AmiBroker 3.2 Release Notes
Amiga version. Build-3.
Copyright (C)1999 by Tomasz Janeczko.
Updated: January 18th, 2000, 17:50. (3rd build)
Created: December 30th, 1999, 14:00

About

AmiBroker 3.2 is the newest major version of the most advanced stock charting/analysis software for the Amiga (also available for Win32 platform). It brings several new features as permanent trend-lines, groups and markets definitions and chart scrolling as well as many bug-fixes. This update is available at no charge to all registered AmiBroker users of versions 2.7 and above.

The update available on AmiBroker web site (www.polbox.com/a/amibrok) contains only the most substantial files. Updated docs, guides and other files will be available later in full distribution package (which will be uploaded to Aminet in January 2000).

Features

New stuff

• Drawing permanent trend-lines.
  Now trend line handling is greatly enhanced: trend lines are stored now along with stock data, they scale properly when scrolling/sizing chart windows. When daily/weekly/monthly view mode changes trend lines are time-compressed accordingly.
  Usage hints: draw trend lines as always (using line draw tool), erase them one by one by pressing SHIFT key during mouse click over given trend line (when draw tool is active), erase all trend lines in active window by using Charts/Delete All trend lines menu item
• Scrolling chart windows
  Now main chart window has horizontal scroll bar which allows you to scroll back to see previous quotations. Other charts are scrolled accordingly
• Group and Market definitions
  Now AmiBroker supports 256 user definable markets and groups. You can assign each ticker to one market and one group. A new window (available from Stock->Groups and Markets menu) allows you to define market and group names. In the next version AmiBroker will feature filtering by Market/Group in the Review and Analysis windows.
• More information about ticker
  In the Stock Information window you can now assign each ticker to user definable market and group. You can also mark given ticker as a Favourite (will be used for filtering) and Index (will be used for generating Advance-Decline information)
  

Changes/Improvements

• ARexx SETSTOCKINFO/GETSTOCKINFO commands enhanced
  These two ARexx commands handle now additional information for groups, favourites and index flags. The new templates for these commands are:
  
  SETSTOCKINFO NAME=STOCK/A, FULL/K, CODE/N, ADDRESS/K, ISSUE/N, NOMINAL/K, BOOKVALUE=BV/N, MARKET/N, GROUP/N, CONT/S, FIXED=NOCONT/S, FAVOURITE/S, NOFAVOURITE/S, INDEX/S, NOINDEX/S

GETSTOCKINFO NAME=STOCK/A, FULL/S, CODE/S, ADDRESS/S, ISSUE/S, NOMINAL/S, BOOKVALUE=BV/S, MARKET/S, GROUP/S, CONT/S, FAVOURITE/S, INDEX/S

• Improved Join function in Portfolio manager
  Join function now calculates weighted average buy price for joined stocks in the portfolio.
• Improved Commission table editor
  Commission editor now handles decimal parts in all values.
• Volume and OBV grids look better
  OBV and Volume charts should look better thanks to less-dense grid lines.
• Stock Issue is now stored in thousands
  The number of shares issued is now stored in thousands. This allows entering properly some big companies. P/E and P/BV calculation is adjusted accordingly. Old files are converted on the fly during loading.

Bug fixes

• Portfolio "Sell" function fixed
  "Sell" function should not leave stocks in portfolio with quantity = 0 anymore
  Really fixed in the second build (from January 4th, 2000).
• Renaming ticker is now safe
  The Stock Information window checks for already existing name when trying to rename ticker
• Standard Deviation calculation works safer now
  It happened sometimes that standard deviation was calculated wrong (square root taken from negative value). The formula was OK, but due to the floating point rounding errors it just happened. Added code that handles this situation. This should cure sometimes odd looking Bollinger bands.
• Fixed potential Y2K-related problem in the Metastock importer
  Fixed handling dates in Metastock importer. Now (year modulo 100) operation is performed and dates yy < 50 are treated as 20yy. This should avoid problems with different software storing files in Metastock format. However, due to the fact that Metastock file format is not Y2K compliant (it does not store year in 4 digits) I can not give you 100% guarantee :-(. Second build fixes also minor display bug found today (January 4th, 2000).
• Database is marked as "changed" after editing in "Stock Information" window
  This fixes problem that database would not save edited values in "Stock information" window.
• "Middle" grid setting works better in Indicator Builder
  When "Custom" scaling was selected in Indicator Builder "Middle" checkbox does not affect the chart. This is fixed now. With custom scaling and "Middle" checkbox set you get 3 or 4 grid lines in the middle.

Additional information

Localization

Since the user interface was changed in version 3.1 AmiBroker needs new catalog files. This update includes a Polish catalog file as well as the catalog description (broker.cd) and a template catalog translation (broker.ct) file. Polish users should copy the supplied catalog file into the LOCALE:Catalogs/Polski directory.

Installation

No special installation is needed for this update. Simply copy executable files (AmiBroker and AmiBroker.FPU) over the old ones.

Build-2 information

The AmiBroker 3.20 build 2 (compilation date: January 4th, 2000) fixes small display problem in the Metastock importer (found today when testing with new year's data) and the portfolio "sell" bug (finally). Some spelling error in the user interface is corrected also (thanks to Donald Dalley for the hint)

Build-3 information

The AmiBroker 3.20 build 3 (compilation date: January 18th, 2000) fixes trendline drawing in logarithmic scale

AmiBroker on the Web

For latest news, patches and updates please check out AmiBroker WWW site at: http://www.polbox.com/a/amibrok. Check out also a new AmiBroker/Win32 site at: http://republika.pl/amibroker/ . If you want to share with ideas & tips with other AmiBroker users please try AmiBroker Mailing List at http://www.eGroups.com/list/amibroker.