I suggest checking out the TWS API instead. Or perhaps even the Excel DDE might suit you. You should thoroughly explore the IB website for information on these and the third party tools that might also be of use to you. IB also has recorded online seminars you might find useful. Good trading, Aaron Schindler Schindler Trading
If FIX is new to you then the TWS API would be better as IB does not have a test or demo facility for it's FIX gateway. The advanatages you get with FIX are that it is a standard interface, supports higher message rates than the TWS API and is probably more robust due to the retransmission mechanism that is present in the FIX protocol. It would be good to see more brokers supporting FIX and data via FIX as it is a better solution to having dozens of different APIs. If you do go down the FIX route then there are some useful links here: http://www.tradingmachines.net/dir_fix.html
Can't understand why IB hasn't come up yet with the smallest kind of demo/example. FIX can't be very hot for IB. If I am not mistaken, I have never seen a post on ET by someone using FIX with IB.
No postings on ET - probably because it's primarily used by investment banks, hedge funds and brokers. These type of firms are usually intimately familiar with FIX and use it to handle multiple brokerage connections. It also has a higher monthly minimum commission level which would eliminate alot of ET posters. You can take a look at the CTCI User Guide here: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/download/IB_FIX_Manual_Rev20.pdf
I see that as of March 2006, you published a revised version of your manual. I'm going to read it. Thank you Steve!
FIX is the way to go if you don't want to constantly be rewritting your execution code whenever you change your broker. Don't use it for the data part - just execution. If you are extremely sensitive to execution speed, make sure that you look into how it is implemented at the sever, as some brokers wrap a prorpritary interface with FIX. While this adds about 1Ms to the packet transmission to the exchange, it is not a big deal for 99% of us. But you should be aware of it either way... nitro
What are your reasons for not using it for data? I admit it is quite a slow and inefficient way to pass data but again it has the benefits of being a standard.
Nitro, you beat me to it, FIX can be fast, but there are better ways of getting data. A great API should be able to control, in a way, the flows of market data in and of itself. In essence, trades one way, data the other. Coding up to a good one if designed well shouldn't be that difficult. The rush t have a standard isn't quite working out as some had planned, so FIX is the answer for some but not all....