Using Help and the Auto Repeat Buttons

December 3, 2003

Using Help and the Auto Repeat Buttons

@Ensign: We will train on using the Help menus to look up information in the Ensign documentation and on the Ensign web site and Auto Repeat buttons

@Ensign: Click menu SetUp | Toolbars to see the image shown above
@Ensign: Added to the form are 3 drop down boxes for Auto Repeat Buttons.
@Ensign: The lists shows different draw tools that can be assigned to the auto repeat buttons
@Ensign: Normally a tool like the Fib Levels tool was a single use
@Ensign: You would click the Fib Level button and then on the chart drag from point A to point B to draw the
@Ensign: tool and click elsewhere to finish the tool
@Ensign: To put on a 2nd Fib level you would repeat the process by clicking on the Fib Level button to start the tool again.
@Ensign: The Auto Repeat buttons show on the draw tool bar as buttons with digits 1, 2, 3 on them
@Ensign: Previously, they could only be used to draw straight lines, like the pencil button for the straight line.
@Ensign: The Pencil button is a single use button.
@Ensign: The Auto Repeat buttons were a mode where multiple lines could be drawn before leaving the mode.
@Ensign: Button 1 would use the tab 1 settings for the straight line tool
@Ensign: Button 2 would use the tab 2 settings for the straight line tool.
@Ensign: And Button 3 would use the 3rd tab.
@Ensign: What we did was make it possible to specify which tool to draw with these auto repeat buttons instead of forcing just the straight line to be drawn.
@Ensign: On the tool bar, lets select the Fib Levels as the tool to draw with the 1st Auto Repeat button.
@Ensign: www.ensignsoftware.com/help/autorepeat.htm
@Ensign: Button 1 will use the TAB 1 setting for the tool it is going to draw.
@Ensign: Thus if the tool assigned is the Fibonacci, the settings used will be those on tab 1 of the Fibonacci form.
@Ensign: If we set button 3 to draw the Circle tool, the parameters used will be the tab 3 settings for the FIb Circle tool.
@Ensign: You can click, drag, release to draw the circle. Click drag and release again to draw another circle.
@Ensign: You are in a repeat mode until you deselect the tool by clicking on the cursor button or by double clicking on the chart background.
@Ensign: Some who like to do lots of FIb Levels may want to assign that tool to one of the auto repeat buttons.
@Ensign: The regular Fib Level button still works for a single use.
@Ensign: But now the auto repeat button can be used to place multiple tools on the chart without the step of reselecting the button.
@Ensign: The default for the SetUp | Toolbars has the buttons assigned to do the straight draw line
@Ensign: You need to make a change to the Toolbar setting to reconfigure it to draw a different tool, if this is a feature you want.
@Ensign: The Help documentation for this feature is on the web site and is showing in the viewer above
@Ensign: if you did button 1 then go edit the setting for the tab 1 on the circle tool
@Ensign: if you did button 3 for circles, then go edit the 3rd tab settings.

@Ensign: The Ensign menu Help has menu items to help documentation.
@Ensign: Every upgrade of the Ensign program also updates the help documentation.
@Ensign: this help doc is stored on your computer hard disk.
@Ensign: This is a great place to look up information, there is an index, and pages are hyper-linked.

@Ensign: The 3rd menu item in the current version is Web Help.

@Ensign: This menu takes you to the Ensign web site to the Help page.
@Ensign: This page has been recently overhauled to reorganize the material by index groups.
@Ensign: www.ensignsoftware.com/help/help.htm
@Ensign: At the top of the form is a link for new users to follow an Introduction.
@Ensign: This is quick overview of the main pages in Ensign.
@Ensign: Each of the pages in this thread have Next and Prior links to progress through a sequence
@Ensign: www.ensignsoftware.com/help/introduction.htm
@Ensign: www.ensignsoftware.com/help/setupconnection.htm
@Ensign: Click on the Help button on the header to return to the Help directory.
@Ensign: www.ensignsoftware.com/help/help.htm
@Ensign: The categories such as Chart are a group of links related to this subject, such as the Chart Objects list.
@Ensign: Some of the links take you to articles published in trading tips newsletter.

@Ensign: Now click on the Newsletter button on the top of the header in the viewer.
@Ensign: www.ensignsoftware.com/tips/newsletter.htm
@Ensign: The newsletter page which is showing now has been reorganized to group related articles in categories.
@Ensign: Each of the issues for the past 4 years is shown with links at the top.
@Ensign: On the newsletter group for studies, there are articles on CCI, Color Bands, ASI, Stochastic and RSI, etc.

@Ensign: Back on the Help directory, click on the ESPL programming language
@Ensign: www.ensignsoftware.com/espl/espl.htm
@Ensign: This is a great resource for information on programming.
@Ensign: There is a list of lessons that are a thread of pages to follow as a beginning point to learn.
@Ensign: The on-line manual is an excellent resource for looking up documentation on each instruction.
@Ensign: you also have a manual on your computer you access in Ensign using menu Help | ESPL Help.
@Ensign: The On-Line manual on our web page is even bigger, and more comprehensive.

al_gorithm: Is there any way to search the website?
@Ensign: no al_gorithm, do not have a site search capability

Ann: is the "redraw" tool suppose to work for just one chart or more?
@Ensign: Ann, looks like the tool will draw 1 time on the different chart and then exit the auto repeat mode because of the chart change.
Ann: ok..I thought it used to when it was just lines continue to draw
Ann: mine even jumps to a different tab # on a diff chart

@Ensign: plangcha, which auto repeat button did you assign for the Circle selection?
PlangCha: 1
PlangCha: but when I go to the properties window I do not see circles to check only ellipse pentagon rectangle etc
@Ensign: ok, go to the property form for the FIb Circles tool
Ann: no checkmark means circle
@Ensign: now click on the tab 1 button for the tab
@Ensign: need to select the tab before we make changes
@Ensign: is tab 1 selected now?
@Ensign: you said you had pentagons, so that box must be checked, uncheck it
@Ensign: all boxes would be unchecked and you have circles
PlangCha: Thanks I asked for circles now I have CIRCLES :-)
PlangCha: thanks Howard
@Ensign: ok, great plangcha

@Ensign: anyone else with a question before we call it a day??
Ann: Howard would you consider doing a few more "auto repeat" tools
@Ensign: not now Ann, have lots of other things I am working on, and we struggle for screen space for showing more buttons
Ann: would there be a way to make the tool icon itself just be that way
Ann: i.e.if fib retrace tool icon is just auto repeat by itself that way no space used up
@Ensign: I looked into that, but had to use the auto repeat buttons as there is lots of internal code that accomplishes the differences
@Ensign: was easier to assign a tool to the auto repeat button than to assign auto repeat mode to the other buttons
@Ensign: Thanks to all who attended class today, see you next week, same time and place. Goodnight