How to login to Bloomberg terminal through R or through wsf/vb/bat file?

Question

I have an R Script which make use of Bloomberg data to generate a report. I am able to pull Bloomberg data using Rblp package. However, the script should ideally run at 4 AM in the morning. I am trying to schedule it but Bloomberg gets logged off after certain idle time. So, i need to automate Bloomberg login first.

I found following wsf script online to automate login to Bloomberg

<package> 
 <job id="vbs"> 
  <script language="VBScript"> 
     set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") 
     WshShell.AppActivate "1-BLOOMBERG" 
     WScript.Sleep 1000 
     WshShell.SendKeys "{esc}" 
     WScript.Sleep 1000 
     WshShell.SendKeys "login~" 
     WScript.Sleep 2000 
     WshShell.SendKeys "YOURUSERNAME{tab}YOURPASSWORD~" 
     WScript.Sleep 1000 
    </script> 
   </job> 
</package>

However, when i run it ,it is generating an extra character in password field (which is not visible). But if i use the same script for some other application like Skype, it is working fine.

Is there anyway i can automate Bloomberg login?

Answer 1

Try this... it works for me. **Note that Sendkeys don't work if the computer is locked since it goes against the whole reason for Windows to have the lock feature. So... Sendkeys might not be the solution if you're looking to run something @ 4am prior to the computer being awake/logged into.

Sub bbg_login()
AppActivate ("1-BLOOMBERG")
Application.SendKeys "~", False
Application.Wait Now + TimeValue("00:00:01")
Application.SendKeys "username", False
Application.SendKeys "{TAB}", False
Application.SendKeys "password{BREAK}", False
Application.SendKeys "~", False
End Sub