:version: 0.5.0
An Interactive Brokers Python API, auto-generated from the official C++ API
using SWIG.
Use pip (recommended)
.. code:: sh
pip install swigibpyAlternatively download a release_, extract it and run
.. code:: sh
python setup.py installTWS or IB Gateway must be running. To use swigibpy simply import the
swigibpy module into your code, define an EWrapper sub-class and create
a swigibpy.EPosixClientSocket instance.
Use the methods of your swigibpy.EPosixClientSocket instance to send
requests to Interactive Brokers. All requests are asynchronous and any
responses, notifications and warnings are handled by the methods of your
EWrapper subclass.
In the following simple example a request is made to Interactive Brokers for some historical data for the GOOG ticker, and the response is printed to the console.
.. code:: python
from datetime import datetime
import swigibpy
class MyEWrapper(swigibpy.EWrapperVerbose):
def historicalData(self, reqId, date, open, high, low, close, volume,
barCount, WAP, hasGaps):
if date[:8] == 'finished':
print("History request complete")
else:
date = datetime.strptime(date, "%Y%m%d").strftime("%d %b %Y")
print(("History %s - Open: %s, High: %s, Low: %s, Close: "
"%s, Volume: %d") % (date, open, high, low, close, volume))myWrapper = MyEWrapper()
tws = swigibpy.EPosixClientSocket(myWrapper, reconnect_auto=True)
tws.eConnect("", 7496, 42)
contract = swigibpy.Contract() contract.exchange = "SMART" contract.symbol = "GOOG" contract.secType = "STK" contract.currency = "USD" today = datetime.today()
tws.reqHistoricalData(2, contract, today.strftime("%Y%m%d %H:%M:%S %Z"), "1 W", "1 day", "TRADES", 0, 1, None)
See the examples for some more simple demos of using swigibpy. For a
more in-depth introduction Rob Carver has written a nice series of blog posts
on getting started with swigibpy and the Interative Brokers API.
For documentation on the methods of EPosixClientSocket, EWrapper and
other API reference refer to the C++ API documentation_.
Note that unlike the C++ API swigibpy will automatically poll
TWS for messages, see Message Polling_ for more about this.
If TWS reports an error then the EWrapper methods error and
winError will be called as described in the TWS C++ API documentation_.
Additionally swigibpy augments EWrapper with an extra error handling
method.
.. code:: python
def pyError(self, type, value, traceback)
which will be called if an exception is raised during execution of one of your
EWrapper Python methods. The default behaviour is to print the exception to
standard error, but you can override the pyError method to implement your own
handling. See the python docs for sys.exc_info()_ for details on the
method's arguments.
Normally subclassing EWrapper means having to tiresomely provide an
implementation for every method defined by EWrapper. Happily swigibpy
adds two EWrapper subclasses which can help.
EWrapperVerbose implements every EWrapper method and by default just
prints a message to standard out every time one of its methods is invoked. The
message printed includes the arguments that were passed. Useful for development
and debugging.
EWrapperQuiet implements every EWrapper method and silently ignores
any calls that have not been implemented by you. Useful if you are not
interested in defining every EWrapper method.
swigibpy can automatically reconnect to TWS / IB Gateway in case of
connection loss or restart. To enable this behaviour use the reconnect_auto
argument added to EPosixClientSocket.
.. code:: python
tws = EPosixClientSocket(mywrapper, reconnect_auto=True)Auto-reconnect is disabled by default.
The yield parameter in CommissionReport clashes with a Python reserved
keyword so it is renamed to _yield.
Message Polling +++++++++++++++
By default swigibpy will create a background thread (swigibpy.TWSPoller)
to automatically poll TWS for messages. If you wish to disable this behaviour
and handle polling yourself use the poll_auto argument added to
EPosixClientSocket
.. code:: python
tws = EPosixClientSocket(mywrapper, poll_auto=False)or
.. code:: python
tws = EPosixClientSocket(mywrapper)
...
tws.poll_auto = FalseThe TWS C++ API performs non-blocking socket I/O to communicate with TWS, swigibpy's background thread uses socket select to poll for incoming messages.
Patches +++++++
Apart from a few trivial patches_ to aid compilation and interoperability
with Python swigibpy does not alter the TWS C++ API code in any way.
swigibpy is open source so feel free to get involved. If something doesn't
work, or you'd like to add a feature, example or some documentation please
create a pull request, if you need help open an issue.
For development switch to the swigibpy code directory and build the extension in the current dir.
.. code:: sh
python setup.py build_ext --inplaceApart from the patches all of swigibpy's code is defined in a SWIG
interface file. The C++ and Python wrapper is then generated using SWIG.
The TWS API included in the repository has already been patched and the repository already includes the SWIG generated code but if you modify the interface file or need to rerun these steps the commands are
.. code:: sh
python setup.py swigifyto regenerate the SWIG wrappers (SWIG 3.0+ required), and
.. code:: sh
python setup.py patchifyto reapply the patches to the TWS API (specify the option -r if you want to
un-apply the patches and get back to unaltered TWS code).
swigibpy provides a wrapper around the TWS C++ API so it must be compiled for your target platform during installation. While this should 'just work' for Linux and OSX, Windows users might need to do some extra work.
Only some basic tips are given here, for more see Installing Python Modules_
in the official documentation.
Download and install MinGW and follow the steps to add MinGW to your path.
To get pip to use MinGW as the compiler edit or create a
file named distutils.cfg in [PYTHON LOCATION]\Lib\distutils where
[PYTHON LOCATION] is the path to your Python install, e.g. C:\Python27.
Add the following to distutils.cfg.
.. code:: cfg
[build]
compiler=mingw32then use the pip command given above in Installation_ and with a bit of luck,
you're done!
Alternatively you can download a release_ and build the package directly. To
build and install manually use
.. code:: sh
python setup.py build -c mingw32
python setup.py installThis has been verified to work using MinGW and Python 2.7 on Windows 7, Vista, and XP.
Several users have reported success building swigibpy with Visual Studio, with a few caveats:
/MD compile flag, which distutils adds.
For a workaround see here_.swigibpy original code is free software under the New BSD license_.
Interactive Brokers propriety C++ API is copyright Interactive Brokers LLC. swigibpy is in no way supported or endorsed by Interactive Brokers LLC.
.. _Interactive Brokers: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/ .. _SWIG: http://www.swig.org/ .. _a release: https://github.com/Komnomnomnom/swigibpy/releases .. _C++ API documentation: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/api/api.htm .. _MinGW: http://www.mingw.org/ .. _add MinGW to your path: http://www.mingw.org/wiki/Getting_Started#toc7 .. _here: https://github.com/Komnomnomnom/swigibpy/issues/2 .. _patches: https://github.com/Komnomnomnom/swigibpy/tree/master/patches .. _examples: https://github.com/Komnomnomnom/swigibpy/tree/master/examples .. _getting started with swigibpy and the Interative Brokers API: http://qoppac.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/using-swigibpy-so-that-python-will-play.html .. _python docs for sys.exc_info(): https://docs.python.org/2/library/sys.html#sys.exc_info .. _open an issue: https://github.com/Komnomnomnom/swigibpy/issues .. _create a pull request: https://github.com/Komnomnomnom/swigibpy/pulls .. _Installing Python Modules: https://docs.python.org/2/install/ .. _New BSD License: https://github.com/Komnomnomnom/swigibpy/blob/master/LICENSE .. _interface file: https://github.com/Komnomnomnom/swigibpy/blob/master/swigify_ib.i