Before beginning to configure the MasterDATA Composite Plug-in, we need to define the common characteristics required in your datafiles.  Your datafiles must:

1. contain comma delimited (comma separated) values, each row of which contains the same number of values (columns)

2. contain a value for all columns (values may be blank, but still need to be separated by commas)

3. contain no less than two nor more than 101 values (columns) per row (number of columns is configurable)

4. contain one column which provides the date for the values in that row .  The date format  and location (column) is configurable.

Before using the MasterDATA Composite Plug-in, you must tell it how your data file is structured.  Although your datafiles must be structured as described above, the configuration settings described below allow for many variations in data file structure, formats and location.

To begin, click on the button labeled "Click here to browse to your titles file".

The following dialog window will open.  Browse to your titles file (in this example, "StatisticTitles.csv").  Click on the file name (make sure it is highlighted) and then click the "Open" button.

Clicking on the "Open" button will close this dialog and you will return to the configuration screen.  Four settings will automatically be filled in as in the example below:

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Filled in automatically based on the titles file you selected.  This is the total number of columns found in your titles file.  While the maximum number of columns is 101, your titles file can have as few as two columns.  Here is an example of what this field should look like if your datafiles have 68 columns:

Important:  Your datafiles must contain exactly the same number of columns (values).

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Filled in automatically based on the titles file you selected.  This is the file extension found on your selected titles file.  This three letter file extension can be anything as long as the file content itself is "comma separated values".

 Important:  The file extension must be the same for the titles file and all your datafiles.

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Filled in automatically based on the titles file you selected.  This is the name of the titles file you browsed to above.

This file should be created specifically for this purpose.  Make sure that your titles contain no "illegal" characters. (see "Rules for Statistic Names to be Used in the MasterDATA Composite Plug-in" below).  The names listed in this file are the names that you will use in your MetaStock formulas to call values from your .csv datafiles.  Our listed "Rules" define statistic names that MetaStock will accept.

Following, is an example of a partial title file naming statistic (value) columns as viewed in Excel:

Following, is the same partial titles file  viewed in Notepad:

Statistic names must always be in the first line (row) of your designated, comma delimited titles file.

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Filled in automatically based on the titles file you selected.

Important:  Your titles file must be located in the directory to which you browsed.  Your datafiles must be located in subdirectories of this directory named (if the above directory is valid) as follows:

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Select the column number in your datafiles that contains the date.  The date column may be any column from one to the total number of columns in your data file.  Here is an example of what it should look like if your dates are located in column two:

Following, is a view of what this would look like if your data file is opened in Excel:

Following, is a view of the same file opened in Notepad:

:

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Select the date format used in your comma delimited ASCII data file. Each line (row) in your data file must have a date and it must be located in the column specified above in "Column Number For Date".  There are two available date formats, "YYYYMMDD" and "MM/DD/YYYY".  The former is a four digit year, followed by a two digit month, followed by a two digit month.  This format is common among many database programs:

The latter allows Excel .xls datafiles to be saved as a .csv file using Excel's date formatting (generally, select the top date format style in the "Format Cells" dialog of your Excel spreadsheet).  Certainly this format is commonly utilized by numerous other programs.  Unlike the above described date format, this format is relatively accommodating in that the day and month values may be either one or two digits.  The year value must be four digits.

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Either ALL files should have a header (titles) line in the first line (row) OR ALL should not have such a header line. If your files have a header line (row), select "Yes" for this setting.  If possible, all of your datafiles should be consistent.  If they are not, it is recommended that you select "Yes".  In those datafiles with header lines, that line will be properly skipped when the Plug-in reads your data file.  In those files with no header line, however, the first line of data will be not be available to MetaStock.

Following, is an example of a data file which includes a header line (row) viewed in Excel:

Following, is the same data file  viewed in Notepad:

Otherwise select "No" to indicate that none of your datafiles include a header line.  With this setting, the Plug-in returns values to MetaStock beginning with the first line of data in your datafiles.

Following, is an example of the first line of a data file with no header line (row) viewed in Excel:

Following, is the same data file (no header)  viewed in Notepad:

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Select your data vendor.  Ticker symbols, particularly index ticker symbols, vary between data vendors.  For instance, the symbol for the Dow Jones Industrial Average is "$INDU" in eSignal and ".DJI" in Reuters Datalink.  The MasterDATA Composite Plug-in compensates for these differences.

If you use all the default installation paths for the MasterDATA Composite Plug-in, this is one of only two configuration settings needing input from you.  The other is "Default Datafile".

If you use a data vendor not listed, please notify us of your vendor's name or source at support@masterdata.com.  The program will be updated for your needs and sent to you.

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A list of issue names and their ticker symbols must be present in .csv format.  The file (of eSignal symbols in this example) will look as follows in Excel:

Notice there are two columns, the first being the issue's name and the second the ticker symbol.  Following is how the file looks when opened in Notepad.  Notice the comma between the name and ticker symbol values:

Browse to and select this file so it appears in the ".csv Datafile Name List" field as follows:

The MasterDATA Composite Plug-in uses this list in one of two of its available formulas within MetaStock.  The formula

ExtFml( "MD.ByFile",CompositeSymbol, YourValue, DataPeriod)

uses this list to identify symbols for which there are corresponding .csv format datafiles.  This is a very powerful and flexible formula which is discussed under the "Using the Plug-in" tab.

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Select the symbol that should be used when no datafile exists for the the symbol requested by your MetaStock formula.  In other words, say your formula requests data for the symbol XXX and there is no datafile for that issue or by that name.  What symbol's datafile do you want to be used?  Select the symbol from the drop down list of symbols you provided by your ".csv Datafile Name List" above.

If you use all the default installation paths for the MasterDATA Composite Plug-in, this is one of only two configuration settings needing input from you.  The other is "Your Data Vendor / Source".

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To replace a leading character in a symbol:
Depending on your price data vendor, index and statistic symbols often begin with a character such as "$" (dollar sign), "." (period) or "^" (caret), etc.  In particular, a symbol beginning with a "." (period) creates a problem for Windows files.  File names generally should not begin with a period.  Thus, when MetaStock determines the base symbol begins with a period, the Plug-in will look for the related data file name beginning with a period.  To address this issue, the Plug-in allows you to define a rule that symbols beginning with a character you specify (such as a period) will automatically be replaced by another character that you specify, such as an underscore ("_"), when it determines the data file name to look for.  This Plug-in function avoids the problem of invalid data file names.    Here is an example of how the two fields should look if your MetaStock symbol begins with a period and your datafiles begin with an underscore:

.SPX.csv becomes _SPX.csv

OR if you simply wish to eliminate the leading character in all index or statistic symbols, enter the character you wish to eliminate in the first "begin with a" text box and leave the second field , "replace it with a", blank (not a space, but totally empty).

$SPX.csv becomes SPX.csv

To replace a character within a symbol:
Another common practice by data vendors is to place a character within a symbol.  Often this is done with preferred stocks.  While Windows has no particular problem with a file name containing two periods, it is not common practice.  Often the program you use to generate your datafiles replaces internal characters a certain way.  Thus you also have the ability to replace a character you specify with another character you specify.

VIA.B becomes VIA_B

OR symbols for stocks trading on exchanges outside the United States often use a space between the actual symbol and a specific exchange identifier.  Again, Windows would have no particular problem with this file name, but your program might.  Although it is not visible in the example below, there is a " " (a space, not a blank field) in the text box below following "contains a".  To Windows, a space is seen just like a comma, period, dollar sign or any other ASCII character.

WTC AU becomes WTC_AU

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