Layout defaults

[hamrinbb]

My ray lines I use for gaps and vertical lines I also draw sometimes disappear. I think it may be related to what i have as my default setting on the layouts.

Sometimes I remove studies. To return them, I often just reload my default settings. I think this may cause those ray lines & vertical lines to disappear.

Do I need to save as default a chart with ray lines and my vertical drawn lines for them to remain?

Thanks in advance,

Frank

[ckelly]

hamrinbb,

You'll find that using any of the Drawing Toolbar tools, without setting them to the Chart Default, will be removed if after placing them you then Chart/Layout/Load Default.

Additionally, if you save as Default a chart with any of the Toolbar tools (lines, rays, notes, etc.), those will appear for that symbol only.

Carol

[hamrinbb]

Thanks, Carol. I'm still a little unclear. Are you saying that each time I add notes, lines or any of the drawing tools to a chart for a sepcific symbol, I must save it as a default? If that were so, why do the drawing lines disappear on one charts when I load default for another chart. I thought the default would be for all charts, all symbols.

[ckelly]

hamrinbb

Are you saying that each time I add notes, lines or any of the drawing tools to a chart for a sepcific symbol, I must save it as a default?

No, not at all. Let's try this again.
(1) Set your chart up the way you want it with Indicators, moving averages, Bollinger Bands, Font size, etc. And then set that chart as your Default via Chart/Layout/SET Default.
(2) Now, everytime you add a new chart, it will appear as what you set up in #1, above.
(3) If you add anything from the Drawing Toolbar (lines, notes, etc.) to a chart and then go back to Chart/Layout/Load Default - those lines and notes, etc. will be removed and you'll see a chart as that you set up in #1, above.

Hope this helps,
Carol

[hamrinbb]

So once I add, for example, ray lines to a chart, I should save it as the default because that is the default for that chart only. Or is it for that symbol only?

Sorry to be so dense, but what puzzles me is why if I draw lines on a chart for one symbol but load default for another symbol, the lines I drew on that previous chart disappear?

[ckelly]

hamrinbb,

When you set the Chart Default (via Chart/Layout/Set Default) - that is default for all charts for that Workspace. These default settings include things like the font, any moving averages, Bollinger Bands, etc., along with any Indicators you may add, such as Stochastic, or MACD, etc.

What many people do when building a new Workspace is to set-up one chart the way they like it, then Chart/Layout/Set Default, and thereafter all charts opened in that Workspace will have this Set Default. (Saves a ton of time.)

Once it is set, you can change the symbol and/or the time interval of a chart and the default settings will continue to hold.

Now, if you put lines on a chart for a specific symbol, they will remain on that chart, for that symbol - and even if you change time intervals, the lines for that symbol will still be there.

You can change the symbol for that chart, add new lines for the new symbol, and they will remain there as well.

The charts have a "memory" for each symbol (all the lines and notes you put with the symbol). The only way you will lose these lines/notes is if you (1) delete them, (2) change the Chart Default (via Chart/Layout/Set Default) and then Load it, (3) Define another Chart Layout (via Chart/Layout/Save) and then Load it, or (4) close the Workspace without Saving it. (If your ISP is prone to fail, or if you are using 6.0, I would recommend manually saving often.)


Let me know if this doesn't clear it up and I'll try another explaination.

Carol

[hamrinbb]

Carol,
I’m sorry I’m not explaining this clearly. I appreciate your patience. To the best of my recollection, here is what I think is happening.

When I first set up my workspace, I had the usual Bollinger bands, moving averages, etc. I also had the StochRSI, MACD and Directional movement studies. In the StochRSI I drew a line at the 50 mark. I saved that as my default.

Each day I drew horizontal lines where there are major price reversals. But I found that when I loaded default for another chart, on say the daily, all the horizontal lines that I drew on ALL my daily charts ONLY disappeared. The lines were still there on the other time charts

So then I thought maybe I just needed a few horizontal lines so the charts would know that ANY horizontal lines I drew were to be part of the default workspace. Probably a bad assumption. Still, I drew some horizontal lines at price reversals and set that as my default workspace.

Each night I add horizontal lines, notes and vertical lines at earnings announcements.

On occasion, I might blow up a daily chart across several screens, and to do my research I need to remove the StochRSI, MACD and DM. Once I’ve done my research, I hit load default, so that all the studies come back.

But then I’d go back to a chart where I recently added notes, vertical lines and additional horizontal lines and found they disappeared – not all the horizontal lines, just the more recent ones. How recent I don’t know for sure. But it only happens on one time period. It seems all daily charts are linked.

How do I save all the lines, notes, etc.? How do I add notes on a daily of symbol A and then go to symbol B, remove studies briefly, and then get them back without losing the work I did on Symbol A’s charts?

I’m not sure if what I’m doing is either changing “the Chart Default (via Chart/Layout/Set Default) and then Loading it, or (3) Defining another Chart Layout (via Chart/Layout/Save) and then Loading it

[tradertom]

If I may give it a shot... Probably repeating what Carol already said...

The "Default Layout" is the layout that QC uses when you hit "New Chart." It is also the layout that QC uses when you click "Load Default." You should only save a chart's layout to the Default Layout that you want to get when you click new chart. In other words, it should be a "set and forget" layout. And it is a real timesaver when you create new workspaces from scratch for example.

In your case, I would save the layout ("Save" NOT "Save Default") for your chart under some meaningless name like "Temp.qcl" just before you want to mess around with that chart's studies, etc. Then, when you are finished messing around with that chart, reload the temporary layout file using "Layout" then "Load" (again, NOT "Load Default") selecting the "Temp.qcl" file you saved earlier.

This will allow you to mess around all you want then get back to where you were when you saved the layout for that chart.

Anything you added while messing about will disappear when you load the temporary ("temp.qcl") file, but I think that is your goal.

The next chart (or symbol) you want to do this with, just overwrite the temp.qcl file when you are about to mess around with the new chart then reload it... no need to save the temporary layouts to unique file names.

Does this make sense??
T

[ckelly]

Frank,

I think what you're missing is that when you set the Chart Default - that will be the Default for every Chart Window you open in that Workspace (it is not a Default for that Symbol). So, what you see right there on THAT chart when you set the Default (via Chart/Layout/Set Default) is what you'll get everytime you go back and do Chart/Layout/LOAD Default.

When you remove the Indicators, and then you want them back on that individual chart - if you go thru Chart/Layout/LOAD Default - you erase anything that you currently see and load up what you put in the Default.

So, if you need to remove your Indicators, put them back individually (& reset their Preferences individually) and then Save the Workspace again.

An idea for you is to keep a separate chart with your BB's & mva's and no Indicators and you can stretch it big to see what you're looking for, and then put your notes back on the chart with all the Indicators - this may save you some time.

Carol

[hamrinbb]

Carol and T,
I'm beginning to see the light.

Why loading a default for one time frame, changes all the charts in that time frame but not all time frames is a mystery to me. But I just need a solution.

T, I think your solution makes sense IF and it's a big IF. If saving and loading this temp.qcl won't make all the notes I made on other symbols' charts disappear. I tried a simple test and it seemed to work.

Let's hope this ends this thread, though perhaps I should have heeded Mark Twain's advice: It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Thanks again.

[ckelly]

Tom & Frank,
Just curious - are you seeing what you described in 5.1 or in 6.0?

I ran a test this morning and if I SAVE to Temp.qcl in 5.1 and then return, only the lines in the displayed Symbol when it was SAVED will be displayed when it is LOADED (& all other Symbols' notes/lines are gone). However, in 6.0, the lines & notes from other Symbols are SAVED with it. Interesting.

Carol

[hamrinbb]

Carol, I'm using 5.1. I didn't notice any lines missing from other symbols. I'd test it but I'm afraid to try as my previous problem caused me to lose a couple days of earnings research. If you think I can do what you did and if I find it did erase lines, close down without saving and therefore save those lines, I'll try it. What do you think?

[ckelly]

Frank,
I hear your concern about losing valuable research. Here's what you can do to help protect yourself, whether running this test or anytime in general:

Go to File/Save Workspace AS - and then Save your Workspace with another name, such as, Earnings Research Copy.qcw.

If you are putting a lot of lines/notes into your Workspace, it's probably a good idea to Save AS - Copy on a regular basis.

You could also do a Save As Earnings Research Copy for Test.qcw and then use that specific Workspace for all your testing.


Another thing you can do when testing is simply open a new Chart, put a few lines/notes on it for several symbols, and then delete Indicators, add notes, Chart/Layout/Load (or Load Default) and see what happens to that specific chart without having impacted the rest of your Workspace.

Hope this helps,
Carol