XLTrader - Automation - for the power user

click to enlargeAn automation template comes with XLTrader™ add-ins. Once you've built your charts, you can use automation template to simplfy the process of updating. It can even stick a label on the chart telling when it was last updated and price info. Set it up using the process scheduling capabilites of the windows™ operating system(s) to perform the update process while you sleep. In the morning pull up the automatically generated (and uploaded!) web page and check on the status of your charts. Note* This template is included as a bonus and example for advanced users. Its complicated so support will not be provide for it but its completely "open source" so you can look at and modify the code to meet your own particular needs.

The automation template allows you to specify, where to download the data, what excel workbooks you want update, call macro routines, apply a label, export the graphic images (jpeg or gif), write the html and then upload via a freeware command line ftp program (also included) it to your website! Maybe you seen these charts. They (were) updated daily (until that computer died) and are example of what automation.xls can do.

Main Automation Panel

The main panel is where you specify where to download the historical data and what to name the file, which of the automation option you want, file names and paths, ftp account settings and directories.

Specifying Symbols and Files to Update

The lower half of the template is where you specify the required ticker symbols, path and filename for the spreadsheets you want to update.

Specifying Options

The icon with the little picture of a sunset is used to export the chart as a graphic image. You can save your file as either a gif (which is usally the best option) or a jpeg.

Putting a Label on the Charts

You can have the template a label put on your charts. Maybe you want to indicate when the chart was last updated, value in a particular cell of the spreadsheet or the contents of the last cell in a column.

Uploading Images

When your charts have been updated, you might want to publish them to the web. The automation template can launch and run a freeware program called wcl_ftp.exe which is included with the download.