Bloomberg

With the Bloomberg Adapter you can bring various Bloomberg services to your interop-enabled apps. The Bloomberg Adapter is a .NET app which is part of io.Connect Desktop and is auto started with io.Connect Desktop as a hidden app. It offers sets of protocols based on Interop methods for connecting to the Bloomberg Market Data Feed (B-PIPE), as well as to the Bloomberg Terminal API. Currently, a more convenient JavaScript (TypeScript) wrapping API is offered only for connecting to the Market Data Feed (B-PIPE). With the provided API protocols, however, you can access the Bloomberg Market Data Feed (B-PIPE) and control the Bloomberg Terminal features with any JavaScript, .NET, Java, or COM technology.

The Bloomberg Adapter can also run in simulator mode where the API can be used without having an actual Bloomberg Terminal installed.

Accessing BBG Functionalities Programmatically

All available Bloomberg functionalities are accessible via the methods registered by the Bloomberg Adapter. Complete descriptions of the protocols are provided (method descriptions and concise explanations of what they accept and return). Currently, only the Market Data Feed (B-PIPE) has a JavaScript (TypeScript) wrapper. To use all other Bloomberg functionalities, you have to invoke the respective methods from your interop-enabled apps (see how to invoke Interop methods via the io.Connect JavaScript, .NET, Java and VBA APIs).

Market Data Feed

The Bloomberg Market Data Feed (B-PIPE) offers retrieval of real-time and delayed streaming market data and static reference market data for securities via subscription and request/response mechanisms. Using the available Market Data protocols or APIs you can easily acquire market data provided by Bloomberg in order to show it, use it or redistribute it throughout your apps. The following functionalities are available:

• Subscription to streaming market data;
• Historical Data requests;
• Reference Data requests;
• Instrument List requests;
• Intraday Bar requests;
• Intraday Tick requests;
• Snapshot requests;
• Field List requests;
• Field Search requests;
• User Entitlements requests;

Bloomberg Groups

The Bloomberg Groups are visual color-coded named groups (much like the io.Connect Channels) which the user can select from the UI of Bloomberg apps. They provide data synchronization across Bloomberg apps (e.g., if two apps are in the same colored group, when an instrument changes in one app, the other app is updated respectively). The Bloomberg Adapter API provides configurable mapping between the Bloomberg Groups and the io.Connect Channels. The following events and functionalities are available:

• BBG Group context changed event (e.g., instrument update);
• BBG Group context update via an io.Connect invocation method;
• BBG Group context read (get) via an io.Connect invocation method;
• BBG Group context update via an io.Connect Channel;
• Keeping an io.Connect Channel synchronized with a BBG Group context;

Bloomberg Worksheets

The Bloomberg Worksheets are spreadsheets containing a list of securities to monitor. The following Bloomberg Worksheets manipulations are available:

• Get a BBG Worksheets list via an io.Connect invocation method;
• Get the BBG Worksheet context (instrument list) via an io.Connect invocation method;
• Create BBG worksheets;
• Update (add/remove/set) BBG Worksheet context via an io.Connect invocation method;

Bloomberg Functions

The Bloomberg Terminal has built-in functions which execute various kinds of data analyses on markets or securities. The Bloomberg Adapter API allows you to invoke Bloomberg functions with a custom set of arguments.

The Bloomberg Adapter is offered in two versions (V2 and V3). The following table describes the Bloomberg Adapter features and their availability in the different versions:

The simulator mode of the Bloomberg Adapter enables you to use the provided APIs when developing or testing without the need for an actual Bloomberg Terminal installed.

To start the Bloomberg Adapter in simulator mode, use the --terminalType=sim command line argument when starting the Bloomberg Adapter from its executable file.

Alternatively, you can use the following app definition, which will allow the Bloomberg Adapter app to appear in the io.Connect launcher and start in simulator mode:

{
    "title": "Bloomberg Simulator (DEV)",
    "type": "exe",
    "name": "bbg-simulator",
    "icon": "http://localhost:22080/resources/icons/wpf.ico",
    "autoStart": false,
    "hidden": false,
    "service": false,
    "details": {
        "useShellExecute": true,
        "path": "%GDDIR%/../GlueBloombergBridge/",
        "command": "Glue42.Bloomberg.Bridge.exe",
        "parameters": "--terminalType=sim",
        "left": 100,
        "top": 75
    }
}

All versions and modes of the Bloomberg Adapter are fully compliant with the FDC3 standards.