Speed Issues

[pflash50]

If I move the edge of a window, or a whole window, I expect it to happen instantly. In reality I know it takes several milliseconds to happen, but it seems instantaneous.

And most of the time my expectation is met. Even when I'm dealing with eSignal.

But eSignal can often not meet my expectation. All I have to do is add a custom program to a chart, load 10 or 20 days of one minute data, and then try to scroll or resize the chart or move another window (*) to un-cover part of the chart. (If I move another eSignal window to cover part of the chart, it happens instantly as expected.)

When I think about why this might happen, I imagine that eSignal is written so that any time part of a chart is uncovered, all (or a significant portion) of the data is being recalculated per my custom program in order to redraw the newly revealed chart area. More data (20 days of 1 minute data is a lot) is a lot to calculate. But there is no need to recalculate for a simple scroll or window movement.


* Another eSignal window. If I drag the edge of a non-eSignal window so that it partially covers the chart, then drag it so that it un-covers part of the chart, the edge drag happens instantly. But the part of the chart that was un-covered is just a blank white area. If I then drag the non-eSignal window over the chart again, covering a part that is not whited-out, then uncovering it, everything happens instantly as I expect it to, including parts of the chart that are still displaying data.

Minutes later (literally), when the whited-out area recalcualtes and redraws, this odd recalculation behavior returns.

===

Can anyone explain what is going on here, and is there a way to prevent this or get around it?

[Doji3333]

I can't explain all of this...

but I do have some questions....

First, how fast is your system. I'm running a 2.4 GHZ system and I don't seem to have these problems.

Second, the amount of data in your charts. 20 days of 1 minute data is roughly 9000 bars of data (assuming standard trading hours). If you are using 24 hour charts, that number can easily be multiplied by 3 - or 27000 bars of data.

For purposes of "testing", you might try reducing your 1 minute charts to 2~3 days of data (or set it to 400~700 bars of data). I'm pretty sure this will help to resolve your speed issues.

Many people don't quite understand eSignal Time Templates. These are an important ability if esignal to handle data. Let me give you some examples..

for 1 minute charts, you may only need 400~700 bars of data.
for all other intra-day charts, you might want 4~10 days of data.
for specific time frames, you might want to set specific settings.

Using the time templates, you can create variant "setups" for different time frames. Thus, you can set esignal up to handle your needs (based on time-frames) to speed up the processing esignal does.

Now, I'm not saying these suggestions are the resolution to your issues. I just know that I use these to keep my needs of esignal working the way I want it (fast). Most of the time, I run my intra-day charts with 2~5 days of data. Other charts, I run with 20+ days of data and I let esignal handle the Daily, Weekly++ chart automatically. I run 8~12 charts daily with potentially 30~40+ custom EFS files running all day. I have no major problems running esignal (unless I accidentally set an intraday chart to load 60+ days of 3 minute data - for example)... Then everything slows to a halt.

So, try setting up a custom time template and setting some defaults for intra-day charts. I think you'll see that you don't need 20 days of 1 minute data. You probably find you only need 2~3 days or 400~700 bars (about 2 days).

Let me know if this helps..

B

[pflash50]

Re: I can't explain all of this...

Originally posted by Doji3333
but I do have some questions....

First, how fast is your system. I'm running a 2.4 GHZ system and I don't seem to have these problems.

I have an AMD 3200+ processor with 1/2 gig of memory and a 160 gig drive that is essentially empty. eSignal is the ONLY application I've installed on this machine.


Second, the amount of data in your charts. 20 days of 1 minute data is roughly 9000 bars of data (assuming standard trading hours). If you are using 24 hour charts, that number can easily be multiplied by 3 - or 27000 bars of data.

For purposes of "testing", you might try reducing your 1 minute charts to 2~3 days of data (or set it to 400~700 bars of data). I'm pretty sure this will help to resolve your speed issues.

Many people don't quite understand eSignal Time Templates. These are an important ability if esignal to handle data. Let me give you some examples..

for 1 minute charts, you may only need 400~700 bars of data.
for all other intra-day charts, you might want 4~10 days of data.
for specific time frames, you might want to set specific settings.

Using the time templates, you can create variant "setups" for different time frames. Thus, you can set esignal up to handle your needs (based on time-frames) to speed up the processing esignal does.

I have a number of time templates for various numbers of days (1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50). All of them are set for interval "default", start time 06:00, end time 16:00 (central time zone).

The purpose of having 5 day or longer templates is, of course, backtesting.

eSignal provides no way (that I am presently aware of) to isolate a small group of days in the past for testing purposes. Therefore, if I want to see how my latest program adjustment performed during the month of July (it is October now), I must load all of the days since July 1. This is an obvious design boo-boo that I hope they will correct some day.



Now, I'm not saying these suggestions are the resolution to your issues. I just know that I use these to keep my needs of esignal working the way I want it (fast). Most of the time, I run my intra-day charts with 2~5 days of data. Other charts, I run with 20+ days of data and I let esignal handle the Daily, Weekly++ chart automatically. I run 8~12 charts daily with potentially 30~40+ custom EFS files running all day. I have no major problems running esignal (unless I accidentally set an intraday chart to load 60+ days of 3 minute data - for example)... Then everything slows to a halt.

So, try setting up a custom time template and setting some defaults for intra-day charts. I think you'll see that you don't need 20 days of 1 minute data. You probably find you only need 2~3 days or 400~700 bars (about 2 days).

Let me know if this helps..



When I'm running live data I use my 2 or 3 day time template. I have no speed problems. My previous system (a 1.1 gig Celeron) also had no speed problems when used this way. But it would often never finish an attempt to load and process 10 days of data, and never once finished an attempt at 20 days of data.

I have in fact written code that allows me to isolate a single day in the past for processing with my program. It works reasonably well.

But there are still some obvious problems, and I want to understand why eSignal behaves this way.

Example - I have 20 days of data loaded, and I'm looking at the 2nd day.

If I right click to get a chart menu, I expect it pop up instantly. But it doesn't.

If I move an eSignal window such that it uncovers part of this chart, the drag operation does NOT complete instantly. It takes about 10 to 15 seconds. (If I set my bug-patch to allow my program to process 2 days, the drag operation takes about 20 to 30 seconds. And so on.)

Obviously eSignal is doing something like recalculating the data to be re-displayed. Just as obviously this is not necessary.

The 10 to 30 second delay everytime I touch the chart is annoying, but I can live with it until I find something better.

It prompts me (frequently) to go check out the competition, looking for that "something better". I would rather not have to climb another learning curve, but some of the competition is getting just about ready for prime time ...