XML Data (similar repost)

[togatrigger]

A while ago, I had posted a message regarding a list of active tracks and, basically, anything else[1].

I've developed a timeline and roadmap for the project and well on my way --it's been ages since I programmed Java or even OOP, but it should pick up exponentially.

One of the main things I need are the entries (just the list of horses, number maybe jockey and ML odds, but minimal stuff) to the races associated with the list of active tracks. My current solution is to pull them from brisnet by modifying the address [2],

I'm curious if anyone is aware of any XML feeds I can directly pull from instead of writing a parser --although the HTML is well-formed, so it wont be too hard. Or any other XML data for that matter. I've looked all over brisnet, drf, equibase and trackmaster, but have found very little.

I was planning on using WireShark on some of their applications they provide for new information on their protocols, but I don't run windows and WINE hasn't worked with trackmaster or DRFs applications. Has anyone had luck running any data-providers software on linux/WINE?

How much flak would I get for writing a web-page to transform this information into some valid XML --you'd access my website with the track, date, country, and race in the query string and it would download and transform the HTML to XML?

[1] : http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=77567
[2] : http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/insta...e=ent&print=on

[DJofSD]

I've looked, too -- but not too hard. I did not find any XML. I finally resigned myself to the fact that the industry as a whole and the different web sites, are all so far behind the curve, I'll never see XML based US racing data in my lifetime. I finally wrote a program to do the HTML parsing. Turned out to be a good learning experience.

[togatrigger]

What was the source of the HTML that you parsed? BrisNet is currently my choice.

[gm10]

Originally Posted by togatrigger

A while ago, I had posted a message regarding a list of active tracks and, basically, anything else[1].

I've developed a timeline and roadmap for the project and well on my way --it's been ages since I programmed Java or even OOP, but it should pick up exponentially.

One of the main things I need are the entries (just the list of horses, number maybe jockey and ML odds, but minimal stuff) to the races associated with the list of active tracks. My current solution is to pull them from brisnet by modifying the address [2],

I'm curious if anyone is aware of any XML feeds I can directly pull from instead of writing a parser --although the HTML is well-formed, so it wont be too hard. Or any other XML data for that matter. I've looked all over brisnet, drf, equibase and trackmaster, but have found very little.

I was planning on using WireShark on some of their applications they provide for new information on their protocols, but I don't run windows and WINE hasn't worked with trackmaster or DRFs applications. Has anyone had luck running any data-providers software on linux/WINE?

How much flak would I get for writing a web-page to transform this information into some valid XML --you'd access my website with the track, date, country, and race in the query string and it would download and transform the HTML to XML?

[1] : http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=77567
[2] : http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/insta...e=ent&print=on

I used to do that (just as a distribution channel for my own ratings, mind you, I wasn't remotely interested in secretly 're-selling' their stuff).

My guess .... either Equibase will find out by themselves or someone else will tell them.

[DJofSD]

Originally Posted by togatrigger

What was the source of the HTML that you parsed? BrisNet is currently my choice.

Same.

[Ted Craven]

Originally Posted by togatrigger

I'm curious if anyone is aware of any XML feeds I can directly pull from instead of writing a parser --although the HTML is well-formed, so it wont be too hard. Or any other XML data for that matter. I've looked all over brisnet, drf, equibase and trackmaster, but have found very little.

Not sure about XML Entries or PP data, but TrackMaster sells their Result Charts in XML format. Just ask them.

FWIW, I believe you will have difficulty even trying to freely re-distribute free data from sources like Equibase, Brisnet or TrackMaster without a license agreement. Setting aside legal invitations to cease and desist, at least Equibase will simply shut off access from your IP address when it starts to recur too frequently.

Ted

[togatrigger]

Not sure why I even mentioned the HTML-XML scraping transformation; it's the exact response I expected, and just brought noise to my real question.

Thanks to DJofSD for the advice.

I've actually been scraping the brisnet free PP pages for over a year --just for the race information -- and building a search form for tbablogs.com. I haven't had a single problem, yet. But, I'm not really stealing/re-selling and actually helping promotion of their information, so they might be okay with it.