Stator allows you to connect to historical data in various formats, one of the formats is ASCII text. This tutorial will illustrate how you can create an ASCII text DataSource template in Stator.
What is a DataSource template?
[View the DataSource template tutorial]
A DataSource template is the interface between Stator and your historical data. A DataSource template identifies the format, location and other settings which are used by Stator to read historical price data.
Opening the DataSource Manager
To open the DataSource manager;
1. From the "Tools" menu, select "DataSource Manager".
2. Select the "Templates" tab.
The picture above shows the DataSource Manager with the default, pre-installed templates. This tutorial will show you how to add an ASCII text format template.
Add a new DataSource Template
From the DataSource Manager, click on the "Add New" button to open a blank template form.
1. Type in a name for the template in the "DataSource Template" field.
2. Select "ASCII File" as the Historical DataSource.
PLEASE NOTE:
The format of the datasource, i.e. MetaStock, ASCII will determine the fields shown on the DataSource template form.
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The ASCII text format requires you to specify the following;
Default Path
You need to specify the location (folder) to your ASCII data.
Update Current Price
This field determines if this historical DataSource is to be used to update the "Current Price" field when performing a price update.
ASCII Format Fields
You need to specify the ordering of data within your ASCII file from left to right. For example if an entry in the ASCII file looked like;
ANZ,20070209,29.6,29.86,29.45,29.65,4144335
The definition for this ASCII format is (from left to right);
CODE, DATE, OPEN, HIGH, LOW, CLOSE, VOLUME
The fields which are required by Stator, i.e. CLOSE, DATE etc are available as fields to assign. Fields which are not required by Stator, i.e. CODE can simply be allocated the "FILLER" type.
Date Format
Specifies the description of how dates are formatted in the file.
Time Format
Specifies the description of how time values (if present) are formatted in the file.
Field Separator
Specifies which character is used to separate the different fields in a single row of data.
Decimal Separator
Specifies which character is used as the decimal separator for price fields. The selection is either period (.) or comma (,).
Ignore First Lines
If your data file contains one or more header lines, specify this value in the Ignore First Lines field. These lines will subsequently be ignored when the file data is imported.
Volume Multiplier
Some files store volume information that must be multiplied by 10, 100, or some other amount to result in correct volume data. If this is the case, specify this value in the Volume Multiple entry field.
3. Click on the "Save" button to save the DataSource template.
The picture above shows the new ASCII DataSource template set as default. You can now assign the DataSource template to all of the CODE/CURRENCY/EXCHANGE combinations in the Stator database.
Click here to learn how to assign DataSource templates.
DEFAULT DATASOURCE TEMPLATES:
The default DataSource template is used by Stator to automatically assign templates after you enter new trades. This saves you time by having the DataSource automatically assigned.
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