Saxo Bank’s OpenAPI for Excel set for more enhancements
The developer team is considering a reverse-populating Formula Builder, which is useful for making changes to existing formulas in worksheets and reverse-engineering.
Multi-asset trading expert Saxo Bank continues to expand the functionality of its OpenAPI. OpenAPI for Excel, Saxo’s home-built Excel add-in that ports a broad range of OpenAPI functionality straight into Excel is set to enjoy more enhancements.
Some of the functionality that is currently being reviewed for future iterations of the OpenAPI for Excel add-in includes:
- A reverse-populating Formula Builder, which is useful for making changes to existing formulas in worksheets and reverse-engineering.
- Improved documentation within the add-in describing functionality of formulas in-depth and providing links to this developer portal for more information.
- Improved authentication flow that is no longer reliant on a sidebar but instead loads the user’s default browser.
- A brand-new ‘order builder’ tool which reduces complexity for writing order functions and prevents user errors.
One can find out more about the Saxo OpenAPI for Excel and submit feedback here.
The developer team has shed some light on Version 1.1.
For this version of OpenAPI for Excel, the Saxo developer team is aiming to professionalize the overall experience by introducing an improved login flow and changing UI elements to be more consistent. In addition, a new button is added to the OpenAPI ribbon, which displays detailed information on the version of the current add-in and incorporates links to the Developer Portal and other resources.
- Upgraded login flow
In the current setup, OpenAPI for Excel authenticates with Saxo Bank through a web page that is loaded on a side panel in Excel, which in turn uses Internet Explorer 9 to render the login page functionality. This requires a recent version of Internet Explorer (9 or higher). In order to eliminate this requirement altogether, version 1.1 will incorporate a completely independent authorization flow, which is sent through the user’s default browser. Security benefits and user experience are improved through this process, as the login is no longer dependent on (old) Internet Explorer software.
- The ‘About’ button
To further improve user-friendliness and enhance the process of debugging, this version of OpenAPI for Excel will include a brand new button, labelled ‘About’. This button shows some basic information on the add-in, such as version number, release date, and resource links.
- UI updates and bug fixes
To improve consistency across the add-in’s functionality, the Saxo developer team has reviewed the language, links, and other information to be consistent with the overall branding of the solution and general OpenAPI conventions. In addition, some minor bugs have been repaired, which crash Excel in edge-case scenarios.
Let’s recall that Version 1.0.0 of Saxo’s OpenAPI for Excel was released in August 2018. This first full release of Saxo’s OpenAPI for Excel included numerous enhancements to usability, especially for the Formula Builder, and ironed out a couple of inconsistencies that affected earlier versions such as uninformative error messages.
The version was re-released version in December 2018 when it was signed with a fresh certificate (valid until November 30, 2020) to prevent errors from the Microsoft Excel Trust Center.
