Setting up virtual files with WOW...maybe :-)
Long, long post...
Please pay particular attention to this paragraph. I'm a brand new user of QP and WOW -- as in QP arrived in the mail last week and WOW Pro arrived two days ago! With the help of message posted back in June on this thread and Andy's patience in answering a flurry of emails, I managed to get virtual files working. I'll try to document the "incantations" I followed to make it work on my particular system. Remember QV is a beta product. If it doesn't work for you, don't do a whole lot of complaining to Gary about it!
As a retired (or worn out) software developer, I can appreciate the problems the QP guys face when developing software for the PC market. Win 95, etc. is a complex environment. As users, we make things tougher by installing all sorts of mutually incompatible software from different vendors. Implementing virtual meta files requires the QP guys to roll up their pants legs and wallow in some of the nastiest muck Microsoft has to offer. I'm delighted they took on the job.
Okay...with some trepidation...off we go. I'm running Win95 with an upgrade or two, 48 Meg of RAM, 3 Gig hard drive and a Pentium. When I installed QP I followed their instructions more or less. I don't like to have everything hanging of the c:\ root directory so I installed QP, WOW, etc. in a folder call Trading. QP handled this variation from the default installation as it should.
On page 4 of my manual we have Setup - Data Directories. Fill in the two fields and leave them alone. I use c:\trading\qp2data and c:\trading\diskbuff. The defaults will work as well. Next page you'll find Creating a Disk Buffer. Make sure this directory matches your choice on the Setup - Data directories screen -- mine's obviously c:\trading\diskbuff. I followed the instructions to run the program that populates the buffer and installed the entire CD.
Now comes installing the QP2 Virtual Program. You first surprise is the program is not on the QP CD. The manual refers to this as an optional program" and, for a day or two I though that meant it was going to cost a bit more to have this handy interface. What they actually mean is the program is not required. You can get a copy of QV (the virtual dameon) from qp2.com Notice the download hot spot says BETA!!! Download the program and click on it to install. Answer NO to the offer to Restart your computer...we have a bit more work to do first.
A couple of people have reported problems with interactions between QV, Norton and Screen Savers. I don't run Norton or a Screen Saver, but I decided to avoid potential problems (remember BETA, BETA, BETA) by only running QV when it was needed. The QV installation process added the QV dameon to your startup file so everytime you start your computer the dameon is run.
Okay, what's a dameon? A dameon is a little imp that lives inside your computer and, when brought to life, does the work of making virtual files look like real files. WOW tells Win95, "Open this file". Win95 passes the request to the little imp. The little imp knows that WOW is looking at a "virtual file" which is actually only a pointer to a "real file". Rather than opening the empty virtual file, the imp follows the pointer to the real data file, opens it and returns its handle or address to WOW. If the imp isn't "alive" this process won't work!
We're going to remove the QV dameon from the start file and you're going to promise to remember to run it whenever you want to do something in QP, WOW, MSWin or any other program that looks at your c:\meta files. As I recently demonstrated, forgetting to run the dameon can make you look pretty silly :-). Move your mouse to the Start button the Win toolbar and right click to open a menu. Point to Open and left click to open the Start Menu. Click on Programs...click on Startup. This folder contains shortcuts to the programs Win will activate at startup -- (Step right up! Mysteries revealed!). Click on the dameon, QP Virtual, drag it out of the window and onto your desktop. Now you need to restart your computer. When everything is back up and running, click on QP Virtual to start the dameon because we're going to fool around with the c:\meta virtual files. Nothing too exciting happens when you start the dameon, but if you'll look at the tool tray you see QV waiting to process virtual file requests.
Now comes the fun part -- creating a profile. Start the QP Virtual Setup program just like it says in the manual. Don't get cute here. I used the parameters just like the manual suggested: c:\, META, Based on My Own Selections. Click Create. I gave up dragging lists of securites since my scans populate the virtual files. Click Save and exit the program. Good grief...you've got to restart again! Do it and don't forget to startup the little imp ;-)
It's time to run a QP scan to populate the virtual files. Here's a little goodie from Gongonzo:
output="250vol.lst";
ProcessMS = "c:\meta\250vol\",VMS;
daystoload=200;
daysrequired=90;
if avgvol(0,-33) > 250000 then
if close(0)>9.99 then
Println symbol:-6, close(0);
endif; endif;
Notice the second line -- ProcessMS. As you'll learn in the QP help document, that statement is going to populate the virtual directory c:\meta\250vol with the securities identified by the scan. This statement, with appropriate directory names, is how you move securites from QP to WOW, etc.
Okay, let's run this puppy and see if virtual files are going to work for you. Start the Quote Plus Scan Database program and either click on the new scan icon or File \ Run. Give the scan a short name like "Andy's 250 Vol", a description like "Stocks with good average volume and a price of $10 or more", put the scan code in the bottom window (I hope you're using ctrl-C, ctrl-V to copy and paste), and click Done. Find the scan in the Select Report/Scans, click the little box and Run. Sit back and watch QP do its job. After the scan is completed you'll watch QP "clean" the c:\meta\250Vol file and populate it with new securities.
Now, finally, start WOW. Click on Charts then New Chart then Dir. We need to tell WOW where to find the virtual files. Double click on c:\, double click on meta, double click on vol250. You'll find a bunch of directories named msdata0, 1, ... This aggravating structure is a remnant of the dark ages of computer science. Each directory contains 255 securities. Double click on msdata0 and click OK. You should see the select New Chart window. On July 16, 98 a company called DoubleClick Inc passed the 250Vol scan. How can you resist? Double click it to open it's chart. Shazam!!! You've opened a chart from a virtual file.
Scans in virtual files are slower so do more work in QP than WOW. QP has a great scan language -- use the help files to learn it. Download other's scans and play with them. Keep you scan output to fewer than 255 securities to avoid having to hunt and peck the directory structures.
I've been careful but this document is bound to have mistakes. Before you launch into this process read the next couple of days' posts. If you're reading this on the day it's posted, give it a try and let us know what problems you may have found.
Best of luck with this great QP feature.
Carl |
