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Scheduler Video, Pop up Chart Menu, Price Histogram, Alert Triggers, IB ADV/DEC Ratio, IB TWS Upgrade not opening, Forex Information, IB TWS Setup |
June 21 , 2006
www.dacharts.com/welcome_ensign.htm
16:32 Ensign Howard: Thanks buffy for the link of materials introducing Ensign. We all can benefit by studying the materials you have assembled on that page.
16:32 Ensign Howard: Welcome to today's training class with Ensign staff..... This is Howard and I will be the trainer today. I will on vacation starting Friday through Wednesday, so please redirect your requests for e-mail support during that period of time to other Ensign staff members. service@ensignsupport.com
16:34 Ensign Howard: I will begin today's class with a training video on the topic of using the Scheduler in Ensign Windows..... Just sit back and watch this 4 minute video segment.
www.ensignsoftware.com/video/scheduler/scheduler.html
16:39 Ensign Howard: OK, could I get some feedback on this style of presentation..... is the use of the character a positive thing or a distraction ??
16:40 @Buffy: character with this voice is ok doesn't matter here
16:40 jr01: its cute but not necessary for me
16:40 al_gorithm: every girl I talked to likes the wizard...every guy prefered Howard, including me.
16:41 jr01: lol
16:41 JohnA: distraction
16:41 Ensign Howard: ok, thanks for the feed back..... are there any questions about using the Scheduler?
16:42 Rod: fwiw, I think it's a distraction too. but it's ok
Chart Pop-Up Menu
16:43 Ensign Howard: The next topic that will be covered is a new feature in the current version of Ensign Windows, and that is a new tab on the Setup | Charts form.
16:45 Ensign Howard: Click menu Setup | Charts, and select the Pop-Up Menu tab to see the above example form.
16:45 Ensign Howard: Use this for to select which menu items are to be shown on a chart's pop-up menu that shows when you do a right mouse click. The form has 36 check box selections which match the 36 menus items that show on the pop-up menu. The ability to remove unused pop-up menus was requested by users and implemented via this form to show when the menu is checked or hidden when the box is unchecked. So, use this setup form to configure which pop-up menus you want to show on the chart's pop-up menu.
16:48 Ensign Howard: Any questions or suggestions on this topic?
16:48 cyndc: nice - very user friendly
16:49 SteveW: great idea
16:54 al_gorithm: popup menu is a very nice addition
16:50 Ensign Howard: OK, that is all of the material I wanted to cover in the class today. Let's continue with general our typical Q&A session.... press CTRL+Q keys to change your icon to a question mark and I will call on you for your question.
Price Histogram
16:52 jal: Can you alert UVA and LVA values -- does not seem to pick up prior values
16:53 Ensign Howard: jal, the UVA and LVA is determined when the Price Histogram is DRAWN on the screen, and in so doing, only the last UVA and LVA is remembered or exposed for access in the DYO or Alert objects.
16:55 Ensign Howard: Most studies calculate bar by bar and all studies calculate for each bar position.... thus they can access other study values for evaluation in their own calculation at that bar position. However, the Price Histogram is an exception in that it does it magic a single time and that is AFTER ALL OTHER STUDIES HAVE CALCULATED, and this one time evaluation is when the tool is being drawn on the screen. Thus there is not going to be a bar by bar update or exposure of any prior UVA or LVA for other studies to reference for their calculations. They can only access the current final UVA and LVA.
16:56 jal: How about prior values with ESPL???
16:57 Ensign Howard: ESPL won't make any difference, for the same reason... the Price Histogram study does not calculate in the bar by bar phase like other studies.
16:59 jal: Sorry one other question. "New User" can a variable be created from which the the value is dumped as it changes then use the variable for the alert versus last price.
17:08 Ensign Howard: jal, the variables that are available are the Global Variables of which there are 240 public ones shared by everything in Ensign and 15 private ones owned by each chart. So the solution to your request or idea can be done using GVs, and the DYO Design Your Own study object.
17:09 Ensign Howard: See the Q&A Knowledgebase collection of article where we have a couple hundred DYO examples available. Q&A Knowledgebase is a menu on the Help menu in Ensign. Also, we have DYO materials on the Help page of our web site. If you still need assistance, then you need to prepare an example in as much detail as possible of what you are trying to do and I will answer your e-mail.
17:10 jal: Thanks Howard Can the same thing be done in ESPL?
17:11 Ensign Howard: ESPL has an array of private variable associated with the ESPL object on the chart, and ESPL can also read and write the same Global Variable array used by the DYO and Alert objects.
Alert Triggers
16:59 Arbis: Another silly Q: What causes the sound that sounds like one string on a guitar being plucked?
17:00 Ensign Howard: Click the Setup button on the corner of the chat room and see if you have some sound events enabled. Possibly you do and the sound you have selected sounds like the guitar sting pluck
17:00 Arbis: I do, but none of them have a guitar string being plucked. Does anyone else ever hear that.
17:01 Ensign Howard: Well, try to isolate what just happened when you hear the sound and then go seek out that event. From you clues I cannot determine yet whether it is a chat room event that is sounding or an alert or DYO sound on your chart that is sounding
17:01 Ensign Howard: Sound events can be triggered by the following things in the Ensign program:
17:02 Ensign Howard: 1) News story alerts based on keywords in the news title
17:02 Ensign Howard: 2) Price alerts which are managed on the Price Alerts form that shows with the yellow bell button.
17:02 Ensign Howard: 3) Study alerts which are set by Alert Objects on charts.
17:03 Ensign Howard: 4) DYO study can also do a Sound event and that would be by way of the category Global Action | Play Sound type of Line entry.
17:04 Ensign Howard: 5) Chat room events for Paging a person, PM windows, Links posting to the transcript, and Keywords in the text.
17:04 Arbis: Ok -- I guess I'm going to have to try and isolate it.
Custom as name for Secure Template/Study
17:05 Ensign Howard: OK, al_g, your question.
17:05 al_gorithm2: Would it be possible to have a unique name for a study rather than "custom" when privatize is selected? If you have more than one study privatized, there can be some confusion in the study data panel.
17:06 Ensign Howard: al, I do not have the space available in most chart object property structures to add a custom name..... however I will make a note to check out this request and see if it can be added when possible.
17:07 al_gorithm2: ok, tks.
IB ADV/DEC Ratio
17:11 Ensign Howard: OK, brianNY your question.
17:11 BrianNY: hi yes I'm trying to chart the adv/dec ratio and followed your write up on it, about creating a custom formula which I believe I did correctly but when I go to chart $AD-NYSE it doesnt give me any data and says no refresh available.
17:12 Ensign Howard: So, brian you are using the IB data feed for this symbol.... 1 moment, let me try the same refresh request.
17:13 Ensign Howard: Did you use the (A) or the (D) modifier with the symbol?
17:13 BrianNY: in the formula I did, not in the chart symbol
17:14 Ensign Howard: Custom symbols will never have any refresh
17:14 BrianNY: ok I think I see something I may have done incorrectly, will try that, thanks!
17:15 Ensign Howard: I am checking out a refresh for the $AD-NYSE and need to know which modifier you use for charting that symbol
17:16 Ensign Howard: The $AD-NYSE is a unique symbol in that IB does not send a Last for it, rather they send advancing data in one of the field and declining data in another field for the symbol and it is Ensign that is remapping the IB field into the Last field and using separate symbols so advancing can be plotted like a normal symbol and declining can also be plotted as a different symbol.
17:17 BrianNY: ok I have to do some more research on it, thx
17:18 Ensign Howard: I doubt there is an quote history for the symbol because of the unique characteristics of how IB is sending the data for it... but I want to check it out before saying there is no refresh.
Opening of Scheduler and Snap to Grid
17:19 Ensign Howard: kongfuzi, your question
17:19 Kongfuzi: I have noticed on useing the scheduler that the message dialog that opens up is not visible in the part of the Ensign Window I have on my desktop. So I have to scroll around to find it. Is ther a way that it can be anchored to an edge of the parent window?
17:20 Ensign Howard: explain how big Ensign desktop is, do you use scroll bars? Explain.
17:21 Kongfuzi: yes, 2 monitors wide three deep
17:22 Ensign Howard: So if the view is perhaps on the 3rd row of the vertically 3 deep, the pop-up message window might not be visible?
17:22 Kongfuzi: For instance, when an alert in a chart fires, it shows up in a specific place on the chart? Is it possible that these scheduled messages could show up in a specific location of the PARENT window rather than as a new child window? Right. Same problem when I open a properties window for ensign
17:23 Ensign Howard: ok, kongfuzi, let me write a note and investigate the show properties for the scheduler message window and compare to the chart alerts.
17:23 Kongfuzi: Problem doesn't exist for properties window of a chart - ok thx
17:24 Ensign Howard: I would have to exit this training session to make a check right now, and think it something better to do after the class.
17:24 Kongfuzi: Right a suggestion to make it more useful PLUS a snap to grid for the parent window would also be nice
17:26 Ensign Howard: So for child windows like charts, you would like a new menu Window | Snap to Grid which would force the Top, Left, Width and Height properties for all child windows to process through a modulo 8 adjustment, so these properties would be in multiples of 8, ie...0, 8, 16, 24, 32, etc. Is that what you have in mind?
17:27 Kongfuzi: Well you got me on how it would be implemented, but yes, something like in windows when you say Aling Icons on your desk top, even better would be specific ordinal assignments - just a thought. They snap to a grid that is nearest to the cirrent location
17:29 Ensign Howard: The modulo 8 of the 4 properties is easy enough to implement, and I can try to have it for next version and you can then let me know if it is what you had in mind.
17:29 Kongfuzi: Great thanks, you rock Howard!
17:29 Ensign Howard: Yes, the snap to would round up or down to the nearest permitted interval, and I think most snap to menus use an interval spacing of 8 pixels. Possibly they use 16 pixels, which I can investigate in my implementation as well
17:30 Randy: Same problem here
17:31 Ensign Howard: What input would you have randy on snap to grid
17:31 Randy: Well with 6 wide and 10 deep... its a scavenger hunt at times...so I'd say close to the last chart in focus
17:32 Ensign Howard: Are you on a different issue or is it me that is on a different thread of thought
17:32 Randy: :-) no same
17:32 Ensign Howard: Snap to grid would have no benefit for finding a window in 6 x 10
17:33 Randy: Well.. then maybe a different approach
17:33 Ensign Howard: Are you suggesting a location for a schedule message box location to open?
17:34 Randy: Well .. I have to go looking for the set-up pop up window -- no the schedule because I don't use it as much
17:35 Ensign Howard: ok, location for opening is different topic than snap to grid
17:35 Randy: ok
17:35 al_gorithm: Maybe I'm not understanding this subject, but would we be forced to use a "snap to grid" for charts? I have charts of different sizes with some overlapping and some very prominent. Is this going to be an option? If you're talking jsut about keeping pop-up windows from opening off screen, anything you do to keep them visible would be helpful.
17:36 Randy: y
IB TWS Upgrade
17:35 Ensign Howard: zbulls, your question
17:35 zbullzbear: there is a problem connecting to ib via downloaded workstation ..is it because of Ensign version? I am connected via their web site....
17:36 Ensign Howard: zbullz, I have used TWS 860.9 version fine with Ensign, however, some report problems of this TWS version not opening.
17:37 zbullzbear: yes
17:37 Ensign Howard: One solution that seems to have helped some with the problem is to rename the /JTS folder to something like /JTSold and then reinstall TWS from IB site. So the issue might be some residual file from earlier installation that is cleared out through this suggestion to rename the folder and reinstall. However, by so doing you will have to configure TWS again, which includes entering in your portfolio of symbols in TWS
17:39 zbullzbear: ok i'll try that...thanls Howardgotcha thanks
17:39 al_gorithm: There is a way to save those config settings and just copy them into the new directory. I will post it later in Buffy's room.
17:39 zbullzbear: al_ thanks
17:42 Ensign Howard: Your help on the TWS config files would be appreciated al_gorithm.... I do not know which file is which or I would give the information. If you e-mail me that information I will add it to our Knowledgebase as an article
17:42 al_gorithm: OK, I'll email you instructions on that
17:43 @Buffy: we can also put on dacharts sometimes easier to find
17:39 Ensign Howard: al_, back to Snap to Grid, I get the impression you and I are thinking such a menu is going to perfom different behaviors. To me, a snap to grid, causes a slight nudge of a windows top and left positions to be on a grid, and the width and height of the window might need a tweak adjustment also so the other sides of the window are also on a grid. This slight tweaking of the position and size of the window has nothing to do with where a window opens on a multiple monitor display or on one using virtual rows and scroll bars. So, are we talking the same topic or different topics.
17:41 Kongfuzi: on snap to grid, I would think you would only care about one corner of all open windows adjusting themselves to a common grid -- the size would be a property of that child window
17:42 al_gorithm: same, I'm just wouldn't want my charts to be forced to a grid that causes my charts to be repositoned from where they rest now.
17:43 Kongfuzi: Right , snap to grid is different than the problem of parent window menus and the scheduler dialog box being off in la-la land whne you are using scroll bars in the parent window to have a desktop in Ensign larger that your monitor area. I will follow up with an email Howard, thx
17:44 Ensign Howard: your input on the topic is good Kongfuze, thanks for the feedback. ok
17:44 Ensign Howard: OK, any others with questions or comments?
Time Based Second Charts
17:44 Mr_Happy: yup
17:44 Mr_Happy: Howard, numerous users, including myself, have asked if you were going to implement the 'sec' based charts. As for me and many others, 1min seems to be a little on the slow side. But then again, one can argue to use a small tick or volume chart to acheive the same result as a smaller sec chart. Well, tick charts and volume charts can be 'controlled' per se, whereas time cannot. And this is one of the unique features of time based chart. This is also why you suggest using time based chart for a pesavento map, rather than tick or volume...i think. To quote a passage from your newsletter on Pesavento Map ... "but the variable nature of the time period covered by constant tick bars diminishes the precision of the Time characteristic that the tool is analyzing." I realize how this applies to Pesavento Map tool, but from my prespective, this also true for any methods readily available. Since Pesavento Map is looking for patterns, traders use studys the same way...through pattern recognition. If you can atleast think about it, I and most users alike would appreciate it.
17:46 Ensign Howard: Mr_Happy, I am not inclined to implement seconds charts at this time. I have a plate full of higher priority projects to work on.
17:47 Mr_Happy: k, well if you can add this to the bottom of the list, ;-)
17:48 Ensign Howard: Anyway, I will throw in my 2 cents worth that I think the fast building bars do not a better trader make....... I am inclined to have the opinion that quicker building bars is just seeing more noice in the market, and causing users to overtrade, excessively try to scalp, etc...... So in that sense, I consider 1 minute bars to be quick enough, and quicker than I personally would use. You see this issue to 'too quick' arise with the constant tick, constant volume and constant range charts, and if the parameters are too small, bars build too quickly and the users find they are overwhelmed with the fast pace. So forgive me if I consider not having seconds charts one way of trying to help protect users from information overloading.
17:52 Ensign Howard: May I suggest as reading material my interview of Larry Pesavento a few years ago in one of the newsletters. He is a successful trader, and I liked his style of 'not being glued' to the screen. The set up was seen, the trade made, a plan of action for exiting in place, and then he could turn is back on the screen. This saves his emotions, and allows him to be a trader of many years and not get burned out.
17:53 dpg: But when using computer code to monitor charts and generate alerts, if the seconds charts are helpful for that, then they may be desirable. everyone has their own way of trading -- maybe someone wants a 15second chart
17:58 al_gorithm: you can dial down to sub-minute charts by using tick or volume charts
17:58 Ensign Howard: OK, thanks for attending class.... have a good week. I will be gone next Wednesday for a Salmon River wild water kyaking trip with my son..... I will have a fun time in the wilderness areas of beautiful Idaho...... you can all hope for my safe return.... me too.
17:59 Kongfuzi: watchout for that wild water!
17:59 al_gorithm: We'll expect another wonderful Video, Howard!
17:59 Ensign Howard: I do not plan on taking my camera on this trip because of the water hazard. When I did this same trip 15 years ago with another son, I capsized 4 times. This time around I have a wet suit.
18:01 al_gorithm: getting old...lol
18:01 Ensign Howard: And with the trip being a month earlier in the year than before, the river runs higher and the water is colder. So, colder + older = bolder...... lol
18:02 al_gorithm: lol
18:02 Ensign Howard: gn
18:02 Mr_Happy: gn
Forex Information
18:27 Surfer: Hi, I am new and would like to know what is the amount to pay for end of day data.
18:37 Ensign Howard: Surfer. the Ensign Windows program monthly fee is $39.95 regardless of which vendor you use or if you use our Internet end of day data download. The $39.95 includes the data for the download, and the following table shows the coverage for the Internet use of Ensign
www.ensignsoftware.com/help/eodData.htm
18:41 Surfer: At what time of the day I will recieve the end of day data?
18:41 Ensign Howard: For intra-day bars it is through the delay requirement which can be like 10 min ago. For daily stocks, the bar for today is through delay requirement too. For daily futures, the bar for today is available a couple hours after day session close
18:43 Ensign Howard: Forex is the one weak spot..... the intra-day is through PRIOR Friday, and updated once a week. Daily bar is available some time in the evening, do not know specific time and there are issue at the present time with the daily forex from our DTN source, and they are working on fixing but promised fix date is already a few weeks old
18:45 Ensign Howard: The feed with the least cost is the Interactive Broker feed which is either free or $10 per month and NO exchange fees for US markets. IB feed has forex from Ideal and IdealPro and the chart quality is great. Intra-day is through current tick, and so is daily bar -- no delay and we like to plot the Bid on this forex so you have a better looking chart. We anticipate having the FXCM forex feed supported in Ensign in another couple months..... project is being worked on.
18:47 Ensign Howard: From IB, the feed will either be free if you trade enough with them for commission volume or cost $10 if you do not trade at all with them or trade enough in a month. There is no extra fee for the IdealPro feed with IB -- I have real-time forex with IB and pay just $10 per month. Also have e-minis, stocks, indexes, etc from IB -- all real-time
Ensign communicating with IB Automatically
18:48 Regent: HI Howard, could you remind me of what to do so that Ensign automatically accepts in the incoming signal from IB? Somehow when I upgradde versions this set up was lost
18:49 Ensign Howard: 1 moment Regent while I post page
www.ensignsoftware.com/help/ib.htm
18:49 Ensign Howard: Scroll down for configuration of TWS. The key part is the Enter Trusted IP address part
18:51 Regent: Thanks Howard
18:51 Ensign Howard: Welcome
18:53 Ensign Howard: ok, you all have a great evening, bye
18:53 Regent: bye
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