Reports and Spreadsheets

July 2015 sees the introduction of a major upgrade to Bet Selector with the release of Bet Selector Ultimate Professional. One of the most important new features is the ability for users to create their own reports and spreadsheets. Furthermore (in an August 2015 update) you can use System Analyser to report individual criteria profitability for virtually anything you like (not just include race, horse and past 4 start data items but also your own calculations).

The user is able to have as many or as few user defined columns as they like with full control over what goes in each column and the order in which they appear. Columns can be set to contain data from the raw data files (meeting data, race data, horse data or past form data from up to 4 last starts). Data unique to Bet Selector and Bestform can also be included like ratings, rankings, early markets and more.

Designing Reports and Spreadsheets


The way it works is that you set up a template to define the report in the MyCalc/MyReport part of the program (something you only need do once). Then you generate the report as often as you need to in the System Selector part of the program. The advantage of generating the report in System Selector is that you can still use system rules to exclude horses you do not wish to report on plus you can report on all data available in System Selector (in particular data that cannot be tested in the MyCalc/MyReport part of the program). And just in case you want more you can even include the results of calculations - as many as you like in as many columns as you like.

Suppose you want a simple report that displays rated prices, early AAP prices and TAB prices.

Go to MyCalc/MyReport. Click the MyReport radio button then save the follow code – give it a name for example "prices":

H:PRICE
MPDIV
H:CPRICE

Basically the above is one item per line where each line indicates a column to be reported. Usually each line would be just one item but each line could be a calculation comprising multiple items meaning you can even display the result of different calcs in different columns (more on this later). Note the items used can be typed in directly but are also available for insertion via drop downs in the MyCalc/MyReport part of the program which have the advantage of offering descriptions of what each item refers to.

Creating Reports and Spreadsheets


To display a report like the one defined above you need to set up a system in Expert Mode and link to the MyReport name in the first line as follows:

0.REPNAME=prices

Note the above assumes you saved the report definition file under the name "prices" but you can choose any name not previously used. Note also the above is similar to how to link to a MyCalc file (using CALCNAME=). Other definitions can also be included in this first Expert Mode line so if referring to a file name and not at the end of the line you will need to make sure a comma appears at the end of the file name.

Now the above one line Expert Mode "system" will display your report for whatever day or days you run the test over. Note you can add additional rules as described earlier in this blog if you only want to report on selected races/horses. Note also you must save the Expert Mode "system" above and it is recommended you set up a separate folder called Reports for doing so (then you can use any name not previously saved in this folder and you can also use the same name as the report if you like).

Once the Expert Mode code is saved you simply run the report like you would any normal system.When finished you will be able to see the report via the "Report RTF" and "Report CSV" buttons on the top right of the System Selector window. You can then click the "Open" button below the large list box to open in Word/WordPad or Excel respectively!

Default Columns and Heading Names


You do not need to include dates, meetings names, race numbers, TAB numbers or horse names as these are all automatically included in every report and csv file.Columns containing TAB results (if available) are also automatically included on the far right of both files.

Note that normally the reports/csv headings are the same as the item names but prefixes are displayed in lower case and colons removed (so H:CPRICE for example becomes hCPRICE). Also if using calculations in columns you get CALC1, CALC2 etc as headings rather than the actual calculation code.

Here's an example of using calculations in reports. If you save the following in MyReport it will let you generate a report displaying career, distance, track and going win percentages:

100*H:WINS/H:STARTS
100*H:TDW/H:TDS
100*H:TCW/H:TCS
100*H:FW/H:FS
100*H:GW/H:GS
100*H:SW/H:SS
100*H:HW/H:HS

Notice how each line is a numeric calculation rather than just an item from a drop down.

System Analyser


In addition to report data items and/or calculations being saved in a separate report and csv file as documented above, in the August 2015 update they are also added to the main csv file because it is this main csv file that is used as the basis for System Analyser.  These extra columns are located towards the far right of the file (just before the betstring info).

Note a few extra columns have been added to the main csv file in the August 2015 release for things like reverse TAB number, average API of all horses in the race and maximum number of starts for all horses in the race. An up to date documentation on all columns plus a more general introduction to System Analyser can be found on our main site at:

http://www.capitalinfo.com.au/system-analyser.html

When running System Analyser there are new options for including or excluding criteria including the new report criteria, meeting criteria and race criteria. As a result you can view your report data analysis in System Analyser either as a separate analysis or bundled at the end of the existing System Analyser tables or just bundled with meeting and/or race analysis.

The first thing you will notice is a list box itemising all the criteria to be analysed. You can select and unselect what you want and even save your settings but the main change is that you will see a new "Add/select report criteria" button - it is enabled for single system/report tests and when available you can click it to add the report items at the end of the left hand list box.

Just click the new "Add/select report criteria" button and leave the other criteria ticked if you want everything analysed - the report items will appear at the end of the analyser report. If you only want the report items to appear in analyser then click as above and then follow up by clicking the "select report items only" button (note this button only enables after you use the "add/select report criteria" button).

Note there are new buttons for adding meetings/race info to get shorter analyser reports without all the horse details. These are useful if you just want to quickly analyse meeting and/or race details but can also be used after clicking "select report items only" if you want your report items analysed along with meeting and/or race details but without all the other horse details. Note also you have to add/select report items each time you analyse a report test as these items are not saved (you can save the main criteria selections for future use but they are not saved separately for separate systems and you must load them back in as the default is to analyse everything).

New in the System Analyser report, you will see the Expert Mode codes for all criteria listed at the end of the headings in brackets. Note these also appear in the list box mentioned above.

Finally there is a clever new “Edit Report/Calc” button at the top of the System Selector window (next to the Expert Mode check box). It gives you quick access to any report (or calc) file that may be attached to your system (it only shows in Expert Mode and only enables for systems with reports or MyCalcs).