6.0.2 feedback

[lugnutz]

re: running on Vista... I followed sonicbum's instructions in this thread here and confirm his premise that XP compatibility mode isn't needed. (I tried both his approach and the one outlined on qcsoftwarehelp.com) IMO his approach should be the standard since it's simple and seems to work better (no nagging from Vista when trying to start qcharts.) Thanks to all those guys for blazing the path.

Just to clarify here is the exact instructions:

Another way to fix this (my preferable way) is to leave UAC turned on, and just give "users" "full control" permissions to the Qcharts folder (which will trickle down and give read/write permissions to all necessary files in there). Just right click the Qcharts folder in Program Files, click Properties, click Security, click Edit, and select "users" and click "Full control" and save.

Running 150 symbols on my new Vista (Home Premium 32-bit with Service Pack 1) Dell notebook seems to be fine as long as I'm wired up to my ethernet network. When I try to run that workspace over my *very reliable* 11Mb wireless, qcharts seems to be pretty flaky. Issues include slow init time, regular failure to get "Entitled" or "Dom Tick"... frequent "Not Responding" in the title bar when saving the workspace and loading the workspace and more frequent occurrence of the dreaded "blank chart" syndrome. New laptop is a 2.4GHz core 2 duo with 4GB RAM, tons of disk and NVIDIA video card... so it's no slouch.

lugz

[hardtaill]

I left the Data Manager running by mistake during the day after closing 6.x. All my other programs had a slight lag as usual; ie: Photeshop, Adobe Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Publisher and others. After closing it--no slight lag. Is the Data Manager 99% of 6.x's problems?


Tail.

[tradertom]

I have three annoyances that frequently occur though not at the same time. I am using QC 6.0.2 on a laptop at present. (My quad-core machine does not like 6.0.2 as has been reported before.)

First, QCharts does not always show options prices in quote sheets (I think this is being addressed in the next release.) Occurs two out of three restarts approximately.

Secondly, I do not get any intraday charts on anything. Again, no way to know when this will happen. Occurs every other restart sometimes.

Lastly, occasionally after QCharts is shut down normally, there is still a QCharts.exe process running out there. I have to use Task Manager to close QCharts.exe after I close QCharts normally... This is frustrating because it seems to take a lot of system resources (no hard data but my system just seems slow while the reneegade QCharts.exe process is out there.)

The most frustrating thing is when I have to restart QCharts to get intraday charts and find that my options prices have disappeared or vice versa. I rarely get that magical combination when all cylinders are firing, even after several reboots. I must have intraday charts and I can get options pricing elsewhere but these two things frustrate the heck outta me!

I am looking forward to trying out the next beta version to see if any of these things are corrected (along with the excessive system resource problem.) I know Jay, Mike and company are doing all they can. For users, it is a daily, hourly, sometimes minute-by-minute struggle to use QCharts.

Later,
Tom

[lugnutz]

Tradertom - I have also seen a recent rise in the "all intraday charts are blank" issue. It used to be that every now and then one of my intraday charts would be blank, but now it seems more frequently all intraday charts will just go blank on a symbol change. Changing servers doesn't help. The only thing to fix is to exit and restart qcharts. Ugh.

On the Qcharts.exe process still running after exiting qcharts... it may be the known issue with Vista. I had that symptom on my Vista notebook every time until I applied the sonicbum permissions fix... now Qcharts exits cleanly every time. Alternatively, you can apply the qcsoftwarehelp fix instead (running in XP compat as administrator mode), that should also fix the problem. If you're running Vista, it's something to consider. If you're not running Vista... uh... sorry.

lugz

[tradertom]

Hey Lugnutz,

You are right, it seems to have gotten worse lately. Maybe it is on one of the eSignal servers; I cannot tell what server I am on and there is no way to change servers when there are no intraday charts so the roulette game of closing and restarting begins! I do have confidence that Mike and Jay and the gang will get it all figured out. I hope their silence on the latest version is a sign that they are ecstatic with the latest alpha version!

Also, thanks for the tip on Vista... If I ever upgrade from XP, I will keep it in mind! I am still on XP Pro on all my machines and plan to stay there for the time being. In all honesty, I am looking more and more at (gasp!) the Mac. But it is mostly frustration with general Windows problems that I have come do live with but loathe (nothing to do with QCharts in this case). I have a friend who runs QCharts very smoothly on a MacBook Pro using a program called Parallels (I think). I was amazed. We'll see... Thanks again.

Tom

[Larry Marchman]

Originally posted by tradertom
I cannot tell what server I am on and there is no way to change servers when there are no intraday charts so the roulette game of closing and restarting begins!

Hey Tom,

Yep regarding not being able to switch to another eSignal data server. However, as a fwiw, one can tell what eSignal data servers (yep, plural) one is connected with. Ya know, just in case one wants to include the IP#(s) in a report/post, or perhaps check the health of the I'net path to the server with a tool like PingPlotter.

Read all my posts in this thread...

http://forum.esignalcentral.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25645&highlight=netstat

LAM

[tradertom]

Thanks for the reminder Larry, I forgot about that thread. It does seem to get more and more complicated the deeper one digs. With load balancing on the eSignal side, there is really no way of telling what server you are going to land on although you can determine which you have landed on after the fact and you can't change it except for restarting QCharts over and over. Yesterday, I had to restart it six times to get options quotes and intraday charts. This seems to be an average number for me. Dunno how many other people have this problem but I spend an inordinate amount of time wishing QCharts would show me what I am paying for!

It seems that if there is no intraday chart data displayed, that QCharts would move me to another server if load balancing were more robust and intelligent... I suppose I am just wishing now.

Thanks,
Tom

[JayF]

Tom et al,

We're hoping to have both the option chain and the blank charts problems fixed in 6.0.3.

Regarding the double bar or bars in the future on weekends and pre-market, I can acknowledge it is happening, but can't yet comment on when a fix is coming.

[tradertom]

Thanks Jay, I know it has been no small feat to migrate to eSignal servers and there had to be glitches along the way. Best of luck to the team and please pass along my appreciation for their hard work.

I look forward to 6.0.3!

later,
Tom

[Larry Marchman]

Originally posted by tradertom
Thanks for the reminder Larry, I forgot about that thread. It does seem to get more and more complicated the deeper one digs. With load balancing on the eSignal side, there is really no way of telling what server you are going to land on although you can determine which you have landed on after the fact and you can't change it except for restarting QCharts over and over. Yesterday, I had to restart it six times to get options quotes and intraday charts. This seems to be an average number for me.

You're welcome, Tom.

Some fwiw rambling here regarding more work than one will likely be willing to put up with <grin>....

I don't run 6.0 in production. Just can't do it due to the %cpu issue given my single-core 2.4Ghz Intel P4. So can't really comment regarding what someone trying to run 6.0 in production experiences. However, when testing I tend to note the eSignal data server IP Numbers I connect with. That's IP #s, not IP Names. The eSignal data server IP Names are bogus. With the sys monitor I use ($hareware... TaskInfo) it's very easy to copy all the connections to the various data servers with a single click, and then paste into a waiting open notepad or whatever. In doing this I've noticed that if I have to quit 6.0 (by choice or due to not-responding or crash) and restart I often get thrown onto one or more of the same set of previous servers. So the blank chart issue can persist what with being on the same server as before. Dunno what kind of firewall you run, but if it's quick and easy to do, blocking the offending specific IP before restart may provide some relief. Just musing here. It's not something I normally do since for me to block a specific IP # is kinda a hassle due to my firewall interface. But I have done it to insure another connection.

LAM

[tradertom]

Hey Larry,

It would be nice to be able to have a simple way to switch servers within QCharts... no wait... I must be having deja vu again!

I doubt I will go the extent you outline unless it takes more than 6 or 7 restarts to get everything working. Also when Jay gets 6.0.3 going, these things should be corrected and we should see a beta soon.

Thanks again!
Tom

[windstar10]

I am using 6.0.2.0 and it has become obvious to me that most, if not all, of my QCharts crashes are related to my use of alerts.

I typically have alerts set on around 200 symbols, to the upside and downside. If there are no triggered alerts in my list I have no crashes, but once there are maybe 50 or so triggered alerts in the alerts’ list this invariably leads to QCharts freezing up. Specifically, the alerts’ list must be open, and it seems that the freezes occur whenever an alert is triggered, so that the triggered alert dialog box tries to pop-up. Or, when the dialog box is displayed and I choose either OK or Rearm. In these cases the focus is moving from the stock chart to the alert dialog box, or from the dialog box to the alerts list, and it appears this is where QCharts is getting hung up.

Currently my workaround is to enter an invalid password in the data manager and to clear all of the triggered alerts. Once this is done I can log back in and review my active alerts without problem.

I should note that this issue seems to go back to 5.1, but I wasn’t convinced until recently that this was the source of my crashes.

It’s odd that no one else has noticed this behavior in QCharts, so I would certainly appreciate any feedback on it. Jay, I had commented to you way back in July 2006 that the alerts' dialog box could use an overhaul, to which you agreed >> http://forum.esignalcentral.com/show...threadid=18578
Of course crashes, etc. take precedence, but I thought this a good place to remind you it is still on my wish list.

JMK

[tradertom]

Hey JMK,

I can't comment on this one since I haven't used Alerts in a long time. I used them a fair amount in 5.14 as I recall, but my alerts now come from my broker to my cell phone which fits my lifestyle better.

Thanks,
Tom

[ckelly]

Originally posted by windstar10
I am using 6.0.2.0 and it has become obvious to me that most, if not all, of my QCharts crashes are related to my use of alerts.

......
It’s odd that no one else has noticed this behavior in QCharts, so I would certainly appreciate any feedback on it.


JMK

JMK,
I typically have 3-5 alerts set; rarely up to maybe 10 at a time. So far, I have not experienced crashes or a lockup in conjunction with them.

Just an fyi,
Carol

[windstar10]

Thanks for your responses, Carol & Tom.

Either there's an issue with my system or very few people set a ton of alerts, considering the muted reaction.

Would have really liked to know if it's a system bug, of course.

Any comments, Jay?

JMK