Bloomberg

The io.Connect Bloomberg Adapter enables you to bring various Bloomberg services to your interop-enabled apps. It comes in two different versions (MDF Bridge and TAPI Bridge) depending on the Bloomberg functionalities you want to use. The two bridges can be used together if you want to integrate all available Bloomberg functionalities, or separately if you only need a specific set of Bloomberg functionalities.

Both the MDF Bridge and the TAPI Bridge versions of the Bloomberg Adapter offer 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. These API protocols allow to you access the Bloomberg Market Data Feed (B-PIPE) and control the Bloomberg Terminal features with any JavaScript, .NET, Java, or COM technology.

Currently, a more convenient JavaScript (TypeScript) wrapping API is offered only for connecting to the Bloomberg Market Data Feed (B-PIPE).

MDF Bridge

The MDF Bridge version of the Bloomberg Adapter is a .NET app that communicates with the Bloomberg Market Data Feed (B-PIPE) via the native BLPAPI and offers functions for consuming raw Bloomberg data by creating requests and subscriptions. It also includes a mock implementation of the Bloomberg Market Data Feed (B-PIPE) that can be used for testing and development purposes without a connection to the actual Bloomberg services.

TAPI Bridge

The TAPI Bridge version of the Bloomberg Adapter is a web app that communicates via the Bloomberg Terminal Connect GraphQL API and offers connection to the Bloomberg Terminal API (TAPI). It enables synchronization between the Bloomberg Groups and the io.Connect Channels, allows you to manipulate the Bloomberg Worksheets, and to invoke Bloomberg functions.

MDF Bridge

• A licensed io.Connect Desktop platform.
• Bloomberg B-PIPE connectivity (an active Bloomberg Data License or B-PIPE subscription).
• The Bloomberg BLPAPI runtime libraries (installed with the Bloomberg Terminal or available separately).
• .NET Framework 4.8 or later (x64) on the target machine.

TAPI Bridge

• A licensed io.Connect Desktop platform.
• A running Bloomberg Terminal with a logged-in user on the desktop.
• The Terminal Connect API enabled for your Bloomberg Terminal.
• A registered API key obtained from Bloomberg that will authenticate the TAPI Bridge to the Terminal Connect API.

⚠️ Note that the TAPI Bridge must be hosted at one of the allowed origins configured for the corresponding API key in Bloomberg. Hosting the TAPI Bridge at an origin not in the Bloomberg configuration will result in CORS violation exceptions.

The Bloomberg Adapter versions (MDF Bridge and TAPI Bridge) are delivered as platform components via the io.Connect seed project that can be added to your io.Connect Desktop deployment. The MDF Bridge and the TAPI Bridge are standalone packages and can be deployed independently or together depending on the Bloomberg functionalities you need.

9.0 Version Stream

If you are still using the io.Connect Desktop 9.0 version stream, the Bloomberg Adapter versions can be delivered as part of the io.Connect Desktop installer or as standalone bundles depending on your deployment approach.

MDF Bridge

The MDF Bridge is a Windows service that is auto started, runs in the background, and connects to the Bloomberg Market Data Feed (B-PIPE) via the native BLPAPI.

It comes with a default app definition in which you don't need to specify authentication details. The MDF Bridge uses either the identity of the currently logged-in Bloomberg Terminal user or the OS login credentials to authenticate to the Bloomberg services.

It's also possible to provide custom session identity options when using the Interop protocol or the JavaScript wrapper API.

TAPI Bridge

The TAPI Bridge is a web app that is defined as a hidden service window in io.Connect Desktop via its app definition. It connects to the Bloomberg Terminal via the Terminal Connect API and requires an API key for authentication. The API key is obtained from Bloomberg and must be included in the TAPI Bridge configuration in order for it to connect successfully:

{
    "title": "Bloomberg TAPI Bridge",
    "type": "window",
    "name": "BBGAdapter",
    "hidden": true,
    "service": true,
    "autoStart": true,
    "details": {
        "url": "http://url-to-bbg-adapter/index.html",
        "hidden": true
    },
    "customProperties": {
        "bloombergConnector": {
            "apiKey": "my-api-key"
        }
    }
}

The TAPI Bridge bundle must be hosted at a URL accessible by the io.Connect Desktop platform and listed as an allowed origin in the Bloomberg API key configuration.

ℹ️ For details on all available configuration properties, see the TAPI Bridge > Configuration section.

The MDF Bridge and the TAPI Bridge provide access to various Bloomberg functionalities via Interop protocols. 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 Interop methods from your interop-enabled apps.

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:

• Bloomberg Group context changed event (e.g., instrument update);
• Bloomberg Group context update via an io.Connect invocation method;
• Bloomberg Group context read (get) via an io.Connect invocation method;
• Bloomberg Group context update via an io.Connect Channel;
• Keeping an io.Connect Channel synchronized with a Bloomberg 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 Bloomberg Worksheets list via an io.Connect invocation method;
• Get the Bloomberg Worksheet context (instrument list) via an io.Connect invocation method;
• Create Bloomberg Worksheets;
• Update (add/remove/set) Bloomberg 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.

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