Method to Sync MultiCharts Database + Studies Across Computers

Questions about MultiCharts .NET and user contributed studies.
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dataheck
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Method to Sync MultiCharts Database + Studies Across Computers

Postby dataheck » 28 Dec 2019

I use my desktop and a laptop for MultiCharts. I usually use the laptop in offline mode for strategy development. Naturally it's become annoying to pick up my progress from one computer on another.

I have a working solution using Dropbox and junction links. Please be warned: you risk your database and studies attempting this. Back them up! I had a little scare but it worked out okay.

General procedure:
  1. Have Dropbox
  2. Shutdown MultiCharts, QuoteManager, PowerLanguage Editor, etc.
  3. Go to C:\ProgramData\TS Support\Your MultiCharts Version\
  4. Back up "Databases" and "StudyServer"
  5. Rename Databases to Databases_x
  6. Rename StudyServer to StudyServer_x
  7. Create a folder in Dropbox for this purpose - I made one called "MultiCharts Sync"
  8. Create a folder called "Databases" and another called "StudyServer" in that Dropbox folder
  9. copy the files from Databases_x to your new Databases Dropbox folder
  10. copy the files from StudyServer_x to your new StudyServer Dropbox folder
  11. Open an elevated command prompt ("run as administrator")
  12. Run these commands, substituting your actual paths to your multicharts version and dropbox directory:

Code: Select all

mklink /d "C:\ProgramData\TS Support\Your MultiCharts Version\Databases" "C:\Where\Dropbox\Is\Multicharts Sync\Databases"

Code: Select all

mklink /d "C:\ProgramData\TS Support\Your MultiCharts Version\StudyServer" "C:\Where\Dropbox\Is\Multicharts Sync\StudyServer"
Last, important step: Run MultiCharts as an Administrator on the "master" computer that has these files. Do the same on other computers when Dropbox is done syncing. Otherwise you'll get weird errors on your first run and things won't work right.

Dropbox is pretty smart about updating the database files. Despite giving very long estimated upload times after adding new data, it actually finishes the sync quickly because it only transfers the difference.

I've only been using this for a little bit, so no promises! It's working okay for me so far.

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dataheck
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Re: Method to Sync MultiCharts Database + Studies Across Computers

Postby dataheck » 30 Dec 2019

Update after some use:

It's a tad buggy. I seem to only be able to launch the PowerLanguage .NET Editor through MultiCharts, not directly. Sometimes I get a weird error. Still no major data loss or anything of that nature.

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dataheck
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Re: Method to Sync MultiCharts Database + Studies Across Computers

Postby dataheck » 07 Jan 2020

More update:

The bugginess appears to occur when Dropbox is syncing, and you launch MultiCharts before it's done. If you wait for it to finish it's alright.

editing to avoid over-posting:

I've stopped syncing the entire StudyServer folder, because I kept getting popups about issues with it and total program freezes as a result. I now only sync the "CS" directory under it (well, under Techniques, which is under it).

It seems reliably stable when Dropbox is paused. Permission issues occur when Dropbox has the files open and MC wants to save.

yet another edit to avoid thread necromancy:

It's 2020-02-05 now and I've been doing this for awhile. Here are my current thoughts on this:

I recommend against syncing your database this way. It works okay if you don't want to use multiple computers, but you'll run into a conflict copy issue quickly using multiple computers and then the entire database needs to be re-uploaded. I am instead doing database transfers manually on a as-needed basis.

Syncing your C# code and workspaces is fine; except there is a frequent error about an incompatible version of StudyServer you'll get if Dropbox syncing is active. Pause your Dropbox before launching MultiCharts.

yet another edit

It's 2020-02-26 now! I'm pretty sure the issue with a live-Dropbox is with profiles/workspaces specifically. If you pause Dropbox before opening MC you won't run into a problem. I leave it paused until I close MC.


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