Announcement

**JayF** · 03-31-2009, 04:12 PM

I'm excited to announce the immediately availability of QCharts 6.0.3 on the main QCharts download page. Head on over there and update your version today! For further information about this release, continue reading...

Version Overview
Since the release of QCharts 6.0.2 approximately one year ago, our focus has been on streamlining QCharts to get it running as well or better than the accepted benchmark of QCharts 5.1.0.22 on the Continuum network. While 6.0.3 is our best-performing release of the 6.x series, additional work needs to be completed to finish the migration to the eSignal network. 6.0.3 continues to make a data connection to Continuum, and it will continue to do so until the release of QCharts 6.1.

An interesting side-note to keep in mind is that the eSignal and Continuum data networks are vastly different. Continuum is compressed specifically for QCharts 5.1. Likewise, QCharts 5.1 and the older versions were specifically built to get data from only Continuum. As such, both software and server made many assumptions about one another all throughout their codebases. This dramatically increased the complexity of the migration.

The eSignal network has a much broader scope than Continuum’s. Not only does it feed the various eSignal product lines, but it also feeds back into a vastly larger network. Collectively, the Interactive Data network reaches well over a million users among the various institutions, subscribers, websites, etc.

The key point…QCharts 6.0.3 is backed by one of the biggest institutional datafeeds in the industry and is faster, more accurate and timely.

Enhancements

CPU, Memory Usage
Many of the issues in 6.0.2 centered around this challenge. Our very first task in 6.0.3 was to improve this area dramatically, and I’m pleased to say we certainly have. Overall CPU and memory usage have gone down. QCharts should no longer freeze or lockup mid-session due to your PC running out of memory. QCharts is also better equipped to handle high-volume periods.

Extended Intraday Bar History
One of the biggest requests is to migrate all of QCharts former historical data into the new QCharts. I’m pleased to report that this has been completed. This data resides on a special set of servers reserved for the purpose of providing tick and minute-based bar data beyond eSignal's 120 days. This service includes 10 years of minute-based bar data and one year of tick-based data.

While there is no charge for this service for QCharts users, this service must be added to your account in order for you to view this extended data. This process is outlined below:

1. Within QCharts, click on Help -> Account Maintenance, or visit https://secure.esignal.com/maintenance.aspx?bhcp=1 using your browser.
2. Log in using your QCharts username and password.
3. Click on the "Add / Cancel Add-On Services" link.
4. Select your product and click Continue
5. Near the bottom of the screen, click on "Add-On Services" and then "Show More Options".
6. Under the “Misc. Services” section, put a check next to the "Extended Intraday History" option.
7. Click "Complete this Transaction" and follow any remaining on-screen instructions.
8. Wait 10 - 15 minutes and then restart QCharts.

Line Transferring
One of the important items that our users have been requesting is to make sure that, as they transition from one version to another, as much work as possible is carried over. Many QCharts users spend hours upon hours perfecting their trend lines, pitchforks and fib levels. In QCharts 6.0.3, these lines will automatically be transferred over even if the symbols are in different formats.

Abbreviated Volume
Under View -> Preferences, and the Display tab, there’s a new “Abbreviate Volume” selection. This feature simply adjusts the volume figure such that it fits into a smaller space, thus saving traders valuable screen real estate.

PNG Image Format
One of the more popular image formats in recent years has been added to QCharts and has been made the default format. This allows for cleaner screenshots and compressed image sizes.

Multi-Minute Bar Tab Explained
There is a newly simplified tab under View -> Preferences.

"Build bars from specified interval”
On by default, this choice dramatically increases the speed of charts and lowers the CPU usage. The downside is that QCharts will send the exact interval requested to the server, and this causes the last bar of the session not to be cut off at the exact end of the session (i.e., a 60-minute chart's last bar will end at 16:30, instead of 16:00); eSignal's Advanced Charts also use this method

"Build bars from the largest interval that fits evenly into session times”
Depending on the symbol and interval used, QCharts will attempt to find the greatest common divisor between the number of minutes in the session and the interval. It then requests that interval from the Tick Server. QCharts assembles the correct interval in the charts and cuts it off at the correct time. This provides for more accurate charts, but the number of bars that need to be downloaded and processed is significantly higher. This could lead QCharts to momentarily stall while it is downloading all the bars needed and processing them.

Feedback from a User
“Why do I need to choose between faster or accurate chart? I pay for both!”
We completely agree, and this is currently one of our top priorities. We are actively working on the server side to support the full session requests QCharts needs so that the client-side software doesn’t need to build the bars locally.

**JayF** · 06-02-2009, 04:23 PM

We have completed the 6.0.3 Maintenance Release. This version includes a number of bug fixes that prevented some users from upgrading to 6.0.3.

This is the last of the 6.0 series. We have already begun development of the 6.1 series, and we expect the first version of 6.1 to be out this summer.

QCharts
Version 6.0.3.1613
Size: 16.5Mb

http://www.qcharts.com/download

Release Notes
----------------------------------------
- Auto-Wave study in no longer plotting excessive lines
- Auto-Wave study is no longer blinking on line charts
- Option montage's filter by strike is now working correctly when "out of the money" or "in the money" is selected
- Interval linking should no longer change unexpectedly
- Last / Ext Hours field is now more consistent; delivers correct data no matter the time of day
- Quarterly and Yearly charts are now correctly displaying their data
- A potential memory leak / 100% CPU situation has been resolved relating to improperly scaled yearly charts
- Charts for delayed symbols are now plotted correctly, both historical and in real-time
- Quote sheets are now only displaying their highlight color when data has actually changed
- Previously drawn labels no longer mistakenly appear on the vertical chart scale under certain conditions
- Several performance improvements have been made to Quote Sheet
- The Bar Export dialog now has the option to close automatically upon completing the export request
- Daily bar on NASDAQ stocks is now displaying correctly in the post-market session
- Lines now correctly carry over from earlier versions of QCharts; i.e. $HUI lines no longer conflict with HUI.X
- Corrected a failover bug that arose during this network event; if a similar situation reoccurs, QCharts will now redirect to a new network facility within 30 seconds.
- Several minor bugs and rarely occurring crashes were addressed

Announcement

QCharts 6.0.3 Maintenance Release

QCharts 6.0.3 Maintenance Release

Comment

Comment