Interfacing A Windows Applicaton With QCollector

All versions of QCollector support a messaging interface that lets other Windows applications communicate with QCollector. The following features are supported:

• Get a list of QCollector portfolios Ask QCollector for a list of all portfolios complete with path to the folder where each portfolio is saving the data files.
• Request data for any market symbol. Send your data request directly to QCollector using the QCollector Data Interface. QCollector will immediately update or create new data files for the data requests, and optionally, begin updating the data files with real-time data from the data feed. No need to manually add symbols to QCollector portfolios.
• Subscribe to receive real-time file update notification messages. Send a message to QCollector indicating that your application would like to be notified every time QCollector updates data files with real-time data on its timed udpates cycle.
• Manage the timed updates symbol list. Add or remove symbols from the QCollector timed updates list programmatically, even while timed udpates are running.

The QCollector Data Interface is fully described in the QCollector Developers Guide. The data interface implementation is the same for all versions of QCollector (eSignal and DTN IQFeed).

A client demo program demonstrating all of the new data interface features can be downloaded below. You can run this simple executable program alongside QCollector to quickly see how the features work. Source code for this data interface client can be downloaded as a full Delphi project. Examine the source code to see how the data interface features are used.

A special developers version of QCollector For QCharts can also be downloaded here. This build of QCollector can be run in "Test" mode without being logged in to a data feed. This will let you develop your application offline or even without subscribing to a data feed at all.

Note: The QCollector Data Interface isn't intended to support any kind of bulk data downloading. Rather, it is designed to be used by applications that will be letting users change or add symbols to user interface elements such as charts or other features on the fly, without having to do this manually in QCollector.