Help programming .....
 

Anyone,

Anyone got a program that turns a form guide into a csv file which they are willing to share.

I assume most people have done it in excel using a webquery but I don't want to have to reinvent the wheel to get the data if someone has already done it.

Thanks.

Sounds like you know how to suck a web page into excel.

From there you just need to save it as a csv

Brownie,

Sucking in a web page is easy. Putting it into a format that is useful is the time consuming bit.

Thats the part I am after....

Thanks

Not sure what page you are putting in to excel but what i do is a copy paste to a text doc then i import it to excel comma delimited from there i have formulas to extract the useful information.

Shaun,

Thanks for the input.

I am looking for everything to automatic. Press a button and it gets the days form and stores it in a csv or database. Essentially I want to read it in using a webquery and then run a macro over the code. I just didn't want to have to right the macro to parse the code if I didn't have to as that is the time consuming part. Its time consuming due to the different types of data and length of data per race which need to be handled.

Thanks for your advice though.

wesmip,

this is what i do with web results....

I have sheet1 in an excel workbook, on this sheet i have a formula which is part of the url. I then have to manually fill down the date meeting id and number of races (not that time consuming - I do a week in about 10 minutes).

Now I run a macro which reads each url cell (part of a formula) and does a web query then is pasted to sheet2. On sheet3 are all the formulae which parse the data and keep the information in a format I can import direct to my database.

The macro then copies the DATA from sheet3 and pastes into a newly created workbook in a folder on the desktop.

It works well, but I have to interrogate the data, as the ************s keep changing the page format on a regular basis to curb such practices.

E.G. one week the date will look like this:

Date: 01/01/2006

The next week it looks like this:

Date
10/01/2006

Clearly they are trying to thwart canny operators ;)

Also when they have a mystery bet or some special promotion, it stuffs up the columns, so I just go back and fill it in manually.

I'd say all in all it takes a couple of hours to properly do a week's racing, but then I add extra stuff to it also,so it might not take as long for someone else.

I can't provide the actual sheets, as it took me a few months to build, and it has bugs which need to be ironed out from time to time.

My suggestion is to use my method and when you get stuck, record a partial macro and just edit it step by step.

I find using formulae to manipulate data the best way of quickly doing it without knowing too much advanced coding.

Thanks Chrome.

I'll give it a go....

Hi CP!
It is purely of academic interest? where do you get your form and results on the net?
Cheers

Hehe, I deliberately left out where the results come from for various reasons :D

They might not be too happy, BUT I change some data and get other parts of it from another site, so i stay on the right side of copyright laws.

I use virtual 5 start form, but manipulate that too!

I use the same but i use the free 3 start form

That's OK CP, I am suscriber to VF guide, have been since the beginning of the service. For $260 a year it is just too good a value.
Being a programmer I have no problem with turning the zipfiles into databases.
I was mostly interested in the results.
I don't use Excel for anything myself, but tried it out of curiosity, and the results I am interested in, will not be downloaded by web query, (well one could do it but ....)
One thing I have to say though, people spend a lot of time learning to use Excel because, initially, it gives a fast result, but in the end learning a proper programming language would be far more beneficial to them. Most of them are relative easy to learn now with built in functions and GUI, not like 20 years ago.
As far as I can see, Excel is just too restricted in handling any sizable datasource, and is woefully slow once you have a decent macro running.
But I suppose if they are happy with it, why not?
Good luck

Hi Marcus,

Yes it's the results that I'm downloading via excel macros.

I can bypass the problems with downloading results by formulae.

I see and know that proper programming would achieve a faster result, but for my purposes I need the information in excel because I combine workbooks to achieve a desired result.

I use Access, Excel, Filemaker, and a couple of "other" programs in stages to achieve my objective.

No one programme can do it all from what I gather.

The other problem is creating rankings, which needs a "wad" of advanced coding or a simple spreadsheet formulae and macro.

I'm trying to read between the lines here, are you saying VFG has a results service. I can only find their 5 race form and whatever but not an actual results service in the members services area.
KV

All,

Just an update on what I decided...

I was trying to use excel to do the cheap, quick and easy solution but it was still too much work to do anyway.

Ended up writing it in java ... took me a few hours but its done as far as reading in form. It still has a couple of minor bugs but it should take long to iron them out.

I have a couple more things I want to do and these include storing the data in an oracle database (won't take long to add this) and also write a program to rip the results from the web. I am also going to write a quick program to compare the data from my form guide with that of the VFG.

Thanks for everyones input.

CP!
I have no problem getting my results "wherever I get them from", I just tried Excel that's all.

KV!
No, I don't think it's available there but if you want free results you can have them (NSW Tab) from the BSelector web site. I think they update it weekly or so. I do not use them because I only bet on Vic Tab, and also NSW results do not give me all the info I want.

In fact with the latest Bet Selector they are not only updated daily but updated in live mode progressively throughtout the day as well.

Do they record closing tab prices to file or do they just add the placegetters win and place dividends?

What we need to form is some sort of results, tab dividends, horse form, etc., cooperative. We're probably all using twenty different methods to achieve the same things from a dozen different sites when we could divide the work and prosper. Of course matching all the sets of data up with each other would be difficult but with the aid of a steering committee, a quality control section, horse equivalent name consulting group, a.....
Nah, probably too hard.

KV

No, downloading results from "other" websites ;)

KV, there is a group of sorts that do this for the NSWTAB already, but your idea is better. The problems are the layout of results for each person and also that if one person has cracked it the way they want it, they are not likely to share it. Some people only want the dividends for the placegetters which is the very tip of the iceberg, others want every fluctuation there is on the tote which is overkill I think.

Chrome, Bet selector not only downloads the wiinning dividends it also downloads the final 'would have paid' dividends as well, ie. closing prices.

Thanks for that, it obviously has progressed a fair bit recently then.