I am new to the bloomberg API so forgive me if this is silly but I am creating a html website on a mac and I want to simply fill a div with some data from bloomberg e.g. the current value of the EURUSD.
How can this be done? Is this what the bloomberg API is for?
This is something that would typically be forbidden by the license - data obtained from the Bloomberg API can generally not be redistributed.
Plus (you might know that) the Bloomberg API is publicly available but to be able to receive actual data through the API, you need to subscribe to Bloomberg, which is a payable service.
There are probably better (and less expensive) ways to get EUR.USD rates.
The API is for this, but the licensing is typically not. You can use the server mode and try to communicate with a Bloomber Server (paid component) and ask for licensing to redist the data. Your problem here is not technical but legal
If you don't have a Bloomberg account, you can get an idea of how this is done using the Bloomberg API Emulator. It works and looks just like the Bloomberg API, but it doesn't require an account to use. It doesn't return real data, but you can use it to learn how to request data from the Bloomberg API.
From a 10-minute read of the Developer's Guide at http://www.openbloomberg.com/, it looks like you might be able to use it to get current foreign exchange rates. The Developer's Guide gives coding examples in Java, .NET, C++, and C.
Related
An application-programming interface (API) is a set of programming instructions and standards for accessing a Web-based software application. Could someone explain to me in case of Google maps or Youtube which is the API and which is the software application? Are both visible to us and how? I know there are tons of articles out there, however I cannot clarify the above. APIs are like the waiters that transfer data among different machines. Okay, which exactly is the Google maps API and how do we call/use it? And which is the Google maps software application which is accessed by the API? When we write for example http://maps.google.co.uk/ do we call the API? My query may seem silly but I cannot find a good answer for that.
An application-programming interface (API) is a set of programming
instructions and standards for accessing a Web-based software
application.
Firstly, an API is not just for web-based software. Even your computer's OS provides APIs for hardware and software installed in the box.
For your question, an API is a method (code instructions) to connect your application to the features of another system. Allowing your application to use thay system's features as provided via the API.
Could someone explain to me in case of Google maps or Youtube which is
the API and which is the software application?
In the case of Youtube... Let's say you are making some Android video player app that you also want to be able to playback Youtube videos within that app. The software application is your own Android player code and to access the Youtube data you would use Youtube's Android API.
An example of using the API is this module : YouTubePlayer which as you can see provide API commands like loadVideo(String videoId, int timeMillis). Where videoId is the Youtube ID and timeMillis is the desired start time within the video).
When we write for example http://maps.google.co.uk/ how do we call the
API?
That's not how you would call the API. You must first visit the documentation of the API to see how it's expected to call features within your own app.
Google Maps : https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/
Let's assume now you're coding a Javascript app, you can see the commands here as a startng point. There is also an example page showing code & result.
Simple terms:
API = the waiter
Application Software = the chef
You order from the waiter. The waiter brings it to the chef. The chef prepares the food. The waiter then brings you your food. Then you figure out what to do with the food; eat it, take it home, throw it on the floor, let your dog eat it, give it the homeless, etc...
A website, app, etc... would send an API request (your order with the waiter) to Google Maps (the chef). If your API request is valid, Google Maps will send back an response (your cooked food with the waiter). Then the website or app takes the returned data and displays it in their custom way to you.
In the case of Google Maps, apps like Yelp and others use Google Maps' API to request specific data; routes, addresses, etc… and then they display it on their app.
To make an API request/call you have access to use the API, format it correctly, and figure out what to do when Google sends a response back : https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/
API is a set of functions and procedures that allow the creation of applications which access the features or data of an operating system, application, or other service.
An API is like building block for your application. Multiple API's can exchange data without knowing the other's implementation. In a good design pattern , we should design API's for different independent tasks and then merge them.
Google Maps API
This is the google maps API which a developer can use to develop his own piece of software.
Whenever we use any software and it's different features, we might be using their API's without generally knowing of them.
A software application is always visible to us, but an API is visible only if the developer wants to expose it for community use.
EDIT
Using Google maps API
This link has the documentation and examples on how to use the google maps API using javascript.
Hope it helps!
When you use software, web applications included, you are in most cases using a wrapped API. Software developers took the time to take a raw back end API which executes commands on the system, and made these endpoints easy to use for a specific user in an intended universe of discourse, or domain. End users do not have direct access to everything the API has to offer all at once, so it is not "available" in the same sense that it is available to the developers, but it is available in another sense because they are using the API to execute commands on the system by virtue of the Application that was Programmed with that Interface existing and working.
The Google Maps API is used to integrate the power of Google Maps into almost any application. It provides facilities for customization and much more. When you use the Google Maps webapp, it is, to my knowledge, built using many components of the Google Maps API, as are the Google Maps apps for any other platform, such as Android. Does this mean you as a user are using the API? Only through the application; the application talks to the API for you.
“An application programming interface (API) is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. An API expresses a software component in terms of its operations, inputs, outputs, and underlying types. An API defines functionalities that are independent of their respective implementations, which allows definitions and implementations to vary without compromising each other. A good API makes it easier to develop a program by providing all the building blocks.
APIs often come in the form of a library that includes specifications for routines, data structures, object classes, and variables. In other cases, notably SOAP and REST services, an API is simply a specification of remote calls exposed to the API consumers.
An API specification can take many forms, including an International Standard, such as POSIX, vendor documentation, such as the Microsoft Windows API, or the libraries of a programming language, e.g., the Standard Template Library in C++ or the Java APIs.
An API differs from an application binary interface (ABI) in that an API is source code-based while an ABI is a binary interface. For instance POSIX is an API, while the Linux Standard Base provides an ABI”.
To speak plainly, an API is the messenger that runs and delivers your request to the provider you’re requesting it from, and then delivers the response back to you.
To give you a familiar example, think of an API as a waiter in a restaurant.
Imagine you’re sitting at the table with a menu of choices to order from, and the kitchen is the provider who will fulfill your order.
What’s missing is the critical link to communicate your order to the kitchen and deliver your food back to your table.
That’s where the waiter (or API) comes in. ”AHEM”
The waiter takes your order, delivers it to the kitchen, and then delivers the food (or response) back to you. (Hopefully without letting your order crash if designed correctly)
Now that we’ve whetted your appetite, let’s apply this to a real API example. In keeping with our theme, let’s book a flight to a culinary capital – Paris.
You’re probably familiar with the process of searching for airline flights online. Just like at a restaurant, you have a menu of options to choose from ( a dropdown menu in this case). You choose a departure city and date, a return city and date, cabin class, and other variables (like meal or seating, baggage or pet requests)
In order to book your flight, you interact with the airline’s website to access the airline’s database to see if any seats are available on those dates, and what the cost might be based on certain variables.
But, what if you are not using the airline’s website, which has direct access to the information? What if you are using online travel service that aggregates information from many different airlines? Just like a human interacts with the airline’s website to get that information, an application interacts with the airline’s API.
The API is the interface that, like your helpful waiter, runs and and delivers the data from that online travel service to the airline’s systems over the Internet.
It also then takes the airline’s response to your request and delivers right back to the online travel service .
And through each step of the process it facilitates that interaction between the travel service and the airline’s systems - from seat selection to payment and booking.
So now you can see that it’s APIs that make it possible for us all to use travel sites. They interface with with airlines’ APIs to gather information in order to present options back to us
The same goes for all interactions between applications, data and devices - they all have API’s that allow computers to operate them, and that's what ultimately creates connectivity.
API’s provide a standard way of accessing any application, data or device whether it is shopping from your phone, or accessing cloud applications at work.
So, whenever you think of an API, just think of it as your waiter running back and forth between applications, databases and devices to deliver data and create the connectivity that puts the world at our fingertips. And whenever you think of creating an API,
--MuleSoft
I have a requirement where I need to develop a web application in which two application users negotiate with each and later after agreeing on terms they are to trade illiquid bonds via Bloomberg. For this I need to generate the BXT and SXT Trade Tickets through my application. The question really is that is this even possible without the Terminal?
A white paper on Bloomberg API's website says
Other applications are possible, for example submissions of trade orders
But I am not able to find any reference or example how this can be achieved using Bloomberg API or any other service provided by Bloomberg.
I'd be surprised if you are able to do this, by definition a web application is hosted on server x and interacted with from device y. Bloomberg's entire business model is based around having a Bloomberg terminal on device y.
I'd recommend you look at other bond trading platforms not just Bloomberg, e.g. TradeWeb, MarketAxess or even the large brokers e.g. ICAP, Tullett who may have a more suitable API.
This might come a little bit late but you might want to have a look into Bloomberg's FIX API. I am working on a similar project and I have implemented this functionality in a web application that creates and sends Trade Tickets via FIX. You do not have to have a Bloomberg terminal installed. Your FIX session will connect directly to a Bloomberg FIX endpoint.
Bloomberg has a test environment for this. You have to contact one of their representatives and ask for a Beta FIX Session.
FIX is a publicly available protocol for exchanging financial information. A good starting point would be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Information_eXchange
I need to use a bitcoin api, and only have found CoinBox. The problem is that coinbox is limited to only a few sites and isnt open to everyone so I cant use it. Are there any good alternatives to coinbox.me? Thanks.
There are actually quite a few apis. First there is coinbase which is my favorite since they pay the transaction fees for transactions over 0.001 BTC and all internal transactions are absolutely free (and instant). You can see their api. (https://coinbase.com/docs/api/overview). What they lack is that it is hard to grab the TX id's and any other specific information. There is also blockchain.info which is the most feature full, but the downside is that you have to pay all of the fees and it can get to be very expensive. You can see the api. (https://blockchain.info/api). There are a lot more but the problem is that they are very buggy. I hope this helps!
It is not necessary to use web wallets to create addresses. You can install your own bitcoin server/daemon and act like your own bank.
This is the place to start if you want to know how to do it (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page).
Bitcoin can be queried using JSON RPC methods. So if you are running a bitcoin daemon locally you can just query them. The documentation for the same is located at
Running Bitcoin - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Running_Bitcoin
API Reference - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/API_reference_(JSON-RPC)
API Call List - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Original_Bitcoin_client/API_calls_list
Hope this helps.
I'm a student working on a project related to SEO; I need to write an optimization tool, so I'm writing an application using C# and Windows Forms. The main part of the application is for keyword selection, and I want to use the Google AdWords API to obtain a list of keywords.
I downloaded the C# client library, but can't understand how to set up the project: I am getting the error:
"An API exception has occurred. See ApiExecption and InnerException fields for more details".
Maybe I have made a mistake when I edited the App.config file as I haven't changed anything else. Can anyone advise me where I should begin? I would be grateful to hear your ideas.
Unfortunatley, the AdWords API isn't as open as you might think: It's meant for ad agencies managing large accounts, or software vendors who want to build ad management platforms. You need to apply to Google for an API key to gain access; they used to give them out to nearly anyone with an account, and it took about 14 days to process the application. However, Google has got very strict about their terms and conditions over the past 12 months, and to put it simply, you probably won't meet them if you're building an SEO tool; even if you apply to build a full platform, you'll need to wait six to ten weeks for approval as they've got a huge backlog of applications to process at the moment.
As this is just a student project, you should actually be able to get away with just using the AdWords API sandbox, which is open to anyone with a Google account. This won't give you real keywords or stats, but would demonstrate your understanding of the platform.
Another option would be to check out the Ad Intelligence Service of the adCenter API; you'd still need to open an adCenter account (with a $5 activation fee), but you should be able to get an adCenter API key without waiting too long. The stats available from Microsoft won't be as extensive as what Google has to offer, but will still be relevant to the at least the US market. Also, being Microsoft, they've got a good range of C# examples.
You could use the sandbox, but it is good only for testing purposes. You won't get real values for traffic estimation and keyword ideas.
To use the sandbox, what you need is a Google account (your gmail account for instance). To initialize the sandbox,
In your App.config, put email/password/developerToken as your email / your password / youremail++USD (e.g. john.doe#gmail.com++USD)
Run the GetCampaigns.cs code example. It is under v201109/BasicOperations folder in the C# examples project. This will initialize the sandbox.
Run the GetAccountHierarchy.cs code example. It is under v201109/AccountManagement folder. This will give you 5 client emails and their customer ids.
Use one of these customerIds in the ClientCustomerId field of App.config.
Run any other code example.
The video is a bit outdated, due to recent changes in AdWords API, I need to update it.
you can find a very good article series about adwords api there: Google Adwords API
it is not that hard to learn how to use it! I think the API itself is very good documented and there is a good suppo from google.
Bloomberg Open API announced recently - is it just the Bloomberg SDK which had been (limitedly) exposed to public for quite a while?
My understanding is that Bloomberg SDK is possible to use only on the machine with a Bloomberg Terminal installed, but the recently announced Open API (which is syntactically the same) will be possible to use from any machine.
Is that correct? Are there any restrictions on the new API (say, delayed responses etc)? Just cannot believe they're giving away for free something that costed money - any clarifications are welcome!
EDIT: The above was probably not clear, so to rephrase:
I wonder if the newly announced Open API is syntactically the Bloomberg SDK API (or how they call it?) which has been available for years already
assuming there are restrictions on using Open API on any machine (comparing to using SDK from a machine with Bloomberg Terminal installed) - I wonder if those restrictions are specified in detail in some official Bloomberg doc.
I can myself guess on both questions, but I thought I'd rather ask :)
Since the data is not free, you can use this Bloomberg API Emulator (disclaimer: it's my project) to learn how to send requests and make subscriptions. This emulator looks and acts just like the real Bloomberg API, although it doesn't return real data. In my time developing applications that use the Bloomberg API, I rarely care about the actual data that I'm handling; I care about how to retrieve data.
If you want to learn how to use the Bloomberg API give it a try. If you want to test out your code without an account, use this. A Bloomberg account costs about $2,000 a month, so you can save a lot with this project.
The emulator now supports Java and C++ in addition to C#.
C#, C++, and Java:
Intraday Tick Requests
Intraday Bar Requests
Reference Data Requests
Historical Data Requests
Market Data Subscriptions
Edit: Updated Project link, moved to github
The API's will provide full access to LIVE data, and developers can thus provide applications and develop against the API without paying licencing fees. Consumers will pay for any data received from the apps provided by third party developers, and so BB will grow their audience and revenue in that way.
NOTE: Bloomberg is offering this programming interface (BLPAPI) under a free-use license. This license does not include nor provide access to any Bloomberg data or content.
Source: http://www.openbloomberg.com/open-api/
This API has been available for a long time and enables to get access to market data (including live) if you are running a Bloomberg Terminal or have access to a Bloomberg Server, which is chargeable.
The only difference is that the API (not its code) has been open sourced, so it can now be used as a dependency in an open source project for example, without any copyrights issues, which was not the case before.
I don't think so. The API's will provide access to delayed quotes, there is no way that real time data or tick data, will be provided for free.