Bet Angel binding to the wrong Excel sheet

Discussion regarding the spreadsheet functionality of Bet Angel.
Post Reply
Chesty
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2018 6:30 pm

I'm trying to use Bet Angel with an Excel macro. I have picked up an Excel file I was using two months ago and had not touched in that time but it has developed a strange problem where Bet Angel is suddenly binding to another sheet when I change a cell value or double click a cell.

The first sheet is called "Bet Angel" and that is the sheet that binds when I connect. I'm only connecting to one race at a time. I have other sheets that I have added for my own data and there is some VBA code running. The extension is .xlsm. If I open one of my own sheets and change or double click a cell, the data from the bound "Bet Angel" sheet starts getting written to the sheet I have just changed. It is not just doing it with the file I was working on today, it is also doing it with an old sheet that I have not edited since it was last working properly.

What I have done recently, is upgrade from Office 2010 to 2016.

Has anybody seen this before? Is it possible to force Bet Angel to open Excel using 2010 when 2016 is installed? I have tried setting the file association back to Excel 2010, and if I double click the file it opens with 2010, but Bet Angel still opens it with 2016. There is nothing that I'm doing in the macro that needs the latest version of Excel but I need it on my computer for other things. If this is the cause of the problem I need a way of forcing Bet Angel to use the earlier version.
Chesty
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2018 6:30 pm

I have a bit more information on this. I tried connecting with the BetAngel_1.xls template. This way there is no VBA code at all. When I connect to a race through Bet Angel and double click a cell on the empty Sheet 2, it binds to Sheet 2.

Whatever is causing this is not related to my VBA code.
slipperytoad
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2015 4:18 am

Same thing is happening to me .. Opened one of my charting files that I have not used in months. Then I click on a cell in a non BetAngel_x sheet, the race data updates bind to the cell I am using.

I have checked by VBA code and the issue is happening before my VBA is executed

My excel version is 1809 (Build 10325.20118)

Again similar to above, the VBA code runs fine in the back ground capturing data as instructed, but when I click on a cell in a non capture worksheet and enter a number the bindings go heywire.

The problem only occurs when "connect" is selected suggesting that there is something happening in the background when Bet Angel is connected to my spreadsheet
Wolf1877
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:59 am

I've got a similar issue. I've also recently upgraded to excel 2016 from excel 2010. But I've also upgraded my system, I'm running windows 10 pro (previously 7 pro) and I'm running the new Bet Angel beta. So quite a lot of stuff has has changed.

I have 70 Bet Angel sheets ("Bet Angel", "Bet Angel(2)" ....... "Bet Angel(70)" ) plus sheets 71, 72 and 73 are sheets I use to set parameters for my macro code and generally keep track of status. I was editing some values in my non bet angel bound "Control" sheet 71 and suddenly the live Bet Angel event data started being refreshed into my supposedly unbound sheet.
CorruptedWorksheet.png
In VBA you can assign values into a specific sheet, row and column as follows (where sheetno, rowno and colno are integer values or variables)
Sheets(sheetno).Cells(rowno,colno).Value = "some value"
or you can qualify the Sheets by name
Sheets("Bet Angel(17)").Cells(rowno,colno).Value = "some value"
or you can assign into the current worksheet without qualifying the sheet (which is obviously a problem if the current sheet isnt what you expect it to be)
Cells(rowno,colno).Value = "some value"

I'm assuming that .NET excel interop uses similar styles of assignment into excel cells. Maybe the Bet Angel developers could double check the code that they use to load betfair data into the bound worksheets just to make sure they are using the more robust fully qualified style of assignment complete with either sheet name or sheet number.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
nigelk
Posts: 469
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:00 pm

I believe that's due to a bug in excel (mentioned elsewhere in the forum, but can't remember where). Nothing to do with any vba code you might have written.

Just make sure you disconnect from Bet Angel before making any changes to your worksheet (easier said than done). Lost count of the number of times I've had to close/re-open a workbook because of this.

Got to say that there seem to be lots of issues with office 365, recently started to crash (word, excel, etc) with a message about "needing to repair". It would then often re-open as an unlicensed version. Apparently something to do with "emerging issue 6619". Hopefully fixed now.
Wolf1877
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:59 am

nigelk wrote:
Thu Sep 13, 2018 11:34 pm
I believe that's due to a bug in excel (mentioned elsewhere in the forum, but can't remember where). Nothing to do with any vba code you might have written.

Just make sure you disconnect from Bet Angel before making any changes to your worksheet (easier said than done). Lost count of the number of times I've had to close/re-open a workbook because of this.

Got to say that there seem to be lots of issues with office 365, recently started to crash (word, excel, etc) with a message about "needing to repair". It would then often re-open as an unlicensed version. Apparently something to do with "emerging issue 6619". Hopefully fixed now.
I agree nothing to do with my VBA and a bug introduced somewhere between excel 2010 and 2016. I'd still recommend the BA developers check to see if they are populating excel cells using the sheet id qualifier when assigning values as it is likely to be a more robust coding solution than unqualified assignment.

As regards Office365 it does allow you to download and install office locally so should in theory at least it function the same as perpetual licence versions of office. The online version may well be buggy but I have no intention of using that. I have got a 12 month office 365 home subscription for just over £40 with a new Dell system which gives me a licence to download, install and run office on 5 separate machines. Ideal as a cheap excel licensing solution for running multiple machines with Bet Angel/Excel automation on which is what I have got in mind for the next few months. 12 months down the line I'd expect to have direct full API processes in place so I shouldnt be needing 5 excel licences.
Wolf1877
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:59 am

nigelk wrote:
Thu Sep 13, 2018 11:34 pm
Got to say that there seem to be lots of issues with office 365, recently started to crash (word, excel, etc) with a message about "needing to repair". It would then often re-open as an unlicensed version. Apparently something to do with "emerging issue 6619". Hopefully fixed now.
Apologies Nigel. After burning a bit of midnight oil I can see that you are indeed correct about office365 being a different version than the perpetual licence and there are indeed a few issues with it. But also there are some other issues with 3rd party processes connecting to Office 2016 in general. Thanks for the heads up. Also hats off to the BA developers for keeping the guardian excel link working so well across such a diverse user base.

The Visual Studio newget package manager describes "Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel" as "the assembly necessary to do Office 2013 Office Excel Interop". There are also plenty of unanswered developer support requests to microsoft regarding quite a lot of the interop code ceasing to work when switching to Excel 2016 and also Windows 10. Some interop methods seem to have been completely deprecated but with no replacement. Console apps or dlls trying to connect into existing instances of excel seem to be more of a problem than apps like BA that launch excel/office instances. Looks like I might well be going back to the drawing board and ditching my office 365 subscription within a week in favour of 2013 or 2010 perpetual licences!
Post Reply

Return to “Bet Angel - Spreadsheet / Excel chat”