Tidbits about Charts, Workspaces and Time Windows

January 14, 2004

You might hear something new or be reminded of something you forgot about
if you don't use it already
charting is one of the main strengths in Ensign resulting from feedback from many many customers
Ensign is very powerful once you get to know where all functions are

first up is how to open a chart
two common ways will be discussed
plus some other ways

one is to click on the two blue bar icon - the charts button
that will open drop down panel that has a few items on it



on the left is symbol list
other column is a times list
to add or delete symbols you can type a symbol in the white entry box on right side about half way down
and click add
that will add the symbol to the left column
do not want to include TF
just the main symbol
ex IBM.5 can not be used here
times column is where time is specified
delete any you have like that
if you use a few symbols this charts panel is the easiest

next
we have a times column this is where you specify your favorite tfs
the defaults can be changed
if you click on the times button it will open a window showing several time frames



to change
click on edit



any or all white squares can be changed when through click on save then click on time you want for the chart
tick charts are designated with a minus sign in front of a number
-550 is the 550T chart

click on the chart button again
on the charts button the times column will now show the changes you made to the times window
to open a chart
highlight the symbol on the left and dbl click on the time you want the chart to be
if I wanted a daily chart highlight symbol and on right, dbl click on D that stands for daily
can just highlight it and click on open instead

if you wanted to open 4 charts for IBM
can click back to charts button and click on other tfs 3 times
chart will open for each

only other item in charts panel is two little selector boxes about 2/3s way down
new chart is one and replace is one
normally set at new chart
so new chart will open
if you have selected replace instead then it will replace the active chart
this allows customization

lets switch to another way - from a quote page
click on 3rd button with big Q for quote page



there may or may not be symbols on it depending on if you have used it
many who use Ensign have one open all the time
perhaps you follow couple dozen symbols
that you are actively trading
enter all symbols on a quote page
any symbol on a quote page can have a chart opened for it
first way is to dbl click mouse on a row
column order can be customized in ensign
the tf will be over in the setup / charts window you can setup what the default tf will be
the window will open and in the bottom right is one called dbl click that is usually a D for daily but can be changed to anything you want to open when you open a chart from the quote page
click on ok
and dbl click on symbol in quote page
to the setting in the setup charts screen
the slow way to do it is click mouse on row
on quote page
then click on times button
OR
right click and highlight display a chart and choose time from the menu
either way works

once you have a chart open and is active with the keyboard you can press ctrl S
that allows you to type in a new chart symbol to replace current chart
can use the time in the symbol like MSFT.5 will open a five minute
MSFT.-266 will open a MSFT 266 tick chart

to go to next part of our training we will talk about how to open charts using a workspace
a workspace is a screen capture of any windows open
so if you have setup your charts exactly as you want whether one or 30 charts
save your workspace
click on the tile windows icon your workspace button



click on save as
then type in the name you wish to give it
the name of the workspace will then be added to the list on the left

click on window to left of help in the main menu bar
one of the options is close all windows
this is how to get back to a blank workspace
now you can start a new one or click on name of other workspace you want to open
in the top right of your screen there are tabs that have the names of your workspaces
clicking on these tabs will open your workspace
can have a workspace for real time
and one for demo
or whatever you wish
the tabs toolbar can be moved using the vertical gray line at the beginning to do drag and drop
by saving a workspace when your charts are the way you like them then you won't have to redo them every time in the workspaces window

frank: how do you set the default layout for charts, studies, etc
the default for charts is in setup/charts

you can check the save prompt
this will have a window open when you switch workspaces asking you if you want to save the workspace again
if you don't like the save prompt uncheck it
recommend you have it checked
the charts will be the way you saved them when you saved the workspaces
that is how it will open

if you want a template you can check that in templates window
any chart you open will have the first template in the list applied to it automatically
F2 through F11 will open the correlating workspace
F3 will open the second workspace in the list
there is no f1 because that is a windows key
can change the order of the workspace in the list using the arrow up and down in workspace window after highlighting the one you want to move

auto open will open the first workspace in the list
do not recommend this
if the workspace has any problems, it can be a problem
the other thing is it may take your data feed a while to connect and your charts won't auto fresh because you are not connected to data feed yet
any questions

better to run program - let connects get established then open workspace
but for Ensign internet auto open might be just what you are looking for
tf of .0 specifies it is a tick chart
every tick is a bar
Ensign does not auto refresh tick charts
eSignal is an example
click on symbol and click on T to open a chart
and will let ticks start streaming in
do not have to refresh if volume high
can refresh manually by right click on chart and selecting refresh then click on time frame
if you log on after market opens, you will have to do 2 days for globex data
if you click on max that could be hundreds of thousands of tick and is usually overkill
with tick charts less is better
if you have esignal the best time to refresh to obtain close charts to other users is when market is closed