C# a Step by Step Beginners Tutorial

[Escapee]

When I first started writing programs for betfair, I had a hard time of it,
I'd never written for the PC ( only UNIX and some dinosaurs from the 50's 60's and 80's )

with a decade old compiler and no PC knowledge at all it took me about 4 months to
get a simple Login() function to work.

Now it can be done in an afternoon with practically zero PC knowledge, just a smattering of C#
and a copy of Visual Studio.

In the background there's the pinicle of 50 years of development technology with things like
XML, WDSL, SOAP & DLL's but as a beginner, you'll likely die of a Bill Gates induced migrane
before mastering all that and actually writing a small program.

This tutorial is intended to allow you to skip straight into to world of point and click
having just a little bit of grounding in C# or similar.


So here we have a step by step tutorial where only a basic knowledge of C# is assumed.

Parts 1 and 2 create a general purpose reusable class for talking to betfair with just
the basics of logging in and out. followed by a simple form demonstarting how to use this
class.

If there's enough interest and I find the time, I could take this all the way to a fully
functioning GUI that behaves pretty much as the standard web interface we all know and love so much !


I'm using VS2008 professional but other versions hopefully don't differ enough to make this incomprehensible.
You can obtain a free 'lite' version of C# called "C# Express" ( or something like that ) downloadable from www.microsoft.com

Edit: The tutorial is now goes upto Part 7 in 85 steps and if you complete it you will have this:


PART 1
The Betfair Class

Step 1
First off we want to setup a bit of organisation so Create a folder in your \Users\XXXX\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\
folder called "My Betfair" ( or whatever name you desire, in this tutorial its called "My Tutorial" )

Step 2
Now in Visual Studio Create a new c# 'Class Library' Project ( Class Library = .dll ) called BetfairAPI
Located in your "My Betfair" folder like so:



After you've filled in the relevant parts of the form and clicked OK it should create our
BetfairAPI project Like this



Step 3
The default name for the class it has created is "Class1" we want to change this to something
more meaningful so:
Right click on the 'class1.cs' file in the Solution explorer
Select 'Rename' from the popup menu
Change the name to "CBetfairAPI.cs"
when you press enter, a pop up message box will appear asking if you
want to rename the class as well. Select Yes

Now the project should look like this




This forum only allows 4 images per post so continued in Netx post

[Escapee]

PART 1 CONTINUED

( code formatting is a bit messy but there is the complete code at the bottom of the post )


Step 4
Now we are going to add the web references, This is the bit that auto generates the background
code that actually talks to betfair



In the Solution Explorer, right click on "References" and select "Add Service Reference"
from the pop up menu. This pops up a form

Click the "Advanced" button, this pops up another form.

Click the "Add Web Reference" button, this pops up yet another form.

( Note in some versions of Visual studio, the "add web reference" option is accessed
from the initial pop up menu )


In the pop up form, enter the following in the "URL:" section

https://api.betfair.com/global/v3/BFGlobalService.wsdl

Hit the "Go" buttion and it should find the GLOBAL webservice.
Note 1: I sometimes find this process a bit flakey so try it a couple of
times if it fails with an error.
Note 2: depending on your security settings it can cause a load of pop ups
asking if you only want "secure" content. I Always select the "No, I want it all"
option and don't know the outcome of not doing this but I suspect it won't
work 100%.

Next we need to change the "Web reference name" part to something meaningful
so navigate to it and change it to "BFGlobal".



Cick "Add Reference" BUTTON , Visual Studio will think for a bit whilst it crunches the numbers
and if it all works well then in a new entry called "BFGlobal" should appear
under Web References in the Solution Explorer

Step 5
For reasons I won't go into, Betfair spilt its WSDL into 2 services, "Global"
and "Exchange" so now we have to repeat the process for the "Exchange" service

In the Solution Explorer, we can now right click on "Web References" and select "Add Web Reference"
directly from the pop up menu. This pops up the "add web reference" form


In the pop up form, enter the following in the "URL:" section

https://api.betfair.com/exchange/v5/...geService.wsdl


Hit the "Go" buttion and it should find the EXCHANGE webservice.

Next we need to change the "Web reference name" part to something meaningful
so navigate to it and change it to "BFExchange".


Cick "Add Reference" BUTTON and after its finished the "Solution Explorer" should
look like this





At this point we have the bare skelton for accessing betfair, but its not much use as it
stands so we have to flesh it out a bit. We have to create what is called the "wrapper" class
which is what makes it easy for anything else we might build in the future to access betfair.
All any new project should have to do is know how to talk to the wrapper and it couldn't care less about the
skeleton bits behind the scenes.
Our wrapper class is called "CBetfairAPI" which we created earlier in the project, so now we add
the code in here which creates the flesh arround the skelton.


Step 6
At the top of the CBetfairAPI.cs file, Below the existing "using" statements, add the following code:

using System.Diagnostics;

using BetfairAPI.BFGlobal;
using BetfairAPI.BFExchange;

This will enable us to put out debug trace messages and also
Tells our wrapper about the "Global" and "Exchange" skeleton classes.

Do a quick compile at this point to check its all OK so far.

Step 7
Next we're going to create a load of private variables and a constructor for the class.
Naming conventions come and go but I use the underscore as a prefix to all private variables
as I find it a useful aid-de-memoir

within the public class CBetfairAPI
{
}
code add the following..... ( Or copy the entire code from the code box provided below )

        #region Variables

        private BFGlobalService _bfGlobal;
        private BFExchangeService _bfExchange;

        private BFGlobal.APIRequestHeader _globReqHdr;
        private BFExchange.APIRequestHeader _exchReqHdr;

        private string _username;
        private string _password;
        private int _productId;
        private int _vendorSoftwareId;
        private string _sessionToken;

        private string _currency;

        #endregion

Step 8
The Constructor is automatically called everytime a new instance of CBetfairAPI is created
so we use this to initialise the variables

        #region Constuctor

        public  CBetfairAPI()
        {
            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - Initializing CBetfairAPI", DateTime.Now ) );

            _bfGlobal = new BFGlobalService();

            _bfGlobal.EnableDecompression = true;

            _bfExchange = new BFExchangeService();

            _bfExchange.EnableDecompression = true;


            _globReqHdr = new BFGlobal.APIRequestHeader();
            _exchReqHdr = new BFExchange.APIRequestHeader();


            _username = "";
            _password = "";

            _sessionToken = "";

            _productId = 82;
            _vendorSoftwareId = 0;

            _currency = "";
        }

        #endregion

Step 9
Now create a "Login" function as below

        public bool Login( string UserName, string PassWord  )
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "Login";
            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            _username = UserName;
            _password = PassWord;


            var request = new LoginReq {    username = _username, 
                                            password = _password, 
                                            productId = _productId, 
                                            vendorSoftwareId = _vendorSoftwareId };

            LoginResp response = _bfGlobal.login( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse(   serviceName, 
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ), 
                                        response.header.sessionToken );
            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - FAILED", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );
                return false;
            }

            _currency = response.currency;

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - OK", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            return true;
        }

Step 10
And finally some basic checking of the response to see what happened.

        private bool CheckResponse( string serviceName, string hdrErrCd, string respErrCd, string sessionToken )
        {

            if( ! string.IsNullOrEmpty( sessionToken ) )
            {
                _sessionToken = sessionToken;
                _globReqHdr.sessionToken = sessionToken;
                _exchReqHdr.sessionToken = sessionToken;
            }

            if( hdrErrCd != "OK" )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - FAILED: Response.Header.ErrorCode = {1}", serviceName, hdrErrCd ) );
                return ( false );
            }
            if( respErrCd != "OK" )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - FAILED: Response.ErrorCode = {1}", serviceName, respErrCd ) );
                return ( false );
            }

            return ( true );
        }

And There you have it, in 10 easy steps you have created a basic Betfair Wrapper Class which can be accessed from any and
all your betfair projects.

In part 2 of this tutorial I will take you through the steps needed to use this wrapper in a gui form,

Below is the complete code for CBetfairAPI if you want to copy and paste instead of typing it all out.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;


using System.Diagnostics;

using BetfairAPI.BFGlobal;
using BetfairAPI.BFExchange;

namespace BetfairAPI
{
    public class CBetfairAPI
    {

        #region Variables

        private BFGlobalService _bfGlobal;
        private BFExchangeService _bfExchange;

        private BFGlobal.APIRequestHeader _globReqHdr;
        private BFExchange.APIRequestHeader _exchReqHdr;

        private string _username;
        private string _password;
        private int _productId;
        private int _vendorSoftwareId;
        private string _sessionToken;

        private string _currency;




        #endregion

        #region Constuctor

        public  CBetfairAPI()
        {
            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - Initializing CBetfairAPI", DateTime.Now ) );

            _bfGlobal = new BFGlobalService();

            _bfGlobal.EnableDecompression = true;

            _bfExchange = new BFExchangeService();

            _bfExchange.EnableDecompression = true;


            _globReqHdr = new BFGlobal.APIRequestHeader();
            _exchReqHdr = new BFExchange.APIRequestHeader();


            _username = "";
            _password = "";

            _sessionToken = "";

            _productId = 82;
            _vendorSoftwareId = 0;

            _currency = "";
        }

        #endregion



        public bool Login( string UserName, string PassWord  )
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "Login";

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            _username = UserName;
            _password = PassWord;


            var request = new LoginReq {    username = _username, 
                                            password = _password, 
                                            productId = _productId, 
                                            vendorSoftwareId = _vendorSoftwareId };

            LoginResp response = _bfGlobal.login( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse(   serviceName, 
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ), 
                                        response.header.sessionToken );
            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - FAILED", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );
                return false;
            }

            _currency = response.currency;

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - OK", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            return true;
        }





        private bool CheckResponse( string serviceName, string hdrErrCd, string respErrCd, string sessionToken )
        {

            if( ! string.IsNullOrEmpty( sessionToken ) )
            {
                _sessionToken = sessionToken;
                _globReqHdr.sessionToken = sessionToken;
                _exchReqHdr.sessionToken = sessionToken;
            }

            if( hdrErrCd != "OK" )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - FAILED: Response.Header.ErrorCode = {1}", serviceName, hdrErrCd ) );
                return ( false );
            }
            if( respErrCd != "OK" )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - FAILED: Response.ErrorCode = {1}", serviceName, respErrCd ) );
                return ( false );
            }

            return ( true );
        }


        

    }
}

[Escapee]

PART 2
The GUI, Demonstrating how to use the Betfair Class

In part 2 we build a simple gui which accesses the class/.dll we created in part 1

Obviously this will start off very simple and only perform a login, but If enough
interest is shown then I will extend the tutorial to creating a fully fledged
GUI the will look and feel pretty much like the Betfair website.


I'm using Visual Studio 2008 professional, Other versions might look different
according to the personal setup but it should be close enough to be achieved
on any version above 2003.

First off, close the part one project in Visual studio if you still have it open.
we want to start from a clean sheet to show how the two projects are stand alone
but also linked together.

Step 11

Right, Create a new "Windows Forms Application" project called TestForm1 or something.

Change the Location to the "My Betfair" folder you created in Part 1



After creating the TestForm1 project you should be a bit like this




Step 12
Now we are going to add our existing BetFairAPI project from part 1 to this TestForm1 project.
Which turns our "TestForm1" project into what Microsoft call a "solution". i.e. a solution is
comprised of one or more projects.
This is an extremely useful way of organising things as it allows us to make enhancements to
the core CBetfairAPI project which are then available to all the other projects that use it.
So we only need to write the Betfair Access stuff once and reuse it for ever.

from the "File" menu, select "ADD", then Select Existing Project.
( in the future I will notate menu navigation as "File->Add->Existing Project" )
This will pop up the Add Existing Projects form which you should navigate all the way to
the BetfairAPI project folder and then select the "BetfairAPI.csproj" file like this



Our TestForm1 Solution Explorer should now look a bit like this



Part 2 is continued next post

[Escapee]

PART 2 Continued......

The Full code is avalable at the bottom of this post

Step 13
So now we have 2 projects but TestForm1 still doesn't really know of the BetfairAPI projects
existence and so we add a reference to it so that the Betfair Class can be accessed from the
TestForm1 Project.

In Solution Explorer, Select the TestForm1 by left Clicking on it.
Then Right Click on TestForm1's "references" and select the "Add Reference" option.

This will pop up the "Add Reference" form, Slect the "Projects" Tab and hopefully you will
see the BetfairAPI project Sitting there ready for you. Select it and Click OK




if you now expand TestForms1's references you should see BetfairAPI sitting there like this



Step 14
Next I want you to add a button to testForm1 called butLogOn, And also create the click event.
I'm assuming everyone who has got this far knows how to do this.




Step 15
Now we can start Coding.


in the Form1.cs file

Add the following below the existing "using" statements

using System.Diagnostics;
using BetfairAPI;

Step 16
Add the following within the Form1 Class

        public CBetfairAPI MyBetfair;
        public bool bLoggedOn;

Step 17
Change the Form1 Constructor to look like this

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            MyBetfair = new CBetfairAPI();

            bLoggedOn = false;
        }

Step 18
and then add the code for the ButLogOn_Click() event

        private void ButLogOn_Click( object sender, EventArgs e )
        {
            string uuu = "YourUserName";  // Change as required
            string ppp = "YourPassword";

            if( bLoggedOn == false )
            {
                if( MyBetfair.Login( uuu, ppp ) == true )
                {
                    bLoggedOn = true;

                    this.Text = "Logged On To Betfair";

                }
                else
                {
                    this.Text = "Log on FAILED, Check Debug Messages";

                }
            }
        }

So there we have it, Compile and run in debug mode and see what happens

If it worked then lets go on to enhancing the BetfairAPI class to add a LogOut() function

Step 19
Start off by Selecting the CBetfairAPI.cs file for editing in the BetfairAPI project.
And then create the LogOut() function below the Login() function

        public bool LogOut()
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "LogOut";

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );


            var request = new LogoutReq();

            request.header = _globReqHdr;

            LogoutResp response = _bfGlobal.logout( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse(   serviceName,
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ),
                                        response.header.sessionToken );

            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - FAILED", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );
                return false;
            }

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - OK", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            return true;

        }

If you look closely and compare the Login() and LogOut() function you will see they are almost
exactly the same and follow the same format. The only major difference is that login() doesn't
require a 'Request Header' i.e. no session token, currency etc. where as all the other calls do,
and therefore in Logout() ( and all the other calls yet to be created) A request Header is assigned
the global ( or Exchange ) header which already contains a valid session token by:
"request.header = _globReqHdr;"

This 'Same Format' for each call is a good theme to maintain for almost every call to betfair. It does change a little for getting prices or placing bets but not much.
Keeping to similar formats enables quick intuitive programming which becomes easier to read, use, understand and maintain.

Step 20
Now go back and ammend the ButLogOn_Click() event code in TestForm1

        private void ButLogOn_Click( object sender, EventArgs e )
        {
            string uuu = "YourUserName";
            string ppp = "YourPassword"; 

            if( bLoggedOn == false )
            {
                if( MyBetfair.Login( uuu, ppp ) == true )
                {
                    bLoggedOn = true;

                    ButLogOn.Text = "Log Out";
                    this.Text = "Logged On To Betfair";

                }
                else
                {
                    this.Text = "Log on FAILED, Check Debug Messages";

                }
            }
            else
            {
                if( MyBetfair.LogOut() == true )
                {
                    bLoggedOn = false;

                    ButLogOn.Text = "Log On";
                    this.Text = "NOT Logged On To Betfair";

                }
                else
                {
                    this.Text = "Log Out FAILED, Check Debug Messages";

                }
            }
        }

Compile, then run in debug mode, you will be able to log in and out of betfair to your
hearts content



Below is the Full Code For:

CBetfairAPI

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;


using System.Diagnostics;

using BetfairAPI.BFGlobal;
using BetfairAPI.BFExchange;

namespace BetfairAPI
{
    public class CBetfairAPI
    {

        #region Variables

        private BFGlobalService _bfGlobal;
        private BFExchangeService _bfExchange;

        private BFGlobal.APIRequestHeader _globReqHdr;
        private BFExchange.APIRequestHeader _exchReqHdr;

        private string _username;
        private string _password;
        private int _productId;
        private int _vendorSoftwareId;
        private string _sessionToken;

        private string _currency;




        #endregion

        #region Constuctor

        public  CBetfairAPI()
        {
            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - Initializing CBetfairAPI", DateTime.Now ) );

            _bfGlobal = new BFGlobalService();

            _bfGlobal.EnableDecompression = true;

            _bfExchange = new BFExchangeService();

            _bfExchange.EnableDecompression = true;


            _globReqHdr = new BFGlobal.APIRequestHeader();
            _exchReqHdr = new BFExchange.APIRequestHeader();


            _username = "";
            _password = "";

            _sessionToken = "";

            _productId = 82;
            _vendorSoftwareId = 0;

            _currency = "";
        }

        #endregion



        public bool Login( string UserName, string PassWord  )
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "Login";

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            _username = UserName;
            _password = PassWord;


            var request = new LoginReq {    username = _username, 
                                            password = _password, 
                                            productId = _productId, 
                                            vendorSoftwareId = _vendorSoftwareId };

            LoginResp response = _bfGlobal.login( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse(   serviceName, 
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ), 
                                        response.header.sessionToken );
            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - FAILED", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );
                return false;
            }

            _currency = response.currency;

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - OK", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            return true;
        }

        public bool LogOut()
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "LogOut";

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );


            var request = new LogoutReq();

            request.header = _globReqHdr;

            LogoutResp response = _bfGlobal.logout( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse(   serviceName,
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ),
                                        response.header.sessionToken );

            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - FAILED", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );
                return false;
            }

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - OK", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            return true;

        }



        private bool CheckResponse( string serviceName, string hdrErrCd, string respErrCd, string sessionToken )
        {

            if( ! string.IsNullOrEmpty( sessionToken ) )
            {
                _sessionToken = sessionToken;
                _globReqHdr.sessionToken = sessionToken;
                _exchReqHdr.sessionToken = sessionToken;
            }

            if( hdrErrCd != "OK" )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - FAILED: Response.Header.ErrorCode = {1}", serviceName, hdrErrCd ) );
                return ( false );
            }
            if( respErrCd != "OK" )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - FAILED: Response.ErrorCode = {1}", serviceName, respErrCd ) );
                return ( false );
            }

            return ( true );
        }


        

    }
}

Form1.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

using System.Diagnostics;
using BetfairAPI;

namespace TestForm1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public CBetfairAPI MyBetfair;
        public bool bLoggedOn;

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            MyBetfair = new CBetfairAPI();

            bLoggedOn = false;
        }

        private void ButLogOn_Click( object sender, EventArgs e )
        {
            string uuu = "YourUserName";
            string ppp = "YourPassword"; 


            if( bLoggedOn == false )
            {
                if( MyBetfair.Login( uuu, ppp ) == true )
                {
                    bLoggedOn = true;

                    ButLogOn.Text = "Log Out";
                    this.Text = "Logged On To Betfair";

                }
                else
                {
                    this.Text = "Log on FAILED, Check Debug Messages";

                }
            }
            else
            {
                if( MyBetfair.LogOut() == true )
                {
                    bLoggedOn = false;

                    ButLogOn.Text = "Log On";
                    this.Text = "NOT Logged On To Betfair";

                }
                else
                {
                    this.Text = "Log Out FAILED, Check Debug Messages";

                }
            }
        }
    }
}

[Escapee]

PART 3
Adding controls to the GUI

In part 3 I will take you through the steps required to create and add
custom controls to the Form, specifically the 'MenuTree' which the user
needs to navigate to a market.

By The End of Part 3 you should have a working Betfair GUI looking like this



A little preamble on organising your code in general....
When you write your own custom controls, you might very well want
to reuse them in other programs that you might write. This can be
achieved easily by cutting and pasting code from one project to
another but that approach has a major drawback in that if you ever
enhance or change your custom control, the changes don't appear in
each project using the control until you've cut'n pasted to all the
other projects using the custom control.
So what we do is put all the custom controls that we might reuse later
in thier very own 'project' class library. So that when any changes are
made to the control, all the various programs that use just have to be
recompiled and hey presto, they are using the latest version.

As the control we are about to create is the main Betfair Menu, and as
most Betfair GUI programs you'll ever write will need a Betfair Menu
control, this is a prime candidate to be the first reuseable control.
and so we're going to create a "BetfairControls" Library for it.


Your Starting postion for Part 3 should be from where Part 2 Ended.
I.E. Open the "TestForm1" solution in Visual Studio, this should load
the "BetfairAPI" project.



Step 21
Create a New 'Class Library' Project by Right CLicking the "Solution 'TestForm1' (2 Projects)"
in Solution Explorer. Follow the Menu down to FILE->ADD->NEW PROJECT
In the Add New Project Form which appears, select "Class Library", Change the name to "BetfairControls"
and change the Location to "My Betfair" ( or what ever you named the folder you created BetfairAPI & TestForm1 in )



Step 22
Now that we have 3 seperate projects: BetfairAPI, BetfairControls & TestForm1 we need to
set the references so that they know about each other.

Select the 'BetfairControls' project in Solution Explorer and right click 'References'
Select the "Add Reference" and then select the 'Projects' Tab from the 'Add Reference' form
Now Select your "BetfairAPI" project and click OK

That tells the "BetfairControls" Library about the "BetfairAPI" Library.
We now need to repeat the process and tell "TestForm1" about "BetfairControls"
So Right Click on "TestForm1"'s References, Add->Reference->Projects, and select "BetfairControls" ->OK

If you expand all the references nodes in solution Explorer it should look like this:




Step 23
Creating the Betfair Menu Control

Right Click the 'BetfairControls' project in Solution Explorer, ADD->User Control
Change the name to "MenuTree" and click the "Add" button.


In the main (designer) window we now have the blank canvas that is our custom control
We're not actually going to use this canvas, instead were just going have our control
inherit all the properties and functions of the standard issue "TreeView" class and
then we can simply add extra functionality as required.

Step 24
Right Click "MenuTree.cs" and select the View Code option
As a default, the MenuTree Class inherits UserControl, we need to change that to
"TreeView" Like so:

    public partial class MenuTree : TreeView
    {
        public MenuTree()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    }

Step 25
Save and compile... It DOESN'T COMPILE !!

If you look in the output window you will see the Error:
"error CS1061: 'BetfairControls.MenuTree' does not contain a definition for 'AutoScaleMode'..."

Click on that error line and it will take you directly to the offending code line in the auto generated
'MenuTree.Designer.cs' file.

As our custom control no longer inherits from 'UserControl' we have no 'AutoScaleMode' property
so we can just comment this line out like so

    //this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;

Save and Compile again..... This time it should compile properly.


So now we've created our very own custom control, which is found in the
Toolbox just like any standard control like a button, checkbox etc.
And can be placed on a form like any other control




PART 3 CONTINUES IN NEXT POST

[Escapee]

PART 3 Continued

We're now going to add the code to our custom control that makes it respond to the
user and talk to betfair to get the information required.
This will involve adding code to the MenuTree.cs and CBetfairAPI.cs files.

Step 26
Adding new functionality to the CBetfairAPI class, namely the getActiveEventTypes() and getEvents()
functions that are required to populate our menu with information about what markets are available.

In the CBetfairAPI.cs file add the getActiveEventTypes() code after the 'Logout()' function

        public bool getActiveEventTypes( ref GetEventTypesResp response )
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "getActiveEventTypes";

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );


            var request = new GetEventTypesReq();

            request.header = _globReqHdr;

            response = _bfGlobal.getActiveEventTypes( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse( serviceName,
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ),
                                        response.header.sessionToken );

            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                return false;
            }

            //
            // If you want to see what is returned from this call then 
            // uncomment the foreach loop below
            //
            //foreach (EventType et in response.eventTypeItems)
            //{
            //    Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("EventItem: ({0}), ({1})", et.name, et.id));
            //}


            return true;

        }

Step 27
Add the getEvents code

        public bool GetEvents( ref GetEventsResp response, int evtID )
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "getEvents";

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );


            var request = new GetEventsReq();

            request.header = _globReqHdr;
            request.eventParentId = evtID;

            response = _bfGlobal.getEvents( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse( serviceName,
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ),
                                        response.header.sessionToken );

            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                return false;
            }

            return true;
        }

Take a moment to review all the code in CBetfairAPI.cs, notice how similar
all the 4 functions are ? LogOn(), LogOut(), getActiveEventTypes() and GetEvents()
They all do completely different things and yet they all do it in pretty much the same
way. But the last two: getActiveEventTypes() and GetEvents() require input data and
or produce output data which we will want to process outside of the CBetfairAPI
class. So this input and output data are passed about as parameters, but everything else
is almost identical in all the functions.

Writing Functions in a similar manner makes things a whole lot easier to read, understand and mantain.



Step 28
Back to the MenuTree Control

Each "Event" and "Market" on betfair has its own ID and a Name which we'll need to store
on the MenuTree for later use. So we're going to create a custom class just for this purpose.
And because we are going to store this information on each node of the MenuTree, we will
make it easy on ourselves and get our custom class to inherit from the standard "TreeNode"
class.

Right Click 'BetfairControls' and select the "Add->Class" menu option.
Change the name to "MenuTreeNode" and click "Add"

Step 29
In the MenuTreeNode.cs file add the following code below the existing 'Using' Statements.

using System.Diagnostics;
using BetfairAPI;
using BetfairAPI.BFGlobal;

Step 30
Change the class definition so it inherits from "TreeNode"

public     class MenuTreeNode : System.Windows.Forms.TreeNode
    {
    }

Step 31
Within the empty braces '{' and '}' put the variables to Store our data ( and Constructors in Step 32 )

        public  string    m_NodeType;
        public  int       m_id;

        public BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.EventType m_EventType;
        public BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.BFEvent m_bfEvent;
        public BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.MarketSummary m_MktSum;

Step 32
Because our menu is required to store 4 different sorts of things:
root (top of the Menu Tree) , EventType (soccer etc), Event ( Man Utd v Aresenal etc ) and Market ( O/U 1.5 goals etc )
We need a record of what type each node is ( stored in m_NodeType ) We then simply create
4 different contructors for each of the 4 different NodeTypes.
And handle 4 different node types with out needing a load of 'if then else' logic for each different type

Add the code for the Contructors

        public MenuTreeNode( string Name )
        {
            this.Text = Name;
            m_NodeType = "Root";

        }
        public MenuTreeNode( BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.EventType eventType )
        {
            m_NodeType = "EventType";
            m_EventType = eventType;
            this.Text = eventType.name;
            this.m_id = eventType.id;

        }

        public MenuTreeNode( BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.BFEvent bfEvent )
        {
            m_NodeType = "bfEvent";
            m_bfEvent = bfEvent;
            this.Text = bfEvent.eventName;
            this.m_id = bfEvent.eventId;

        }

        public MenuTreeNode( BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.MarketSummary mktSum )
        {
            m_NodeType = "MarketSummary";
            m_MktSum = mktSum;
            if( mktSum.startTime.ToLocalTime().ToString( "HH:mm" ) != "00:00" )
            {
                this.Text = mktSum.startTime.ToLocalTime().ToString( "HH:mm   " ) + mktSum.marketName;
            }
            else
            {
                this.Text = mktSum.marketName;
            }
            this.m_id = mktSum.marketId;
        }

That completes the MenuTreeNode Class, give it a quick compile to check it does so
with out error.
Full Code for Part 3 is available at the end of Part 3.


Step 34
Now onto the MenuTree.cs file

Add the Following code to just below the existing 'Using' Statements

using System.Diagnostics;

using BetfairAPI;
using BetfairAPI.BFGlobal;
using BetfairAPI.BFExchange;

Step 35
Add a 'CBetfairAPI' variable and change the constructor to look like this:

        public MenuTree()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            m_Betfair = null;
        }
        public CBetfairAPI m_Betfair;

In our "TestForm1" we instantiated ( i.e. new'ed ) an instance of the CBetfairAPI Class,
which we then logged on to betfair with. For many various reasons, some of which are because the
user will only be doing one action at a time and resources are ultimately finite,
I prefer to stick to one instance of CBetfairAPI shared by and dedicated too all the
user's gui actions and controls, And any background actions and threads which the user
has no interaction with ( Such as automated market refreshing ) gets its own dedicated
instance of the CBetfairAPI Class.
So 'm_Betfair' will be pointed to the main GUI's instance of CBetfairAPI when the
GUI initialises itself.

Step 36
Create the Initialise() function.
This will be called from our TestForm1.ButLogOn_Click() event after a successful logon
by the user.
It loads up the top level of the Menu with all the different Event Types such as 'Horse Racing', 'Soccer' etc.

        public bool Initialise()
        {
            this.Nodes.Clear();

            if( m_Betfair == null )
            {
                return false;
            }

            GetEventTypesResp Response = new GetEventTypesResp();

            if( m_Betfair.getActiveEventTypes( ref Response ) != true )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( "Error: MenuTree->Initialise()->m_Betfair.getActiveEventTypes() FAILED ( returned false )" );
                return ( false );
            }

            if( Response.eventTypeItems != null )
            {
                foreach( EventType et in Response.eventTypeItems )
                {
                    Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "Init-----EventItem: ({0}), ({1})", et.name, et.id ) );

                    MenuTreeNode tNode = new MenuTreeNode( et );

                    this.Nodes.Add( tNode );
                }

            }
            else
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( "MenuTree->Initialise()->m_BetfairgetActiveEventTypes() returned 0 Events ?!" );

            }
            return true;
        }

Step 37
Now we're going to override the 'OnAfterSelect' event that is normally fired off by the standard
"TreeView" Class with our own customised version of it.
This will handle the processing required to enable drilling down of the menu from a top level
'event type' such as 'Soccer' all the way to a specific market such as 'Over/Under 1.5 Goals'

overrides are what make custom controls based on standard controls so powerful and easy to create.

        override protected void OnAfterSelect( TreeViewEventArgs e )
        {

            MenuTreeNode tNode = (MenuTreeNode)e.Node;

            if( tNode.Nodes.Count == 0 )
            {

                switch( tNode.m_NodeType )
                {
                    case "bfEvent":
                    case "EventType":

                        GetEventsResp eventResp = new GetEventsResp();

                        if( m_Betfair.GetEvents( ref eventResp, tNode.m_id ) == false )
                        {
                            Debug.WriteLine( "OnAfterSelect()->GetEvents() Returned false ?!" );
                            return;
                        }
                        if( eventResp.eventItems != null )
                        {

                            foreach( BFEvent evt in eventResp.eventItems )
                            {
                                Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("BFEvent: ({0}), ({1})", evt.eventName, evt.eventId));

                                MenuTreeNode evtNode = new MenuTreeNode( evt );
                                tNode.Nodes.Add( evtNode );
                            }
                        }
                        if( eventResp.marketItems != null )
                        {
                            foreach( MarketSummary mkt in eventResp.marketItems )
                            {
                                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "MarketSummary: ({0}), ({1}), ", mkt.marketName, mkt.marketId ) );

                                MenuTreeNode mktNode = new MenuTreeNode( mkt );
                                tNode.Nodes.Add( mktNode );
                            }
                        }
                        tNode.Expand();
                        break;


                    case "MarketSummary":

                        // Market Summary Records are the end of the tree's branches
                        // When a user Clicks On a Market Summary Node, he really wants
                        // to load the market. Something we will do in a later part of
                        // This tutorial

                        Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "User Clicked the Market: ({0}), ID  = ({1}), ", tNode.Text, tNode.m_id ) );


                        break;

                    default:
                        Debug.WriteLine( "Node = " + tNode.Text + " UNKNOWN Type = " + tNode.m_NodeType );
                        break;
                }

            }



            base.OnAfterSelect( e );
        }

Compile it all to check it does so with out errors

We're almost there, The Customised Control is practically finished all we have to now
is put it on our TestForm1 and hook it up with a few lines of Code...

Step 38
From the Form Designer, Create a copy of 'MenuTree' on the form.

in the properties window, change the name to c_MenuTree, And select a BackColor
I chose 'LightSteelBlue'

And your form should be looking like this now




Step 39
Now we're going to Hook up the control with a few lines of Code in the Form1.cs file

CHange the Form1() constructor to look like this

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            MyBetfair = new CBetfairAPI();

           [B][COLOR="Red"] c_MenuTree.m_Betfair = MyBetfair;[/COLOR][/B]

            bLoggedOn = false;
        }

Step 40
add The Menu Initialisation code to the ButLogOn_Click() event just after
the line 'bLoggedOn = true'
so that it looks like this:

                if( MyBetfair.Login( uuu, ppp ) == true )
                {
                    bLoggedOn = true;

                    [B][COLOR="Red"]c_MenuTree.Initialise();[/COLOR][/B]

                    ButLogOn.Text = "Log Out";
                    this.Text = "Logged On To Betfair";

                }

THAT'S IT !

Compile and run and you should have something like this to play with.



END OF PART 3
The Maximum size of a post in this forum is 20k Characters,
So Have had to move the Complete code for this tutorial to a seperate post ( post no. 12 I Think )

[AlgoTrader]

Now I understand why it takes 4 months just to login.

[wotsisname]

This should satisfy the newbies who often ask for C# examples. Keep up the good work Escapee. And ignore any snide comments...not everybody wants to learn a new programming language every time they start a new project.

[AlgoTrader]

There are plenty of C# examples on the Betfair site. The tutorial achieved a challenging task - successful login to Betfair. It is useful and do real things, it shows how complex can be very simple things.

I consider KISS principle the most important in programming. Things should be simple to work good. If tutorial ends at login step, it is certainly too early.

[davecon]

Thanks for this Escapee I think its brilliant when you knowledgeable guys take the time and effort to help us beginners although I am using VB myself this is a great and helpful addition to my "Education"
This is exactly what any Newbie is looking for regardless of the language
You are a star - Cheers

[AlgoTrader]

TI am using VB myself this is a great and helpful addition to my "Education"
This is exactly what any Newbie is looking for regardless of the language

When login and logout takes 135 lines of code something is very wrong there.

[Escapee]

I have now Added Part 3 of this tutorial into posts No 5 & 6 of this thread.

After completing Part 3 you should have this to play about with




The Complete Code so far could not fit into those posts so I have put it in this one below:

Form1.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

using System.Diagnostics;
using BetfairAPI;

namespace TestForm1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public CBetfairAPI MyBetfair;
        public bool bLoggedOn;

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            MyBetfair = new CBetfairAPI();

            c_MenuTree.m_Betfair = MyBetfair;

            bLoggedOn = false;
        }

        private void ButLogOn_Click( object sender, EventArgs e )
        {
            string uuu = "YourUserName";
            string ppp = "YourPassword"; 


            if( bLoggedOn == false )
            {
                if( MyBetfair.Login( uuu, ppp ) == true )
                {
                    bLoggedOn = true;

                    c_MenuTree.Initialise();

                    ButLogOn.Text = "Log Out";
                    this.Text = "Logged On To Betfair";

                }
                else
                {
                    this.Text = "Log on FAILED, Check Debug Messages";

                }
            }
            else
            {
                if( MyBetfair.LogOut() == true )
                {
                    bLoggedOn = false;

                    ButLogOn.Text = "Log On";
                    this.Text = "NOT Logged On To Betfair";

                }
                else
                {
                    this.Text = "Log Out FAILED, Check Debug Messages";

                }
            }
        }
    }
}

CBetfairAPI.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;


using System.Diagnostics;

using BetfairAPI.BFGlobal;
using BetfairAPI.BFExchange;

namespace BetfairAPI
{
    public class CBetfairAPI
    {

        #region Variables

        private BFGlobalService _bfGlobal;
        private BFExchangeService _bfExchange;

        private BFGlobal.APIRequestHeader _globReqHdr;
        private BFExchange.APIRequestHeader _exchReqHdr;

        private string _username;
        private string _password;
        private int _productId;
        private int _vendorSoftwareId;
        private string _sessionToken;

        private string _currency;




        #endregion

        #region Constuctor

        public  CBetfairAPI()
        {
            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - Initializing CBetfairAPI", DateTime.Now ) );

            _bfGlobal = new BFGlobalService();

            _bfGlobal.EnableDecompression = true;

            _bfExchange = new BFExchangeService();

            _bfExchange.EnableDecompression = true;


            _globReqHdr = new BFGlobal.APIRequestHeader();
            _exchReqHdr = new BFExchange.APIRequestHeader();


            _username = "";
            _password = "";

            _sessionToken = "";

            _productId = 82;
            _vendorSoftwareId = 0;

            _currency = "";
        }

        #endregion



        public bool Login( string UserName, string PassWord  )
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "Login";

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            _username = UserName;
            _password = PassWord;


            var request = new LoginReq {    username = _username, 
                                            password = _password, 
                                            productId = _productId, 
                                            vendorSoftwareId = _vendorSoftwareId };

            LoginResp response = _bfGlobal.login( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse(   serviceName, 
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ), 
                                        response.header.sessionToken );
            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - FAILED", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );
                return false;
            }

            _currency = response.currency;

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - OK", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            return true;
        }

        public bool LogOut()
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "LogOut";

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );


            var request = new LogoutReq();

            request.header = _globReqHdr;

            LogoutResp response = _bfGlobal.logout( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse(   serviceName,
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ),
                                        response.header.sessionToken );

            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - FAILED", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );
                return false;
            }

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1} - OK", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );

            return true;

        }
        public bool getActiveEventTypes( ref GetEventTypesResp response )
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "getActiveEventTypes";

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );


            var request = new GetEventTypesReq();

            request.header = _globReqHdr;

            response = _bfGlobal.getActiveEventTypes( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse( serviceName,
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ),
                                        response.header.sessionToken );

            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                return false;
            }

            //
            // If you want to see what is returned from this call then 
            // uncomment the foreach loop below
            //
            //foreach (EventType et in response.eventTypeItems)
            //{
            //    Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("EventItem: ({0}), ({1})", et.name, et.id));
            //}


            return true;

        }
        public bool GetEvents( ref GetEventsResp response, int evtID )
        {
            bool bRetCode;
            const string serviceName = "getEvents";

            Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - CBetfairAPI - {1}", DateTime.Now, serviceName ) );


            var request = new GetEventsReq();

            request.header = _globReqHdr;
            request.eventParentId = evtID;

            response = _bfGlobal.getEvents( request );

            bRetCode = CheckResponse( serviceName,
                                        Convert.ToString( response.header.errorCode ),
                                        Convert.ToString( response.errorCode ),
                                        response.header.sessionToken );

            if( bRetCode == false )
            {
                return false;
            }

            return true;
        }

        private bool CheckResponse( string serviceName, string hdrErrCd, string respErrCd, string sessionToken )
        {

            if( ! string.IsNullOrEmpty( sessionToken ) )
            {
                _sessionToken = sessionToken;
                _globReqHdr.sessionToken = sessionToken;
                _exchReqHdr.sessionToken = sessionToken;
            }

            if( hdrErrCd != "OK" )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - FAILED: Response.Header.ErrorCode = {1}", serviceName, hdrErrCd ) );
                return ( false );
            }
            if( respErrCd != "OK" )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "{0} - FAILED: Response.ErrorCode = {1}", serviceName, respErrCd ) );
                return ( false );
            }

            return ( true );
        }


        

    }
}

MenuTree.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

using System.Diagnostics;

using BetfairAPI;
using BetfairAPI.BFGlobal;
using BetfairAPI.BFExchange;


namespace BetfairControls
{
    public partial class MenuTree : TreeView
    {
        public MenuTree()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            m_Betfair = null;
        }
        public CBetfairAPI m_Betfair;




        public bool Initialise()
        {
            this.Nodes.Clear();

            if( m_Betfair == null )
            {
                return false;
            }

            GetEventTypesResp Response = new GetEventTypesResp();

            if( m_Betfair.getActiveEventTypes( ref Response ) != true )
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( "Error: MenuTree->Initialise()->m_Betfair.getActiveEventTypes() FAILED ( returned false )" );
                return ( false );
            }

            if( Response.eventTypeItems != null )
            {
                foreach( EventType et in Response.eventTypeItems )
                {
                    Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "Init-----EventItem: ({0}), ({1})", et.name, et.id ) );

                    MenuTreeNode tNode = new MenuTreeNode( et );

                    this.Nodes.Add( tNode );
                }

            }
            else
            {
                Debug.WriteLine( "MenuTree->Initialise()->m_BetfairgetActiveEventTypes() returned 0 Events ?!" );

            }
            return true;
        }


        override protected void OnAfterSelect( TreeViewEventArgs e )
        {

            MenuTreeNode tNode = (MenuTreeNode)e.Node;

            if( tNode.Nodes.Count == 0 )
            {

                switch( tNode.m_NodeType )
                {
                    case "bfEvent":
                    case "EventType":

                        GetEventsResp eventResp = new GetEventsResp();

                        if( m_Betfair.GetEvents( ref eventResp, tNode.m_id ) == false )
                        {
                            Debug.WriteLine( "OnAfterSelect()->GetEvents() Returned false ?!" );
                            return;
                        }
                        if( eventResp.eventItems != null )
                        {

                            foreach( BFEvent evt in eventResp.eventItems )
                            {
                                Debug.WriteLine(string.Format("BFEvent: ({0}), ({1})", evt.eventName, evt.eventId));

                                MenuTreeNode evtNode = new MenuTreeNode( evt );
                                tNode.Nodes.Add( evtNode );
                            }
                        }
                        if( eventResp.marketItems != null )
                        {
                            foreach( MarketSummary mkt in eventResp.marketItems )
                            {
                                Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "MarketSummary: ({0}), ({1}), ", mkt.marketName, mkt.marketId ) );

                                MenuTreeNode mktNode = new MenuTreeNode( mkt );
                                tNode.Nodes.Add( mktNode );
                            }
                        }
                        tNode.Expand();
                        break;


                    case "MarketSummary":

                        // Market Summary Records are the end of the tree's branches
                        // When a user Clicks On a Market Summary Node, he really wants
                        // to load the market. Something we will do in a later part of
                        // This tutorial

                        Debug.WriteLine( string.Format( "User Clicked the Market: ({0}), ID  = ({1}), ", tNode.Text, tNode.m_id ) );


                        break;

                    default:
                        Debug.WriteLine( "Node = " + tNode.Text + " UNKNOWN Type = " + tNode.m_NodeType );
                        break;
                }

            }



            base.OnAfterSelect( e );
        }

    }


}

MenuTreeNode.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

using System.Diagnostics;
using BetfairAPI;
using BetfairAPI.BFGlobal;


namespace BetfairControls
{
    class MenuTreeNode : System.Windows.Forms.TreeNode
    {
        public  string    m_NodeType;
        public  int       m_id;

        public BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.EventType m_EventType;
        public BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.BFEvent m_bfEvent;
        public BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.MarketSummary m_MktSum;

        public MenuTreeNode( string Name )
        {
            this.Text = Name;
            m_NodeType = "Root";

        }
        public MenuTreeNode( BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.EventType eventType )
        {
            m_NodeType = "EventType";
            m_EventType = eventType;
            this.Text = eventType.name;
            this.m_id = eventType.id;

        }

        public MenuTreeNode( BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.BFEvent bfEvent )
        {
            m_NodeType = "bfEvent";
            m_bfEvent = bfEvent;
            this.Text = bfEvent.eventName;
            this.m_id = bfEvent.eventId;

        }

        public MenuTreeNode( BetfairAPI.BFGlobal.MarketSummary mktSum )
        {
            m_NodeType = "MarketSummary";
            m_MktSum = mktSum;
            if( mktSum.startTime.ToLocalTime().ToString( "HH:mm" ) != "00:00" )
            {
                this.Text = mktSum.startTime.ToLocalTime().ToString( "HH:mm   " ) + mktSum.marketName;
            }
            else
            {
                this.Text = mktSum.marketName;
            }
            this.m_id = mktSum.marketId;
        }
    }
}

[Drifter]

I think this is a brilliant idea. I would like to see it continued if you have the patience. Once thing I never quite worked out is how the asynchronous calls worked in C#. Also, if you have the time threading and database access would be great additions. My idea was to create a general bet management class for monitoring bet status using threads and appropriate callbacks (I tried to use the Ami Thread module SmartThreadPool, but it was simply beyond me!)

[AzureGulf]

Hi Escapee - I'm following this thread and hope you'll continue - so far, it's been very helpful.

If you have a moment, please explain why you've set "EnableDecompression to true " for both services - as I understand it, the Betfair API can also send compressed data which is quicker and permits a higher call rate to the service. I'm just wondering if this should be set to false to take advantage of this??

Many thanks...

[Escapee]

Thanks for the encouragement and thanks to who ever rated this thread 5 stars.

I'm all booked up for the next week/10 days but I will try and add some more as time permits.

Azure Gulf:
If you have a moment, please explain why you've set "EnableDecompression to true "

I was under the impression this is how gzip compression/decompression was enabled, but I can't readily find the documentation I read to make me think that so I'll look into it again and let you know.