Excel RTD (Real Time Data) client other than Excel?

Question

I have been looking all over, and couldn't find any example for an RTD CLIENT (many RTD server samples, though).

My goal is to 'pull' data from an RTD server into my application for algo-trading purposes.

If possible, without using C# / .Net, as I am looking for a lightweight, deploy-able solution.

Can you give me any tips?

Answer 1

Here is a C# client I built as a test harness for Excel RTD servers (both in-process DLL and out-of-process EXE):

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Threading;

namespace MyRTD
{
    class Program
    {
        // ProgIDs for COM classes.
        private const String RTDProgID = "MyRTD.RTD";
        private const String RTDUpdateEventProgID = "MyRTD.UpdateEvent";
        private const String RTDEXEProgID = "MyRTDEXE.RTD";
        private const String RTDEXEUpdateEventProgID = "MyRTDEXE.UpdateEvent";

        // Dummy topic.
        private const int topicID = 12345;
        private const String topic = "topic";

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Test in-process (DLL) RTD server.");
            TestMyRTD(RTDProgID,RTDUpdateEventProgID);

            Console.WriteLine("Test out-of-process (EXE) RTD server.");
            TestMyRTD(RTDEXEProgID,RTDEXEUpdateEventProgID);

            Console.WriteLine("Press enter to exit ...");
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        static void TestMyRTD(String rtdID, String eventID)
        {
            try
            {
                // Create the RTD server.
                Type rtd;
                Object rtdServer = null;
                rtd = Type.GetTypeFromProgID(rtdID);
                rtdServer = Activator.CreateInstance(rtd);
                Console.WriteLine("rtdServer = {0}", rtdServer.ToString());

                // Create a callback event.
                Type update;
                Object updateEvent = null;
                update = Type.GetTypeFromProgID(eventID);
                updateEvent = Activator.CreateInstance(update);
                Console.WriteLine("updateEvent = {0}", updateEvent.ToString());

                // Start the RTD server.
                Object[] param = new Object[1];
                param[0] = updateEvent;
                MethodInfo method = rtd.GetMethod("ServerStart");
                Object ret; // Return value.
                ret = method.Invoke(rtdServer, param);
                Console.WriteLine("ret for 'ServerStart()' = {0}", ret.ToString());

                // Request data from the RTD server.
                Object[] topics = new Object[1];
                topics[0] = topic;
                Boolean newData = true; // Request new data, not cached data.
                param = new Object[3];
                param[0] = topicID;
                param[1] = topics;
                param[2] = newData;
                method = rtd.GetMethod("ConnectData");
                ret = method.Invoke(rtdServer, param);
                Console.WriteLine("ret for 'ConnectData()' = {0}", ret.ToString());

                // Loop and wait for RTD to notify (via callback) that
                // data is available.
                int count = 0;
                do
                {
                    count++;

                    // Check that the RTD server is still alive.
                    Object status;
                    param = null;
                    method = rtd.GetMethod("Heartbeat");
                    status = method.Invoke(rtdServer, param);
                    Console.WriteLine("status for 'Heartbeat()' = {0}", status.ToString());

                    // Get data from the RTD server.
                    int topicCount = 0;
                    param = new Object[1];
                    param[0] = topicCount;
                    method = rtd.GetMethod("RefreshData");
                    Object[,] retval = new Object[2, 1];
                    retval = (Object[,])method.Invoke(rtdServer, param);
                    Console.WriteLine("retval for 'RefreshData()' = {0}", retval[1,0].ToString());

                    // Wait for 2 seconds before getting
                    // more data from the RTD server.
                    Thread.Sleep(2000);

                } while (count < 5); // Loop 5 times.

                // Disconnect from data topic.
                param = new Object[1];
                param[0] = topicID;
                method = rtd.GetMethod("DisconnectData");
                method.Invoke(rtdServer, param);

                // Shutdown the RTD server.
                param = null;
                method = rtd.GetMethod("ServerTerminate");
                method.Invoke(rtdServer, param);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Error: {0} ", e.Message);
            }
        }
    }
}