Getting Started With QCollector for QCharts

Part I: Enter your QCharts log on name and password.

You can enter your QCharts user name and password in the QCollector program settings so you won't have to type them in every time you log in with QCollector:

1. Select Settings from under the QCollector View menu and when the Settings window comes up click on the Quote.com tab.
2. Check the Log on automatically box and then enter your QCharts user name and password.
3. Click OK to close the settings window. QCollector will remember your user name and password.

Part II: Collect data for the Ascii Trial Symbols

A sample ASCII format portfolio is installed with QCollector that includes items for all the symbols enabled in the trial version. If you don't see the Ascii Trial Symbols portfolio in the portfolio list make sure the "Ascii" tab is selected in the bottom left hand corner of the QCollector program window.

To collect data for the Ascii Trial Symbols portfolio do the following:

1. Click on the "+" sign beside the Ascii Trial Symbols portfolio name to open the portfolio and view the symbols inside. Notice that a symbol can be added more than once as long as each item has a different interval or file name.
2. Select the Ascii Trial Symbols portfolio and then click on the QCollector toolbar button with the double down arrows. You will see the Collection Status window come up which will show you the progress of the data being downloaded for each item.
3. When the Collection Status window closes you can view the collected data for a portfolio item by first selecting the item and then clicking on the Data tab to the right. Notice that only the last 200 records or so will be shown in the data grid since loading large data files would be too time-consuming.

Note: If you will only be using MetaStock data you can delete the Ascii Trial Symbols portfolio after this demonstration.

Part III: Create a new MetaStock format portfolio in QCollector.

1. From the File menu select New MetaStock Portfolio.
2. Enter a name for the portfolio in the first box such as "My Stocks".
3. Enter a folder name in the second box such as "C:\Data\MyStocks".
4. Click "OK" to accept the other defaults and create the new portfolio. If asked to create a new folder click on "OK".
   

Part IV: Add a symbol to collect daily data to your portfolio.

To add a daily data symbol to your new MetaStock format portfolio do the following:

1. Right-click on your new "My Stocks" portfolio in QCollector and select Add Symbol to Selected Portfolio from the pop up menu. (You can also use Ctrl-N to do this.)
2. Enter "ADSK" in the first box. This is one of the free trial symbols.
3. Click on the little calendar icon beside the Start date box and then select a date a few weeks back for the starting date.
4. For Time Frame select Daily. Leave everything else as is.
5. Click OK to accept the other defaults and add the symbol to the portfolio.
6. Collect data for the symbol you just added to your "My Stocks" portfolio by selecting the ADSK item in the portfolio and then clicking on the QCollector toolbar button with the single down arrow. To view the data after it comes in, click on the Data tab.

Part V: Add several intraday data symbols to your portfolio.

To add several intraday data symbols at once to your new MetaStock format portfolio do the following:

1. Right-click on your new "My Stocks" portfolio in QCollector and select Add Symbol to Selected Portfolio from the pop up menu.
2. Enter INTU (Intuit) in the first box. This is one of the free trial symbols.
3. Enter a date about one week back. This will give you about a week of intraday data for this item which is enough for this demonstration.
4. For Time Frame select Intraday and then enter 5 minutes.
5. The Session Start and Session End times for each symbol are set by the Quote.com servers but these fields are shown here for backwards compatibility with the MetaStock data format. You can ignore them unless you know your charting program will be using them.
6. Click on the Save as default box so you won't have to fill in these boxes every time.
7. Now, click on the Apply button. The item will be added to the portfolio and the form will stay open so you can add another item.
8. Once again, enter INTU in the first box but this time enter 30 in the minutes box. Click on the Apply button again to add the item to the portfolio.
9. Once more time, enter INTU in the first box but this time enter 60 in the minutes box. This time click on the OK button to add the last item and close the form.
10. Collect data for all the items you just added by selecting your "My Stocks" portfolio and then clicking on the QCollector toolbar button with the double down arrow. To view data for any item after it comes in, select the item and then click on the Data tab.

Part IV: Running timed updates on your data files.

To update your data files in real-time during the trading session do the following:

1. Click on the Timed Updates tab to show the controls there. The empty list box is where you will add the items you want to update.
2. Select one of the intraday items in your MetaStock portfolio with your mouse, and holding the mouse button down, drag it over to the empty box on the right and let the mouse button go to drop it in the list box. You can add as many items to the list as you like as long as you have collected data for the item at least once, as we did above.
3. Enter 10 in the Update Interval box. Leave the Sync box unchecked.
4. Click on the Run button. The timed udpates will begin. To view your data file as it updates, right-click on the item in the timed updates list and select Show Data. For an actively traded symbol, you should at least see the volume figure update every ten seconds.
5. You can stop the timed updates at any time by clicking on the Stop button. If you only want to make some changes and then run the timed updates again, click on the Pause button instead. Pausing the timed updates does not require the data files to be re-initialized. Click on Run to go again.
6. For a full description of running timed updates with QCollector it is strongly recommended that you review the QCollector Help topic Timed Updates.

Note: After data is initially downloaded for an item, on each subsequent collection QCollector will only download as much data as is needed to bring the data file up to date.