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Question about database and Bloomberg

Joined
5/6/06
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Does anyone happend to know is Acess can run real time function or download real-time data directly from Bloomberg ? I am using Excel to do this right now, but seems Excel has limit on the capacity. In thinking about moving the data to Acess...I couldn't figure out how to run all the functions now on Excel on Acess??

Thanks a lot.:smt100:smt100
 
I don't think this is possible, perhaps you could use some vba to get around this...
Call the BB technical support at 212 318 2000, they should be able to help
 
Thanks, Maciek. I've tried "HELP""HELP"...but didn't getting what I want.
 
As far as I can tell, BB's "integration" functions are directed only at Excel.
I can take another look through in more details tomorrow but I seem to recall
doing something similar in the past and Excel was offered as the only solution.

So it sounds as if you are running up against the 65,556 row limit in a spreadsheet?

If so, perhaps consider breaking up the data collection into one hour chunks
and placing that on separate sheets.

Or, if possible, upgrade to Excel 2007 which I understand now has 1 million (or
possibly higher) max rows.

Cheers,

Prof .H.
 
Hi Maggie,

I have never worked with the Bloomberg API but check if Bloomberg offers a COM object that you can interface with. If that is the case, you can instantiate that COM object from inside VBA. If not, you can wrap around the Bloomberg C++ API in a COM object and call it from Access. The latter is a task in itself.
 
OK - Looks like it is not such a big deal. There is a tutorial (via WAPI <GO>) on adding the control to MS Excel. I basically followed that only using a form in MS Access and it seems to work OK. One main difference is in Access, to add a control to a form (not from the tool box) you have to pull down the "Insert" menu and choose "ActiveX Control". Once you do that you will see the Bloomberg Data Control.

From there just make a button to kick off the data request:

Private Sub Command1_Click()
BlpData1.Subscribe "EUR Curncy", 1, "Last_Price"
End Sub

Then you need a callback routine to "catch" the data as it comes in. This is done via the
BlpData1 control itself and the "Data" event it needs to handle:

Private Sub BlpData1_Data(Security As Variant, cookie As Long, Fields As Variant, Data As Variant, Status As Long)
' Do what you need to do with the "Data" such as inserting this into a table or saving to a file, etc.
End Sub

Let me know if you need more details

Cheers,

Prof. H.
 
This is really great, Prof H. and Alain! Let me figure this out then....Thanks a lot!
 
Does anyone know if Bloomberg provides interest accrual data/factor for MBS etc types? Does this have something to do with NumeriX? We have a terminal and API access. This is for audit/verification purposes. Thanks.
 
One solution is to find out which golf course your IT manager is spending his time, and get him to install a less obsolete version of Excel. You've got a shit old version, Excel 2007 has been out for a while now (the hint is in the name), and it can do million row series.
 
You may be right there, we have a golf course nearby :)
Maybe my question should have had a little more details...
We would like to use Bloomberg API within a .NET Windows application to make per security request and compare the accrual factor provided by Bloomberg to what is calculated in another system for the same security.
The user can decide what to do about the difference if any.
In this specific application, we are not looking to use Excel, though it is used elsewhere.
I am sure it is not Excel 2007, though. Any ideas, while I will go looking for my IT manager in the driving range ?! Thanks.
 
There is plenty of sample .NET code that gets installed with the Bloomberg API. If you have it installed, check under "C:\blp\API\dotnet\v1.4.2.0\Samples\WinForm\C#"...it will show you how to make a request by security and more.
 
Thanks, MikeK, that really helps on the coding side.
I am also trying to get some metadata info from Bloomberg and things are looking brighter.
Great community!
 
be careful with bloomberg and requesting data through code. You might be violating their license or you might get a bill that you don't expect. They are also famous for that.
 
I read that fine print in their API documentation too. It says that if you request too much data via API, they will bill your firm extra fee. So, if you have some code that gets historical data for every single stock in the SP 100 going back 10 years just for the sake of testing, you may be shocked. Bloomberg has a data limit that you can request before getting charged but it does not explicitly state what the limit is.
And keep in mind that a lot of result from BB are just plain wrong but everyone is using it so it becomes the industry standard.
 
API Limit

Hi, Andy.

How are you? I just wanted to let you know that Bloomberg will not charge your firm extra money if you exceed your data limit. However, you will hit their radar and if you hit it too often, you will most likely receive a call from a member of the programming support team to find out if there may be a more optimal way to request the data you need without hitting your limit. Let me know if you have any further questions about this.

Take care.
David
 
Excel 2003 is a rock.

How is 2007 shaping up in the real world?

One solution is to find out which golf course your IT manager is spending his time, and get him to install a less obsolete version of Excel. You've got a **** old version, Excel 2007 has been out for a while now (the hint is in the name), and it can do million row series.
 
However, you will hit their radar and if you hit it too often, you will most likely receive a call from a member of the programming support team to find out if there may be a more optimal way to request the data you need without hitting your limit. Let me know if you have any further questions about this.
Hi David,
Thanks for clarifying.
Without a declared data limit, how would the users know if they hit the radar. I think as BB users of big firms, people are not that much concerned with the bill but rather with how to efficiently acquire the data.
Do you have a "good practice" guidelines as to how each type of data should be acquired via Excel and API?
 
Hi, Andy.

If you hit their monthly or daily limits, you will receive an error stating that in place of the data that would normally be returned via the API. Keep in mind that a very small percentage of Bloomberg API users actually even come close to hitting the limits, let alone hit it. Therefore, with normal usage (i.e. 2-3 thousand unique securities), you should come nowhere close to hitting the limits.

Currently, there is no option to purchase additional data for Desktop clients, but there is such an option for the Server API users to purchase additional bands of data. If a particular client needs more data than is allowed via the Desktop/Server API, Bloomberg does have other products available that were built to handle much larger volumes of data. It is B-Pipe for real-time data and Data License for static data.

I know that Bloomberg does make available best practices for optimizing your application and managing your data limits. There's a few links on WAPI's home page. One great way to limit your data usage hits is to make real-time subscriptions in place of static ones.

Dave
 
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