MC6 - 2 problems 1/ Notebook transfer 2/ Backfill completion

Questions about MultiCharts and user contributed studies.
bowlesj3
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MC6 - 2 problems 1/ Notebook transfer 2/ Backfill completion

Postby bowlesj3 » 21 Dec 2009

NOTE: The first problem which occured Monday night brought me back to the other problem with backfilling as I tried to get MC 6.0 to run again. I think the 2nd problem TSS will be very interested in (or more intersted in) It is farther down starting below the last post by sptrader (Steven).

NOTEbook file transfer problems (DRM maybe or file corruption maybe)
============================================

Maybe this should go in MC 6.0 feedback but it is here for now.

I just had a successful day with MC 6.0 Beta1 on the main machine (meaning no aborts all day and everything worked okay). The day before the replay was pretty good. Lots of nice features. Very happy.

Okay so here comes the big test of whether I roll back to MC 2.1.999.999 or not.

I install MC 6.0 in on the notebook following my procedure which was very well mastered after flipp flopping between MC 2.1.999.999 and MC 3.0 beta about 3 or 4 times. Okay so MC 6.0 is on the notebook. From experience I copy in the DLLs for ELcollections and the GV2.2 DLL as well and I compile absolutely all EL studies which I had exported on the main machine which were running fine all day (I know that if I open a workspace with an uncompiled study it removes it). Great that is all done - my notes are still applicable to MC 6.0 I find (just like yesterdays main machine install).

I copy the database files over as I would normally do as well as the workspaces (this is from main mahine to notebook). My standard daily procedure that works flawlessly with MC 2.1.999.999

That is the good news. Now the bad.

Okay so that is done and I notice in my notes that I have to set the defaults on my drawing tools. So I decide to go into the main machine and set the defaults so I do not loose them. But the main machiine thinks that I am running MC on the notebook (in actual fact all I had done was compile the studies on the notebook so I won't loose them when I open the workspaces). It comes up trys to run but dies. I try it a few times and it asks me if I want to terminate the session on the notebook (which of course is not there) but I decide to answer yes anyway. It goes off then I think it tries to run and just vanishes without a message of any sort. I repeat this about 5 times and it can't figure out that I have nothing running on the notebook.

Okay so I reboot both machines hoping something will clear. No cigar on that try. Exactly the same stuff happens.

Okay so lets try the notebook. (both machines are still connected to the internet at this point). It thinks I am running MC on the main machine. It is wrong but it can not figure that out.

So I decide to unplug the notebook from the internet to see what happens and I run MC on the notebook. It says that I am disconnected and it can not run real time data. That is fine because that is what I put in the checkbox anyway (I want offline data to review the days trading offsite - like I don't want to be in this house any longer MC6.0). Okay so it tries to work and does a little better in that it opens the workspaces and manages to get some of the data. Unfortunately it is still sitting there while I write this and has not put any bars on the charts yet.

Gee, I am one of the guys TSS can trust. I had part of my database program that I run each morning which reminds me to take down MC before I leave to review the charts in the morning (see code below - JW is my initials for my middle name). Since I put that in I don't think I have forgotten once to shut MC down in the morning at home so I can use it offsite. MC 2.1.999.999 is a great program such that shutting it down on the main machine for offsite use is not a big deal in that it comes back up without fail ever within 30 seconds when I get back (something that is mentioned in the case study as being a great feature). Sadly MC 6.0 is still trying to figure it out (20 minutes later). Hopefully MC 6.0 finally reaches the standard that MC 2.1.999.999 has set for excellence in reliablity.

So here is the plan. I go out of the house without the charts. Next morning I check my email and this thread. If I can't get it to run I go to my notes on MC2.1.999.999, fall back (takes about 1 hours if I remember) and I am gone until the official release comes out and I give it one more try at this. I practice the discipline of keeping my mind on trading every day and not thinking about MC 6.0.

John

Code: Select all

If funcJWYNSmallTalk("Did you bring Multi Charts down before leaving the house.") Then
'no action needed - it is just a reminder.
End If
Last edited by bowlesj3 on 22 Dec 2009, edited 5 times in total.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

Here is an update on the morning attempt. The notebook has been off all night and remaines off. I did my regular startup of MC on the main machine. It asked for the error report. I clicked send (I use netscape so maybe it never went out). I clicked to run in online mode and it took that and opened the workspace. After a few moments it vanished without any abort notice. It did not ask me if I wanted to shut down another session on another machine either. So maybe this vanishing problem is related to the DRM system but not exactly the same (maybe it triggered another bug).

Here is the "after a nights sleep revised plan". I will move MC 2.1.999.999 to the notebook right now since I do not see any value in doing replay on the notebook anyway because I want it to simulate a very real trading session and I never do anything live on the notebook since there is not enough screen space. It means an extra daily backfill with TWS. It will (as usual) be the only MC running when I run it on the notebook. I will reinstall MC 6.0 on the main machine today to give it another chance (hopefully that will fix this problem). As well (and as usual) it will be the only MC running when it is running (in other words I will follow the TSS policy of running MC on only one machine at a time). We will see what happens that way since MC6.0 seems to get confused about the two machine thing. In other words you can not run MC on two machines as long as you are running them at different times. It appears that DRM is not smart enough to allow that.

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Postby TJ » 22 Dec 2009

netscape ??!?!?!

are you running it on a 486?

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

One note. I was about to uninstall MC6.0 in prep to reinstall it. I decided to run it offline quickly just to see what happens. I did and it aborted as it was aborting last night. So I started the uninstall and it found about four or five things running (message center was one of them). So I could not uninstall. I am assuming these are not left running if it is taken down without an abort. I guess a reboot should solve it.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

are you running it on a 486?
I like Jokes. I don't think MC 0.0 will run on an 486 :-) Hey netscape is a cool program. It works. I get emails and send it them too. What more do I need! I can even send more than 1 a day. I especially like the fact that I don't need to worry about hackers that hate MS.

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Postby TJ » 22 Dec 2009

I just ran a check on Netscape...
I did not realize it is available until 2008.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

I am on Netscape 7.2. When you are happy (and especially very busy) you don't check these things. I have no idea what the latest release is.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

I just ran a check on Netscape...
I did not realize it is available until 2008.
You got me curious TJ. I went into the netscape help and it looks like it is owned by AOL now. There is a blog for it there.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

It did it again after the reinstall. I reinstalled it and ran it and it vanishes after a bit then when I try to start it again it says "This MultiCharts account is already connected to a different machine. Do you want to terminate the session on that machine and complete authorization?"

Yes that would be great if it were true. In fact that was a great feature about Qcharts. I use to print my charts for offsite review. Often when I left the house I forgot to turn the machine off (wasting power) and Qcharts was still running. Then I got the notebook. I was in a coffee shop with internet and I thought I would see if Qcharts would run. It did but it told me that there was another Qcharts session. I thought "Oh shit. I forgot to turn the machine off". So it helped me save power (I am always turning the computer off when I don't need it and lights too - yah the only light on in the house normally is the one in the room I am located in). So it would be great if MC could simply remind me and shut itself down (I suggested this to Marina a long time ago and I even asked her for an option to turn my computer off too - it was a joke actually but not that bad an idea). The problem here is the fact that there there was no other machine running during the reinstall and there still is not. So it must have aborted, left something in memory and it now thinks that the main machine is another machine.

Oh well, back to MC 2.1.999.999 until the official release for one more try. I have confidence that TSS will get DRM as good as Qcharts had it. At least MC 2.1.999.999 works. Back to static trigger practice I guess.

John.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

I finally got around to the question it was asking me about terminating the other session. This time it gave me a new popup.

The application terminated incorrectly. the collected market data could not be compressed and stored in the database. Do you want to save this data now.

So I have given it a yes.

So it gave it another try this time. It came up with the workspace, I saw a few "waiting for data" statements on the charts then it vanished again.

I know it is just shy right :-) Like me :oops:

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Postby TJ » 22 Dec 2009

I think you need a new computer.





just kidding :lol:

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Postby brodnicki steven » 22 Dec 2009

A second license might solve all of the data transfer problems. (expensive I know)
A reasonably quick computer is a necessity these days too. (3gig, 3 gb ram)

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

I got thinking that it should be able to duplicate sunday's good experience and monday until later at night when I had the problems. I seem to remember a problem with the recompile on the notebook or something. Something aborted if I remember correctly or I cancelled something when I shouldn't have. I suspec t it may have left something in memory that the main machine picked up on and maybe that screwed up the workspace and now it causes an abort.

I am going to repleat Sunday (where it had to convert the MC 2.1.999.999 format workspace and data files). Maybe that will fix it.

Lots of fun.

Actually MC6.0 ran great all day yesterday. I was thinking that it ran faster than MC 2.1.999.999 and not just MC but other apps too. My machine is fairly new actually. It is a dual AMD.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

What the hey,

I am going to do a series of tests and post the results here (including purposely trying to run MC on 2 machines to see if it will currupt files or something). Here is the first one.

I followed the procedure below and got MC6.0 running again offline just like on Sunday except it was using the user settings of yesterday which knew where the replay tool bar was located. I saved the workspace 3 times and was able to restart it every time. I changed it one time. No problems yet. I have saved the workspaces and databases at the present stage. Next is to bring it up and backfill.
MultiCharts install:

Make sure your workspaces and 3 database files are backed up and marked as the last set of files for this release of MC.

MC says it is compiling all studies when you install it but it in fact does not. Therefore you must first export all EL code (everything). This saves bringing in the EL collections Map commands and List commands and the GV 2.2 stuff. Once the install is finished you import everything and recompile all uncompiled.

You have to uninstall before you can install but you enter yes to the option to keep user settings etc. To do this go to control panel and use the standard uninstall from the programs list. It will run the MultiCharts Uninstall and there is a check box which allows you to keep your user settings. Just do not check this check box if it says that checking it will remove your user stuff.


Do the install Now.


After the install is done (or a repair too) put in Elcollactions.dll, global variables dll, Yes it is true. IF your run an MC repair you have to put in global variables 2.2 because the repair returns the old original version of global variables.

For MC2.1.999.999 You need to bring in the corrected daily bars DLL for Interactive Brokers. You have to place this DLL in C:\Program Files\TS Support\MultiCharts\Datafeeds


After the install is done It is important to compile ALL the EL code you exported. This includes el collections code (list and map commands) and your code before opening the workspaces. If you do not do this then when you open the workspaces you loose all the stuff on your indicators such as the RSI lines.

Keeping your user settings should keep this. However if you need to do this to get data from TWS you need to have TWS set up this way. Configure, API, Enable ActiveX and Socket clients. 7496 is the socket numbers. At the bottom you can see all api settings I have placed the screen for this at the very bottom of this document.

MC is running now.


Have snapshots of your tool settings. The Profit tool has a picture snapshot of the settings. “MC_Recovery_Pictures”

You need to set the defaults on your tools. The tools will still be in the workspaces. So open them up and for every single tab set the default to the tool you have up. This is more important now because I gather tools get lost when you switch symbols at contract roll over time.

It seems that you need to set the taskbar to auto-hide so that MC does
not keep shrinking down to one monitor each time you get logged out to the security window.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

Okay I did the first startup requesting backfilld data (normal morning). It did exactly what it did Monday morning. Specifically it filled in the data on all charts fairly fast but it got stuck at the last bar on each chart and would not run the studies (not the bands, not the RSI, nothing). On Monday it could not complete (5,10,15,30 and 60). Today it added to that with 10 seconds and one of the two 1 minute bar charts.

So I shut it down (saving the workspace which may have been a mistake). I brought it up quickly just like I brink up MC 2.1.999.999 quickly after an abort. MC 2.1.999.999 99.9% of the time is back within 30 seconds as if nothing happened. MC 6.0 is sitting here waiting for data (it has been about 3 minute now. Only the daily bars have data and the studies are showing.

I guess I will shut it down again (without a save) and wait a little longer this time.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

Okay this restart (after a longer wait time and after shutting it down with no save) came back faster - the last time the initial screen sat for a long time. However once again it is sitting with only two charts showing studies. The charts are all filled out but it will not run the studies. In other words all the charts have all the data and all the charts have the close price moving up and down as the ticks come in but all the charts that do not have studies on them are showing the word "Backfilling..." at the top.

Okay so now TSS has some info to work with. I guess it is a bit better than bailing out so fast back to MC 2.1.999.999 (thanks to the replay feature which gives an incentive).

So now what. Yesterday this problem was corrected because I shut MC6.0 down and took my notebook offsite and worked with MC 2.1.999.999 on that for about an hour. When I came back and turned on MC 6.0 it backfilled properly and had a good day too (until the night time problems that is).

Lets bring it down again with a save and this time wait 10 minutes.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

Okay so I did what I said I would do. I shut down with a save, I unplugged the notebook. I turned it on, I ran everything for a while (typical morning but just not as long as normal), then I closed down the notebook and powered it down and came back and restarted MC 6.0 on the main machine. This time it is doing the same thing as before except the only charts sitting with the backfilling... message are the (05,10,15,30 and 60 minute charts). Daily, 10 second, and the two 1 minute charts all have thier studies running properly (except the main 1 minute chart needs data from the other charts send via GVs).

Maybe I should contact suppoert via chat since they probably want to see this in action. Time to find those notes.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

I was in the process of figuring out how to get a help desk session in place and the "backfilling..." message went away on all the 5 charts which had it - it went away instantly basically on all of them at the same time. Now things are running as normal again.

Okay, lets shut it down with a save and backup of the files and see if I can get it to happen again.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

This time after shutting MC 6.0 down with a save and backing up the files and workspaces again it came back up properly with a proper backfill and the studies starting to run immediately as they should. So I guess I can't show it in action with help desk (yet at least).

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Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Dec 2009

Summary:

1/ So it seems that the first problem with MC 6.0 vanishing very quickly on startup was likely a currupt workspace or database file. I conclude this because when I restored the Friday files and workspace left by the friday MC 2.1.999.999 session the MC6.0 install process conversion of these created a proper set for MC 6.0 to work with and all was well again.

Note: If TSS is interested, I have the database files and workspace that just might have been currupt (not sure since the problem may have occured later).

2/ The backfilling problem looks like it is going to be an every morning problem and I think two others reported this problem or something in this area.

Tonight I am going to run MC 2.1.999.999 on the notebook after completely shutting down the main machine in the hopes that MC 6.0 will continue to run each morning and maybe give more info on this backfilling problem (one issue at a time is the strategy here). If I try and recreate the datafile transfer DRM problem again it will create too many issues at one time and screw up the trading day for me too. Also if the 1st issue does occur with this strategy I can try going back to a prior MC 6.0 shutdown backup and see if it gets resolved using an MC 6.0 format workspace/database set from a few days back.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 23 Dec 2009

Today the backfilling seems okay.

MechTrader
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Same problem - no bars showing when backfilled and "not

Postby MechTrader » 24 Dec 2009

In Multicharts 6.0 Beta, when I try to use multicharts whilst disconnected from the internet on my notebook computer, thus multicharts is running off a prior authorization and displays "not authorized" and runs in offline mode, Multicharts will NOT display bars on any charts, despite the fact that the data is available and loadable in quotemanager. It simply says something like "12,535 quotes received" and then never displays the bars. If this is their idea of DRM, it is really stupid since the prior authorization should be good for a period of time. I suspect it is a bug, as I never had this problem with any prior versions. I guess I will have to uninstall this new version until they fix the problem.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 24 Dec 2009

I suspect it is a bug, as I never had this problem with any prior versions. I guess I will have to uninstall this new version until they fix the problem.
What version are you going back to? I am running MC 2.1.999.999 on the notebook for now until I build up some backups of the offline data files I can trust on the main machine then I will maybe try to put MC 6.0 on the notebook again. I have a feeling that my last save when I was having the problem got corrupt (not sure however). I say this because both on the notebook and the main machine it would try and read the data or the workspace and something in there caused the aborts. I had to rebuild it to get back up and running.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 25 Dec 2009

I suspect you might have to shut the main machine off completely before you run anything to do with MC on the notebook (just to be sure there are no under the hood MC programs running). Or maybe go looking for them to terminate them.

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Postby bowlesj3 » 05 Jan 2010

Good News all round.

Regarding Problem #1:
I made a second attempt at installing MC6.0 beta2 on the notebook (first try was beta1 actually). Beta2 worked and I was able to successfully transfer the datafiles from the main machine over to the notebook for offline viewing and replay work. The replay works fine on the notebook. All is well and the solution seems to be "if at first you do not succeed try try again".

Regarding Problem #2:
The backfill of MC6.0 beta 1 then beta2 on the main machine seems okay these days. When I first installed MC6.0 beta2 on the notebook I did a backfill with TWS as my first test and it was a bit slow much like the first few backfills on the main machine. It is a bit strange but it seems that MC6.0 after a new install takes a while to get the hang of this backfill thing. Maybe it is storing a history and making adjustments on the fly or something and after a few run throughs gets its act together.

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mc 6.0 workspace corruption.

Postby bowlesj3 » 22 Jan 2010

Regarding the first problem I was having in this thread, the problem with notebook transfer was actually a workspace corruption problem. It happened again today on the notebook. I first tried returning the databases and that did not fix it but returning the workspaces did fix it. The same problem happened on the main machine by the way. What happens is as soon as MC tries to open the workspace it almost immediately vanishes meaning no abnormal termination pop occurs at that time. However when you try and restart after the first vanish there is a popup about a prior abnormal termination asking if you want to send the dump. Next time I will send it before I return the workspace but this time I wanted to isolate the problem to either the workspaces or the databases.


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