That is exactly how I am set up to read Datastream data into R.  Cumbersome to say the least, but seems its the only option.

----- Original Message -----
From: Pierre Lapointe <pierrelap@gmail.com>
To: Hixon, Scott R.
Cc: r-sig-finance@r-project.org <r-sig-finance@r-project.org>
Sent: Mon Feb 14 12:24:04 2011
Subject: Re: [R-SIG-Finance] Datastream Interface

There is now way to access Datastream from R at this time. It used to
be accessible through a free interface called zappy (XML). But
Datastream discontinued it.

Matlab has an API to Datastream, but you have to pay a fee to
Datastream for it.
http://www.mathworks.com/help/toolbox/datafeed/datastream.fetch.html

The last time I spoke to my Datastream rep., there was no plan to
offer 1) a free API and 2) a way to connect through R.

This is why I try to work as much as possible using the Bloomberg API
(through RBloomberg).

For Datastream data, I have several Excel request tables that I update
with the "AFO Index.xlsx" file at night. Everything  runs
automatically using Scheduler (Windows program). My R programs then
read the excel data through read.xlsx.

Pierre Lapointe
Global Macro Strategist

Brockhouse Cooper


On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 11:21 AM, Hixon, Scott R.
<Scott.Hixon@invesco.com> wrote:
> Datastream does indeed still exist as a product.  However, to my
> knowledge there is not a way to directly access it using R.
>
>
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