Odds Viewer
===========

With this application you can browse the current ODDS for various tote
meetings available at the New Zealand TAB. It does this by accessing
the TAB web site, parsing the pages and displaying the
information. The odds pages can be difficult to retrieve and navigate
through using a web browser, hence this program.

As well as the odds it also displays the percentage of bets placed on
each runner compared to the total bets in the pool. This data, along
with the odds, can be updated at regular intervals so you can get an
idea of what runners are becoming favourites, etc.

It is a quick application with very little error checking on the
odds pages retrieved. It is intended as a proof of concept as I work
on a more robust, full featured program.

Installation
============

1. Install the Functional Developer runtime library by executing the
   fdrund3.exe program available at:
     http://www.double.co.nz/racing/fdrund3.exe

2. Install the Odds Viewer application by running the OddsView.msi
   file. This is a Microsoft Installer file and will run the install
   process.

4. Run odds-viewer.exe, a windows program, to execute Odds Viewer.

5. You MUST be connected to the internet to use this program!

Usage
=====

Make sure you are connected to the internet.

On the 'TAB Odds Viewer' screen, use 'Get Meetings' to retrieve a list
of meetings available for the current day.

Once the meetings are displayed you can double-click on a meeting line
to view the current odds for a race in that meeting. You will need to
select a race number from the list that appears after you have
double-clicked.

Note that there can be delays after each of these functions as the
pages are downloaded from the internet.

The odds screen for the selected race should now appear. It displays
the last time the odds were updated by the TAB, the time the
race closes, the win and place pool sizes and the current dividends
for each runner.

The list of runners displays the win and place dividends and the
percentage of dollars bet on each runner compared to the total dollars
bet for both win and place pools.

There is an 'Update Odds' button on this screen which will instantly
re-update the odds by downloading the data from the TAB again. Note
that this may not change the figures as the TAB updates the odds
infrequently when the race is a long way from closing.

The 'Start Auto Update' button will allow you to select a time in
seconds that the screen will automatically update. Once this auto
update is activated the amount of time in seconds before the next
update is displayed. You can stop the automatic updating using the
'Stop Auto Update' button.

There is a 'Chart' tab which shows a graph of the way the odds
have moved for each horse over time. This graph is updated every
time an 'update' occurs. Whether an automatic update or a manual
update. This gives a good indication of the way the odds have
changed for each runner. The graph is of the percentage of the win
pool bet on each horse.

Multiple odds display windows can be opened at a time, all auto
updating at different time intervals as desired. To close the
application ues 'Exit' from the main TAB Odds Viewer window.

Application Notes
=================

I intend to improve this application further. Some of the things I
want to include are:

1) Logging of odds changing over time when auto updating.
2) Links to TAB web site, runner information, race information, etc.

If there is anything you'd like to see in this program please contact
me via email (chris@double.co.nz).

I use an ADSL connection to the internet and the application works
fine. For modem users you may need to set your update times to longer
than 15 seconds. 

Development Notes
=================

For those interested in the programming side of things, this
application was written using Functional Developer, in the Dylan
programming language. Many of the routines used were from my Dylan
programming site and other free Dylan libraries. I may make the source
code to this application available if there is interest.

A 30 day trial version of Functional Developer is available at:

http://www.functionalobjects.com

My Dylan programming site is:

http://www.double.co.nz/dylan

Miscellaneous
=============
Any questions, comments or suggestions can be sent to me via email.

Happy Odds Browsing!

Chris.
chris@double.co.nz
http://www.double.co.nz/racing
3 October 2001