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Text File | 1985-10-13 | 15.9 KB | 345 lines

DOCUMENTATION FOR MAKSTKFL.BAS Copyright 1983 BY Michael Csontos 3228 Livonia Center Road Lima, New York 14485 January 4, 1983 INTRODUCTION This program assists in the generation of data files for securities price and volume data. It is intended for use with other programs that will analyze and/or plot the data. The program is designed to use the Wall Street Journal or other newspaper financial statistics pages for manual entry of the data into ASCII sequential files accessable to BASIC, EDLIN and other languages under PC-DOS. It includes a simple plotting routine, but the program PLTSTKFL.BAS by me is intended for serious plotting of the data files on an EPSON printer. I have written another companion program named DAYLOG.BAS which will generate forms on the printer for use in recording securities (or other) statistics. These three programs allow you to gather data from a library or a stack of newspapers that would be awkward to handle at the computer (DAYLOG), create data files (MAKSTKFL), and plot the data (PLTSTKFL). I have provided no means of editing or correcting the files after they are created. While the DOS utility EDLIN is quite limited, it is adaquate for the purpose. Also I have purposely avoided the use of the CLS (clear screen) command. While it may look more professional to start each segment with a blank sereen, and it is unfortunate that scrolling is not smooth on a computer screen, I like the ability to review for a few seconds what I have done before it vanishes completely. All data entry is in decimal. I found it confusing to remember a format for entering fractions with the numeric keypad, and easy to remember the decimal equivalents of eighths. A small calculator might be useful if you trade in securities traded in 32nds or 16ths. There is no automatic transfer from the end of one function to a menu (except for the documentation read function). With the PC's <F2> key programed for RUN and the keyboard buffer available I felt that it was not necessary. If you finish one stock file and know which one you want next, you can key in something like <F2><2><3><C><O><M><S><H><A><R><E>, and probably the first data entry, about as fast as the disk drive takes to reach that part of the program. This is as easy as using another menu to get you there from the end of the program. This program makes reference to or creates several other files listed below and explained later. MAKSTKFL.DOC which you are reading UPDSTKFL.ALL a list of all securities files UPDSTKFL.DAT a list of active securities files TRANSFER.BAT a batch file used to backup data files ????????.DJA data file created by MAKSTKFL ????????.NYS " " " " " ????????.OTC " " " " " ????????.OPT " " " " " ????????.MUT " " " " " PROGRAM OPERATION When the program is run it immediately checks for the presence of the files MAKSTKFL.DOC and UPDSTKFL.DAT. If they are present you are presented with a menu with eight selections. If these files are not on the active disk the selections that would use them are omitted. There are two menus presented. The first selects the function to be performed. The second selects the type of security file to be used. The second menu is skipped when it is not needed. A description of the menu selections follows. FIRST MENU - FUNCTION (1): INSERT DATA If a securities data file (specified by the second menu) exists on the active disk the program finds its starting date, renames it to ????????.OLD, opens a new file with securities file name, allows you to enter data from a date you specify till the old file's starting date, then transfers the old data onto the end of the new file. This allows you to extend your database backward in time. (2): ADD DATA Using an existing data file, the program finds the last entry date, then appends data you enter until you tell it to stop by entering a code number (9999). (3): NEW DATA The program will open a new file with a filename you specify and an extension for the security type selected in the second menu. You specify the starting date and enter data until you enter the stop code 9999. (4): DATE RANGE The first and last dates in the specified security file are displayed on the screen. (5): REPORT All data for the specified security is printed on the printer. This is useful if you have been entering data directly from a newspaper or data service and have no written record. The format is easier to read than an EDLIN listing or a dump using the DOS TYPE command. (6): SCREEN GRAPH This is an abbreviated version of PLTSTKFL directed to the screen for use as a quick check of recently entered data. While the data entry routines trap many typographical errors, others don't show up until an attempt is made to plot the data. (7): UPDATE In order to use this function you must have a file called UPDSTKFL.DAT on the active disk. You create this file in DOS with EDLIN UPDSTKFL.DAT or COPY CON: UPDSTKFL.DAT. It is simply a list of the files you want to update on a daily basis. An example of an EDLIN listing is: 1:*TRANS.DJA 2: DELTAA.NYS 3: UNPAC,NYS 4: DOW8_508.NYS 5: BIOTECH.OTC The program will read this file line by line, retrieve the file listed, find the last date, allow you to enter the next day's data, then go to the next file in the UPDSTKFL list. The program selects the proper data format from the extension of the filespec on the list. While the program will not permit more than one day's data to be enered at a time in this mode, if the skip code (8888) is entered the next date will be used, to allow for the skipping of holidays. It may be convenient to have a file UPDSTKFL.ALL on the disk listing all stock files you have created. It is considerably easier to delete lines from files with EDLIN than to type in filespecs without errors each time you want to change your updating cycle. Just copy UPDSTKFL.ALL to UPDATKFL.DAT and edit the DAT file. (8): DOCUMENTATION If the file MAKSTKFL.DOC is present on the active disk, this mode will allow you to read it without leaving BASIC or reloading the program. SECOND MENU - SECURITY TYPE Selection of the type of security is necessary for the convience of data entry, since the published tables present different types of information and in different order for various markets. All of the formats are based on listings in The Wall Street Journal. (1): Dow Jones Averages This is for the entries from the tables of 30 INDUSTRIALS, 20 TRANSPORTATION, 15 UTILITIES and 65 STOCKS COMPOSITE AVERAGE data. The data file format is actually the same as for selection (2) but this allows for entry in the same order as in the paper. The entry order is CLOSE, HIGH, LOW, VOLUME. The data file is "date",volume,high,low,close. (2): New York Stock Exchange Covers the data for the NYSE-Composite Transactions as well as New York Exchange Bonds and Amex-Composite Tranactions. The order of entry is VOLUME, HIGH, LOW, CLOSE. The data file is "data",volume,high,low,close. (3): Over the Counter Markets Data entry in the order VOLUME, BID, ASKED for NASDAQ quotes of the Over-the-Counter Markets. The data file is "date",volume,bid,asked,0. (4): Options Listed Options Quotations data in the order NY CLOSE, CALLS, PUTS. It is important for options files that the last two characters of the filename be the strike price of the option if this data is to be used by the program PLTSTKFL. An example is BETHJA35 where the filespec will be BETHJA35.OPT. In plotting options data, PLTSTKFL extracts the last two characters in the filename for use as a baseline in the plot. The data file is "date",0,call,put,close. (5): Mutual Funds NET ASSET VALUE and OFFER PRICE data entry for Mutual Fund data. The data file is "date",0,nav,offer,0 The data file formats above are what you will see if you list the files with DOS [type] or EDLIN. The null (0) entries are used to allow common subroutines to be used for search or conversion of all of the data types. FILE SELECTION After you have specified a securities type, you will be presented with a list of the files of that type that are on the active disk. You must then enter the filename of the one you want. The filename may be any that is acceptable to DOS except in the case of options, where the last two characters are used to record the strike price. {NOTE: The filespec consists of [filename].[extension]. You are to enter the eight (or less) character [filename]. The three character [extension] is supplied by the program.} If you enter a filename that is on the disk but not on the list displayed, you may add data to that file in the wrong format, causing confusion later. Therefore check the filespec displayed in line 25 of the display before proceeding to enter data. . DATA ENTRY Once the program is in a mode for data entry it will list the security dile open on line 25, the date for the data to be entered and the type of data in the active screen area. The program uses BASIC INPUT statements so it will reject some data entries such as characters and extra punctuation marks. The program will trap some errors such as decimal points in volume entries and inappropriate values for HIGH, LOW, and CLOSE relative to data already entered for that date. The program will prompt for reentry of the data just entered. If the problem is with data entered earlier, enter the number 7777 and the program will restart the data entry cycle with the same date. The program does not expect securities prices to change by more than 25% in one day. If this data is entered, it askes for a second <enter> to confirm it. Once the last data for a day is entered the program prompts for the next day's data and there is no way to retreive the previous data (see ERROR CORRECTION). The number 7777 may be entered for any field to restart the data cycle at the same date to correct errors that are caught before the last entry. If the number 8888 is entered the program will skip to the next date and there will be no item in the data file for the date so skipped. When the number 9999 is entered the program ends the data entry mode. No data entry is made for that last date. ERROR CORRECTION The data files created with this program use the following format: "date",data AA,data BB,data CC,data DD A typical EDLIN listing would look like: 1:*"12-10-82",1234,22.375,21,22.125 2: "12-13-82",1324,22.875,21.5,22 3: "12-14-82",4231,20,19.125,21.25 This is not intended to be a tutorial on how to use EDLIN, but the procedure for correcting a file is to exit BASIC (enter <SYSTEM>), start EDLIN (enter <A:EDLIN filespec> if your DOS disk is in drive A and your data is in active drive B) and enter <L>. A listing similar to the above will appear. Find the date where the error occors. Enter the line number and the line will appear with the prompt below it. Use the DOS editing keys to correct the error, then exit EDLIN. With the error trapping routines of MAKSTKFL this procedure should seldom be necessary. DATA BACKUP This program opens all files for output in the APPEND mode so it is difficult to loose data. Nevertheless it is advisable to regularly backup your data. The file TRANSFER.BAT is provided to simplify this procedure. It depends on having a two disk system with the MAKSTKFL program, its associated data files, and TRANSFER.BAT all in drive B and the backup disk in drive A. If you are using PLTSTKFL or other analysis program it is a good idea to use the disk containing it as the backup disk for the following reason. When run, TRANSFER will first erase all stock data files in drive A. This is useful because if the files are updated on a daily basis they will become very fragmented by the DOS disk routines. Since the copy command uses existing directory entries on the destination disk if they exist, they must be erased in order to get good disk utilization on the backup disk. Using the backup files with analysis programs should decrease disk drive activity. If the disks are in the proper drives, TRANSFER will try to erase itself in drive A as a precaution, erase securities in drive A, then copy all securities files in drive B to drive A. Since it is possible for this routine to distroy itself if misused, it is listed below. You may recreate the file by editing this file if you are clever at that sort of thing. rem WARNING!!! REM This routine will erase all stock data files in drive A:. rem Be sure that this disk is in drive B:. rem The transfer is made from drive B: to drive A:. rem As a precaution this transfer batch file will erase itself if it is in drive A:. pause WARNING! Press <Ctrl>+<Break> if you think you are in trouble. erase A:transfer.bat erase a:*.dja erase a:*.nys erase a:*.otc erase a:*.opt erase a:*.mut rem All stock data files will be transfered from B: to A:. rem Be sure that the source disk is in drive B: pause and that the destination disk is in drive A: copy *.dja A: copy *.nys A: copy *.otc A: copy *.opt A: copy *.mut A: MISCELLANEOUS At the time of this writing this program has quite a few rough edges which will have to be worked off by use. The error recovery procedures for disk and printer faults especially need work. It will be necessary to simulate all possible faults and trace the behavior of the software. However most of this is cosmetic, since restarting the program (from <Ctrl>+<Break> if necessary) will solve most problems. The nature of the data entry and the ease of editing the files make this program tolerant of errors. Revisions of this program and companion programs will be made avilable through the user groups that distribute this program. ---***--- The program MAKSTKPLT.BAS and its associated files are made freely available non-exclusively for distribution to the members of the Picture City Personal Computer Programmers' Club and through software exchange with other users groups as long as the author and (PC)^3 are fully credited.