|
Class: 11-14-07 Grids |
Today's training in on the new grid capabilities of Ensign Windows. This topic was also covered in a previous class. Each study now has a grid control which gives more flexibility in what kind of grid lines are displayed. The grid lines can be different colors, line thicknesses, and line styles. That kind of flexibility was not possible with the implementation in the old Ensign. Let me begin demonstrating the grid using Stochastic study on a chart in a sub-window.
This chart shows Stochastic in the sub-window with a grid, which may or may not be what you like. Let's discover how to change the grid. Go to the Study property form for the Stochastic.
On this form is a button labeled Grid and a drop down selection box by it, labeled Default. This will select the Grid file for Default from the Grid object.... and to see what that setting might be, click the Grid button.
On this form are 11 lines, very similar to the Daily Price Lines tool, where you can set the value levels where you want lines, and change the line style and color for each line. Let me make some changes and then show the changes in the grid for sub-window 1.
To illustrate, a new line at 20% that is thicker and Red is now shown along with a new line at 80% in thicker green. These grid line values could also be exposed by making a selection in the Global column to put the values in GVs.
th: Howard, I'm trying to get the minimal ' - - - ' to take but it won't show on my indicator when I select it?
It takes, but the dotted line is affected by the bar spacing. So the wider your bar spacing, the more dotted it will be. There are 15 different selections on the Grid drop down list and I encourage you to investigate the visual effect of each. Some would be inappropriate grid values for use on some studies, because of the study range involved. Values based on percent will be placed at a percentage of the panel height, and that is basically what was available in the old Ensign. Now you have an added ability to have specific values, such as a grid for the CCI study at -200 and at 200. So go set up a tab on the grid form, select the tab to define, make selections for Value and enter a level field number of 200, etc.
You can also enter a name for this tab in the edit box to the right of the Tab word. A good name for a CCI grid tab would be CCI, and this name will show on the grid drop down listing so it is easy to know which selection is for which effect.
jr01: can those numbers be changed? The percentages that is say to 5 or even 0 and 100?
Yes they can be any number.... that is part of the increased flexibility. Perhaps you want a percent based on Fib levels, and put in 61.8 as the value on one of the lines.
Chart Left Side Grid:
Now lets discuss the effect when the study is on the chart, instead of in a sub-window.
For the class of studies that are based on a percent scale we can optionally show on the left side of the chart a percent scale. The studies of this type are Stochastic, Relative Strength, Directional Movement, and William's %R. A question we get is users see this left side scale that they did not see before. This scale ONLY shows when one of the above studies in on the chart AND the study grid selection is on the Default selection.
If the grid selection is on ANY other grid selection, the left side grid will not show. Go to the first study on the chart and change the Grid selection on the study property form to the None selection on the bottom of the grid drop down list. Then resave the template, chart or workspace involved so the change is remembered.
Some cool grid examples with the Gradient selection were shown in the class on grids given 3 months ago.
bogeybunky: Howard, is it possible to have the gradient fills (and others) to stop at the last price instead of going all the way to the right grid and covering up other data that is printed there?
No, the grid will extend to the right side scale area.
Grid Object:
Some get the new Ensign and have some visual change in a sub-window grid that is not what they had before. Sorry, the former way you had a grid did not readily transfer to the new Ensign. You will have to do some manual changing to configure your grids in the new Ensign. One easy way to do so is to realize that each sub-window will now have a grid object that shows on the chart objects list.
Double click on a grid entry on the objects list to show the properties for the grid.
al_gorithm: does it matter where the Grid Objects are listed in the Chart Objects window?
No al_gorithm it does not matter.
Here is the grid for the gradient in the sub-window image. You can try changing to a different tab, or check or uncheck lines, or edit values. If you want to start with a percent based grid, try the tab labeled 75%.
This is the setting for the 75% tab and its visual effect. If the sub-window you see has a different visual grid than what is wanted, go to the grid object for that sub-window and change it.
Remove Grid:
To totally remove a grid, you can do it either of two ways. 1st way would be to uncheck the Show check boxes on the grid object for that sub-window. 2nd way would be to find the study that is the first to use the sub-window and change its Grid selection to None.
This 2nd way is a bit more efficient, and thus preferred. If you do not want any grid in the sub-window, change the study grid property to the None selection. This new grid is actually easier to work with once you realize the nature of the change. Previously if a user wanted to change the visual of a grid in a sub-window, they had to go find the study that owned the sub-window. Now it is easier to see the grid object on the chart objects list and go make the change directly on the object without having to find the study.
The added visual for the gradient or colors does not take any extra CPU effort. A thin vertical stripe is prepared for the image, and this becomes a paintbrush that is used to fill the sub-window area. The paintbrush effect is created once upon the sub-window being opened, and then just used to repaint the strip of space on the right side of the chart as the chart image moves leftward. Whether the paintbrush had 3 dotted lines on a white background, or some complex shading, it still takes the identical amount of CPU effort to create the brush and paint the stripe as the chart moves leftward. So do not shy away from fancy grids just because you think it adds to CPU overhead.... it does not.
Ventrilo Upgrade:
The site where we have purchased the Ventrilo services we offer for free to users upgraded their server for Ventrilo to a new version 3. This caused a mandatory upgrade of all clients to the matched version 3.0.0. The Ventrilo page on our web site had been updated to show downloading the Ventrilo client 3.0.0. Simply download and install the new Ventrilo upgrade, and it will prompt you to uninstall the prior version. etc. Install in the same default folder. And when you run the new client all your settings seem to be preserved.
Abort Refresh:
al_gorithm: if we inadvertently do a refresh from IB and then forget to change the option back to DTN, is there a way to cancel a refresh. Opening a workspace with lots of charts trying to refresh from IB clobbers CPU.
A refresh in progress shows on the top caption line a number in brackets which is how many other refresh requests are pending or in a queue. You can do the following trick to throw the queue away, and the trick is to go to Setup | Connection and change the data source selection to Ensign Internet and then back to IB. This will clear the pending refresh queue, so that they do not execute.
eSignal Form T trade:
mm: Hi Howard, eSignal showed me how to 'ADD a Last Form T" field to my Quote Page" of the eSignal. Now, a 'Last' on the eSignal's Quote Window reflects the pre/post market price.
Ensign also has a Form T column on its quote page. And the Form T trades will show on Time and Sales and on a chart if the market hours are extended or 2nd session hours are present and the Day Session Only box is unchecked.
Double click on any column caption to change the selection to Form T on the panel of choices.
Open Tick:
Dogfoot: do I need any software installed to run off Open Tick. I have subscribed to open tick and have a user name/pw
No other software needs to be installed for Open Tick. Ensign is sufficient to get the Open Tick feed.
Dogfoot: running transact also.
For transact you also need the EDS download installed as well. Have you been running Transact OK already?
Dogfoot: yes. Can't get any indexes that should be on OT I have it added.
Give sample symbol you have on Setup | Manager list for Open Tick. I will try the same with you.
Dogfoot: $VOLD or $PREM
The NYSE Down volume is $DVOL. The S&P index would be $IN-MT. I cannot find a symbol for $PREM.
Use this form to do symbol look up: http://www.opentick.com/index.php?app=search&event=symbols
More Tick Data:
Saroj: Howard where can I find out how to get tick data for ER2 prior to 11/08?
Do not have a source for more than a week back for IB users. The DTN Market Access source goes back 1 week.
Saroj: oh... so no way to convert previous *.txt data?
1 moment Saroj, let me see if I can help. You want ER2 tick files older than 11-08. I can get data for you from eSignal farther back under symbol AB #F. Let me get several days, and upload them. You can download them using the Internet Services form and copy them to the ER2 folder. They are the same data.
Saroj: ok... so it seems that I'm using the Database Manager correctly... its just that these historical files aren't available... right? But they will build up over time as long as I have my computer on and those symbols are in the Manager (Setup)
Correct, DTN tick refresh is back 1 week. I am thinking for IB users the program should automatically relocate the AB download to the ER2 folder. So let me make that improvement in the program for the next upgrade to save you some effort. It will benefit all IB users.
Import Playback Files:
On the database manager is a bullet selection labeled Playback. When you select the bullet, the Playback folder will show which contains your old Ensign playback files. Select a file to convert, and click the Refresh button, and Ensign will import the ticks from this file and make a tick database file. This process happens quickly, so you can walk down a list of files, select each one and click Refresh button for each one. Then you will have useful tick database files going way back that you might not be able to refresh now, and you will be able to play those old files in a playback.
Saroj: and that data will be available for filling in regular charts too? not just playback?
@Buffy2: yahoo :-) love it. Thanks for a great solution. Wow that is years.
And if you have interest or need the tick file created from the playback can also be used to build a 1-min database file by selecting the Source 1-Min from Ticks. There you click on the tick file to convert and click the Refresh button with 1-Min from Ticks and it builds that 1-min database file from the Tick file.
@Buffy2: bet many are happy with this solution
When tick and/or minute database files exist, they can be used to build bars on the charts by using the chart's pop-up menu for Rebuild Visible with the area showing on the chart view where you want data inserted. In my testing, I converted all of these YM files from Playback files, and then build this tick chart from the data.
Auto Refresh:
@Buffy2: Howard I still don't understand why dbm would think there was a gap when that workspace was up when I closed and got first one and up and closed again when I got second one. It wasn't down long enough to need over 200 thousand ticks.
Show dbm for the day for ticks for symbol.
The program refreshes because of the single white square it sees. Ensign wondered if it could fill it by refreshing. The hole might be real, and will color it aqua if not seen in the refresh. The refresh that will fill the hole and color the unlocked squares with the locked blue is a refresh for the 13th. The file is showing the evening of the 13th and the day of the 14th. Though it is the file for the 14th, the evening is on the 13th. The refresh for 1 day does midnight to midnight. So it is a refresh of the 13th that should fill it.