pre-sales question/how-to

[philosurfer]

Hi. I'm pretty sure this would qualify as the most vanilla question of the day, but I'm (obviously) just not sure about the answer. I'm figuring I'll get Winbatch with the compiler, but for the issue I want to solve, I need a batch program that, among other things, runs an API (in the form of a custom web address) that requests a file download. When I just type in the URL (in the complete API format) I'm prompted by the browser for a destination folder; let's just assume that the URL execution is all I have to do via Winbatch for now. The question is, will I need any extenders or have to purchase an additional product to do this? Once I'm able to at least execute the URL, I'm guessing I'll be able to figure the rest out via debug and/or support from the API staff.  Thanks for any help you can give.

[jmburton2001]

The question is, will I need any extenders or have to purchase an additional product to do this?

Based on what you've described, in my experience Winbatch +compiler includes all the extenders and capabilities you'll need. You will not have to purchase anything additional.

[kdmoyers]

Also, you'll get this forum!  If you make your best try at the code, and fail, you can post your code here and likely someone will have some ideas about how to fix it.  No guarantees of course, but I am frequently amazed by how much free support this forum offers.

(Sometimes, when there are URLs or other info that must remain secret, you can just XXXX out the secret stuff.  The code won't run, but we can still see what you are attempting.)

[philosurfer]

Thanks for the help and encouragement. I've just purchased the combination, and will start working on the code tonight. If anyone can chime in on any tips for the two programs I intend, I'd appreciate it (spent 35 years coding in large systems, so logic shouldn't be a problem, just any tips/tricks for what to use within the language). This is basically to download stock data, daily, in csv format and narrow the selections down to avoid overload. So, generally,:

1. I start with a list of all ticker symbols and a utility that will download the data, based on that list. Then (theoretically either 1-time or maybe once every 6 months),
2. (Winbatch pgm) Present the parent folder for the downloaded data (as a default, in case I ever want to change it) and file by file, work my way through the list; if there's not enough data for my purposes, or the latest price or average volume doesn't fit my parameter range, either delete the file or move it to a "reject folder," also taking that file symbol out of the file of ticker symbols (i.e. the file that determines whether I even download the data). I'm considering also using this once in a while as a setup/tuneup.
3. (Daily Winbatch pgm) Use the updated list of ticker symbols to download (via the API) up to date files that replace the ones in my "keep folder" - ideally making sure the data still fits within the original selection parameters; I'm guessing the selection aspect should be coded as a procedure that can be called from the code in this and the first (step 2) program.

I apologize if the above description doesn't seem clear; hopefully you've got tips that'll help.

Rich

[stanl]

This is basically to download stock data, daily, in csv format and narrow the selections down to avoid overload.

I don't see the download of data to be any issue with WB [but for user/pw and other protocols might be a few tips you will receive on forum if initial failures].


Possibly some issues with once you get the .csv files

   
• are they static or need to be bumped against a database you created
• any parsing issues? datetime or other formats
• would you require any kind of logging system

and those could be easily handled on the forum.


In fact, the Tech Support db might have an old script I uploaded for Yahoo Stocks... :o