MIND THE MARKETS
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How to obtain data and prepare it for use by Gannalyst

Like all the best charting programs, Gannalyst keeps the Chart information and the Data on which the chart is based in separate files.

To import a text file of trading data into a dateabase, it will be necessary to perform the following 3 tasks.
1. Download .txt files from the website to a default TextData folder.
2. Convert these .txt files into .dat format data files and save them in a new ChartData folder.
.dat is the Gannalyst data file format. This is the same format as that used by other professional financial charting programs, such as Metastock.
3. Create an new Chart and save it in the Charts folder.


Here's how to...in 34 easy steps ... not as complicated as you might think...
and remember, you only have to do it once/stock!

NB: These instructions are meant to amplify those found
in Gannalyst's Help\Data Converter Help\ pages

  In Windows,
1. Open the C:\Program Files\Gannalyst\GannalystXXX\ folder. (Or whatever the equivalent folder is on your machine. The XXX represents the particuar version you're using).
2. Use the \File\New menu to create two new folders TextData and ChartData.
[Notice that the default Charts folder in Gannalyst is empty and the SampleData folder has some sample stocks (mostly USA) data (in .dat Gannalyst format)].
3. Depending on which operationg system you're machine is running and which version of Gannalyst and waht the date format is in the data file you're importing you may need to alter the short format date representation in your machine.
Steps 3-5 show you how.
[BEGIN CHANGE SHORT DATE FORMAT]
Openthe text file you want to import (double click on it) and look at the date format of the data (far LH column).
Write it down exactly as it appears, including the /'s or -'s and not whether it is American sytle (month-day-year) or the rest of the world (day-month-year)
On your windows Start button, open \Settings\Control Panel\Regional Settings
4. Click on the Date tab.
5. In the Short date style window set it to the style of date that you wrote down earlier. eg. dd-MM-yy (The separator is a "-" i.e. a dash) or mm/dd/yyyy
This is the date format of chart data files you downloaded in text format.
[END CHANGE SHORT DATE FORMAT]
 
For files from the MTM website, follow steps 6-9.
6. In your web-brower
Go to http://www.mindthemarkets.com.auTCM/admin/data/
7. Ctrl-click the data .txt file you want to download.
8. Save the file to the TextData folder created in step 2 above.
9. Repeat Steps 6-8 for as many files as you want to download.
  To import this text file data into Gannalyst database format
  In Gannalyst,
NB The help files for this tool can be accessed via the menu \Help\Data Converter Help\
10. Deselect the Show this Window at Startup check-box in the bottom-left-hand-corner of the first requester.
NB This requester will no longer be shown, so if you're doing this a second time omit this step!
11. Close the requester. (Click the x box on the top-right-hand-corner.)
12. Open the \Data\Import Data From Text\ menu
13. Click on the Open Folder icon and go to the C:\Program Files\Gannalyst\GannalystXXX\TextData folder.
14. Open the .txt file. REMEMBER THE 3 or 4 CHARACTER SECURITY NAME. The window will close automatically.
15. The Data Line Display should contain Date Open High Low Close Volume OpenInterest.
16. Check the Skip 1st Line checkbox and then the Next>> button.
17. In the Text File Data Layout requester, click the Tab Separated Values button.
18. Load, in turn Date Open High Low Close Volume OpenInterest IN THAT ORDER into the right-hand window.
19. Click Next>> button to take you to the Data Column Format and Test Import requester.
20. Following the text instructions to select the dd-mm-yy format. (The separator is "-" i.e. a dash).
21. Hit the Test Data Input button. Chart data should appear in the window.
22. Click the Next>> button to take you to the Select the Directory to Save Your New Data File requester.
23. Click on the Open Folder icon and go to the C:\Program Files\Gannalyst\Gannalyst Lite30\ChartData folder.
24. Click on the Open Folder icon next the text Set current Directory as the Default Directory
25. Click Select Directory button to take you to the Select the Directory to Save Your New Data File requester.
26. Enter the 3 or 4 CHARACTER SECURITY NAME remembered in Step 14.
27. Enter a Descriptive name - usually a fuller name of the stock.
28. Click Start Inport button. Mouse will go into wait mode until data is loaded (quite slow) and then Status message confirms the import has completed.
29. Click Finish button.
 


Thus ends the data import stage. It can be repeated at any time, often more quickly because the default directories will already have been set.

 


To create a New Chart with this data:

30. Open menu File\New\Bar Chart\ The requester should take you to the ChartData folder automatically.
31. Select the security of your choice followed by the Select Security button.
32. A new Chart should then load.
33. Draw trend lines etc etc on the chart and the save it by File\Save Chart\ menu. The requester should default you to the Charts directory.
34. Notice the filename is the same as the descriptive name you assigned in Step26 with a .gcf suffix.
 



The data files on our website are and are textfiles in which the fields are tab-delimited.
In Gannalyst, read the Introductory Help files at menu Help\Introduction Tutorial to get an idea of the ways in which you can personalise the charts.





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