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Locked Templates, Cybertrader, Rollover IB, Echat Scrolling, Same GVs Multiple Charts, Marking a Bar 49 Days Back |
June 7 , 2006
16:28 Ensign Howard: Hi..... Welcome to today's training class with Howard...... if I suddenly disappear, it might be due to local Internet access problems for my community.
Locked Templates
16:30 Ensign Howard: One of the items on our list of requested features which we work on as time an priorities permit has been the desire to lock a template so its contents can not be viewed, or the parameters edited. This ability to lock or secure a template or the studies and tools in a workspace is in final testing stages and should be included in the next upgrade that is released. On the study and draw tool property forms there is a new Privatize check box that can be checked to lock the study.
16:32 Ensign Howard: Let me show an example of the new property forms.
16:33 Ensign Howard: When the Privatize box is checked, the following behavior changes will be in effect for this study.
16:33 Ensign Howard: 1) The sub-window label will show the word 'Private' in older versions of Ensign, and show the word 'Custom' in the current versions of Ensign.
16:34 Ensign Howard: 2) The study side panel where values are shown will show the same name of 'Private' or 'Custom' instead of the study name.
16:35 Ensign Howard: 3) The author who checks the Privatize box can still see the study name on the chart objects list and on the chart objects Report, and for everyone else they will see 'Private' or 'Custom' as the study name on the chart objects list.
16:36 Ensign Howard: 4) The author who checked the Privatize box will be the only person that can return to the study property form to view or edit the study parameters.
16:37 Ensign Howard: 5) The Privatize property is part of the study, and thus can flow through the Template, chart private studies, and the workspace studies.
16:37 Ensign Howard: This will permit an author to create a workspace or a template for sharing with others and retain some secrecy about what the system contents are and the parameters being used. The author will be able to edit his system, and everyone else will be unable to view study names and edit study properties.
16:39 Ensign Howard: Any comments about the direction we are headed with in this effort to have private or locked templates and workspaces?
16:41 cal: Certainly hope that it doesn't reduce the amount of cooperation and sharing of trading ideas in the Ensign community - the ability to look and learn from others code is invaluable
16:42 thierry: yep, I think it cuts both ways
16:42 PH: Looks like it would be very good for those selling systems or a proprietary indicator
16:42 Ensign Howard: cal, I am unsure what effect it will have with the community. In some ways, some authors might be more eager to develop and publish their guru systems. On the other hand, those trying to learn or understand a template might find it frustrating that the author is being so secretive as to lock access to the content
16:43 cal: Your spirit of helping others is a big differentiating point in the Ensign program. Efforts by Buffy and skylnx and Jimmer and many others make it the program of choice for me.
16:44 Ensign Howard: I agree an open community is a big help and advantage and hope that such continues
16:44 thierry: Maybe those who wanted to share their setups will still do and some of those who were reluctant will share it in a locked form... let's hope
16:46 Ensign Howard: Yes, thierry, your comment is correct and perhaps this will actually result in more sharing, instead of less.
16:45 Ensign Howard: We do have a few gurus who want to do more with Ensign with their followers and have more secrecy and hence we get this request every couple months to be able to lock the template or lock the workspace so it cannot be viewed. I am sure we will have some feed back after the initial release about characteristics to tweak. So it might be a idea that yet evolves as some try to use it and wish it were a bit different or a bit better than initially designed. Lots of secrecy can be had by having the DYO and the Alert Objects locked from view. Some resorted to using ESPL to try to disguise the design of their expert system.
16:49 cal: I think that most find a template that suits their trading style, learn how to be profitable with it, perhaps tweak a little but believe the majority do not write their own DYOs from scratch - more of a cooperative effort, so from that view a locked template idea is better then none
16:49 Ensign Howard: With this ability to lock studies, templates, and workspaces, they should find it easier to do the same using standard studies and tools instead of resorting to ESPL to do the same. Anyway, look for the next upgrade to have this feature present and listed on the What's New page. I need to do a bit more testing because we have so many studies and tools in the program.
16:50 Ensign Howard: ok to another topic.
Cybertrader
16:51 Ensign Howard: Our project of supporting the Cybertrader data feed is alive and well, and nearing completion. We are awaiting official approval of our implentation from the CT folks. Mike and I are hammering out final suggestions and tweaks to make the system better, such as the minor issue of initial installation location folder
16:54 Ensign Howard: One of the issues still being worked on is the observation that the tick refresh request is not as reliable as wanted, some times the initial request returns an error message, and yet on subsequent requests we get the data instead of the error message, and this difference in behavior is unwanted and not yet understood.
16:54 Ensign Howard: The CT feed, however, continues to impress me as being very fast, as many ticks as eSignal, etc, and the CT feed cost would be $49 per month, with the fee waved if you meet a minimum trade volume with CT per month.... so the feed can potentially be free and without the cost of exchange fees for real-time quotes. You will have to check out the CT fee schedule, where stocks can be $9.95 per trade and futures at $2.50 per contract per side. We will be wanting existing EW users who happen to also have CT feed to help with beta testing starting later this week or next week.
Tim Tilson's T3 MAs
16:58 Ensign Howard: ok, any questions?
17:03 Ensign Howard: PH, your question now
17:04 PH: Thanks. Has anyone coded up Tim Tillson's T3 Moving Averages for Ensign? It was written up in TASC in 1998 entitled Better Moving Averages. I have the article.
I'm wondering if anyone has the T3's as they are called coded for Ensign yet? They are an adaptive form of a MA, but triple smoothed. The result is that they very responsive yet smooth.
17:04 Ensign Howard: 1 moment
17:06 Ensign Howard: We have this Knowledgebase article on Adaptive averages:
http://www.ensignsupport.com/email/693.mhtml
17:07 Ensign Howard: however, I do not know if it is the same as, similar to, or totally different than the T3 article.
17:07 PH: I'll check that out. Could I send you the TAS&C article?
17:07 Ensign Howard: We also have a triple average study in the program that might be handy for what you need for the final study.
17:08 PH: I think it is different, but I'll check it out
17:08 Ensign Howard: You can send the article, however, I am pretty busy with my priority projects and so I might elect to pass on doing anything with your article. If the formula is simple, and I can whip out the answer in 15 min or less, I would be happy to do so. However, you are welcome to email me with the adaptive average formula example and let me evaluate its complexity first.
17:08 PH: Is there a room or code ace that youu might suggest I could pass it along to? I do have the code for AB and the basic cose, so you might be able to get it done lickitysplit
17:11 Ensign Howard: There are folks in the B-Line chat room who are DYO aces
17:12 PH: OK, that would be good. Howard, is your email on the web site
17:13 Ensign Howard: ensign2 @ ensignsoftware . com
17:42 AD475: the blue is a Hull 3, the yellow is my (old) implementation of a Tillson T3
17:43 AD475: There are 4 dyos in the implementation ... it may be possible to make this smaller/more efficient. Just a straightforward Hull as implemented by H. It is the Tillson I was really showing ... for the earlier question
Rollover IB
17:06 car50: Hi Howard. I'm using the IB version and have noticed that I cannot limit the refresh to a single day..so i'm wondering with the index futures roll-over tomorrow if there is going to be a problem with todays bars(June contract) being overwritten by the new contract when I open up my charts tomorrow?..all my charts are #F but normally you have to limit the automatic refresh to a single day going into roll-over day to keep the integrity of the old data
17:10 Ensign Howard: car50, a good thing to do for your roll-over issue is to go to the chart property form, CTRL+P keys, and select the Data tab and check the box for Preserve Existing.
17:10 Ensign Howard: That will lock in your current bars so the refresh cannot overwrite them. Then even if the refresh overlaps your current bars in the file, the current bars have priority and are retained.
17:10 car50: ok good to know ...thanks
17:11 Ensign Howard: welcome.
Echat Scrolling
17:13 Ensign Howard: segal, your turn
17:14 Segal: Silly question: I can't seem to consistently stop the text window to stop scrolling in chat (without actually going into setup). I know clicking in the graphic area is supposed to stop the text area from jumping to the bottom every time somebody posts something, but often it still jumps to the bottom despite my clicking in the graphic area. Is there any trick to do this, so that I can scroll through previous posfs without having the text window jump down on me?
17:14 Ensign Howard: Good question worthy for explaining how again for all the new users of chat.
17:14 Ensign Howard: Click the Setup button on the corner of the chat form
17:16 Ensign Howard: On the left in the Properties is a box for Scroll Transcript....... try having this box unchecked..... sorry its naming is a bit confusing
17:16 Segal: (Scroll transcript is unchecked on mine, yet I still experience the problem.)
17:17 Ensign Howard: What it really does is select between two different methods for scrolling the transcript, and unchecked uses Windows messages which is a better method, but unfortunately does not work for all platforms.
17:17 Ensign Howard: However, give unchecked a try. Then to read back in the trancript you simple move the slider bar vertically on the transcript. Do not click in the transcript. Do not click in the text entry window. Either place will jump the transcript view back to show the bottom.
17:18 Segal: (It scrolls fine, but when I try reading above, it keeps jumping back down.) Do I have to keep my mouse holding the scroll bar the whole time?
17:18 Ensign Howard: No, do not have to hold with mouse. Click in the transcript first. Then use the scroll bar to go vertically back in time and I will continue typing and you should not have any movement on the transcript view.
17:19 Ensign Howard: Did that work better for you?
17:19 Segal: Yes, that is correct.
17:19 Ensign Howard: ok, good.
17:19 Segal: What if I want to view a chart that was posted earlier, by clicking on it?
17:20 Ensign Howard: yes, click o the link in the transcript
17:20 Segal: (Quickly jump back to scroll bar before it jumps down?)
Displaying Same GVs for Multiple Charts
17:19 Ensign Howard: ok futurestrader, your question
17:20 FuturesTrader: I calculate a 49-day & 5-day Relative Strength type percentage via DYO and display the value on about 15 different futures markets charts. Is there a way to display the GV's for all these markets simultaneously on the Quotes page so I can see at a glance which are the strongest and weakest markets?
17:20 Ensign Howard: Yes, FT, you can view them all. I assume each uses a unique Global Variable for its result on the quote page, enter a custom name of Variables. This will then show a table of all the global variables.
17:22 FuturesTrader: I did that, but it only shows the one chart's variables. Is that the only way?
17:23 Ensign Howard: No.... the global variable shown are an array of storage places for use by all DYOs. So what you see in the table is not for one chart. These are global for use by any chart. I do not have an easy way for a regular quote table to show global variable content or study values from the chart. The way it can be done involves using ESPl and the following statement.
17:25 FuturesTrader: OK... so I need to set up the DYO to use a different variable for each chart? Or do I need to have all the charts open simultaneously? Displaying it on the regular quote table would be preferred.
17:27 Ensign Howard: see menu Help | ESPL Help's topics for SetCell, GetCell, etc and the example in the documentation.
17:28 Ensign Howard: FT, if you want 10 charts to show their RSI values from the DYO, then the 10 charts do have to open simultaneously and the tools on the chart would have to use unique global variables if you want to see 10 sets of answers simultaneously
7:28 FuturesTrader: OK One other question if I may?
17:28 Ensign Howard: ask your ?
Marking a Bar 49 Days Back
17:29 FuturesTrader: Is there a DYO way to highlite the 49'th candlestick fon a daily chart? Just that one candle.
17:29 Ensign Howard: What is 49th relative to?
17:29 FuturesTrader: 49 days ago. Offset -48
17:30 Ensign Howard: ok, so it is the bar today -48. Yes, let me post picture of the solution.... 1 moment.
17:30 FuturesTrader: Yes
17:30 @Buffy: now I am interested in this one :-) All we could do other night is color all the bars
17:45 @Buffy: ahha bar index. Would you please explain this one by line please Howard
17:46 FuturesTrader: Nice
17:46 Ensign Howard: Line A is storing in GV[1] the index for the bar which is 48 back from the last bar on the chart.
17:46 Ensign Howard: The last bar on the chart will be at bar index Bar Count.
17:46 Ensign Howard: So if there are 300 bars on the chart, then GV[1] will have a value of 300-48 = 252
17:47 Ensign Howard: Then Line B tests each bar as it processes across the chart to see if that bar's index is 252, and when bar at position 252 is found its zone is colored.
17:47 @Buffy: neat - this one would do well to go into qna imho
17:47 Ensign Howard: ok
17:48 FuturesTrader: I never would have figured that out. Thanks so much!!!
17:48 @Buffy: We never thought of bar index and no one else did either that is why concept good for qna
17:48 Ensign Howard: I initially tried to do something with bar offset of -48 and did not get the prior bar at -48 to be marked, so had to change to this idea.
17:49 @Buffy: That is what we did but didn't know what to change thinking to LOL
17:50 Ensign Howard: ok, glad the question had an answer and that the process was educational to the one asking and others as well.
17:50 FuturesTrader: This is related to Chick Goslin's book -- so there may be other interest.
17:51 Ensign Howard: Now there are also DYO statements to harvest the open, high, low, last values for the bar at index #. So if you needed the prices from this marked bar, they can be read and used in your calculations or tests.
17:52 Randy: Thx H. and FT
17:53 Ensign Howard: welcome
17:53 FuturesTrader: Right -- this particular intention is a visual aid for determining whether the 49-day SMA slope is going to turn more positive or negative based on the oldest days about to drop off being above or below the current price.
17:55 Ensign Howard: aahh.... good clue. You could automate that visual by the momentum of 49. All you need compare is the close value of 49 back versus now to know if the SMA will rise or fall as oldest drops off. So the momentum of 49 can be the visual test to color the current bar zone green or red with the meaning that green the oldest is lower and so SMA should rise and red means oldest is higher, and when it drops off the SMA should fall
17:57 @Buffy: you always take us one level higher than we are thinking - love it thanks
17:57 Ensign Howard: let me show a DYO with these ideas instead of the marker of the prior example.
17:58 FuturesTrader: That is a really cool idea!
17:59 @Buffy: this concept could be used in a few places too
18:01 Randy: Interesting... but not the same a H is working on
18:02 Ensign Howard: So the chart is now color coded, and I am not even looking at the SMA. But SMA would be rising in the green areas, and falling in the red areas and our blue marker bar is above current bar, so as it drops off, current SMA would have to fall, so the current zone is correctly colored red.
18:03 FuturesTrader: That's great! Cool concept to facilitate projecting the SMA slope is the days ahead.
18:05 Ensign Howard: I also think this has been a good discussion and example.
18:05 @Buffy: ditto
18:05 FuturesTrader: Indeed.
18:05 Ensign Howard: Kind of fun to trade ideas, or develop them together. I learn from you and hope I have contributed to the discussion as well. My, how 90 minutes flies by when you are having fun.
18:06 FuturesTrader: Yes. You certainly have. Thank you much!
18:06 Ensign Howard: Thanks for coming to class today.... you all have a great week. Enjoy.... good night.
18:10 @Buffy: thanks Howard
18:10 Ensign Howard: welcome, gn