Some newbie questions (might turn into a long thread!)

[loq]

Thanks Gary, the new spreadsheet is great.

I have a couple more questions, if I may:

1. The Betfair site is apparently due to experience a planned outage on Monday 6th June between 00:01-06:00 - will the software be able to cope with this (for example, by periodically attempting to download the markets until it is successful)?

2. One of my backing systems is based on the BFSP of the selection (it has to be between 2.0 and 6.0 to qualify as a bet). I understand that Betfair allows me to specify a minimum BFSP but not a maximum BFSP.

If I use the "Projected SP" option under Options-Preferences-Grid interface then:

(a) Do you think this would be a valid way of assessing if the BFSP is likely to be below my maximum BFSP of 6.0?

(b) How should the spreadsheet and/or VBA code be amended to account for the new "Projected SP" column?

Thanks once again!

[GaryRussell]

1. It is designed to continue as soon as it can get a response from the API. They have delayed this outage, but haven't yet announced when that will be.

2a. Not really. If it's close to 6.0 the price can quite easily go up after the bet is placed 1 minute before the scheduled off. If the race is delayed there is even more time for it to change.

2b. It would be output at column Y which happens to be spare at the moment so the columns don't need moving to accommodate it. The formulas would need changing though to include it as criteria.

[loq]

Thanks Gary. A couple more questions...

1. Does the software automatically update itself or do I need to install a new version when there is an update?

2. The software missed a couple of bets on the same selection today - fortunately it came second (again!). The Excel error log said something like "Excel thread is busy" about 60 seconds before the off, which would have been either the moment when the spreadsheet should have refreshed to display the new market or when an attempt should have been made to place the bets.

Unlike previous occasions, I did have another spreadsheet open at the same time, but in a separate instance of Excel, which I thought would be a wise move (not sure if it is strictly necessary to use a separate instance?). Other than that, do you think it is possible that the AutoSave facility in Excel might have caused the error, if the file was being saved at the precise moment when BA wanted to access the spreadsheet?

I wasn't present at the time so I don't know if the market was ever displayed in Excel but I'm guessing that it didn't.

[GaryRussell]

1. Yes it automatically saves itself.

2. BA automically attempts to communicate with Excel again so messages like that are not necessarily an indication of what went wrong. Something momentarily blocking access is not going to stop BA. It must have been more than that. Either the criteria wasn't met or communication was blocked for longer than a moment.

[loq]

Well, I'm not sure what went wrong when the bet wasn't placed yesterday. The criteria was definitely met on one of the two selections. What should I do if it happens again?

I've just noticed that there were two races at 18:00 today, one at Salisbury and one at Ffos Las. I had a selection in the race at Ffos Las but the market was not loaded into Excel so the bet was not placed - it looks as if BA skipped from the 17:45 at Southwell to the 18:00 at Salisbury.

How can I overcome this problem?

[GaryRussell]

Well, I'm not sure what went wrong when the bet wasn't placed yesterday. The criteria was definitely met on one of the two selections. What should I do if it happens again?

I'm afraid I don't know because I don't know what went wrong.

I've just noticed that there were two races at 18:00 today, one at Salisbury and one at Ffos Las. I had a selection in the race at Ffos Las but the market was not loaded into Excel so the bet was not placed - it looks as if BA skipped from the 17:45 at Southwell to the 18:00 at Salisbury.

It cannot monitor two races at the same time. If two markets are in the list at the same time it is only going to monitor one of them. You should open a new tab page in BA and log these to a different spreadsheet when there are conflicting times.

[loq]

I've just taken a look at the Excel error log again for today and I can see that there are multiple "Excel thread is busy messages". They all seem to be at a time when the next market is being automatically selected 1 minute before the off (for example, they are timed at 14:29:02, 14:59:02, 15:19:03, etc).

Is this normal or could this be preventing bets from being placed? If it could be preventing bets from being placed then I would obviously be keen to stop it from happening, but I will need your help in order to identify the problem. For what it's worth, no bets were missed today (other than the one I mentioned at 18:00) so maybe this is normal..?

About the two races at 18:00, I have just tried the "Log multiple sheets quick link" option and it looks as if it will work well, plus it would seem that I can also use this option to launch just a single sheet with practically one click - very nice and much quicker than manually following the process detailed at http://www.gruss-software.co.uk/Excel/E ... etting.htm.

However, this method of monitoring two races that start at the same time is reliant on me noticing the fact that there are two races due to start at the same time, which involves a manual scan of the quick pick list to see if there are any duplicate times. Would it be possible for you to add an option to somehow highlight (or otherwise flag) the races in the quick pick list that are due to start at the same time?

[loq]

Well, it's happened again - more missed bets.

The only thing in the Excel error log at that time is the usual "Excel thread is busy", but it says that literally every time, 57-58 seconds before the off of each race so I assume that is normal?

I would greatly appreciate it someone could help me get to the bottom of this - sooner or later one of these missed bets is going to win and I'll be extremely disappointed. Fortunately, each one has come second...so far.

[GaryRussell]

It must be because the criteria hasn't been met. The Excel busy message is normal and is not going to be the reason. I will have to think about how I can prove it's not BA at fault and get back to you. It's probably going to need some logging code added.

[loq]

Just had a thought:

Can the spreadsheet handle it when there are two back bets for the same selection in a race when the bets are like this:

Horse Name - Bet Type - Min Odds - Max Odds
Red Rum - BACK - 2.0 - 6.0
Red Rum - BACK - 2.0 - 1000.0

My (unfounded) suspicion is that if the exchange odds are, say, 10.0, then the first bet is correctly not placed but for some reason the second bet is also not placed - could this be the problem? Maybe because the first bet is not placed then it waits for the odds to come within range and never moves on to the second bet?

[GaryRussell]

Just had a thought:

Can the spreadsheet handle it when there are two back bets for the same selection in a race when the bets are like this:

Horse Name - Bet Type - Min Odds - Max Odds
Red Rum - BACK - 2.0 - 6.0
Red Rum - BACK - 2.0 - 1000.0

My (unfounded) suspicion is that if the exchange odds are, say, 10.0, then the first bet is correctly not placed but for some reason the second bet is also not placed - could this be the problem? Maybe because the first bet is not placed then it waits for the odds to come within range and never moves on to the second bet?

Yes. It will never evaluate the second criteria if the first isn't met. Oops
Has this problem only occurred when there are multiple bets for the same horse? This is something I can fix.

[loq]

Certainly the last two situations have been occasions like this. I can't remember the one before that but I wouldn't be surprised if this was the root of the problem.

A fix sounds good!

[GaryRussell]

You can download the update here

I had designed it with the first selection not meeting the criteria in mind but a last minute change had stopped that working.

[loq]

Thanks Gary, is it just the formula in column B on the Selections sheet that has changed?

I only ask because I have already made several modifications to the previous sheet so if that is the only thing that has changed then it is simple enough for me to change it on my modified sheet.

[GaryRussell]

Sorry for the late reply. Yes I only changed the one column.