Plans for version 7.0

I don't want to make people unnecessarily excited prematurely, but several days ago I promised to put together a rough "road map" for the next version of MF Pro.

Here's what we've stopped at so far.

1. Comprehensive Market Search

There will be a separate module, a form, for entering the criteria for the markets that you want to add to MF Pro. It will include basic market properties, such as the name, sports type, number of selections, start time, in-play / not in-play, country, volume etc., as well as more complex ones, like price range of selections.

This module will be fully incorporated into the market scheduler, i.e. will seek and add the specified markets automatically.

2. Triggers

2.1. There will be an ability to execute two or more actions on the same conditions. I.e. you won't have to add multiple triggers with the same condition list to, say, bet and set a variable. Instead you will just key in two actions into the same trigger.

2.2. User constants. The users of X-Feeder are already acquainted with this simple and efficient way of defining variables that are used only once, or for initialising normal user variables. Each constant will take very small place in the window, and certainly won't require adding a whole trigger with numerous fields to fill.
These constants will not be protected in a protected trigger file, so this will be an ideal way to let users adjust the strategies hidden behind the protected triggers.

2.3. Enhanced and improved trigger editor. I must admit that the present editor only fits for small trigger blocks, consisting of 1 to 10 triggers. Adding and managing more can be a nightmare. So we will make sure a big number of triggers can be loaded and handled fast and easy.

The editor will be available offline, i.e. you will be able to view and edit triggers without opening MF Pro and logging in. Moreover each trigger file will be associated with MF Pro, which means you'll double-click on it, and it will be automatically opened inside the trigger editor.

The triggers will be printable, so that you could contemplate them on a sheet of paper in spare time.

2.4. The conditions editor will be polished too: such obvious functions as copying, pasting, moving, switching conditions will be available in a user-friendly interface.

Having said all that, we will see to it that the new trigger interface is fully compatible with the old trigger files, so you won't have to rework them.

3. Trends and Charts

3.1. We will add the standard BetFair price / volume chart to the chart window.

3.2. Apart from the usual charts we will introduce trend charts that will show the tendencies in price (and other market parameters) changes. These trends will be reflected in trigger variables, so it'll be possible to use them in your triggers for the analysis of market conditions.

4. Settings Profiles.

We will finally get rid of the warning to Vista users not to install MF Pro in program files, because all settings will be stored in special profiles that Windows won't frown upon.

Plus you will be able to easily load pre-saved settings into the program for they will be saved under specified names as your settings profile. This should be a massive help to those who run two and more copies of MF Pro on the same computer, as well as to those who will make use of VPS servers in future.

5. Log Files - not so scary any more

5.1. We will create a special log viewer where you'll easily get access to the log messages you need. They will be filtered, sorted and marked in a convenient way. The log viewer will be a separate application loadable without MF Pro.

5.2. Log files will (most probably) be archived. At any rate they won't take so much drive space.

5.3. There will be an option to immediately see what's the ultimate reason for a trigger not to be executed at any given moment. So you'll basically click on a special button and will see something like "Condition Market Volume is greater than 10000 is not satisfied" and will immediately understand that the matter is in the market's volume, instead of rummaging through tons of log file records.

6. Minor things

The prices in MF Pro will be displayed exactly as they are displayed at the BF web site.

There will be an up/down arrow control next to the price of each unmatched bet in the betting interface, to make it easier changing the price by ticks.

The sorting of markets in "My Markets" will take less time.

There will be an option not to load market's selections until certain time before the event's beginning.

The program will be compatible with MS Excel 2010.

7. General code improvements

We will revise the whole code of the program in search for bugs, memory leaks and other problems not noticed before. We will design even more comprehensive unit tests to cover most unexpected situations. Every effort will be aimed at making MF Pro faster and more reliable.

I may have omitted something intentionally or unintentionally. I think something might come up or be discarded as we develop the project. We don't make any guarantees, we're just sharing our plans with you, as we value any feedback you may give us at this (or any other point).

As we envision massive changes in the code, we will allocate enough time for free beta testing before we can call it an official release.

Then as the new version is brought to life, we will organise the second Trigger Battle with more substantial prizes.

Hi Oxa WOW!
Great to see that the engine room of MF pro has been burning the midnight oil
Sounds amazing what your plans for the future builds are. I really hope that your plans  all come together. You guys are responsible for an extraordinary piece of software capable of the most fantastic levels of sophistication and reliability.

However are there any plans to solve the multiple bet problems that I and others have had problems with for some time?
This is where existing bets are not seen by the triggers despite the conditions preventing additional bets being met the trigger will fire further bets in waiting to be matched? 
   

Thanks Oxa for a rough idea ... and please forgive us .. we are customers and at times will have unrealistic expectations and requirements. I will continue posting suggestions as I see think of them.

This is going to be a lot of work, things like trigger editor (backwards compatibility will make developers   )

Any idea on a rough timeline of when it will be available?? I just need a rough date so that I don't ask you every week if it is ready. Even if you launch on the date I won't run it for a week or so .. bleeding edge is a big NO NO for a production environment.

Hi Oxa

This is absolute fantastic gets better release upon release!

I'm really looking forward to seeing the beta of V7 in the exciting future! 

Thanks for taking the time to put together a writeup of planned updates/features

Hi Oxa,

Sounds really really good. Looking forward to the beta testing.

The market module is something I was looking for for a long time. One question in advance. Will it be possible to look up markets that are brand new, i.e. that were established for example within the last two hours??

Cheers,
bamthwok

Great news! Looking forward to put my hands on it 

Thanks for this list, Oxa.

To me, the two most important things would be (1) bug fixes, (2) allowing to run multiple triggers. Running out of resources and access errors are a daily occurrence. Operating two or more systems concurrently within one instance of MF Pro would be a major improvement.

Thank you. The trigger editor with an ability to print on paper will be exactly what I need as a newcomer to MFP.

Hi OXA,
it will be definitely a major update.
I just came back from holidays and have been pleasantly surprised of the new futures.
I hope you will not forget to read the following suggestions:

Custom cells and formulas

cell_Sheet1_R1C1 cell_MyNamedRange notations
http://community.marketfeederpro.com/suggestions-6/cell_sheet1_r1c1-cell_mynamedrange-notations/
custom cells - define their own refresh rate
http://community.marketfeederpro.com/suggestions-6/custom-cells-define-their-own-refresh-rate/
Disable specific custom cells & formulas and/or save them all
http://community.marketfeederpro.com/suggestions-6/disable-specific-custom-cells-formulas-andor-save-them-all/

Conditions window

Trigger conditions window name
http://community.marketfeederpro.com/suggestions-6/trigger-conditions-window-name/
Trigger conditions window - move conditions up and down - cut & paste
http://community.marketfeederpro.com/suggestions-6/trigger-conditions-window-move-conditions-up-and-down-cut-paste/

Triggers

trigger action: Output from MFP to Excel
http://community.marketfeederpro.com/suggestions-6/trigger-action-output-from-mfp-to-excel/

Market Selection Tool

It should be very useful to have the possibility of a combined market selection based on remember myvars_market_parent_id_whatever, i.e.

Select all (match odds) soccer markets
               with draw s_3_back_price < 4.2, and 
under/over market exist with
               under s_1_back_price > 1.7 and
Correct score market exist with
               score 0-0 s_1_back_price > 15

The above selection is usual every weekend

The above example needs a number of remember triggers based on myvars_market_parent_id

I will post the market selection tool paragraph also on suggestions.

Best Regards,

Theodore

Hi Oxa,

Would it be possible to create a customizable results log?

What I mean is to record all results with certain selection properties (such like SP, volume%, silk variables, last_last_traded etc.), market properties (such like Place, distance, Hcap, class etc.), bet properties (type, amount, matched price, won/lost, time of bet etc.) and user custom properties (for example record all selection properties 3 and 5 minutes before the off by firing a remember trigger).

All these data are available once a market is being monitored.

If all these data could be exported to Excel and/or Access then one could do a lot of data analysis and even backtesting to a certain degree.

If this log would take up a lot of RAM, it might be still interesting for many people. For myself, I could dedicate one old machine for recording this log.

Cheers,
bamthwok

I didn't expect this level of attention to the announcement, thank you guys.

Will try to gradually respond to all comments.

However are there any plans to solve the multiple bet problems that I and others have had problems with for some time?   

As I said we will be making every effort to tackle known and potential problems. Your problem is known, i.e. you reported it already. Even though I could never reproduce it, it will be duly investigated.

Any idea on a rough timeline of when it will be available?? I just need a rough date so that I don't ask you every week if it is ready. Even if you launch on the date I won't run it for a week or so .. bleeding edge is a big NO NO for a production environment.

We will first put MF Pro 7.0 on beta testing, most probably first with test funds only, for the sake of every user's wallet safety. After we've made sure that it's working, which means for around >= month nobody complains about it (and I don't mean complaining is bad, on the contrary - the more feedback, the better), we will enable real money betting. This however still won't mean the end of the beta testing stage. With version 7.0 we'll prefer the cautious approach we had with Time Machine, with several months' testing prior to making it official.

I can't give you even the rough date at the moment. But I think in about a month we will have a rough idea about the start date of the beta testing. Patience please.

Will it be possible to look up markets that are brand new, i.e. that were established for example within the last two hours??

Yes, the market search module will always look up the latest markets available on Betfair.

To be continued...

Come sempre sono a vostra disposizione come beta tester per la versione 7 in italiano.
 
Saluti

Oxa, this all sounds like good stuff.

For me, where speed is of the essence, I would like to see a multi-threaded version that will make full use of multiple CPUs, like a duo or a quad.

It would also be good to have a version that runs under Windows Server 2008.

The other thing (and I've got no idea if this could be done) is to find away that shows which triggers/functions are eating CPU.

I understand that the OLE interface to Excel is the bottleneck.  For me it is just too slow, which is a major drawback.  I have neural network Excel add-ins which is how I derive my edge.  But I cannot use them IR, only for race selection.  To have enough speed to use them IR would, I think, be devastating.  Are there any options for speeding this up - or is OLE the only way to go?

Finally, I believe that you would set yourselves head and shoulders about the competition if you were able to provide a neural net add on linked to triggers that fire say on particular chart patterns.  I guess there would be lots of NN providers who would be willing to partner with you on that venture.  I for one would happily pay handsomely for such capability.

Hi

"  2.2. User constants. The users of X-Feeder are already acquainted with this simple and efficient way of defining variables that are used only once, or for initialising normal user variables. Each constant will take very small place in the window, and certainly won't require adding a whole trigger with numerous fields to fill.
These constants will not be protected in a protected trigger file, so this will be an ideal way to let users adjust the strategies hidden behind the protected triggers.  "

Is possibility, find out how this looks ?
Which windows will be accessible, as well as description or else it will be accessible for user ?

very thanks

As it's already done for X-Feeder:

In the protected triggers user will be able to change these constants and re-save the triggers making adjustments provided by the author.