We now take a look at the menus and tools available with a command window . The toolbar is as shown below, and each tool in numbered for reference.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14

1. This tool is the usual ‘PRINT’ tool, which allows you to setup the printer of your choice, and then print the command lines that are currently visible in the command window.
   

2. This the ‘OPEN’ tool that lets you open the saved contents of a previous command window, and place these lines in the active command window.

3. This is the ‘SAVE’ tool. It allows you to save the current contents of the command window under a name of your choice, to use at some future time.

4. 5.   6.     These are the usual ‘CUT’, ‘COPY’, and ‘PASTE’ tools, respectively. They allow you to cut and or copy command lines which you have selected by holding down the right mouse button and dragging, and to paste lines into this command window that may have been copied or cut from any command window.

7. This Ruler icon is the "CONVERT" tool, used to convert data saved in various proprietary formats into FDC format. Conversion is permitted from ASCII data to FDC data and conversely.

8. This is the “DATA WIZARD” tool. It opens a window that allows you to (a) request datasets from the catalog by using the mouse or (b) request automatic downloads of data over the web.
   
9. The "MACRO WIZARD" tool opens the Macro window discussed separately, and lets you edit or enter new macros.
   
10. This is the "PARABOLIC PREDICTION WIZARD" tool that lets you make parabolic predictions, as discussed elsewhere.
11. The "TRADE SYSTEM WIZARD" enables you to test trade a system of your own design.
    
12. The "LIST WIZARD" enables you to create lists which will be the subject of automatic operations. You can create lists of datasets on which operations will be performed, or lists of operations to be performed on various datasets, etc.
    
13. This is the "Clipboard" icon. Any Ascii data copied to the clipboard from almost any source will be automatically converted to FDC form and displayed, as discussed elsewhere.
    
14. The Play icon will automatically enter all commands on the current active command screen, allowing "Batch" operations.

The Play Button:

It functions quite simply:  In any command set, press the play button and FDC will run each subsequent line of instructions in the command set.

When would you use it?  Any time you have repetitive tasks to perform.

For example, if you update your data files yourself (because your data is unique and not readily provided by a data supplier), then you may want to construct a command set as follows:

This command set runs the update macro on the list of chosen datasets.  After you supply the needed data for euro, FDC will move on to nikkei, and so on through yields.  Naturally in this case it pays to save the command set and call it up every time you wish to do your updates. 

Another use would be for testing, where you perform the same list of instructions repeatedly until you hit upon the right parameters.  For example the following command set performs the same operations as that which we have created in the trix macro. 

Your purpose in repeatedly running this command set is to try the operation with different parameters.  For example, instead of using the variable nas (i.e. NASDAQ), you could try it with snp or djia, or any other dataset.  More likely however, is that you would repeatedly perform the operation with different N values (i.e. the .154 in the expave commands).  We chose that value as the one most commonly mentioned in the technical literature, but you may achieve better performance results with other N values.  Just make your changes, go to the top line and hit the play button.  This can also be done in a loop, using Lists. Do a quick graph of your output and decide if you like the values chosen.  The use of reset in the first command line will automatically reset the temporary values (temp1 thru temp4) for your next set of parameters.

In the above case, where the "Show" display option is in effect, the cooresponding temporary dataset would be displayed as each line is executed. In the "Hide" option, all the computations would be made, but no datasets would be displayed unless you subsequently selected a line and pressed the F11 key (or toggled the display from the Edit menu). The advantages of this method include much quicker execution and not having so many windows to clutter up the work space. Also, the windows graphics memory is separate from ram, and usually much smaller. It is a feature of the graphics subsystem. If enough windows are opened automatically (perhaps around 20), this memory becomes filled, and further work is impossible until some window is closed. In hidden mode you can make any number of computations, limited only by your ram size. While using the Hide mode, labels of computed datasets, shown in the command window, will appear in a light gray color, instead of the usual brown.

You can use the commands "show" and "hide" in the beginning of any line to override the default display option for that particular line.

Menus in Command windows

The File menu drops down as shown below. The "Data Wizard" command displays a list of all currently activated Datasets. You may choose one or several of these and click the Open Dataset button. The Datasets will all open, and a record of them will appear in the current command window. This window also lets you get free and paid data from the web automatically in fdc format. The other options are: Open a new command window (in addition to the current one); and duplicate the load, save, and print functions of the toolbar. You can use the "Print" option to print a list of all commands in the current command window. Finally you can exit the command window.

If you activate the Data Wizard option by choosing it or using the shortcut CTRL-T, a window opens showing all currently activated Datasets. An example is shown below. When you start FDC, the Datasets in the 'Data" subdirectory of the FDC directory will be activated. At any time, however, you can open any number of FDC or ASCII datasets by using the data wizard, whose icon is shown below.

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When pressed, the first screen shown is:

If you choose the first of the "Open" buttons, a standard windows dialog will allow you to choose and open any number of FDC datyasets in any folder. The second button will allow you to do the same for ASCII datasets, providing automatic conversion to FDC. Later we will talk more about the other options in the Data Wizard window.

When you exit the command window, all data windows opened by commands in that command window are closed. If no other command window is open, FDC immediately exits.

Next we see the Edit menu in drop down form.

The Cut, Copy, and Paste selections are identical to the same tools on the toolbar. In addition, there are Insert and Delete items that allow rows to be inserted into the command window at the current line or deleted from the command window according to the number of rows selected by the mouse. The Clear item clears the selected rows of the command window. You can insert or delete rows with the corresponding items. Finally, the last item toggles between the "show" and "Hide" display modes

The Options menu is now shown in drop down form.

The first option presents two choices for the behavior of notes under the action of the combining functions MERGE, MERGEIN, and WITH. The default for any new data created is to provide a blank note, since notes are frequently unique to Datasets. If you choose the second note option, notes will be retained and combined when the three functions mentioned above act.

All of your actions are recorded in the form of a running tape, which can be viewed by selecting the "Tape" tab at the bottom of the command set. Should you have forgotten somethng you were doing earlier in the session, it's all there in the tape backup. The choice presented to you here is whether or not to have each entry time-stamped.

The last option gives you the choice as to how datasets will be first displayed after execution by a command set. For example, displaying them as datasets will give you the "spreadsheet" appearance, whereas the plot choice gives you the charts. There's no right way; it depends on whether you are a "number person" or a "picture person." The advantage of the plots is that you can quickly run through them as with a slide show. Regardless of which option choice you make, you can easily toggle from data to plots with the tab selections at the bottom of the window. You will also be able to choose between the "Show" and "Hide" options described above. The result of choosing "Display Options" is shown below.

The help menu opens as shown.

Here, there are items that bring up the User's Guide, and the starting Tutorial, as well as a Help By Topics (Glossary) of all terms.

Lastly, the all-important “CHECK FOR UPDATES” selection. When pressed, this initiates a quick check over the web to see if you are using the latest version of FDC. If a new upgrade is available, you will be asked if you want to upgrade. Choose yes, and FDC will download the newer version, exit the old version and reload with the newer version.