Using VB2008 to acccess the Betfair API: A tutorial

[bamboozled]

selectionid problem

Fantastic tutorial for which many thanks. I modified showmprices slightly

Print("Runner " & i + 1 & .selectionId & "  LPM = " & .lastPriceMatched)

The selectionids which shows here are different from the selectionids returned in getrunners for the same market. Why is this and how can I be be sure I've linked correct price with runner?

[bamboozled]

Spotted the problem

Duh - I am concatenating the counter to the selectionid which is obviously giving me mismatched selectionids. Stupid!

[Monairda]

How to create a user control to show the datas

Good night

I would like to advise me how to start to make a panel for the data request to the API with a custom user control. An example might start with something like the bot written in C # (http://forum.bdp.betfair.com/attachm...1&d=1256657197)

Can you help me create a custom user control that contains the information Mumbles has taught us to ask the API and stop using the Gridview control?

Thank you very much!!

[BigSprout]

Moniarda,

I think it is a datagridview that is being used (or you can use one the same way), except buttons have been used in some columns

If you put a "DGV" on a form:
click on it and select "Colums - collections"
an "Edit Colums" window pops up

click "Add" - Add Column window displayed with:
Name: Column1
Type: DataGridViewTextBoxColumn
HeaderText: Column1

Look at - Type: DataGridViewTextBoxColumn

to the right is a down arrow for a drop down box display
Click on the arrow

there is now a list of selections including "DataGridViewButtonColumn"
You can also use this box to add "checkbox, combobox....etc" to your datagridview


so for the runner names you would use the default DataGridViewTextBoxColumn

then select dropdown box and select "DataGridViewButtonColumn" for your Back/SP/Lay information
this will now display buttons in the selected columns instead of text boxes

cheers

[Monairda]

Thank you very much BigSprout

I'll try what you mention.

Cheers

[Monairda]

Insert a datagridviewButtonColumn

Good morning

I'm trying to insert a button in a DataGridView cell.

Use the code provided by Mumbles0 and following the advice of BigSprout:

Public Class RunnerGrid   'A customised DataGridView

    Inherits DataGridView

    Public Const colRunner = "Runner"  'Runner names column
    Public Const colSelId = "SelId"    'SelectionId column
    Public Const colBack = "Back"      'Back price column
    Public Const colLay = "Lay"        'Lay price column
    Public Const butback = "BBack"    'Back price button column


    Sub New(ByVal Runners As BFUK.Runner())

        RowHeadersVisible = False  'Turn off row headers
        Dock = DockStyle.Fill       'The grid fills the Tab
        If Runners.Length > 0 Then   'Runner data exists

            Dim NameColumn As New DataGridViewTextBoxColumn  'Add column   for runner names 
            With NameColumn
                .Name = colRunner
                .ReadOnly = True
                .AutoSizeMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.AllCells  'Column width is automatic
            End With
            Columns.Add(NameColumn)  'Add to columns collection

            Dim SelIdColumn As New DataGridViewTextBoxColumn  'Add column for selectionId
            With SelIdColumn
                .Name = colSelId
                .Width = 70       'Column width is fixed
                .ReadOnly = True
            End With

            Columns.Add(SelIdColumn)  'Add to columns collection

            RowCount = Runners.Length  'A row for each runner 
            For i = 0 To RowCount - 1
                With Runners(i)
                    Item(colRunner, i).Value = .name  'Add the runner name
                    Item(colSelId, i).Value = .selectionId  'Add the selectionId
                End With
            Next

            Dim BackColumn As New DataGridViewTextBoxColumn  'Add column for Back prices
            With BackColumn
                .Name = colBack
                .Width = 50
                .DefaultCellStyle.Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleRight
                .DefaultCellStyle.Format = "f2"
                .ReadOnly = True
            End With
            Columns.Add(BackColumn)

            Dim LayColumn As New DataGridViewTextBoxColumn  'Add column for Lay prices
            With LayColumn
                .Name = colLay
                .Width = 50
                .DefaultCellStyle.Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleRight
                .DefaultCellStyle.Format = "f2"
                .ReadOnly = True
            End With
            Columns.Add(LayColumn)

            Dim buttonBack As New DataGridViewButtonColumn()
            With buttonBack
                .Name = butback
                .UseColumnTextForButtonValue = True
                .AutoSizeMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.DisplayedCells
                .FlatStyle = FlatStyle.Flat
                .CellTemplate.Style.BackColor = Color.Blue
                .DisplayIndex = 0
            End With
            Columns.Add(buttonBack)

        End If
    End Sub

    Sub UpdatePrices(ByVal RunnerPrices As BFUK.RunnerPrices())  'Method to update the Prices
        Dim i, j, SelectionId As Integer

        For i = 0 To RowCount - 1  'For each row in grid
            SelectionId = Item(colSelId, i).Value
            j = Array.FindIndex(RunnerPrices, Function(x As BFUK.RunnerPrices) x.selectionId = SelectionId) 'Array index for this runner
            If j >= 0 Then 'Prices exist for this runner
                With RunnerPrices(j)
                    If .bestPricesToBack.Length > 0 Then
                        Item(colBack, i).Value = .bestPricesToBack(0).price
                        Item(butback, i).Value = .bestPricesToBack(0).price
                    Else
                        Item(colBack, i).Value = ""
                        Item(butback, i).Value =""
                    End If
                    If .bestPricesToLay.Length > 0 Then
                        Item(colLay, i).Value = .bestPricesToLay(0).price
                    Else
                        Item(colLay, i).Value = ""
                    End If
                    'Item(colBack, i).Value = If(.bestPricesToBack.Length > 0, .bestPricesToBack(0).price, "")   'Update best Back price
                    'Item(colLay, i).Value = If(.bestPricesToLay.Length > 0, .bestPricesToLay(0).price, "")      'Update best Lay price
                End With
            End If
        Next

    End Sub
    
End Class

But when I run it does not fill the price value on the button

Can you help me? Thanks

[1nner]

getMarketTradedVolumeAsync

Hi,

I have a question regarding that getMarketTradedVolumeAsync call. I am supplying a marketId and selectionId, and getting the response as expected. The problem I'm having is that the response does not contain the marketId paramater, and because I'm making many of these async calls I cannot tell which reponse is which.

The only way I can think of to solve this is to use the userState parameter to pass the marketId, which I can then examine later but I'm not sure if this is the best way of doing things (ie does the e.UserState property always contain the right value)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Andrew

[Monairda]

Good morning
I know how to solve the problem. As simple as removing the following:

Dim buttonBack As New DataGridViewButtonColumn()
            With buttonBack
                .Name = butback
                [B][COLOR="Red"].UseColumnTextForButtonValue = True[/COLOR][/B]
                .AutoSizeMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.DisplayedCells
                .FlatStyle = FlatStyle.Flat
                .CellTemplate.Style.BackColor = Color.Blue
                .DisplayIndex = 0
            End With
            Columns.Add(buttonBack)

If we take to next line
.UseColumnTextForButtonValue = True
everything works fine

Now the question I have is like the button to display the two values. The value of the odd and the amount available

Greetings

[tagorac]

[...]

ie does the e.UserState property always contain the right value?

[...]

It does, but i don't think the marketId alone is unique enough for (potentially) multiple/concurrent asynchronous calls. I'm sending a custom object containing the marketId + a random number.

Stephan

[Mumbles0]

UserState parameter

1nner,

Using the userState parameter in the async call is the way to do it. You can plug the marketId directly into the call like this:

BetFairUK.getMarketTradedVolumeAsync(Req, Req.marketId)

then get the marketId from the response like this:

marketId = e.UserState

But the problem here is that you cannot have any outstanding async requests (i.e. requests that are waiting for a response). So it’s better to use a userState object containing the marketId:

BetFairUK.getMarketTradedVolumeAsync(Req, New UserState(Req.marketId))

then extract the marketId from the response:

marketId = e.UserState.Param

where UserState is this simple class:

Class UserState  'A class for userState objects
    Property Param As Object
    Sub New(ByVal Value As Object)
      Param = Value
    End Sub
  End Class

You could add another property to this class to hold the selectionId if you wanted to.

Tagorac has suggested including a random number in the object as well as the marketId. This certainly would work OK, but I don’t think it’s necessary. The objects created from class UserState should be unique enough.

This topic has been discussed previously. Refer here & here.

[1nner]

Thanks for the replies, very helpful. Regarding the posts you linked to mumbles - does this mean I should pass the marketId with every Async call and never rely on the marketId property that is returned in the response object?

[Mumbles0]

It's a good idea.

If the marketId property is given in the response object then it's OK to use this, but there may be times when it doesn't return, for example if an error occurs.

[waldjunge]

There are Place, Lay, Back bets on betfair.

I can place Lay and Back bets with the API with no problem. How to place "Place" bets where the horse has place 1,2 or 3 with the free API?

[Mumbles0]

Place markets

Waldjunge,

For a horse race the "Place" market is a separate market.

If you call getAllMarkets and look at the marketId, menuPath and marketName parameters in the marketData array you might have, for example:

102596266 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr 1m Hcap
102596267 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr To Be Placed
102596268 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr 5f Claim Stks
102596269 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr To Be Placed
102596270 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr 6f Hcap
102596271 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr To Be Placed
102596272 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr 7f Hcap
102596273 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr To Be Placed
102596274 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr 1m Mdn Stks
102596275 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr To Be Placed
102596276 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr 1m1f Claim Stks
102596277 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr To Be Placed
102596278 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr 6f Hcap
102596279 \Horse Racing\GB\Wolv 11th Apr To Be Placed

Every second market is, in fact, a "Place" market. So 10259266 is the "Win" market for Wolv 11th Apr 1m Hcp, while 10259267 is the "Place" market for the same race, and so on. The "Place" market allows you to bet a horse to run 1st, 2nd or 3rd.

[1nner]

Connection closed exception

Hey,

I'm having a problem with an exception being thrown that I do not understand. I'm calling getMarketPricesCompressedAsync once per second (for different markets) and it's been working fine up until today.

This morning however, my program made 15 calls in a row with no response and then an error was thrown with the message "The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a receive."

Has anyone encountered anything similar to this before?

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Andrew