Re: [Gretl-devel] New function for retrieving data from BLS
On Mon, 21 Apr 2014, Logan Kelly wrote:
I have written a function in C# that retrieves data from the BLS API.
I
can integrate this into gretl using a call to a shell command, i.e.
$(...). But I would like to develop, and make available to the gretl
community, a getBLS function. Could someone give me some pointers for a
better integration of the API call and the gretl script? Or can a
command line program be include in a function package? Also, is this a
function anyone would use? If so, I might also think about a getFRED
function too?
Jack Lucchetti's "yahoo_get" function package (or the server) would be a
good place to look first for an example of accessing a website and
downloading data via hansl.
Off the bat, I don't think it would work to include a command line program
in a function package. For one thing, how would it be included in an XML
file? For another, function packages are intended to be cross-platform and
only dependent on gretl itself (though I guess we could make an exception
for a dependency on third party programs that are themselves available in
gretl-friendly forms for all platforms, such as X13as.)
Allin