ascii mapped updates in scanner and portfolio trader

Hello,

I've set up a market scanner with a few instruments that are ascii mapped to text files files that are updated once per day after the end of the trading session with the latest day's data. The files are 5 minute intraday continuous data files that hold relatively long history (+7yrs) of each contract. I can't seem to get the latest, updated data from the file into the scanner unless I close down multicharts and reopen it. If I do this the new, latest data is in scanner as it should be, but I was wondering if there was a way to do this without shutting down MC. (Ctr - R) doesn't work in scanner, and I tried a few other settings in quote manager like setting the ascii mapped instrument to collect real time data w/o plotting, but get an "instrument not supported" message, presumably because the file is not a real time data source. Is it possible to have the scanner update without shutting down MC?

I also plan on autotrading a portfolio of contracts in MC's Portfolio Trader by using CQG's front month symbol as the data1 tradeable instrument, and using the aforementioned ascii mapped data series in the data2 column in order to calculate some longer term indicators that the system uses. How can I check to make sure the the data2 series is updated in Portfolio Trader with the correct values? I don't see anywhere to check this in Portfolio Trader. If the above mentioned market scanner shows the data is ok, does that mean that the Portfolio Trader data will be ok too, or is there another way to make sure the data is correct without creating a chart of every instrument?

Thanks in advance.

How can I check to make sure the the data2 series is updated in Portfolio Trader with the correct values? I don't see anywhere to check this in Portfolio Trader. If the above mentioned market scanner shows the data is ok, does that mean that the Portfolio Trader data will be ok too, or is there another way to make sure the data is correct without creating a chart of every instrument?

You can do a print statement in your portfolio trader signal.

Hello juanmon,

I've set up a market scanner with a few instruments that are ascii mapped to text files files that are updated once per day after the end of the trading session with the latest day's data. The files are 5 minute intraday continuous data files that hold relatively long history (+7yrs) of each contract. I can't seem to get the latest, updated data from the file into the scanner unless I close down multicharts and reopen it. If I do this the new, latest data is in scanner as it should be, but I was wondering if there was a way to do this without shutting down MC. (Ctr - R) doesn't work in scanner, and I tried a few other settings in quote manager like setting the ascii mapped instrument to collect real time data w/o plotting, but get an "instrument not supported" message, presumably because the file is not a real time data source. Is it possible to have the scanner update without shutting down MC?

Data should be updating in scanner, but since it is ASCII mapping and there is no "status line" for this data source, you can see the values by manes of a custom indicator in the scanner window plotting such values as "close", "volume", etc.

I also plan on autotrading a portfolio of contracts in MC's Portfolio Trader by using CQG's front month symbol as the data1 tradeable instrument, and using the aforementioned ascii mapped data series in the data2 column in order to calculate some longer term indicators that the system uses. How can I check to make sure the the data2 series is updated in Portfolio Trader with the correct values? I don't see anywhere to check this in Portfolio Trader. If the above mentioned market scanner shows the data is ok, does that mean that the Portfolio Trader data will be ok too, or is there another way to make sure the data is correct without creating a chart of every instrument?

Indeed you can use print keyword for this. If you just need long history for current month, you can import the data from the file right into current contract.