Anyway to export the IB symbol directory & account number field name question

[demarcog]

Whenever I reinstalled the IB Plugin, or yesterday for example when I reinstalled eSignal and Quote trader the symbol directory entries have to be recreated.

Is there anyway of exporting or saving the current directory contents to import into a new directory?

The account number also appears to be a generated field that I don't recall seeing for earlier plugin version. Will the current directory entries need to be rebuilt before trading with another account?

Thanks very much,

Glen

[clearpicks]

Re: Anyway to export the IB symbol directory & account number field name question

It seems the account number in "Defaults" window is retrieved from the TWS currently connected and it is not possible to create a "default exchange setting" for each IB account logged in, then what is the reason to shown account number in "Defaults" window? On my PC, the setup in "Defaults" is exactly the same after I changed my IB TWS account from my IB paper trading account to a real account.

- Clearpicks

Originally posted by demarcog
Whenever I reinstalled the IB Plugin, or yesterday for example when I reinstalled eSignal and Quote trader the symbol directory entries have to be recreated.

Is there anyway of exporting or saving the current directory contents to import into a new directory?

The account number also appears to be a generated field that I don't recall seeing for earlier plugin version. Will the current directory entries need to be rebuilt before trading with another account?

Thanks very much,

Glen

[eSignal_AlexM]

The next version will have a checkbox that can be set during uninstallation that will prevent the deletion of the configuration file (connection information, symbol mapping, order defaults, event notifications).

Account in the "Defaults" was added due to the support for FA groups. It is downloaded from TWS each time it gets connected.

Clearpicks is right saying it's impossible to have different order defaults for each account.

[demarcog]

Originally posted by amol
New version will have a checkbox during uninstallation that let you not to remove your configuration file (connection information, symbol mapping, order defaults, event notifications).

Account in the "Defaults" was added due to the support for FA groups. It is downloaded from TWS each time it gets connected.

Clearpicks is right saying it's impossible to have different order defaults for each account.

amol,

Thank you for the response.

Having that account information in there makes it very difficult to switch back and forth between a simulated account and real account.

If I have 100 symbols defined, and after testing a strategy want to go live then is there any alternative to manually changing 100 symbols?

If the symbol dictionary data is available in xml somewhere a quick edit/replace would be a much better alternative. This file could also be used in a current situation I have now. Where I reinstalled and am dreading the prospect of redoing 100 symbols which I guarantee a few I'll mess up.

Is there any plan to use a generic/continuous contract symbol like #F in eSignal or does the directory also have to be updated at contract roll over.

Thanks again,

Glen

[eSignal_AlexM]

Glen,

Configuration file is shared between QuoteTrader and eSignal and located here
%userprofile%\Application Data\eSignal\QuoteTrader\1\Quotetrader.xml

Please, make a backup of this file before changing something.

As to the question with switching demo/live accounts could you please describe it in bit more details?

Could you please specify:
- number of connection in eSignal
- do you have two TWS for demo/live or you use the same TWS?
- how may symbols you do you have in your dictionary?

I think that the best way is to have two separate instance of TWS (demo/live), two separate connections in eSignal that share single dictionary and may be order defaults.

Concerning the support for continuos contracts this is the first time we get such a request. We may implement it in one of subsequent releases.

[demarcog]

Originally posted by amol
[B]Glen,

Configuration file is shared between QuoteTrader and eSignal and located here
%userprofile%\Application Data\eSignal\QuoteTrader\1\Quotetrader.xml

Please, make a backup of this file before changing something.

Amol,

Thank you very much for that information which confirms what I thought and is very useful to know and will save me alot of time.

As to the question with switching demo/live accounts could you please describe it in bit more details?

Could you please specify:
- number of connection in eSignal
- do you have two TWS for demo/live or you use the same TWS?
- how may symbols you do you have in your dictionary?

I think that the best way is to have two separate instance of TWS (demo/live), two separate connections in eSignal that share single dictionary and may be order defaults.

The way that I've done it in the past was the simpliest way which may not be the best, and I appreciate your suggestion. I would use one instance of TWS with one esignal connection. This way simply signing on to the simulated or real would be all that was required to send orders to the real account.

You are suggesting two instances of TWS with two connection definitions, each with a different port specification? Then altering the default broker setting to determine which account receives the orders?

Thanks very much for your assistance it is greatly appreciated.

Glen

[eSignal_AlexM]

Single TWS and connection is not a problem currently - account value for order defaults synchronizes every time IB gets connected. But this has several drawbacks:
1. The main drawback - is that in the near future QT will start to save orders and executions for the later use in performance report. It's not good to have both demo and live orders/executions in the same report.
2. Working in eSignal you are not certain what mode you are work currently on - demo or live. Having two separate connections allows you easily track the type of connection and simply switch between them.
3. Demo and live both have the same order defaults and dictionary if in a single connection. Not sure this is always good as different TWS accounts may have different features - for example single or multiple accounts (FA group) or different sets of available symbols.

I'm not a trader and i may have some misunderstandings regarding real trader work so it'll be much appreciate to know your point on this.

[demarcog]

Originally posted by amol
Single TWS and connection is not a problem currently - account value for order defaults synchronizes every time IB gets connected. But this has several drawbacks:
1. The main drawback - is that in the near future QT will start to save orders and executions for the later use in performance report. It's not good to have both demo and live orders/executions in the same report.
2. Working in eSignal you are not certain what mode you are work currently on - demo or live. Having two separate connections allows you easily track the type of connection and simply switch between them.
3. Demo and live both have the same order defaults and dictionary if in a single connection. Not sure this is always good as different TWS accounts may have different features - for example single or multiple accounts (FA group) or different sets of available symbols.

I'm not a trader and i may have some misunderstandings regarding real trader work so it'll be much appreciate to know your point on this.

Amol,

Sorry for the delay, somehow I missed your post.

Thank you for the very useful response as the points you raise are important which I did not consider.

As a trader my primary concern is that the same results are realized trading the actual account that were achieved during testing. So the easier it is, ie., the fewer things that have to be changed the higher the chance that the cutover will go smoothly.

Using the same connection, the only change I needed to make was simoly login in with the live account instead of the simulated account.

So that's basically how I looked at the situation and I hope I answered you question but not sure if it provided any useful insight.

I have to now consider the useful points you raised and rething it.

One question I have, the reason I asked where the directory info was stored is that in earlier releases of the plugin, I did notice quotetrader.xml was the repoitory. But after installing the new quotetrader I do not see any of the symbols I entered. I scanned my entire hard drive and there is only one copy of quotetrader.xml and it looks like a skeleton version.

Is quotetrader.xml still the place, as I will be exporting the directory information to my system at the office tomorrow and would prefer not to redo 100 entries.

Thanks very much for all your help.

Glen

[eSignal_AlexM]

[/QUOTE]
Is quotetrader.xml still the place, as I will be exporting the directory information to my system at the office tomorrow and would prefer not to redo 100 entries.
[/QUOTE]

Yes. It was moved to the new location according to the microsoft recommendation during Windows XP certification. I understand that it's a great inconvenience to do cutting and pasting after update so we will do our best to make the update process painless.

You can just put your quotetrader.xml at a new location, it'll be enough.

[demarcog]

Originally posted by amol

Is quotetrader.xml still the place, as I will be exporting the directory information to my system at the office tomorrow and would prefer not to redo 100 entries.


Yes. It was moved to the new location according to the microsoft recommendation during Windows XP certification. I understand that it's a great inconvenience to do cutting and pasting after update so we will do our best to make the update process painless.

You can just put your quotetrader.xml at a new location, it'll be enough.

Amol,

Here is the reason I'm asking the question: I have many symbols that were defined using the Dictionary option, but I'm not seeing those symbols reflected in quotetrader.xml as I did in the past?

I searched my entire disk and there is only one quotetrader.xml file on my system. This leads me to believe that the definitions are no longer maintained in quotetrader.xml. It appears that coping this attached xml file to another system will not bring with it the symbol definitions you see in the attached portion of symbols defined?

Thanks,


Glen

[demarcog]

Amol,

I just realized I missed the %userprofile% prefix in the directory which explains why I did not find the file anywhere under the expected C:\Program Files directory tree where I was looking for it.

I do see it in the directory you mentioned, in my case it's in:

C:\Documents & Settings\Administrator\Application Data\eSignal\Quotetrader\1

Using the directory: C:\Documents & Settings\%userprofile% as a target directory for software installation is something I did not expect and don't recall seeing that used with any other software installs before.

Does placing it there require that for eSignal/quotetrader to run the same windows xp login account that was used to install the program also be used to execute eSignal/Quotetrader??

The reason I ask is that any other xp login would use a different %userprofile% prefix associated with that login name which is something other users may may want to be aware if different logins are used on the same pc.

Is it possible to change that name, ie., is it in a .ini file or registry entry or is that basically a requirement?


Thanks,

Glen

[eSignal_AlexM]

You right. Each user has it's own QT settings. This is required for supporting multi-user environment.

Although you may change the location of the configuration by your self. Just put the file where you want it to be and edit the path in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\eSignal\QuoteTrader\Set tings
Configuration = "<new path here>"

For example you may want to put it in "d:\quotetrader\quotetrader.xml" and thus have the same configuration for all users.