User Comments

  • Stefan
    8.10.2019 15:51:11

    I do not know why you need two other lists to make your new list having only selections with profit and unmatched lay bets.

    Any information you need are in Selection object. I created short console script where you can see how to make different filter functions:

    ShowSelectionsWithProfitAndUnmatchedBets.fsx

    Basically you should orchestrate bot strategy(ies) execution in your trigger code, so the same way you can query for running bots, and running bot on a selection is still indication that your trading session, or bet placing is not yet finished.

    Another hint, please really use Visual Studio InteliSense support, as typing . (dot) in the name of object variable gives you all properties or methods you can use on the object. I mean what I created you could figure out as well.

  • Stefan
    7.10.2019 10:48:02

    For the property BetType, the BetType is not string/text value. It is enumeration value, so you must assign BetType.Back or BetType.Lay

    For “Place Bet and Close Selection Bet Position Bot” you have got OpenBetPosition or CloseBetPosition properties, so exact path to particular parameters, in OpenBetPosition is:

    “OpenBetPosition.Stake”

    “OpenBetPosition.BetType”

    And for “Place Bet” bot the parameter names are simple:

    “Stake”

    “BetType”

    Only you know what action bot you will use, so therefore you must know names of action bot parameters. When you always use just “Place Bet” bot then you do not have to code it naming convention of parameters, but when your bot trigger can execute trading bots, then introduce to your bot trigger parameters for instance parameter: “IsTradingActionBot” and when you set it to True, you must add OpenBetPosition. or CloseBetPosition. prefix to the parameter names you want to change. 

    There are of course different ways to create bot instance and execute them, please have a look at here: ScalpingTradingStrategyBot.fsx

    Or just investigate all options for TriggerResult discriminated union type, there are 10 different options for TriggerResult.Execute..

    You are using the option to edit parameters of set action bot, so what you set in “BotName” parameter of "Execute Trigger Bot".

  • Stefan
    5.10.2019 12:13:52

    Just a hint, you really overcomplicate your code. You should separate logic part/s in your code to function/s. For instance you introduced new parameter and named it strategy.

    From your code I can estimate that your intention was to generate allowedSelectionIndexes when the parameter AllowedSelectionIndexes is not entered.

    So you could take this code out from getMySelections function and create a new function that will return just text representation of your strategy number to text representation of allowed selections, so function:

    val strategyToIndexes : int -> string

    That is function signature. Please, maybe you should read this article:

    https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/posts/how-types-work-with-functions/

    So simply said everything in F# is function, and returns some value, if nothing is return it is called unit.

    Then even “if else then”, is function and returns value, and it is clear that all blocks of if evaluation must return the same value, but I think you already noticed that, but your coding style did not change because you repeatedly type too much code.

    Ok, that is not a problem for now because bot trigger code will work anyway, but on the other hand your code would be shorter, maybe even more than 50% of current code.

    I do not know why would you need to evaluate what is retuned by getMySelection()  function, that other comment with match expression.

    Just hover with your mouse over getMySelection and read tooltip VS shows, it shows function signature:

    val : getMySelection : (unit -> Selection option)

    So what does it mean?

    getMySelection is function taking no input value/s (unit) and returning option type of Selection

    Option can be Some value or None, so in this context getMySelection returns Some selection on which your want to trigger your action bot. If no qualified selection is evaluated by your trigger code than it returns None.

    When starting to build/develop a new trigger you can create functions so they all describe your entire algorithm, and in Execute function then you should see/read your algorithm just by reading function names, all functions could be declared as empty code, just with correct function signature, so in the first stage of development you would just express your trigger algorithm by pure functions, then later start to implement the code to all functions and when necessary adds new ones.

    As your bot trigger cannot be executed in one market update call, it is good idea to introduce trigger status value like I did with TriggerStatus (discriminated union type):

    https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/posts/discriminated-unions/

    It is clear that I created domain of that discriminated union in the domain of your horse racing trigger, therefore you can see that I named one status:  WaitForRaceStart (and I could name it more generally)

    Now you want to add a new status to your trigger, as you want to evaluate previous bet results, the question is where in the status queue you add this new one, and it is up to you.

    I already described necessary code in my previous comment, but here is another version:

    HorseRacingAndPreviousResultsBotTrigger.fsx

  • Stefan
    4.10.2019 16:04:07

    I see you are quick learner, as you managed to learn match expression, my congratulation.

    For allowed selections it is initialized mySelections that is list of MySelection objects.

    When race is started setStartData sets start price and position.

    When is time to start your strategy getMySelection function on the line 185 reevaluates set parametes, so odds difference and horse position difference. In your case you use only position difference, and on the line 187 you have got mySelections sorted by PositionDifference.

    My original code take just first selection with minimal position difference, keep in mind that minus values are less than 0.

    If you want to apply different algorithm for selecting a selection from mySortedSelections, then you can simply apply any filter function on this mySortedSelections, or of course sort mySelections by different property, or sortByDescending.

    You can change the line 208 according to your selection algorithm.

  • Stefan
    2.10.2019 14:04:20

    For me it is really hard to help you with understanding a programming language, because I know many programming languages, and all is understandable for me.

    I can read or start programming with any programming language just from seeing code samples or tutorials in minutes.

    I would suggest reading the following post, or entire web site:

    https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/posts/fsharp-in-60-seconds/

    On the Internet you can find a lot of videos, tutorials, books, and so on. As I mentioned if you have problems to understand F#, and C# is better alternative then you can switch your code to C# or Visual Basic.

  • Stefan
    2.10.2019 12:21:02

    Peter, I will really suggest you to read error messages when you build your bot trigger.

    First error reports:

    This function takes too many arguments, or is used in a context where a function is not expected.

    It is where you put HorseRacingBotTrigger2, so constructor of your bot trigger, constructor is function as input to the function:

    MyStrategyOperations.GetMyStrategyResults expects as input strategy name, so string/text value.

    Ok, when you correct input value, so incorrect context you type:

    let myStrategyResults = MyStrategyOperations.GetMyStrategyResults(botName)

    Then there is no other error in this line, but you must understand what is actually returned by GetMyStrategyResults, and how you will use it.

    When you hover your mouse over GetMyStrategyResults, tooltip shows you what you will get, and this data must be used in correct context as well.

    Please read about programming at least couple pages of text, because code is not just text.

    It is like you misspell a sentence the way no one is able to understand what you wanted to say.

    You can develop your bot trigger in C# programming language as well, but as script you can use only code written in F#.

    I can prepare simple bot trigger working with previous results, but I do not think you will manage to use such code yourself.

  • Stefan
    2.10.2019 10:21:05

    You cannot use console script code in your bot trigger code. It was created in other context and for other purpose.

    If you would read error message in Visual Studio or Visual Code (I do not know which IDE you are using.), then errors would suggest problems in your code.

    Please, just read what IDE suggests.

  • Stefan
    1.10.2019 14:20:51

    We have got your strategy for horse racing programmed as bot trigger:

    Bot Trigger Building Part 2

    Bot trigger code is executed by bot called: “Execute Trigger Bot”, and trigger executes the action bot, so bot strategy that places bets or starts trading session. In my test I used: “Lay trade 4 ticks”. I named this strategy: “Horse Racing Bot Trigger”.

    So you have got your strategy that can be executed manually from My Strategies /Bots to Execute, on the market you open in Bet Event view, just selecting your strategy “Horse Racing Bot Trigger” and clicking on the Execute toolbar button.

    If you want to execute your strategy automatically on all races, then you can use “Bot Executor” tool.

    Bfexplorer app offer more general purpose bot strategies, one them is bot strategy named: “Execute Till Target Profit”, and that is what you need, to stop the execution of your strategy when it is executed automatically, when target profit or loss is reached. Again, the bot uses action bot to be executed, set by parameter BotName, in our case we want to execute: “Horse Racing Bot Trigger” and that is all. Just name your strategy (I named it: “My Horse Racing Strategy”) and execute it at set time relative to the race time (market start time).

    When programming your strategy using Bfexplorer BOT SDK, you have got access to all bfexplorer generated data with public interface, so you can access your betting results, or create your own version of “Execute Till Target Profit”.

    For instance Bfexplorer Console, the tool executing a script code to automate bfexplorer UI interaction, or querying data. The similar script can be programmed to read your strategy results and process data.

    For instance here is script opening Match Odds and Over/Under 2.5 Goals markets that met required parameters:

    SearchFootballMarkets.fsx

  • Stefan
    1.10.2019 11:17:49

    With anything you do, you need at least base understanding of what you do.

    If you go with Excel automation to place your bets on betfair, then you need to learn how to use Excel, formulas, and of course VBA programming, because you cannot make running your strategy just by using formulas, or bet angel rules.

    To part 4 of your tutorial, without saying anything about coding, just use common sense to understand what should be done.

    If your strategy depends on previous results, then of course something in bfexplorer should be able to retrieve your bet results, and process this information. Your bot trigger must be able to work with such information.

  • Stefan
    1.10.2019 10:16:13

    Peter, it is up to you what homework you do, or what different bot trigger you could offer for other readers, as your bot trigger can evaluate different selection values, and as well evaluation process could be programmed by many different ways.

    I actually separated storing of selection trigger values to different type/class, so code is prepared for different scenarios.

    If you really are able to read the trigger bot code you have to see it, so you can describe those different scenarios to others, but that is up to you.

    I asked for “homework” because you reported problems with compiling bot trigger code, what means you did not understand what were you doing, I hope you do now.

  • Stefan
    1.10.2019 9:21:15

    Ok, it seems you managed to understand the concept of F# programming.

    On the other hand I see you have actually no understanding of betting terminology, as book value is not calculated as you did in your code. The book value in betting is sum of selection’s probabilities.

    Here is my bot trigger code for part 2: HorseRacingBotTrigger2.fs

  • Stefan
    30.9.2019 16:21:59

    Here is my first test that actually triggered some trading session. When testing it is really important how you set all trigger parameters, for testing it is good to set them without limits, so not parameters are tested but code

    I set the fallowing parameters as default ones:

    allowedSelectionIndexes: 1,2,3,4,5,6

    timeToStart: 40.0

    favouritesPrice: 50.0

    When the race started, bot trigger saved position of allowed horses. When timeToStart expired, all allowed horses were evaluated again

    positionDifference <- startPosition – position

    So trigger selected Bianca Minola as nominated selection on which Bot Trigger started lay/back trading session for 4 ticks of profit.

  • Stefan
    30.9.2019 9:56:56

    Peter, I do not want to patronize you, but I have got very simple question?

    Are you satisfied with what you did?

    Why did I ask?

    Because any written source code must be formatted to be readable by other programmers.

    Yes, some programming languages that use for instance { } to separate block of code, could be stripped to one line and compiler successfully build such code, but not F# where code block must be formatted by text/code indentation and you cannot used tabs:

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/fsharp/style-guide/formatting

    I mentioned that, because during weekend you posted video showing you edited bot trigger in Notepad text editor. So anyone who would like to use your code you posted in your comment, must copy and paste your text, reformat it correctly, and then will find out that your code does not do what you claim you did.

    So you waste maybe 10 minutes or more, to someone who wants to test your code. English is foreign language for me so is very hard for me to find politically correct words for your behavior.

    Please, install either Visual Code, like I show here:

    Betfair Bot Programming for Non-Developers

    Or Visual Studio Community version:

    Bfexplorer - Betfair BOT SDK

    Both IDE (Integrated Developer Environment) applications are free, unlike Microsoft Excel other betfair app use, where you must buy licenses of Microsoft Excel. Using Bfexplorer BOT SDK all applications or tools helping you to create bot trigger are for free.

    Why is using right programs/applications important when developing/writing code?

    Because like text editors with spellchecking, such IDE checks your code when writing, so any mistake in misspelling anything in code is reported. Visual Studio, or Visual Studio code offer you as well, so called IntelliSense/IntelliCode technology when writing code, so helping you to write the code:

    https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/services/intellicode/

    And finally why did I ask you to make some changes in the code?

    To force you learn something, because bot trigger code in other parts of our tutorial will be more difficult.

    I know you are not software developer, but in part 1 the source code is really readable even by non programmer, it contains plain English words like if, then, else, match, let, try, with, and some words you would maybe need to think about, like open, type, interface, member and map  

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map_(higher-order_function)

    Please, when you want to use source code, and want to share it with others, do them favor and share it on http://github.com through Github Gist, like I do:

    https://gist.github.com/StefanBelo

    Again, you can register on github.com for free. Or just use any of other code sharing services on the Internet:

    https://www.google.com/search?q=code+sharing+service&oq=code+sharing+service

  • Stefan
    28.9.2019 0:46:54

    Ok, but you did not specify that you want to check horse's positions in two different times. My first implementation was that bot waits till market is turned at in-play, then saves information about all allowed selections, so horse's positions is saved as well.

    At set time in race, bot checks your conditions, so favourites must be traded at that moment of checking under set price/odds.

    Then allowed selections are sorted by position change difference, so biggest position change is the first one, if this selection is not among the first three favourites, it is nominated as the selection your strategy will be executed on.

    The bot trigger again similar like I explained to you in the part 3, does not have to know anything about your criteria for entry point, so if you allow starting lay/back trading session only when the selection/horse is traded from 10.0 to 20.0, then you can simply set that to Entry Criteria for this lay trading bot.

    Now think a little bit. I hope you already know that Entry Criteria could be evaluated just once, or could be evaluated till all set Entry Criteria are met. This feature gives you two different options for your bot placing a lay bet.

    If you think more, then you will find that bfexplorer offers more bots placing a bet, or starting trading session, namely:

    Place Bet

    Be the First in Queue

    Fill or Kill

    Place Bet and Close Selection Bet Position

    Scratch Trading

    This gives you really big flexibility for different ways your bet is placed on the market selection, and closes your bet position for loss when needed.

    Of course not all of above bot strategies to place a bet are suitable for in-play markets where odds changes so rapidly as on the horse racing, therefore I would suggest to use:

    Place Bet and Close Selection Bet Position

    But of course you can test them all, or other combinations for instance:

    Place Bet, and Trailing Stop Loss

    What is very good news for you is that bot trigger code does not have to implement anything to place a bet and manage its status, so you will get simpler trigger code.

    I really cannot imagine how people could manage such strategies just in Excel spreadsheets, so traders using Bet Angel, Cymatic or Gruss software. I think they cannot run such strategies, am I right?

    Your tutorial in the part 1 is ready, I will post bot trigger code for the part 2, but first test your bot trigger for part 1, and as the simple coding exercise, change the bot trigger code to report not only horse name, but the last traded price as well.

    Here is the hint:

    https://gist.github.com/StefanBelo/a85ee8b9959b841ea423eade056cc762

  • Stefan
    27.9.2019 18:44:20

    How is evaluated “…our selection has dropped in position...”?

  • Stefan
    27.9.2019 17:55:07

    Peter, you do not need to program a trigger or anything for this feature, as your lay trade can be started by bot strategy: “Place Bet and Close Selection Bet Position”, and set your Profit/Loss target as required. So in your case you want to close your bet position, so by your words:

    “… so that if it looks like my trade is not going good, I'd like to limit my losses …”

    You can set Loss parameter, either by (ProfitLossType parameter) Ticks, Percentage, or exact Money value.  As the Profit parameter is required one, (Loss is not, when you set it to 0, your position is not closed for Loss) you must set it to unrealistic value.

    If you want to hedge your bet position, leave HedgingEnabled checked (set to True). When hedge the stake is calculated, I hope that you understand that, other software vendors call this procedure “green up”. Well, in this case I really do not understand your English, as no one is saying about “red up” ;-)

  • Stefan
    27.9.2019 17:15:04

    Yes, one of your requirements for horse racing strategy is to execute only if allowed number of horses will run in the race.

    This can be set in Entry Criteria: NumberOfSelections and for operator you can apply one of 5 relevant options, so this could be removed from the bot trigger code.

    Here is my bot trigger code:

    https://gist.github.com/StefanBelo/71b025e6a4c687fe98f99a258ddb6cb5

    It is 67 lines of code but actual code starts from line 19. The main bot trigger code is executed by Execute function, so algorithm for this bot code is on 11 lines.

    The bot trigger code contains one general functions  getActiveSelections (lines 35-36) as for some markets like horse racing, greyhounds, golf and so on, selections could be withdraw, we must use this function to get only active selections, in our case horses.

    One of requirements is to apply any further evaluation only on specific selections defined by order index in which betfair displays market selections. Peter named that “starting lanes”.  

    In bot trigger, bfexplorer inputs any data to bot trigger through object botTriggerParameters, so any data entered through parameter: TriggerParameters.

    On the line 18 we retrieved such parameter named: AllowedSelectionIndexes. Keep in mind that you must enter exactly this name in the parameter list, it is case sensitive. When no parameter is entered, the bot trigger code implements default value, it is set to: "1,2,3,10,11,12"  

    So horses order indexes separated by comma. As the indexes are enter as text value, the helper method “toIndexes” transforms this text to list of integers.

    The function “getMySelectionsData” (lines 38 – 48) checks whether bot trigger has valid indexes for evaluated race, and returns list of selections, and number of selections, otherwise returns nothing, to be exact in F# programming terms it returns Option.None value.

    And that is all for our first bot trigger, as mentioned before the code is executed by Execute function, and code execution can be described:

    If it is horse racing market and we can get my selections data, then it is displayed message: \nMy selections: name 1, name 2\nNumber of runners: 15”.

    If it is not horse racing market it is displayed message: "You can run this bot on a horse racing market only!".

    If there is any error in getting my selections data, then error message is displayed:

    And bot trigger execution is ended.

  • Stefan
    26.9.2019 11:09:24

    First of all, couple of hints about F# programming.  As with any programming language you can built a lot of different project types. In our case you must create .net C# or F# library project targeting .NET Framework 4.7.2, so as seen in Add a new project in Visual Studio: Library (.NET Framework).

    Ok, you have used Bfexplorer BOT SDK project: MyBotTriggers, so all should be setup. When you set this project be: Set as StartUp Project, and in the project Properties / Debug, you set Start external program:

    C:\Program Files (x86)\BeloSoft\Bfexplorer\Bfexplorer.BotUI.exe

    Then after you click Start (F5) , your project is build and bfexplorer app is executed as external program using your: MyBotTriggers.dll assembly.

    You could read here:

    http://bfexplorer.net/Articles/Content/354

    http://bfexplorer.net/Articles/Content/248

    That when debug in Visual Studio (VS) you can type in Debug / Command line arguments:

    YourUserName YourPassword True

    So when your project is executed/(started for debugging) VS start bfexplorer as well and automatically login with your betfair credentials YourUserName YourPassword. Last argument value True, means that bfexplorer is switched to Practice mode, you do not want to place real bets on betfair when debugging your bot or trigger code, right?

    Let me assume that your trigger code is correct, well actually when there were any problems with your code VS would reported errors.

    What you maybe do not know, F# programming language supports scripting

    https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/chrsmith/2008/09/12/scripting-in-f/

    so .fs file is normal F# source code file compiled to your targeted assembly, but .fsx is just scripting file that is actually not compiled. On my githbub:

    https://github.com/StefanBelo/Bfexplorer-BOT-SDK

    https://gist.github.com/StefanBelo

    You can find source code of such F# scripts, for instance:

    https://gist.github.com/StefanBelo/50186494957fa8a1a154866a7319d5e0

     So if you want to execute such bot trigger with "Execute Trigger Bot" as script code, your code must include referenced assemblies, have a look at from lines 7 to 14.

    On the other hand when you want to compile your bot trigger to assembly, and so debug your code like I do on attached video to this post, then you must un-comment lines 7 and 14, and rename your script file to .fs extension.

    When building bot trigger code to assembly, the bot trigger code must be the only one code in your project. It is all fine if rest of files in your project have “.fsx”, as they are not compiled, but if you have got more Bot Trigger source code files in your project with “.fs” extension, then you must set them as Build Action: None (click on file with right mouse button and in context menu: Properties)

    Why in bot trigger assembly must be just one bot trigger code?

    It is the way how bfexplorer instantiate Bot Trigger code. Your bot trigger must implement IBotTrigger interface, so bfexplorer after loading your bot trigger assembly: MyBotTriggers.dll, executes constructor of the first object implementing IBotTrigger.

    Well, yes you can have many bot triggers in your assembly, but as the mechanism of selecting the exact bot trigger just takes the first found, you must use just one bot trigger implementing IBotTrigger in your assembly.

    This mechanism is quite different for bot assemblies, have a look at on projects MyCsharpBot and MyFsharpBot, where you can find interface IBotCreator.

    I do not know what the level of understanding of .net programming, you have got, but any junior software developers should understand what I said up to now. I mean all that said should be clear for junior developer just from browsing Bfexplorer BOT SDK projects code.

    Have a look at attached video to see how easy your can debug any bot trigger code.

    What I can advise you about bot trigger programming, use bot trigger really just for triggering, orchestrating your bots that place bets, like “Place Bet” bot.

    Well, yes you have got in the trigger the option to place a bet directly, using:

    TriggerResult.PlaceBets

    But is it really a good idea, mainly when a lot of things could happen at the moment you place a bet:

    Market can be suspended.

    Your Internet connection could go down.

    Market prices could move rapidly so your bet could be placed bet unmatched.

    Just part of your bet is matched.

    Market is turned at in-play so your unmatched bet is cancelled when your bet was placed without keep attribute, and so on…

    The point is that you must manage bet status in any possible state, and bfexplorer prebuilt bots do so well.

  • Stefan
    25.9.2019 17:13:37

    Not all projects in bfexplorer bot sdk solution are using bfexplorer app as hosting environment.

    Bfexplorer Bot SDK allows you to build your own apps for betfair if for any reason you do not like to use bfexplorer app.

    Projects like:

    BetfairApiConsole, BetfairApiConsoleFSharp, BetfairApiMarketBrowsing, BfexplorerServiceConsole are console apps, so standalone application showing different kind of using bot sdk code.

    JayBeeBot project is winforms app with very simple user interface, integrating existing bot you can find in bfexplorer app.

    Projects like: MyBotTriggers or MyBotTriggersCSharp are bot trigger projects, so yes these two projects could be executing with bfexplorer app as hosting app, and using with bot: “Execute Trigger Bot”

    Projects like: MyCsharpBot or MyFsharpBot are bot assembly projects, and again they can be executed with bfexplorer ap as hosting app, and bots implemented in these projects automatically occur in My Bots to Execute dialog, when adding a new bot strategy. So these kind of bots offer parameters interface for this add bot dialog.

    Project MyConsoleScripts contains scripts that could be executed in Bfexplorer Console tool in bfexplorer app. You can automate bfexplorer tasks or interact with exposed bfexplorer objects.

    You must have at least base understanding of programming in C# or F# programming languge, or any other .net programming languge, for instance Visual basic to use Bfexplorer BOT SDK.

    Please read articles about Bfexplorer BOT SDK:

    http://bfexplorer.net/Articles/Search?text=bot sdk

  • Stefan
    25.9.2019 17:12:48

    In my example I mentioned “Place Bet” or “Place Bet and Close Selection Bet Position” bot strategies, so if you set trigger criteria for one of these bots, it is clear the bot is executed / triggered.

    There are other bots in bfexplorer arsenal that actually do not place bets, but execute other bots, so in your case you can use bot named: “Execute Bots” and set your criteria for this bot, when criteria are met, this bot executes other bot (bots) set by the parameter: BotNames.

    What does it mean?

    Your “Execute Bots” can evaluate different criteria for different selection, and execute another bot that can be executed on the other selection, depending on how you set parameter s and criteria for this action bot.

    Of course all these preprogrammed bot strategies can do what they were programmed for and what set of parameters these bots offer.

    When your strategy needs more, other betfair apps offer Excel scripting, so you must program VBA code to do what you need. In your example you would have to program in Excel VBA, conversion of market name in win horse racing markets, to race distance, and make your trigger work by evaluating race distance to allowed race distances.

    Bfexplorer offers trigger programming, so such short code is then executed by bot named: “Execute Trigger Bot”.

    On the forum you can find a lot of such examples:

    http://bfexplorer.net/Articles/Search?text=bot trigger