPrice.Value, BetPrice, nudSize.Value, BetSize) ' I change the bet at the right Odd and the right stake
            CancelBet(tempIdBet)        ' cancel the first bet
            'all done
            Exit Sub
        End If
        If nudSize.Value >= 2 And rbBack.Checked Then
            PlaceBet(Market, Selection, BetType, BetPrice, BetSize)    'piazzo la scommessa che non verra' accettata .
        End If
    End Sub

[gvigliani]

More market togheter

Dear Mumbles0,

I wanted to know if you can insert and manage multiple markets on the same page.

Thank's

[gvigliani]

Ladder

I wanted to know if you can insert and manage multiple markets on the same page.


and.... if is possible to access to Odds over the third level in order to prepare a ladder.

[gvigliani]

Look my code

[gvigliani]

I have tried to write code for betting less then the minimum stake for Lay betting, according to this guideline.

'Documentation will not help you with this issue. Trick is to do it in few steps.
'If you want, for example, to place £0.1 bet then place regular £2 bet on highest quote (1000 if you want to back)
'or lowest quote (1.01 if you want to lay). The bet will not be matched.
'Change its amount to 2.1£ and as result you will have two bets: one with £2 and the other with £0.1 amount.
'Cancel first one, change £0.1 bet quote on the desired value and that's it

But I can not really update the bet to get a new betID and a new st

Look my code.
Best Regards

[WStecher]

Get results of all matches?

Hello,

first at all I want to say THANKS to this gread Thread. It helped me very much building my own Betfair software. At the end I still have one question:

Is there any possibility in the betfair API to get the results (I only want to know which team or player has won) of all matches in a market?

With getAccountStatement() I can get the results for each match I have placed a bet. But I also want to know the winning player/team for the matches I don't have placed a bet. So I can build up a history of what I could have had won if I would have placed a bet.

Thanks for your ideas.

[granted]

how would i add sorting by times to this sub?

Private Sub bInPlay_Click_1(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles bInPlay.Click
Print("*** InPlay Markets ***")
Dim oMarketsReq As New BFAU.GetAllMarketsReq
With oMarketsReq
.header = oHeaderAU()
.fromDate = Now
.toDate = Now.AddDays(1) 'Specifies next 24 hour period
End With
With BetFairAU.getAllMarkets(oMarketsReq) 'Call the AU API
CheckHeader(.header)
Print("ErrorCode = " & .errorCode.ToString)
If .errorCode = BFAU.GetAllMarketsErrorEnum.OK Then
Dim AllMarkets As New UnpackAllMarkets(.marketData) 'Unpack .marketData
With AllMarkets
For i = 0 To .marketData.Length - 1
With .marketData(i)
If .turningInPlay Then 'This market will become InPlay
Print(.eventDate.ToLocalTime.TimeOfDay.ToString & " " & .marketId & " " & .menuPath & "\" & .marketName)
End If
End With

Next
End With
End If
End With
End Sub

i want the printed list to be sorted by earliest to latest...but cant figure it out

thanks
christian

[WStecher]

@granted: how would i add sorting by times to this sub?

Hey granted,

I think you have to put the data in a datatable and create a dataview on it.
The dataview can be sorted. This will bring the data in a sorted tableview to you. If you don't want to have a DataGridView on your form, you can set visible = false to the datagridview.

Just one idea. I would do it like this:
First place a datagridview to your form and name it "DataGrid1"

Add the following code to your class (not the sub):

Private dtInPlay As New DataTable("InPlay")

With dtInPlay.Columns
   .Add("EventDate", GetType(System.DateTime))
   .Add("MarketID", GetType(System.String))
   .Add("Match", GetType(System.String))
   .Add("MarketName", GetType(System.String))
End With

DataGrid1.DataSource = dtInPlay

Add the following code to your "bInPlay_Click_1" Sub

Dim matchdata(4) As Object

Replace the code from
- With AllMarkets
to
- End With
in your "bInPlay_Click_1" Sub with the following code:

With AllMarkets

For i = 0 To .marketData.Length - 1

   With .marketData(i)

      If .turningInPlay Then

         matchdata(0) = .eventDate.ToLocalTime
         matchdata(1) = .marketID
         matchdata(2) = .menuPath
         matchdata(3) = .marketName

         dtInPlay.Rows.Add(matchdata)

      End If

   End With

Next

DataGrid1.Sort(DataGrid1.Columns(0), System.ComponentModel.ListSortDirection.Ascending)

End With

'the data will be displayed sorted by EventDate in the DataGridView  
'if you want to print it with the function "print()", add the following code:

For Each DataGridRow As DataRow In DataGrid1.Rows
Print(DataGridRow.Item(0).ToString & " " & DataGridRow.Item(1).ToString & " " & DataGridRow.Item(2).ToString & "\" & DataGridRow.Item(3).ToString)
Next

[Mumbles0]

Event time sorting

granted,

There are many ways of achieving this. WStecher has outlined a way of loading the market data into a DataGridView control, then sorting the EventDate column. A more direct way would be to use a comparer class similar to what was done in Step 17.

Class CompareMarketTimes
  Implements IComparer(Of MarketDataType)
  Public Function Compare(ByVal x As Unpack.MarketDataType, ByVal y As Unpack.MarketDataType) As Integer Implements System.Collections.Generic.IComparer(Of Unpack.MarketDataType).Compare
    Return Date.Compare(x.eventDate, y.eventDate)
  End Function
End Class

Then add a line to perform the sort using an instance of this class:

[COLOR="Gray"]  .......
  Dim AllMarkets As New UnpackAllMarkets(.marketData) 'Unpack .marketData
  With AllMarkets
    [COLOR="Black"]Array.Sort(.marketData, New CompareMarketTimes)[/COLOR]
    For i = 0 To .marketData.Length - 1
      With .marketData(i)
      ..........[/COLOR]

This sorts the .marketData array according to the .eventDate property.

[Mumbles0]

Results

WStecher,

I don't think you can get results of matches via the API. You may have to resort to "scraping" web pages from sports websites.

Has anyone got any suggestions?

You could perhaps ask the question in the "General Sports Programming" section of the Forum.

[Mumbles0]

Price ladder & multi markets

gviglinani,

If you need more than 3 best prices (for a price ladder), call getCompleteMarketPricesCompressed. This returns all prices for each runner. See step 10.

Working with multiple markets is more complicated, particularly if you are using async calls. When you receive a response you have to determine which market it is for. This is OK if you call getMarket or getMarketPricesCompressed because the marketId is returned in the response. This lets you update the correct group of controls for each market.

[granted]

load market runner error in my code

i have a text box called marketidt and a button called Load, so i was hoping to code a load runners PRINT like we did before with events, login etc

and here is the code i tried:

Private Sub bLoad_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles bLoad.Click
Print("*** MarketRunners ***")
Dim oGetMarketReq As New BFAU.GetMarketReq 'Create the request object
Dim oGetMarketResp As BFAU.GetMarketResp 'Create a variable for the response object
With oGetMarketReq
.header = oHeaderAU() 'Load request parameters
.marketId = marketidt
End With
With BetFairAU.getMarket(oGetMarketReq) 'Call the API
CheckHeader(.header)
Print("ErrorCode = " & .errorCode.ToString)
If .errorCode = BFAU.GetMarketErrorEnum.OK Then
Dim Markets As New UnpackAllMarkets(.market) 'Unpack .market
With Markets
For i = 0 To .market.Length - 1

Next
Print(.runners)
End With

End If
End With

End Sub

the error i get is that the marketidt text box cannot be converted to an integer and the other error i get is with Print("*** MarketRunners ***")

it also told me that oGetMarketResp variable was not being used

any help would be appreciated

thanks

[gvigliani]

gvigliani,

If you need more than 3 best prices (for a price ladder), call getCompleteMarketPricesCompressed. This returns all prices for each runner. See step 10.

Working with multiple markets is more complicated, particularly if you are using async calls. When you receive a response you have to determine which market it is for. This is OK if you call getMarket or getMarketPricesCompressed because the marketId is returned in the response. This lets you update the correct group of controls for each market.

Dear Mumbles0,
I have tried in every way but I can not find a way to access different shares to be included in a Ladder:
My code is:

Private Sub BetFairUK_getCompleteMarketPricesCompressedCompleted(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As BFUK.getCompleteMarketPricesCompressedCompletedEventArgs) Handles BetFairUK.getCompleteMarketPricesCompressedCompleted
        Dim RaceStart As Date = Nothing        'The time when the race turns in-play
        Dim RaceStarted As Boolean = Nothing    'A flag, set True when the race has started
        Try
            If Not e.Cancelled Then

                With e.Result

                    CheckHeader(.header)
                    PrintRes("ErrorCode = " & .errorCode.ToString)
                    If .errorCode = BFUK.GetCompleteMarketPricesErrorEnum.OK Then
                        Dim oMarketPrices As New UnpackCompleteMarketPricesCompressed(.completeMarketPrices)
                        With oMarketPrices
                            t_run.Text = .runnerInfo.Length
                            If .delay > 0 Then     'Race is in-play
                                Mark_status.BackColor = Color.Green
                                Mark_status.Text = "Market In Play"
                                If RaceStarted Then
                                    manca.Text = Now.Subtract(RaceStart).ToString.Substring(0, 8) 'Update the time label
                                Else           'Initialize the variables
                                    RaceStart = Now       'Save the race start time
                                    RaceStarted = True    'Set the flag
                                End If
                            Else
                                Mark_status.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.FromArgb(CType(CType(47, Byte), Integer), CType(CType(70, Byte), Integer), CType(CType(232, Byte), Integer))
                            End If

                        End With
                    End If
                End With
            End If
 
        Catch ex As ApplicationException
            PrintRes(e.Error.Message)
        End Try
    End Sub

Can you give me a help to better understand?

Thank you so much!

gvigliani

[Mumbles0]

Reply to granted (getMarket code)

granted,

You learn by your mistakes.

Private Sub bLoad_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles bLoad.Click

  Print("*** MarketRunners ***")      '[COLOR="Red"]<<< Note 1[/COLOR]
  Dim oGetMarketReq As New BFAU.GetMarketReq 'Create the request object
  Dim oGetMarketResp As BFAU.GetMarketResp '[COLOR="Red"]<<< Note 2[/COLOR]
  With oGetMarketReq
    .header = oHeaderAU() 'Load request parameters
    .marketId = marketidt      '[COLOR="Red"]<<< Note 3[/COLOR]
  End With
  With BetFairAU.getMarket(oGetMarketReq) 'Call the API
    CheckHeader(.header)
    Print("ErrorCode = " & .errorCode.ToString)
    If .errorCode = BFAU.GetMarketErrorEnum.OK Then
      Dim Markets As New UnpackAllMarkets(.market)  '[COLOR="Red"]<<< Note 4[/COLOR]
      With Markets
        For i = 0 To .market.Length - 1      
               '[COLOR="Red"]<<< Note 5[/COLOR]
        Next
        Print(.runners)
      End With
    End If
  End With

End Sub

1. If you are having a problem with this my guess that the Print sub of Step 1 is missing. Ensure that this sub (and its associated textbox tLog) is included somewhere in your project.
   
   
2. The compiler is telling you that oGetMarketResp is unused because you’re not using it.
   
   
3. The .marketId property of the request object can only hold an integer. marketidt is the textbox object, not what’s in it. You cannot assign this object to an integer, hence the error. What’s in the textbox is given by the .Text property. So try:
   
   
   .marketId = marketidt.Text
4. You will be getting an error here. UnpackAllMarkets is a class to convert the data string returned by the API call getAllMarkets. It won’t work here because you are calling getMarket which returns an object which does not require unpacking. This statement is not right, so removed it. But when you do you will get more errors ...
   
   
5. This For..Next loop contains no statements - it is useless. This suggests that you need to understand more about programming. There are many VB tutorials on the Internet, for example here.

We covered what you are trying to do here in Step 12. Try to understand how we printed the list of runners in this step.