Bets not triggering

[johnnic]

I am using Excel to trigger a number of tennis bets, with the bets to take place within a five minute time frame about thirty minutes before the game starts. The first bet (on the top line) is triggering correctly but nothing thereafter.

The market is refreshing correctly (albeit slowly) and the expected bet is showing, eg LAY/BACK $2.70 $100, but the bet is not being triggered.

Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?

[GaryRussell]

Does column T contain any error messages or is it just blank? If it's blank then it sounds like it's not recognising the trigger. Make sure the trigger is in upper case and doesn't contain any other characters, eg. preceded by a space.

If the above doesn't give any clues then it may help if you can send me a copy of the spreadsheet.

[johnnic]

Thanks Gary

Column T remains blank. The trigger formula is fine and will only produce either BACK or LAY (uppercase). The first bet (with the same trigger formula) works fine, it's just the latter ones that don't.

I'm using Windows 7, not that I expect that to be relevant.

[GaryRussell]

You also say it is slow. This is not typical unless you are logging to many markets at the same time or you have some slow running macros in your worksheet. Do either of these apply?

[johnnic]

Yes, it is slow, taking about 20 second on average to refresh - that's why I'm using a window of about five minutes to allow the bet to trigger.

The spreadsheet is very large and contains a whole host of other worksheets. Would it be more sensible to use an entirely different spreadsheet to make the interface with BA?

[GaryRussell]

If it's not dependent on the other worksheets it may be better to separate them.

[johnnic]

I just separated them and now the interface is just on one worksheet in an otherwise empty workbook. No improvement, unfortunately, although it is a little faster.

When it hits the time period, the spreadsheet is correctly filled with numerous (correct) entries in columns Q, R and S. Unfortunately, nothing is triggered.

[GaryRussell]

It doesn't sound right at all. Would you consider letting me access your computer with our remote assistance software? I would like to see for myself.

[johnnic]

yes, definitely.

[GaryRussell]

I have sent you a private message.

[GaryRussell]

Unusually the remote assistance session didn't solve the problem.

Can you try the following experiment.

1) Link your markets to a brand new workbook without any formatting applied. I noticed that you had hidden rows etc.

2) Manually enter the odds, stake and trigger on row 50.

If the bet is triggered then there is something about the formatting in your worksheet that it does not like and I will need a copy to debug on my development PC. You can remove formulas so that I cannot see your methods.

[johnnic]

I have done the following:

(1) Created a new workbook entitled Book 1 with nothing in it.
(2) Opened the Tennis Coupon for the first round of the Monte Carlo tournament in BA.
(3) Connected BA to the spreadsheet. It's working and updating.
(4) For an upcoming match, manually entered a dollar amount in column S, the odds in column P and, finally, LAY in column Q and finally pressed return.
(5) Nothing happens.

Interestingly, and I think importantly, when I enable trigger betting in BA, the headings in columns Q to W are added (ie Trigger, Odds, Stake, etc) for the first entry but not for any further entry. That is consistent with the fact that the first entry did trigger a bet but none of the others did.

I have no idea what I am doing wrong??

[GaryRussell]

You can't be expected to know what is wrong if I looked myself and also could not see what was wrong. I shall continue to investigate. It's interesting that the trigger headings only appeared on the first market, it could well be where the answer lies.

[GaryRussell]

I think I've just got the answer. When you say you enable trigger betting, after setting up the link to Excel do you then select "Trigger betting enabled" from the Excel menu? I think you did this while I was watching, but I didn't take it in. This would have only applied the option to the first market in coupon view and is indeed a bug.

The answer for now is not to use this menu option, but to tick "Enable triggered betting" on the popup displayed when you select "Log current prices".

[johnnic]

Thanks Gary, that works!!

I have to say that your response to questions asked is the best I have ever seen in ANY software company. Well done!