|
Changes to DTN IQFeed, Hex Color Picker, DYO Label Columns, Roll-over, Troubleshooting AVs, Seminar |
June 8 , 2005
16:32 @Ensign_HA: Welcome to today's class.... Ventrilo is used and will be the B-Line channel.
16:33 @Ensign_HA: Let me talk about a couple changes of the past week for different feeds, so some of this may or may not apply to you.
16:34 @Ensign_HA: For our IQFeed and DTN.IQ users, DTN has a new version of their IQConnect software in beta testing. Test version is 2.3.0.3 and an update of that to 2.3.0.4 is expected to be available to developers this Friday, 6-10. In my testing with the 2.3.0.3 version, things look real good to me, so I am encouraged and look forward to when they say I can release it to users.
16:36 @Ensign_HA: What will be immediately noticed by IQFeed users is the faster connect to the feed. also, the new version is supposed to address their issue of losing a connection during the day. so some who have that issue will look forward to upgrading to the newer IQConnect version when released, hopefully next week.
16:38 @Ensign_HA: Another improvement is that we can now disconnect and reconnect to the IQConnect without having to exit and rerun Ensign.
16:39 @Ensign_HA: So 3 things I notice are: make connection faster, can reconnect without exiting, and connection should stay connected between IQConnect and the Internet.
6:39 @Ensign_HA: Now for our IB feed users, the current version supports the London - International Petroleum Exchange. This was supported in the 6-7 version, and the IPE symbols are COIL, GAS and NGF. We have refresh for these symbols as well, however, the tick refresh has a decimal placement issue which I just resolved and posted as a 06-08 debug version. I am not posting it as a regular version because of the things I am doing in the IQFeed, so the 6-08 version will have to be the debug version for a day or two. So download the debug version if you want the 6-8 version.
16:43 @Ensign_HA: here for example is the IPE crude oil chart, refreshed and using 5 Range
16:43 @Ensign_HA: any questions about either of the 2 subjects discussed so far? Any IQFeed questions? Any IB feed IPE questions?
16:44 TOC: nice changes re IQ if it works as planned
16:44 @Ensign_HA: yes, they are nice TOC and I am encouraged by what I see with it.
Refresh Queued
16:45 @Ensign_HA: Now for IB, Internet, and DTN satellite users, the refresh is from DTN Market Access, and the past week the versions have been implementing a queue because we could overrun the Internet's ability to respond if too many refresh requests were simultaneously sent out. So the change has been to queue up the requests and issue the next request when the prior refresh finishes.
16:46 @Ensign_HA: now that I have the requests queued, today's improvement in the 6-8 debug version is to make use of the queue in one additional way. In the past when you open a workspace, the first chart opened would fire off its request and the rest would be queued. The new idea was to get all charts open first, and then start the refresh requests. This seems to be an improvement in that the workspace gets opened quicker. Otherwise the CPU is slowed down processing inbound refresh for the 1st chart while other charts are still trying to open
16:48 @Ensign_HA: It was a slight change to just wait until all charts are opened, and then start firing off refresh requests. So with the 6-8 debug version, you may get the feeling that the workspace is opening faster, which it is.
New Color Picker
16:50 @Ensign_HA: In both the 6-7 and the 6-8 debug versions you have access to a new color dialog form which we refer to as the hexagon color picker.
16:50 @Ensign_HA: this was a work in progress last week when we had class, and it is a finished project this week. Many of you are all ready using the new hex color picker, and many like it better than the standard color dialog form.
16:51 @Ensign_HA: on the Setup | Computer form you have a new selection frame where you can select which style of color dialog you want to use. Choose Standard to continue with the old one you had before. Choose Hexagon to use the new style
16:52 @Ensign_HA: this is the style of the hexagon. On this form are 164 unique colors. There are 3 sections, where the top matrix are commonly used colors. The middle has the hexagon and a slider bar which changes the amount of blackness for all colors in just the hexagon portion. The bottom section is the gray scale bar with 25 shades from full white to full black.
16:54 @Ensign_HA: when you pick a color from this form and return to this form, the inbound color will show its selection on the 3 sections where the inbound color matches exactly the color on the form.
16:55 @Ensign_HA: An oft asked question by those new to this form, is that a color shade from the old standard color form does not auto pick on this new hex form, and that is because the inbound color shade is not one of the 164 unique colors on the form. In that case the form defaults to showing white as the selected color.
16:56 @Ensign_HA: If you click Cancel you retain the original inbound color or you can pick a new color on this form. Exit of the form is by any of 3 ways
16:57 @Ensign_HA: 1) click on the color can click on the color bar area at top of form which shows the selected color. 2) double click on the color 3) click on the color and then click on OK button
6:57 @Ensign_HA: I find I use the double click on the color the most often
DYO Label Column
6:58 @Ensign_HA: another DYO feature briefly mentioned last week was the new Label Column drop down box on the DYO form. This drop down box can be used to change the label alignment in the right margin of the chart, the space between the last bar on the chart and the price scale on the chart. The margin can be increased by dragging the chart background leftward or press CTRL-P keys and on the property form, increase the pixel column count in the Right Margin field. Every 6 pixels of margin permits one character to be shown, so 60 is space enough for 10 characters of text.
17:00 @Ensign_HA: The column selection for the DYO form will be this way
Column 1 will be leftmost, closest to the last bar on the chart.
Column 2 will be 4 characters of space to the right, or rightward 24 pixels.
Every column higher is rightward another 4 characters, or 24 pixels.
17:01 @Ensign_HA: the purpose of the column selection is to be able to align labels for different DYOs so they do not draw on top of each other and thus become unreadable. You might have one DYO labeling levels, using Column 2 and another DYO labeling study values using Column 1
17:03 @Ensign_HA: Any questions about Hex color picker or the DYO label column selections?
Trouble shooting AVs
17:03 tt2: sorry I didn't fully understand but is the new chart refresh queue order for eSignal users also?
17:04 @Ensign_HA: the eSignal, IQFeed, and Quote.com feed versions are not queuing their refresh requests when the charts open. However, that may change in that I may implement a queue for the same advantages that a queue was implemented for the DTN Market Access refresh used for IB, DTN satellite and Internet users. I could overrun the DTN Market Access servers by sending the requests to fast. I do not have the overrun issue with the other vender services.
17:05 tt2: thanks,I think some of my AV's might be related and cured with this new fix and hope to see it for eSignal soon
17:06 @Ensign_HA: however, the advantage of getting the workspace open more quickly and then do the refreshing is attractive and may be the sole reason I implement queuing of the refresh requests for the other 3 vendor versions.
tt2, what you might check is how big your default requests are.
7:07 @Ensign_HA: click menu Setup | Manager and see what your History and your INtra-day frame selections are now. We encourage them to be minimal selections, such as Today or 2 Days, or Disabled. That way the inbound data is not so overwhelming to process. If you ask for a big refresh, that is wasteful because you already have the data and getting it over and over again is just busy work for the computer and for the server.
17:08 tt2: thanks, been there and done that lets discuss after class
ROLL-OVER
17:09 @Ensign_HA: now lets talk about roll-over issues. We have saved the best/worst for last. Roll-over is not much of an issue for esignal users because esignal has a well defined and established schedule for when they will roll the continuation contracts to the next month. The esignal continuation symbol uses #F, and an example is ES #F. The roll day for ES is established for esignal as 8 days before the 3rd Friday.
17:11 @Ensign_HA: June is a roll month for ES and 8 days before the 3rd Friday is TOMORROW. So today ES #F was following the June contract and tomorrow it will be the Sept contract. There are 6 points of spread between Sept (1201) and June (1195)
7:13 @Ensign_HA: You can trade which ever you choose, but most traders will elect to trade with the greater liquidity and the roll day for eSignal symbol ES #F will be tomorrow and as a result, June volume will drop of quickly now and Sept volume rise quickly
17:14 @Buffy2: esignal has already rolled but by open tomorrow all should be so don't panic
7:14 @Ensign_HA: thx buffy, good example of the spread effect
17:14 @Ensign_HA: now IB does not have continuation symbols, but Ensign invented some as a work around for IB users with Ensign, many of you also follow ES #F. ES #F is not an IB symbol, it is an Ensign invention to mimic the eSignal symbol. What Ensign does with ES #F, is we resolve or switch out the #F part of the symbol to be an actual month of either M5 or U5. Whether we ask TWS to send June data or Sept data depends on the private roll day schedule you have in the Ensign Setup | Symbol Properties form.
17:17 @Ensign_HA: Here is an example Symbol Property form for ES. Note in the lower right side the Months shows it trades HMUZ and the Roll Day is 3rd Fri - 8 which is our selection notation for 8 days ahead of the 3rd Friday, which happens to be tomorrow. So ES #F for IB was following ES M5 contract
17:19 @Ensign_HA: Come tomorrow when you connect to IB, Ensign will resolve the ES #F on your list to ask for ES U5 data instead. Now we get to the issue of what to do for a refresh for IB users. We get our refresh for IB from DTN Market Access. A couple months ago they started to have continuation data and the DTN Market Access symbol is ES#. However, we noted in the past that DTN did not always use the same roll day as you are using in Ensign. Sometimes they might roll earlier, but mostly they would roll at a later date, so it would not be nice to be plotting ES U5 on your chart, and then a refresh put back in ES M5 data from DTN because their roll day is later. So as a work around to this awkwardness we implemented the following choices.
17:23 @Ensign_HA: When you view the chart property form (IB users) there is a frame labeled 'Refresh with'. The two choices are the specific contract month the chart is following, which in my example is ES M5 or the other selection is Continuation. Right now the ES M5 and the Continuation (using ES#) get the same data because ES# is following the M5 month. However, tomorrow the chart will be following ES U5 in its live update because Ensign is resolving ES #F to be the ES U5 symbol. Now the Refresh With frame will show ES U5 as the 1st selection and Continuation as the 2nd selection.
7:27 @Ensign_HA: I will want to refresh tomorrow for that day ONLY using the ES U5 selection. I think (not sure) that the Continuation will still be on June month, and that would be a problem.
7:28 @Ensign_HA: DTN said they would consider standardizing on the same roll day schedule used by esignal but I have not had confirmation from DTN engineering that that intent has been implemented. So we will have to see come tomorrow which day the Continuation symbol refreshes with for ES. If it has rolled to ES U5 to match eSignal, then wonderful, the issue of using Continuation would be resolved, and it would be the preferable selection.
17:29 @Ensign_HA: Now the problem is this when you use the specific month. Come tomorrow the selection will be ES U5, and that would match the chart symbol and match it well for any refresh that is for just tomorrow. The problem is if you ask for a bigger refresh, such as 2 days. It will be 2 days of U5 data - the refresh would not be 1 day of M5 and 1 day of U5 data
17:31 @Ensign_HA: The esignal continuation symbol would be 1 day of M5 and 1 day of U5 but the DTN refresh for ES U5 will be 2 days of U5 that would replace the M5 data you collected/refreshed on June 8th with U5 data for June 8th. That may or may not be an issue with you. To keep you M5 data for June 8th, my suggestion is that you don't ask for a big refresh.
17:33 @Ensign_HA: Now, in summary, if DTN indeed rolls their continuation symbol for ES tomorrow like eSignal does, then the Continuation selection would be preferable because it would return M5 data through June 8th and U5 data from June 9th onward. But I am unsure if DTN continuation roll day will happen tomorrow as we all wish it would so it matched our friends who use the esignal feed.
17:35 @Ensign_HA: Ok, did I answer your questions regarding IB refresh and the roll day for ES tomorrow? If not, ask now and I will try to clear up the confusion.
17:35 kodi: how will we know when DTN rolls for sure?
17:36 Shar: So we should just have one day refresh and just wait and see what happens? Keep the continuation checked? Just clarifying please.
17:36 @Ensign_HA: The way I will be testing tomorrow is to use a 5-min chart - on the chart property form I will select Continuation and close form and then right mouse click and select menu Refresh | Today and see whether the bars returned are at the U5 price or at the M5 price
7:37 bobdec: So in order to not lose m5 data after today we can only do a refresh for 1day and add to that as each day passes
17:38 @Ensign_HA: Yes, shar
17:38 @Ensign_HA: Yes Bobdec
17:38 Shar: ok, thanks.
17:38 bobdec: great thanks
17:38 @Ensign_HA: Now, lets discuss what you might do to recover if you do overwrite some June data with Sept. You can go to the chart property form, change selection to Continuation and refresh and it will get the M5 assuming it has not yet rolled out. Then change selection back to the specific month which will be U5 and refresh again for a smaller refresh - have on the Setup | Manager form the Preserve Existing Bars box uncheck so the refresh can overwrite
17:40 @Ensign_HA: Which brings up another point - you might consider checking Preserve Existing Bars box now on the Setup | Manager and that will help keep the refresh from ruining your intraday bars which are the way you want it . If you got June now, go check the Preserve Existing Option. Then a bigger refresh in minute charts will not be able to ruin the chart by replacing June with Sept. So that is a good suggestion to do now, please go do it.
17:42 @Ensign_HA: Go to menu Setup | Manager and check the Preserve Existing.
17:42 @Ensign_HA: Now this does not apply to refreshing tick, volume or range charts because they use ticks and do not have a fixed time stamp for which bar they replace. Just limit your refresh for tick charts. And 100,000 or Today is not a good selection to refresh with for U5 data because 100,000 ticks might take you back to May because it was so thinly traded. However after tomorrow the 100,000 tick selection will probably not be an issue any longer because Sept will log 100,000 ticks in ES tomorrow when it is the active contract.
17:44 @Ensign_HA: I will try to have an update on what I observe for Continuation refresh for IB users tomorrow
17:45 @Ensign_HA: Buffy, have I covered the question you had in mind regarding roll over?
17:45 @Buffy2: yes thanks
Chatroom Down
17:46 @Ensign_HA: Last weekend the chat server was off-line. Mike has searched for the cause, and not yet isolated what it might be. He will reboot the computer prior to the weekend and see if that helps. Also, we have orders another computer to put in our data center for running just the chat services and when that computer is on-line we will move the current chat server to the new computer and the new computer will be in the data center which has dual power grids and backup power. Which should keep the server on line better than the current arrangement where the chat server is in our Salt Lake office.
17:10 Noobee: Howard can we have a feature where we can scroll through many charts with same indicator settings by pressing an arrow. right now we Have to save the charts inside a workspace and enlarge them individually
17:11 @Ensign_HA: Noobee, we have that already and will discuss it later
17:11 Noobee: ok thanks. I think that would be very useful to add
17:51 @Ensign_HA: ok, are then any general questions? Noobee did you need help with the browse issue for symbol change ? You made a suggestion for a feature we already have, which implied to me you did not know how to use the existing feature for browse
17:54 Noobee: otherwise I would like to have a setup where I can copy/paste 50 stock symbols from my daily scan output and have the ability to flip through them quickly. I use another chart service for that, but would like Ensign to have similar feature so I can cancel that one.
17:57 @Ensign_HA: so noobee, if we had a Paste Symbols From Clipboard for a custom quote page that would permit you to do what you seek. You could use existing or new custom quote page, click the Paste menu and the do the scroll through the list on the quote page
17:57 Noobee: well I paste from excel - now I have to do it one by one on Charts > enter Symbol or TF - then open that chart. I have to repeat that process for each chart.
18:00 @Ensign_HA: ok, noobee, will try to act on the paste menu as time permits this coming week
18:00 Noobee: maybe we could have >enter symbol or TF to understand comma delimited symbols. So when saved is pressed it saves them as separate symbols
Measuring Seconds from Start of Current Bar
17:52 pinkf64: HA, is there a timer available in DYO, measuring seconds from the start of the current bar?
17:53 @Ensign_HA: let me go look pinkf64
17:55 @Ensign_HA: pinkf64, use selection Chart Value | Delta Time * # and have # be a 1 Delta Time is the number of seconds from prior bar's close time stamp
7:55 pinkf64: tried it, didn't work - it seems the delta is just the nominal time frame for the chart - so, in 3 min chart it returns 180 constant
17:59 @Ensign_HA: ok, pinkf64, you must be trying this on a intra-day bar (3-min) chart
17:59 pinkf64: correct
18:01 @Ensign_HA: pinkf64, since you are on fixed time periods you might try the 180 modulo of the Seconds from Midnight selection. Chart Value | Seconds from Midnight, store to a gv and then on next line do Global Value | Value MOD # type of statement where # is 180 and the answer will be seconds remaining in the 3 min period
8:03 pinkf64: ok, I'll try it. thx
18:04 @Ensign_HA: everyone's charts are looking more beautiful with the fill colorings and ribbons
18:04 @Buffy2: tks Howard we think so too - many variations out there now
Trouble Shooting AVs
18:04 tt2: I have installed the debug version in an attempt to help rid the program and my fellow traders of those dreaded Access Violations that so many of us are getting way too often, but the only report I am offered to send wants to be sent to Microsoft and I am not interested in sending them anything. How do I send a crash report to Ensign when I have to manually kill the program due to 100% CPU usage or it closes itself...usually at the time I load a workspace?
8:06 @Ensign_HA: tt2, click menu Help and tell me if you see a menu Enable Debug Mode and whether that menu is checked or unchecked
18:06 tt2: I checked that
18:07 @Ensign_HA: ok, so you see it and it is checked, that is good. Now which data feed do you use?
18:07 tt2: eSignal workspace is 41 windows using 30.5 MB of memory - no dyo's or fancy stuff - 2 and refresh or less
18:08 @Ensign_HA: and you have sent the workspace to be before and I did not trigger the problem, correct?
18:08 tt2: never sent anything - the av's don't always trigger upon opening each day either
18:09 @Ensign_HA: ok, would you consider sending the workspace so I can see what time frames and symbols are involved, and which tools and studies
18:09 tt2: of course just tell me what you need
18:09 @Ensign_HA: on the workspace panel do you have the Auto Open box checked?
18:10 tt2: never I always open Ensign wait 30 seconds and listen for data manager connect then open workspace
18:10 @Ensign_HA: ok, good, that was going to be my suggestion if Auto Open was checked. The workspace file uses the name you called it, and is stored in the C:\Ensign\Workspace folder. If I were to reopen your workspace 30 times in a row, do you think I would likely trigger the problem?
18:11 tt2: been using the program for almost 3 years and its still a love/hate relationship that's been leaning on the shady side lately, was hoping you could bring it back to the sunny side :-) Most issues occur after I close the program after 4:15 then reopen the last used workspace in 5 minutes
8:13 @Ensign_HA: interesting clue
18:13 tt2: sometimes its upon the start of the day at 5 am no pattern I can find - I'll send a copy of the workspace, anything else?
18:13 @Ensign_HA: does it happen during the day after it was opened successfully
18:13 tt2: no never - just opening of a workspace - today's que fix had me interested but I'm esignal
18:14 @Ensign_HA: so for my 30 open test I would need to exit and rerun Ensign each time to retest the opening of the workspace
18:15 tt2: yes that would be best but probably not necessary for each opening from my experience
18:15 @Ensign_HA: well, queue is not hard to do as I have 90% of the routines already in place for the IB users. Ok, send me the workspace, remind me of this conversation and the process in the email text and I will investigate
18:15 tt2: glad to hear and would love to test it for esignal
18:16 @Ensign_HA: I can fix anything I can reproduce, and the more reproducible the quicker I can figure it out.;
18:16 tt2: so anyway if I crash now I'll see a report going to you correct? or does it auto send?
18:17 @Ensign_HA: the debug tools do a good job catching lots of issues, but possibly the nature of the problem is outside of its watchful eye. It will prompt you to send or not send. If you are not getting the prompts then nothing got sent either
18:18 tt2: I saw one in the past to MSFT but that wasn't the debug version
18:18 @Ensign_HA: Correct, prompt to send to MSFT is not my debug prompt - ok
18:19 @Ensign_HA: click menu Help | About EW and tell me the version date on the title plate
8:19 tt2: 6-3
18:20 @Ensign_HA: ok, please run 6-8 debug so the addresses will match my development system - address do move around if I edit code in that section
18:20 tt2: will do
18:20 @Ensign_HA: ok, thx - and I will expect workspace attachment in an e-mail to me so I can test with it. thx
18:20 tt2: look for it tonight
Seminar
18:20 @Ensign_HA: ok, you all have a good evening and great week of trading - see you all later, if not sooner - almost forgot to put in a plug for the upcoming July Ensign Seminar with Larry Pesavento as special guest trainer in - Salt Lake City, July 22nd-23rd
www.ensignsoftware.com/ensign_seminar.htm
18:22 @Ensign_HA: we need to have some commitment of if you are coming so we can firm up our plans. We have a block of rooms reserved at the hotel 'Inn At Temple Square' and they want them released by June 20th if we are not going to be using them. So get the word out for us, and make your decision to come to SLC and meet other Ensign users, meet Howard, Kimball, Mike and others
18:24 @Ensign_HA: Meet Larry Pesavento and get some great training on his TradingTutor methods and money management techniques he uses and teaches
18:25 @Ensign_HA: have any in the chat room decided to come yet?? If so, say so and let me know, please
18:26 @Buffy2: sorry just got off phone should know by end of weekend here
18:27 @Ensign_HA: great buffy, would love to have you attend and meet you
18:27 cmax: @Ensign_HA, I am a new user, in SLC, and will be there.
18:27 @Ensign_HA: many would love to meet you because you have been a super helper over many years.
18:28 @Ensign_HA: excellent cmax, looking to meeting you. Long distance travel for you cmax.....not....all of 10 miles
18:30 @Buffy2: ditto to met you Howard along with rest of gang
18:30 @Ensign_HA: cmax, put in a pitch for how beautiful your city is and all the extra activities going on the weekend of July 23rd.
18:30 Kent_2: Love to be there Howard but the distance is a slight issue lol
18:31 @Ensign_HA: understood Kent, and how are you doing downunder?
18:31 Kent_2: Good thanks - A great winter morning - Clear skies and 20C
18:32 @Ensign_HA: click on the link I just posted to see map
18:33 cmax: I have lived on the east coast, and west coast, and some how ended up here.... City is amazing...20-30 min from the center of downtown to the 4-6 different ski resorts. The state celebrates it's founding (Day's of '47) on July 24th... parades, concerts, etc.
18:34 @Ensign_HA: thx,but in case some wonder, there is no skiing in July but the mountain ski resorts are great to visit. Very beautiful and have mountain biking, alpine slides, horse back rides, tram rides, etc and lots of sidewalk art and displays, definitely festive
18:35 @Buffy2: sounds like you could spend a week there
18:35 @Ensign_HA: ski bums have been known to come and never leave
18:36 @Ensign_HA: ok, bye, have a good evening, and thx for coming to class
18:37 Shar: Thanks for class/info Howard.
18:37 RodA: thanks again Howard