Thread Subject: Bloomberg

How efficient is the Bloomberg interface?

James Pechin wrote:
>
>
> How efficient is the Bloomberg interface?

Define efficient.

I have long wanted to use the Bloomberg ActiveX control from within
MATLAB but MATLAB has a problem with the Date type and it is
currently unresolved. I am very disappointed but they say they are
working on it. There was a thread a while back where someone said
they got it working but I am skeptical.

I have a C++ process that I spawn to use Bloomberg and it is very
fast. Far better than any other method I have tried, including
MATLAB's.

MATLAB is at a great disadvantage when dealing with the Bloomberg API
because the API is updated frequently and TMW doesn't have the
resources to keep up so there's always a lag in functionality. This
is true of most 3rd party software, like Maple (the Symbolic
Toolbox).

A great advantage of using the MATLAB interface, rather than the
Bloomberg API directly, is that (I would hope) TMW will keep their
syntax consistant so that even if the API changes, old MATLAB
programs will work.

Bloomberg, however, has fantastic technical support--as does TMW.
They are both a pleasure to deal with.

Bloomberg will bend over backwards to help you develop an interface,
after all you are paying them about $2,000 per month, but they will
not help you if you tell them you are using MATLAB. You must tell
them you are developing in one of the languages they support, like C.

BTW, I am talking about interfacing to the Bloomberg Professional
product. If you are talking about the Bloomberg website or some
other Bloomberg (RNC?) ignore my post.

<snip>
> do you know if there is a way to automatically
> launch
> Bloomberg and login automatically ? I would like to set up a
> nightly
> job that downloads some data, ready for the next morning. Bloomberg
> is
> forcibly logged out each night, hence the need for some automated
> way
> to launch / login .

I haven't done that, but you do not need to launch & login to that
job. You may access MATLAB via the API as long as you've logged on
recently, i.e. in the past couple of days.

Thanks Michael, that worked !

- Rod

Thanks for your response. To define efficient, I will define somewhat
what we are doing. We need to extract option pricing information
from Bloomberg on the S&P 500 plus marketing data including interest
rates and projected dividends around 300 to 400 pieces of info. We
want to do this as quickly as possible.

Jim Pechin wrote:
>
>
> Thanks for your response. To define efficient, I will define
> somewhat
> what we are doing. We need to extract option pricing information
> from Bloomberg on the S&P 500 plus marketing data including
> interest
> rates and projected dividends around 300 to 400 pieces of info. We
> want to do this as quickly as possible.

I expect the response time would be a few seconds to download that
kind of data, if you do it with the C-SDK. Calculations would take
longer.

Depending on your situation it may be possible to download the data
in advance of your need and reference it locally.

You can have matlab log you into the terminal automatically using
dde.

Here is a little snippet:

 dos('C:\blp\Wintrv\wintrv.exe &');
    ch = ddeinit('winblp','bbk');
    pause(2);
    rc = ddeexec(ch,'<blp-0><home>on<GO>');
    pause(5);
    rc = ddeexec(ch,[user,'<down>',pass,'<GO>']);
    pause(3);

-- cut here
This doesn't work 100% of time, so I wouldn't a critical app
depending on it.

You can have dde send any valid bberg command to the terminal. I have
some matlab guis with grids that are set up so that when a user
clicks on a cell with a ticker in it, that ticker gets sent to the
terminal.

rc =
ddeexec(ch,...['<blp0><home>','IBM','<EQUITY>','GIPS
','<GO>']);

rodg.junkmail wrote:
>
>
> Hi Michael,
>
> Looks like you've had a lot of experience with Bloomberg. On an
> unrelated topic, do you know if there is a way to automatically
> launch
> Bloomberg and login automatically ? I would like to set up a
> nightly
> job that downloads some data, ready for the next morning. Bloomberg
> is
> forcibly logged out each night, hence the need for some automated
> way
> to launch / login .
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rod
>
>

mlacy <mlacy@blah.blah> wrote in message <eefc902.6@webx.raydaftYaTP>...
> You can have matlab log you into the terminal automatically using
> dde.
>
> Here is a little snippet:
>
> dos('C:\blp\Wintrv\wintrv.exe &');
> ch = ddeinit('winblp','bbk');
> pause(2);
> rc = ddeexec(ch,'<blp-0><home>on<GO>');
> pause(5);
> rc = ddeexec(ch,[user,'<down>',pass,'<GO>']);
> pause(3);
>
> -- cut here
> This doesn't work 100% of time, so I wouldn't a critical app
> depending on it.
>
> You can have dde send any valid bberg command to the terminal. I have
> some matlab guis with grids that are set up so that when a user
> clicks on a cell with a ticker in it, that ticker gets sent to the
> terminal.
>
> rc =
> ddeexec(ch,...['<blp0><home>','IBM','<EQUITY>','GIPS
> ','<GO>']);
>
> rodg.junkmail wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hi Michael,
> >
> > Looks like you've had a lot of experience with Bloomberg. On an
> > unrelated topic, do you know if there is a way to automatically
> > launch
> > Bloomberg and login automatically ? I would like to set up a
> > nightly
> > job that downloads some data, ready for the next morning. Bloomberg
> > is
> > forcibly logged out each night, hence the need for some automated
> > way
> > to launch / login .
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Rod
> >
> >

I am also using this code to login to Bloomberg, may I know why it doesn't work at 100% of the time and how to fix that?? Very appreciated!

mlacy <mlacy@blah.blah> wrote in message <eefc902.6@webx.raydaftYaTP>...
> You can have matlab log you into the terminal automatically using
> dde.
>
> Here is a little snippet:
>
> dos('C:\blp\Wintrv\wintrv.exe &');
> ch = ddeinit('winblp','bbk');
> pause(2);
> rc = ddeexec(ch,'<blp-0><home>on<GO>');
> pause(5);
> rc = ddeexec(ch,[user,'<down>',pass,'<GO>']);
> pause(3);
>
> -- cut here
> This doesn't work 100% of time, so I wouldn't a critical app
> depending on it.
>
> You can have dde send any valid bberg command to the terminal. I have
> some matlab guis with grids that are set up so that when a user
> clicks on a cell with a ticker in it, that ticker gets sent to the
> terminal.
>
> rc =
> ddeexec(ch,...['<blp0><home>','IBM','<EQUITY>','GIPS
> ','<GO>']);
>


Hello, I am new with bloomberg, your post was very helpful, but I have a question, do you know how can I get some data from bloomberg, for example I send the ticker to the terminal and then type "rsi" (an indicator that returns a value). My question is how can I get that value into a Matlab variable. I know that I must use the ddereq command, but I didn't succeded yet. Hope you'll help me.