Unable to start a Bloomberg session

Question

I'm currently trying to connect to the Bloomberg API but after trying for a day still not able to get it running.

Below is sample code from the API Guide, the part where I keep getting "Could not start session." when trying to connect.

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    SessionOptions sessionOptions = new SessionOptions();  
    sessionOptions.setServerHost("localhost"); // default value 
    sessionOptions.setServerPort(8194); // default value
    Session session = new Session(sessionOptions);
    if (!session.start()) {
        System.out.println("Could not start session.");
        System.exit(1);
    }
    if (!session.openService("//blp/refdata")) {
        System.out.println("Could not open service " +
                           "//blp/refdata");
        System.exit(1);
    }
}

I also tried the async example available in the guide, but no luck as well.

Is there anything that I missed in order to use the API? Or if I have to apply for an account in order to use the API, please do let me know :)

Answer 1

Your program runs fine on my machine. The few things you should check:

• Are you on a Bloomberg terminal machine? (I assume you are using the desktop version)
• Do you have a Bloomberg session open?
• Is the bbcom.exe process running?

Just read the last line of your question: you need to have a Bloomberg account to be able to use their API and retrieve data.