Downloaded 13 times
![Polling Service
public partial class PollingService : ServiceBase
{
private readonly Thread workerThread;
public PollingService()
{
InitializeComponent();
workerThread = new Thread(DoWork);
workerThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
}
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{ workerThread.Start(); }
protected override void OnStop() { workerThread.Abort(); }
private static void DoWork()
{
while (true)
{
log.Info("Doing work...");
// do some work, then
Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
}
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/dotnextmoscowbots-151227120516/85/Introduction-to-Programming-Bots-5-320.jpg)
![Polling Service Usage
var service = new PollingService();
ServiceBase[] servicesToRun = new ServiceBase[] { service };
if (Environment.UserInteractive)
{
Console.CancelKeyPress += (x, y) => service.Stop();
service.Start();
Console.WriteLine("Running service, press a key to stop");
Console.ReadKey();
service.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("Service stopped. Goodbye.");
}
else
{
ServiceBase.Run(servicesToRun);
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/dotnextmoscowbots-151227120516/85/Introduction-to-Programming-Bots-6-320.jpg)
![Service Installer Utility
class ServiceInstallerUtility
{
private static readonly ILog log =
LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Program));
private static readonly string exePath =
Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
public static bool Install()
{
try { ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper(new[] { exePath }); }
catch { return false; }
return true;
}
public static bool Uninstall()
{
try {ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper(new[] { "/u", exePath });}
catch { return false; }
return true;
}
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/dotnextmoscowbots-151227120516/85/Introduction-to-Programming-Bots-7-320.jpg)
![Processing Cmd Line Args
if (args != null && args.Length == 1 && args[0].Length > 1
&& (args[0][0] == '-' || args[0][0] == '/'))
{
switch (args[0].Substring(1).ToLower())
{
case "install":
case "i":
if (!ServiceInstallerUtility.InstallMe())
Console.WriteLine("Failed to install service");
break;
case "uninstall":
case "u":
if (!ServiceInstallerUtility.UninstallMe())
Console.WriteLine("Failed to uninstall service");
break;
default:
Console.WriteLine("Unrecognized parameters.");
break;
}
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/dotnextmoscowbots-151227120516/85/Introduction-to-Programming-Bots-8-320.jpg)
![Polling Service
public partial class PollingService : ServiceBase
{
private readonly Thread workerThread;
public PollingService()
{
InitializeComponent();
workerThread = new Thread(DoWork);
workerThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
}
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{ workerThread.Start(); }
protected override void OnStop() { workerThread.Abort(); }
private static void DoWork()
{
while (true)
{
log.Info("Doing work...");
// do some work, then
Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
}
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/dotnextmoscowbots-151227120516/75/Introduction-to-Programming-Bots-5-2048.jpg)
![Polling Service Usage
var service = new PollingService();
ServiceBase[] servicesToRun = new ServiceBase[] { service };
if (Environment.UserInteractive)
{
Console.CancelKeyPress += (x, y) => service.Stop();
service.Start();
Console.WriteLine("Running service, press a key to stop");
Console.ReadKey();
service.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("Service stopped. Goodbye.");
}
else
{
ServiceBase.Run(servicesToRun);
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/dotnextmoscowbots-151227120516/75/Introduction-to-Programming-Bots-6-2048.jpg)
![Service Installer Utility
class ServiceInstallerUtility
{
private static readonly ILog log =
LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Program));
private static readonly string exePath =
Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
public static bool Install()
{
try { ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper(new[] { exePath }); }
catch { return false; }
return true;
}
public static bool Uninstall()
{
try {ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper(new[] { "/u", exePath });}
catch { return false; }
return true;
}
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/dotnextmoscowbots-151227120516/75/Introduction-to-Programming-Bots-7-2048.jpg)
![Processing Cmd Line Args
if (args != null && args.Length == 1 && args[0].Length > 1
&& (args[0][0] == '-' || args[0][0] == '/'))
{
switch (args[0].Substring(1).ToLower())
{
case "install":
case "i":
if (!ServiceInstallerUtility.InstallMe())
Console.WriteLine("Failed to install service");
break;
case "uninstall":
case "u":
if (!ServiceInstallerUtility.UninstallMe())
Console.WriteLine("Failed to uninstall service");
break;
default:
Console.WriteLine("Unrecognized parameters.");
break;
}
}](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/dotnextmoscowbots-151227120516/75/Introduction-to-Programming-Bots-8-2048.jpg)
Uploaded byDmitri Nesteruk
Introduction to Programming Bots
This document introduces programming bots and discusses various types of bots like Amazon book bots, spam bots, and trading bots. It describes different levels of automation from manual to fully automatic bots. It also provides examples of how to create a polling service bot in C# and discusses techniques for web scraping, gauging the environment, and using market APIs when programming bots.
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Introduction to Programming Bots
- 1. Introduction to Programming Bots DMITRINESTERUK TECHNOLOGY ADVOCATE, JETBRАINS @DNESTERUK
- 2. What is a(ro)bot? • A piece of software (command-line, UI, service) • Involved in automating some (manual) process • Usually implemented in order to • Make money • Save money or some other resource • Gather useful information
- 3. Some Examples • Amazonbook bots • Spam bots • Chat bots • Trading bots • Web crawlers/miners
- 4. Levels of automation •Levels of activation • Manual = you run a console/UI executable/script • One off tasks • Fully automatic = service,Windows scheduler • Regular tasks • Interaction modes • Fully automatic = no interaction, only program updates • Coarse tuning = small level of control to fine tune behavior Possibly define starting parameters • Fine tuning = bot with a human front-end
- 5. Polling Service public partialclass PollingService : ServiceBase { private readonly Thread workerThread; public PollingService() { InitializeComponent(); workerThread = new Thread(DoWork); workerThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA); } protected override void OnStart(string[] args) { workerThread.Start(); } protected override void OnStop() { workerThread.Abort(); } private static void DoWork() { while (true) { log.Info("Doing work..."); // do some work, then Thread.Sleep(1000); } } }
- 6. Polling Service Usage varservice = new PollingService(); ServiceBase[] servicesToRun = new ServiceBase[] { service }; if (Environment.UserInteractive) { Console.CancelKeyPress += (x, y) => service.Stop(); service.Start(); Console.WriteLine("Running service, press a key to stop"); Console.ReadKey(); service.Stop(); Console.WriteLine("Service stopped. Goodbye."); } else { ServiceBase.Run(servicesToRun); }
- 7. Service Installer Utility classServiceInstallerUtility { private static readonly ILog log = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(Program)); private static readonly string exePath = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location; public static bool Install() { try { ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper(new[] { exePath }); } catch { return false; } return true; } public static bool Uninstall() { try {ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper(new[] { "/u", exePath });} catch { return false; } return true; } }
- 8. Processing Cmd LineArgs if (args != null && args.Length == 1 && args[0].Length > 1 && (args[0][0] == '-' || args[0][0] == '/')) { switch (args[0].Substring(1).ToLower()) { case "install": case "i": if (!ServiceInstallerUtility.InstallMe()) Console.WriteLine("Failed to install service"); break; case "uninstall": case "u": if (!ServiceInstallerUtility.UninstallMe()) Console.WriteLine("Failed to uninstall service"); break; default: Console.WriteLine("Unrecognized parameters."); break; } }
- 9. Gauging the Environment •Available API (hooray!) • Web scraping • HTML parsing is easy, but… • Captcha solving – not so much • Screen scraping • Taking screenshots and analysing pixels • Manual input & subsequent analysis • E.g., game Monte Carlo methods
- 10. Web Scraping • Gettingdata from the web • Parsing the data • Caching/storing data as necessary • Different approaches to HTML grab • Grab it raw • Spin up a ‘headless’ or proper browser • Parsing HTML • Not always correct • HtmlAgilityPack
- 11. WatiN • Web testingframework • Opens up an actual, physical browser • You might not need it! • If you mine static content, just use WebClient etc. • Real UI! Might want to do it under a separate account • Throwing UI is nasty • Some browser choice
- 12. WatiN Example using (varbrowser = new IE("http://www.pokemon.com")) { var doc = new HtmlDocument(); doc.LoadHtml(browser.Body.OuterHtml); var h1 = doc.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("//h3").First(); Console.WriteLine(h1.InnerText); }
- 13. Some Random Notes •Launching IE requires STA • Watin should be executed in 32-bit • Polling is not ideal:WatiN and HTML parsing is not fast!
- 14. Market APIs • APIsare great! • Standardized (e.g., FIX, FAST, etc.) • Proprietary (e.g., Plaza2)
- 15. That’s It! • http://bitbucket.org/nesteruk/datagatheringdemos •Questions? • @dnesteruk • skype: dmitri.nesteruk • dmitrinesteruk@gmail.com • http://nesteruk.wordpress.com