BotBuilder is a combined Application + Service from
Chromaweb, which we use to build Customized betting applications for the
Betfair API.
The idea is that BotBuilder provides a 'Boilerplate' navigation and Betting
Interface, to which we can add your custom Routines, usually termed 'Triggers',
without having to start from scratch for each new Application.
If you have an idea for a new Betting Application (for Betfair obviously)
simply contact us at botbuilder
with an outline of your proposal/requirements, and we'll get back to you
to let you know whether it's (in our opinion) do-able, how long we think
it will take to build, an estimate of the cost and details of the additional
information we'll require to build your Application.
Betting applications come in all shapes and sizes, but the sorts of parameters
('Triggers') likely to be involved are:
- Market Triggers - e.g. If the Price of the Runner I'm interested in
reaches X, Back / Lay to a Stake of Y and set a StopLoss and Offset.
- Comparison Triggers - e.g. if Runner X is favorite / second favorite
Back / Lay
If Runner X's place price is Less than / Greater than X% of its Win
price.
- Time Triggers - e.g. if it's 30 seconds before the scheduled Off-time,
do X, or If the Market has gone InPlay, do Y
- Price movement Triggers - e.g. If RunnerX's price has fallen / risen
5 times in succession
- Staking Plans - most of our Bots are designed to run unattended, and
therefore have robust timing / scheduling functionality, e.g. Start
monitoring for Bets 30 secs before Scheduled OfffTime, or 5 secs after
InPlay, or whatever, and this in turn means that they are ideal for
incorporating Staking Plans on a Runner-by-runner, or Event-by-event,
or Meeting-by-meeting basis.
BotBuilder can handle any of these types of Trigger, in most combinations,
but if your proposal involves a different approach, then so much the better,
and we'll be happy to give you an honest assessment of whether we can
build it, how long it will take, and what it will cost.
We are happy to agree to any reasonable Confidentiality Agreement that
you may wish to specify, and, even without a Formal Agreement, we undertake
not to disclose the detail of your proposal before, during or after building
your Application.
All BotBuilder Apps first have to Log-In to the Betfair API using your
Betfair Username and Password
All BotBuilder Apps communicate directly with the Betfair API ... they
never 'Call Home', i.e. contact us or any other intermediary. They Log-In
to the Betfair API via https, the secure Internet Protocol, so your Log-In
and all other activity are precisely as secure as using the Betfair Website.
BotBuilder Apps are designed to operate on all Betfair Exchange Markets
(other than Asian Handicaps).
To give some idea of what BotBuilder Applications look
like, below are some pics of an 'Empty' BotBuilder, just waiting for your
'Killer Application'.
Or, try out 
our
free Betfair API Bet Scheduling application, built on the BotBuilder framework.
The pics are of actual BotBulder Applications, but, to protect confidentiality,
details of the Triggers have been hidden.
Once you've logged on, in most cases (though it depends upon your Specification)
you will see a Defaults Tab:
In Bots where the emphasis is on Scheduling your Bets, for example if
you want to select Horse Races that you want the Bot to Bet on automatically
throughout the day, the Defaults Tab will look like the above pic. We
refer to this type of Bot as 'Scheduled Mode'.
In some Bots, where the User will be present during the events, and wishes
to select individual events to bet on, which we refer to as 'AllSports
Mode', the Defaults Tab will also incorporate a menu of the Day's events.
For CustomBots, Scheduled Mode tends to be mainly for Horse Racing or
Greyhounds, and in this Mode, once you have set and Saved your Defaults,
you click 'Select Races', and a new Tab opens to show today's events for
that particular sport:
On this Tab, you simply Tick either a meeting (e.g. Ling 7th Dec) to
select all of the Races at that venue, or Tick individual Races to add
them to the Schedule for this Tab.
Also, at this stage you can adjust any of your Trigger Settings, e.g.
the Stake, or the Prices at which Bets will be Triggered or whatever,
so that they will be applied to all Races selected for this Tab, while
preserving your Defaults so that you can revert to them if required.
Once you have selected your Races and adjusted any Trigger settings,
click 'Go':
One of the Default settings that most of our 'Scheduled' Bots have is
a 'Start X Mins before OffTime', which means precisely what it says, so,
in the above example the OffTime of our first selected Race is 14:10.
We've set Start X Mins before Offtime to one minute, so, until we reach
14:09 this Tab will simply display the Header for the scheduled Races,
and a countdown to the 'Time to Activation'.
Once the Start X Mins before OffTime is reached for any Race, the Race
Display opens:
In the example above, the Race Display is minimal, because it is a purely
automated Bot which requires no interaction from the User ... basically
it's 'Set and Forget', but our Race Displays can include Market Graphs,
full depth market Displays, Ladders, or whatever other features that the
User may require to implement his or her Betting Strategy:
or, again from Market Monitor:
With 'Scheduled Mode' Bots, we also usually include a 'Stop at X seconds
post-suspended' which, again, does what it says, and can be useful, when
set to 1 second if you want a Horse Racing Bot to avoid betting on photo-finishes,
stewards' enquiries etc.
Setting a fairly low value for Stop post-suspended can also help you
to avoid being charged for excessive Data Calls per second, and all our
Bots display the number of Data Calls per second they are making, and
warn you if you are exceeding 20 calls per second.
All scheduled Bots also have built-in routines designed to minimize your
Data Calls when several events are running simultaneously.
The Navigation and scheduling features of BotBuilder are designed to
be as flexible as possible, so that they can be adjusted, either at the
Design stage or through the Interface by the User.
Almost all of our Bots will allow you to open several different Tabs,
so that you can vary the Parameters / Triggers for different types of
event but run the events simultaneously, so, you might, for example, have
different Stakes for Jumps and Flat horse Racing or different Price Trigger
for different venues, or even run the same event in 2 or more different
Tabs with different settings ... it's really up to you and the demands
of your particular betting strategies.
Also, most of our Bots can be run in Test Mode, which provides valuable
opportunities for testing your Strategies (if necessary, to destruction!)
without risking your Betting Bank.
That's just a brief summary of the Options available to you via BotBuilder.
If you would like more information, or you have a proposed application,
simply contact us at: botbuilder
