Was wondering, anyone know how to get data automatically from Edgar? (free or otherwise)
I've looked into getting it from yahoo/google, but they consolidate information (like different revenue categories will be grouped into one revenue item). I've seen a few paid sites like Zacks, but they also do the consolidating.
Alternatively, is there a way to load the different statements using XBRL through an api or otherwise? I can't say I completely understand how XBRL works, but it seems like an XML interface to access different statements as-reported (published by companies themselves).
In answering your question of "Alternatively, is there a way to load the different statements using XBRL through an api or otherwise?" I might point you to Gepsio, an XBRL document object model for .NET. You can use it in .NET applications to consume, validate and report back on the various entries in an XBRL document.
Since Gepsio is a .NET component, it can also be used from PowerShell, which basically brings XBRL consumption and validation into scripting environments. This blog post offers an example of using Gepsio from within PowerShell.
As far as automaically consuming Edgar documents, you should be aware that Gepsio can automatically consume documents posted on the Web, by specifying the URL to the XBRL document when you call Gepsio's XbrlDocument.Load() method. The PowerShell example shown in the blog post noted above gives an example of loading XBRL from the Web.
A blog post found here also illustrates the use of Gepsio from C#.