amibroker

A new version (1.5.0) of ODBC plugin is available now for download from:

http://www.amibroker.com/odbc.html

Updated version has been compiled with API 2.1 and is compatible with new date /time format used by AmiBroker 5.27 and above.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 6:46 am under Plugins,Releases
Comments Off on ODBC plugin updated

A maintenance update to AmiBroker 5.30.1 (built 5104) is available for download from
http://www.amibroker.com/bin/AmiBroker530.exe

It contains a few fixes to issues detected after the release including:

1. Fix for access violation occuring in 5.30.1 when using smart optimization
2. Incorrect saving of account manager files
3. Fix for access violation when clicking with RMB on plugin notification area when database was completely empty

The update is strongly recommended for all 5.30.1 users.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 11:43 am under Releases
Comments Off on AmiBroker 5.30.1 (built 5104) maintenance update

A new official release version (5.30.1) of AmiBroker is now available from:

http://www.amibroker.com/download.html

(hit "REFRESH" button in your browser if you see old contents only)

There is now ONE universal installer for new installations and upgrade installations. Setup type (full/upgrade) is automatically detected.

It includes all updated documentation, examples, sample database. It is very similar to release candidate however it contains few important fixes:
CHANGES in 5.30.1 (official release) (as compared to 5.30.0 - release candidate):

1. Data plugins recompiled with API 2.10. All plugins rebased to maximize available memory space.
2. Small documentation changes
3. Show arrows for actual trades did not show arrows immediately. Fixed
4. IB plugin: set Aux1/Aux2/OpenInt to zero
5. New built-in formulas Gradient Price chart and Spread Chart
6. Default redraw time (when no charts are displayed) is set to arbitrary 0.1 sec (instead of 1 sec used previously)
7. Other minor fixes
8. Fixed Access violation when performance warning tooltip popped up under extreme load
9. ADK 2.10: PluginNotification structure is now larger - has pCurrentSINew that is a pointer to new StockInfo structure, while pCurrentSI is reverted to StockInfoFormat4 to maintain compatibility with plugins that were no rewritten using new API

Short summary of all new features in 5.30 (as compared to 5.20):

1. changed database format to support time stamp granularity down to one microsecond (0.000001s) and more data fields
2. static array variables
3. user-definable backtest report charts (see examples in Charts window, "Report Charts" folder)
4. new Data Window (View->Data Window)
5. new Performance Monitor tool
6. tick statistics added to Time&Sales window
7. chart blank area extension using END key (on the keyboard), to restore original setting press HOME key
8. added option to require variable declarations (SetOption("RequireDeclarations", True ));
9. persistent column state (widths/order/visibility) in the Automatic Analysis and all other list-views.
10. gradient area charts capability (see Charts - Basic Chart - Gradient Price chart)
11. new typeof() AFL operator
12. new AFL functions: ColorBlend, DateTimeDiff, HighestVisibleValue, LowestVisibleValue, StaticVarCount
13. User-definable Z-order of drawings and indicator plots
14. optional data padding for non-trading days
15. Rectangle and ellipse drawing tools are now solid by default
16. X-Y co-ordinate labels added (use View->X-Y Labels menu to display/hide).
17. Support for SSL (secure connection) and TCP/IP port selection for e-mail alerts added
18. new Symbols window with ultra quick full-text search and sorting
19. support for GICS 4-level category system
20. placing orders directly from chart (Interactive Brokers)
21. many other improvements and fixes (see Release Notes document for details)

The FULL CHANGE LOG is included in the ReleaseNotes.html document that is installed with the software.

Users upgrading from previous versions should read "What's New" section of the Users' Guide.
http://www.amibroker.com/guide/whatsnew.html

UPGRADE POLICY AND PRICING

1. The upgrade is FREE for all users who registered AmiBroker after December 30, 2005
2. The users who purchased AmiBroker before December 30, 2005 would need to buy upgrade if they want to use this newest version ($99 - Standard Edition, $139 - Professional). If you don't want to pay - you may continue using previous version(s) infinitely.
3. To find out when you have purchased AmiBroker and how long your free upgrade period is, use "Account Information" page in the members area at: http://www.amibroker.com/members/info.php
4. To purchase new license or upgrade please use our ordering page at: http://www.amibroker.com/order.php

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. If you are using Firewall you may need to check if it did not block Broker.EXE file after upgrade. (It happened to some users that firewall blocked AmiBroker after upgrade and they could not connect to RT data sources due
2. Differences between "Upgrade installation" and "Full installation"
   • Full setup installs sample DJI database under "Data" folder, Upgrade does not do that.
   • Full setup resets Custom Tools menu, Upgrade does not do that.
   • Full setup overwrites default .format files (ASCII importer definitions), Upgrade only installs them when old ones are not found
   • Full setup is required for first time Vista / Windows 7 install

   Other than that both modes are the same. "Upgrade installation" is available as an option in the setup only if full setup of any earlier official version was run on the same machine before.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 8:03 am under Releases
Comments Off on AmiBroker 5.30 official release

All AmiBroker data plugins have been updated for AmiBroker 5.30 official release to support new API 2.10.
New versions are already included in the setup program of AmiBroker 5.30 official
http://www.amibroker.com/bin/AmiBroker530.exe.

IQFeed plugin has been compiled and tested with new IQFeed API 4.7.0.9.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 7:56 am under Plugins,Releases
Comments Off on Data plugins updated

A new version of AmiBroker Development Kit (ADK 2.10) has been released

http://www.amibroker.com/bin/ADK.exe (550KB self-extracting exe)
http://www.amibroker.com/bin/ADK.zip (524KB plain zip file)

A new API contains updated documentation, source code samples and header definitions to support newly introduced features of AmiBroker 5.27 such as 64-bit date/time resolution, floating point volume/openint fields, new auxilliary data fields and extended symbol information fields.

VERSION 2.10 introduces one change in PluginNotification structure affecting data plugins only:

• struct PluginNotification has new field StockInfo * pCurrentSINew and old field pCurrentSI type has changed to StockInfoFormat4 *.

This change is done for backward compatibility with plugins written with API version 1.x. All data plugin developers who used PluginNotification structure with API version 2.0 MUST recompile their plugins with API 2.10 to make sure their plugins works properly with AmiBroker 5.30.

The documentation and samples covers writing indicator (AFL function) plugins, data plugins and optimizer plugins.

The package is provided for native code developers (mainly C/C++) wanting to write their own plugin DLLs.

ADK 2.10 is free to use in both commercial and individual software.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 7:49 am under Plugins,Releases
Comments Off on New AmiBroker Development Kit 2.10 released

A new Release Candidate (RC) version (5.30.0) of AmiBroker has just been released.

It is available for everyone from:
http://www.amibroker.com/download.html

(hit "REFRESH" button in your browser if you see old contents only)

It includes all updated documentation, examples, sample database. The "release candidate" means that if no significant bugs are found within 14 days from today this version becomes official release.

There is now ONE universal installer for new installations and upgrade installations. Setup type (full/upgrade) is automatically detected.

Short summary of all new features in 5.30 (as compared to 5.20):

1. changed database format to support time stamp granularity down to one microsecond (0.000001s) and more data fields
2. static array variables
3. user-definable backtest report charts (see examples in Charts window, "Report Charts" folder)
4. new Data Window (View->Data Window)
5. new Performance Monitor tool
6. tick statistics added to Time&Sales window
7. chart blank area extension using END key (on the keyboard), to restore original setting press HOME key
8. added option to require variable declarations (SetOption("RequireDeclarations", True ));
9. persistent column state (widths/order/visibility) in the Automatic Analysis and all other list-views.
10. gradient area charts capability (see Charts - Basic Chart - Gradient Price chart)
11. new typeof() AFL operator
12. new AFL functions: ColorBlend, DateTimeDiff, HighestVisibleValue, LowestVisibleValue, StaticVarCount
13. User-definable Z-order of drawings and indicator plots
14. optional data padding for non-trading days
15. Rectangle and ellipse drawing tools are now solid by default
16. X-Y co-ordinate labels added (use View->X-Y Labels menu to display/hide).
17. Support for SSL (secure connection) and TCP/IP port selection for e-mail alerts added
18. new Symbols window with ultra quick full-text search and sorting
19. support for GICS 4-level category system
20. placing orders directly from chart (Interactive Brokers)
21. many other improvements and fixes (see Release Notes document for details)

The FULL CHANGE LOG is included in the ReleaseNotes.html document that is installed with the software.

Users upgrading from previous versions should read "What's New" section of the Users' Guide.
http://www.amibroker.com/guide/whatsnew.html

UPGRADE POLICY AND PRICING

1. The upgrade is FREE for all users who registered AmiBroker after December 30, 2005
2. The users who purchased AmiBroker before December 30, 2005 would need to buy upgrade if they want to use this newest version ($99 - Standard Edition, $139 - Professional). If you don't want to pay - you may continue using previous version(s) infinitely.
3. To find out when you have purchased AmiBroker and how long your free upgrade period is, use "Account Information" page in the members area at: http://www.amibroker.com/members/info.php
4. To purchase new license or upgrade please use our ordering page at: http://www.amibroker.com/order.php

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. If you are using Firewall you may need to check if it did not block Broker.EXE file after upgrade. (It happened to some users that firewall blocked AmiBroker after upgrade and they could not connect to RT data sources due
2. Differences between "Upgrade installation" and "Full installation"
   • Full setup installs sample DJI database under "Data" folder, Upgrade does not do that.
   • Full setup resets Custom Tools menu, Upgrade does not do that.
   • Full setup overwrites default .format files (ASCII importer definitions), Upgrade only installs them when old ones are not found
   • Full setup is required for first time Vista / Windows 7 install

   Other than that both modes are the same. "Upgrade installation" is available as an option in the setup only if full setup of any earlier official version was run on the same machine before.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 10:12 am under Releases
Comments Off on AmiBroker 5.30 Release Candidate

A new IBController (auto-trading interface) version 1.3.1 BETA has been released. It is available for download from:

http://www.amibroker.com/at/

VERSION 1.3.1 CHANGES (as compared to version 1.3.0)

1. added configuration file to support AmiBroker 5.30 trading from chart functionality

NOTE: auto-trading interface is separate and independent from IB DATA PLUGIN and is not required if you are only interested in getting data from IB / TWS.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 10:04 am under Beta,Releases
Comments Off on IBController (auto trading interface) 1.3.1 released

A new beta version (5.29.6) of AmiBroker has just been released.

http://www.amibroker.com/members/bin/ab5296beta.exe
(2 293 448 bytes)

If you forgot your user name / password to the members area you can use automatic reminder service at: http://www.amibroker.com/login.html

IMPORTANT: Unauthorized copying and/or distribution of materials found on members' only page is STRICTLY PROHIBITED and will result in IMMEDIATE termination of license.

Remember to BACKUP YOUR FILES FIRST !
Note that this version can only be installed onto previous full installation of version 5.20 or higher

Since version 5.27 the format of database files (quotation / stock / drawings ) has changed.
So once data are saved with version 5.27 you will NOT be able to read them in pre-5.27 version.
Please make a backup of your pre-5.27 DATA in case you want to revert to previous version at any time in the future.

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.29.6 (as compared to 5.29.2)

1. [update 5.29.6] Fixed race condition between UI threads sometimes causing "wait for plugin" window to stay
2. Sometimes when copying AA list to clipboard three dot (...) sequence appeared every 2048 characters of copied text and some characters could be missing. Fixed.
3. GUI: chart context window items re-arranged - 'Close' menu item moved to the bottom and 'Properties' menu item moved to top (after Parameters)
4. styleClipMinMax constant is now highlighted in AFL editor
5. When different symbol were selected in active chart and in the Symbols pane (because of filtering) operations like adding/removing from watchlist got confused. Now AmiBroker asks the user what to do.
6. NumToStr/WriteVal are polymorphic now (means better performance for scalar input arguments)
7. Aux1/Aux2 reserved variables are highligted now in AFL editor
8. PREV/NEXT sibling keyboard shortcut functionality restored
9. Added "wait for plugin" window when switching external plugin-driven databases because sometimes plugin may take long time to shutdown/initialize
10. New symbol bar: inability to select first symbol after new search when previously displayed was one symbol, current symbol is re-selected automatically when search string changes. In-place symbol editing disabled.
11. Under some circumstances when broker.master was deleted/corrupted/inaccessible AmiBroker could hang loading database. Fixed.
12. Cum() function does NOT use all bars any more by default.
13. BarIndex() now returns values always starting from zero (even if QuickAFL is turned on).
14. Due to operating system changes in Vista and Windows 7, structured exceptions like address violations were not handled properly by exception handler and caused immediate program exit. Fixed.
15. Status() function new fields
16. Crash report now properly lists Windows Vista (OS 6.0) and Windows 7 (OS 6.1)
17. Crash recovery window now sends bug reports directly over http (WWW) protocol instead of relying on clients' MAPI email program as on Windows 7 e-mail program is no longer installed by default.

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.29.2 (as compared to 5.29.0)

1. Some issues with datestamps (including wrong montly compression) were introduced by change to EOD markers done 5.29.0. Reverted/fixed.
2. New symbol window is properly filled with categories even if not initally visible
3. New symbol window category/list panes can be resized now
4. GetPlaybackDateTime did not return zero when playback was not active in 5.27-5.29. Fixed.
5. When plugins used InfoSite.AddStock (old one) more than once per symbol certain category assignments could be improperly set in 5.27..5.29.0. Fixed.
6. Added fopen()/fclose() tracking and error message (Error 51) when user forgot to close files. On such error files are automatically closed by AB

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.29.0 (as compared to 5.28.1)

1. contains fixed non-exhaustive optimization plugins
2. ASCII importer: added GICS support
3. Fixed loading of old AA settings so Chart dimensions are initialized with (500,300) instead of zero
4. Trade.EntryDateTime, Trade.ExitDateTime were reporting values incompatible with DateTimeToStr in 5.27/5.28. Fixed
5. Fixed assertion in Import Wizard (refering to non-existing combo box)
6. A blank chart timing is now set to arbitrary value of 10ms
7. All numeric edit fields in AmiBroker now display numbers in regular (non-scientific) notation upto 10^15 and max available precision (7 significant digits in case of single-precision IEEE)
8. ASCII importer: removed 2^31 cap on volume field and removed some (int) conversions that were left from old days
9. Implemented protection against re-entrant WM_PAINT messages sent by Vista and Win7 during COM calls
10. New symbol list is repainted immediately after some changes now.
11. Quote Editor in 5.28 editing EOD records caused creation of duplicates. Fixed.
12. When converting from old database format, Aux1/2 fields are initialized with zero instead of some random values.
13. When focus was inside new symbol window, accelerator keys did not work in 5.28. Fixed

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.28.1 (as compared to 5.28.0)

1. Re-based DLLs included to increase contiguous virtual memory space
2. "Index" category was showing nothing in a new symbol window. Fixed.
3. Quote Editor - multiple quote deletion was not possible in 5.27/5.28.0, only first selected item was deleted. Fixed
4. Right-click beyond last symbol in the symbol list in a new symbol window caused crash in 5.28. Fixed.
5. Changed the way in DateTime() values are coded to support legacy formulas that are not using currently recommended comparision method via DateTimeDiff()
6. OLE: ZoomToRange() method works for floating windows
7. ADK: Added GetDateTimeArray to site interface
8. In 5.27/5.28 DateTimeConvert function returned incorrect datenum. Fixed
9. New symbol list supports selection via typing few first letters (like symbol combo)
10. When saved Automatic Analysis settings contained some garbage data in MaxLongPos/MaxShortPos parameters the backtester could exit with "Not enough memory" error. Fixed

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.28.0 (as compared to 5.27.3)

1. GICS is now available as Filter category (in Automatic Analysis, Quick Review and DB Purify)
2. Completely redesigned Symbol window (View->Symbol)
   New symbol window now features:
   a) separate category/filter view
   b) full text search with category filtering
   c) sorting by symbol or by full name
   d) GICS support
   e) hierachical filtering
   f) multiple selection of symbols
   g) super-fast operation
3. Quote Editor Aux1 field was overwritten with value of Aux2 field. Fixed
4. Quote Editor column layout/width is saved between sessions (again)
5. N-second custom intervals can now be defined in Tools->Preferences->Intraday
6. GICS categorisation. See the ReadMe for more details.
7. Added support for GICS to AFL
   There is a new constant : categoryGICS that works in conjunction with category functions like: CategoryGetSymbols, CategoryGetName, CategorySetName, CategoryAddSymbol, CategoryRemoveSymbol, CategoryFind. See the ReadMe for more details.

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.27.3 (as compared to 5.27.2)

1. HighestSince/LowestSince ignored very first bar [0] in the array. Fixed
2. Stock object date fields can be set to "empty" by assigning zero.
3. Aux1,Aux2 added to Import Wizard comboboxes
4. View->Data window is now present in Customization dialog
5. Weekly chart was not displayed if settings were to show first date of week and first date was before 1970. Fixed.
6. Added DateTimeDiff( arg1, arg2 ) AFL function that returns difference in seconds between two date time arguments
7. Symbol->Quote Editor now uses fully virtual mode - it does not require extra memory and shows up immediatelly and works fast regardless of number of quotes per symbol and is auto-refreshed every 5 sec
8. eSignal plugin does not fill AuxData with random data (they are initialized with zero now)
9. Fixed DateTimeToStr and StrToDateTime
10. Fixed crash when saving symbols that had name() longer than 32 characters

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.27.2 (as compared to 5.27.1)

1. Fixed 16-character name problem in Metastock plugin
2. Fixed monthly compression problem present in 5.27.1
3. Fixed problem when OLE automation was used to modify symbol properties on OLD format databases without saving them first in new format
4. Aux1 and Aux2 are new built-in AFL price arrays
5. Fixed Text tool bug (Vertical text instead of horizontal in 5.27.1)
6. 'Avg' field compression with TimeFrameSet fixed.
7. Added AUX1 and AUX2 to ASCII importer field definitions
8. Auxilliary data fields writable by AddToComposite field "1" (aux1), and field "2" (aux2)
9. Quotations object added new method: long RetrieveEx(long Count, VARIANT* Date, VARIANT* Open, VARIANT* High, VARIANT* Low, VARIANT* Close, VARIANT* Volume, VARIANT* OpenInt, VARIANT* Aux1, VARIANT* Aux2);
10. Aux1/Aux2 available as properties of Quotation object (OLE interface)

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.27.1 (as compared to 5.27.0)

1. Fixed incorrect year when importing intraday data using ASCII importer
2. Fixed intraday filtering issue that occurred for auto-converted databases
3. Market ID was not properly set in 5.27.0 alpha

CHANGES IN VERSION 5.27.0 (as compared to 5.26.0):

1. changed core data structures to support the following
   1. 64 bit date/time field with date range of 4095 years and resolution down to microseconds
   2. floating point volume and open interest fields
   3. two new auxilliary data fields per bar (internally, not yet exposed)
   4. 100 new user-defined fundamental data fields (internally, not yet exposed)
   5. support for GICS (internally, not yet exposed)
   6. upto 48 character length in Symbol/Alias/WebID fields
2. Updated plugins for eSignal, IQFeed, Interactive Brokers, Quotes Plus, Metastock to support floating point volume/open int and 64 bit date/time
3. 1-second interval bars
4. Metastock plugin now reads long symbol description
5. Symbol lock fixed (does not interfere with Interval linking)
6. Added simple "BackupAB.exe" to backup entire AmiBroker folder after installation to prevent data in old format.

For more info see AmiBroker 5.29.6 BETA READ ME file.

KNOWN ISSUES:
No known issues. This does not mean that version is flawless. There can still be issues that are not identified. It is still beta.

NEW VERSION FAQ:

Q1. Do the new data plugins load as part of the update or do they need to be updated separately ?
A1. New plugins are part of the update. You don't need to install them seprately.

Q2. Do existing 3rd party DLLs work with new version?
A2. Existing 3rd party DLLs continue to work OK, thanks to backward compatibility layer added in 5.27, but
a) compatibility layer induces some extra CPU overhead (less than 0.001 sec per 1000 bars retrieved from data plugin)
b) of course new features (extended resolution and floating point volume) are not available using old plugins
Also, the change only affects DATA plugins. Any other plugins (AFL, optimizer) do not require any change.

Q3. Will new version read my old database structure ?
A3. Yes. AmiBroker 5.27.0 alpha / 5.28 / 5.29 BETA will load your old databases without problems and all your watch lists, drawings, groups, etc are preserved. What is different, is that new version, once it saves the data, will save it in NEW format that is only readable with v5.27 and above.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 8:12 pm under Beta,Releases
Comments Off on AmiBroker 5.29.6 BETA released

A new beta version (5.29.2) of AmiBroker has just been released.

http://www.amibroker.com/members/bin/ab5292beta.exe
(2 249 150 bytes)

If you forgot your user name / password to the members area you can use automatic reminder service at: http://www.amibroker.com/login.html

IMPORTANT: Unauthorized copying and/or distribution of materials found on members' only page is STRICTLY PROHIBITED and will result in IMMEDIATE termination of license.

Remember to BACKUP YOUR FILES FIRST !
Note that this version can only be installed onto previous full installation of version 5.20 or higher

Since version 5.27 the format of database files (quotation / stock / drawings ) has changed.
So once data are saved with version 5.27 you will NOT be able to read them in pre-5.27 version.
Please make a backup of your pre-5.27 DATA in case you want to revert to previous version at any time in the future.

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.29.2 (as compared to 5.29.0)

1. Some issues with datestamps (including wrong montly compression) were introduced by change to EOD markers done 5.29.0. Reverted/fixed.
2. New symbol window is properly filled with categories even if not initally visible
3. New symbol window category/list panes can be resized now
4. GetPlaybackDateTime did not return zero when playback was not active in 5.27-5.29. Fixed.
5. When plugins used InfoSite.AddStock (old one) more than once per symbol certain category assignments could be improperly set in 5.27..5.29.0. Fixed.
6. Added fopen()/fclose() tracking and error message (Error 51) when user forgot to close files. On such error files are automatically closed by AB

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.29.0 (as compared to 5.28.1)

1. contains fixed non-exhaustive optimization plugins
2. ASCII importer: added GICS support
3. Fixed loading of old AA settings so Chart dimensions are initialized with (500,300) instead of zero
4. Trade.EntryDateTime, Trade.ExitDateTime were reporting values incompatible with DateTimeToStr in 5.27/5.28. Fixed
5. Fixed assertion in Import Wizard (refering to non-existing combo box)
6. A blank chart timing is now set to arbitrary value of 10ms
7. All numeric edit fields in AmiBroker now display numbers in regular (non-scientific) notation upto 10^15 and max available precision (7 significant digits in case of single-precision IEEE)
8. ASCII importer: removed 2^31 cap on volume field and removed some (int) conversions that were left from old days
9. Implemented protection against re-entrant WM_PAINT messages sent by Vista and Win7 during COM calls
10. New symbol list is repainted immediately after some changes now.
11. Quote Editor in 5.28 editing EOD records caused creation of duplicates. Fixed.
12. When converting from old database format, Aux1/2 fields are initialized with zero instead of some random values.
13. When focus was inside new symbol window, accelerator keys did not work in 5.28. Fixed

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.28.1 (as compared to 5.28.0)

1. Re-based DLLs included to increase contiguous virtual memory space
2. "Index" category was showing nothing in a new symbol window. Fixed.
3. Quote Editor - multiple quote deletion was not possible in 5.27/5.28.0, only first selected item was deleted. Fixed
4. Right-click beyond last symbol in the symbol list in a new symbol window caused crash in 5.28. Fixed.
5. Changed the way in DateTime() values are coded to support legacy formulas that are not using currently recommended comparision method via DateTimeDiff()
6. OLE: ZoomToRange() method works for floating windows
7. ADK: Added GetDateTimeArray to site interface
8. In 5.27/5.28 DateTimeConvert function returned incorrect datenum. Fixed
9. New symbol list supports selection via typing few first letters (like symbol combo)
10. When saved Automatic Analysis settings contained some garbage data in MaxLongPos/MaxShortPos parameters the backtester could exit with "Not enough memory" error. Fixed

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.28.0 (as compared to 5.27.3)

1. GICS is now available as Filter category (in Automatic Analysis, Quick Review and DB Purify)
2. Completely redesigned Symbol window (View->Symbol)
   New symbol window now features:
   a) separate category/filter view
   b) full text search with category filtering
   c) sorting by symbol or by full name
   d) GICS support
   e) hierachical filtering
   f) multiple selection of symbols
   g) super-fast operation
3. Quote Editor Aux1 field was overwritten with value of Aux2 field. Fixed
4. Quote Editor column layout/width is saved between sessions (again)
5. N-second custom intervals can now be defined in Tools->Preferences->Intraday
6. GICS categorisation. See the ReadMe for more details.
7. Added support for GICS to AFL
   There is a new constant : categoryGICS that works in conjunction with category functions like: CategoryGetSymbols, CategoryGetName, CategorySetName, CategoryAddSymbol, CategoryRemoveSymbol, CategoryFind. See the ReadMe for more details.

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.27.3 (as compared to 5.27.2)

1. HighestSince/LowestSince ignored very first bar [0] in the array. Fixed
2. Stock object date fields can be set to "empty" by assigning zero.
3. Aux1,Aux2 added to Import Wizard comboboxes
4. View->Data window is now present in Customization dialog
5. Weekly chart was not displayed if settings were to show first date of week and first date was before 1970. Fixed.
6. Added DateTimeDiff( arg1, arg2 ) AFL function that returns difference in seconds between two date time arguments
7. Symbol->Quote Editor now uses fully virtual mode - it does not require extra memory and shows up immediatelly and works fast regardless of number of quotes per symbol and is auto-refreshed every 5 sec
8. eSignal plugin does not fill AuxData with random data (they are initialized with zero now)
9. Fixed DateTimeToStr and StrToDateTime
10. Fixed crash when saving symbols that had name() longer than 32 characters

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.27.2 (as compared to 5.27.1)

1. Fixed 16-character name problem in Metastock plugin
2. Fixed monthly compression problem present in 5.27.1
3. Fixed problem when OLE automation was used to modify symbol properties on OLD format databases without saving them first in new format
4. Aux1 and Aux2 are new built-in AFL price arrays
5. Fixed Text tool bug (Vertical text instead of horizontal in 5.27.1)
6. 'Avg' field compression with TimeFrameSet fixed.
7. Added AUX1 and AUX2 to ASCII importer field definitions
8. Auxilliary data fields writable by AddToComposite field "1" (aux1), and field "2" (aux2)
9. Quotations object added new method: long RetrieveEx(long Count, VARIANT* Date, VARIANT* Open, VARIANT* High, VARIANT* Low, VARIANT* Close, VARIANT* Volume, VARIANT* OpenInt, VARIANT* Aux1, VARIANT* Aux2);
10. Aux1/Aux2 available as properties of Quotation object (OLE interface)

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.27.1 (as compared to 5.27.0)

1. Fixed incorrect year when importing intraday data using ASCII importer
2. Fixed intraday filtering issue that occurred for auto-converted databases
3. Market ID was not properly set in 5.27.0 alpha

CHANGES IN VERSION 5.27.0 (as compared to 5.26.0):

1. changed core data structures to support the following
   1. 64 bit date/time field with date range of 4095 years and resolution down to microseconds
   2. floating point volume and open interest fields
   3. two new auxilliary data fields per bar (internally, not yet exposed)
   4. 100 new user-defined fundamental data fields (internally, not yet exposed)
   5. support for GICS (internally, not yet exposed)
   6. upto 48 character length in Symbol/Alias/WebID fields
2. Updated plugins for eSignal, IQFeed, Interactive Brokers, Quotes Plus, Metastock to support floating point volume/open int and 64 bit date/time
3. 1-second interval bars
4. Metastock plugin now reads long symbol description
5. Symbol lock fixed (does not interfere with Interval linking)
6. Added simple "BackupAB.exe" to backup entire AmiBroker folder after installation to prevent data in old format.

For more info see AmiBroker 5.29.2 BETA READ ME file.

KNOWN ISSUES:
No known issues. This does not mean that version is flawless. There can still be issues that are not identified. It is still beta.

NEW VERSION FAQ:

Q1. Do the new data plugins load as part of the update or do they need to be updated separately ?
A1. New plugins are part of the update. You don't need to install them seprately.

Q2. Do existing 3rd party DLLs work with new version?
A2. Existing 3rd party DLLs continue to work OK, thanks to backward compatibility layer added in 5.27, but
a) compatibility layer induces some extra CPU overhead (less than 0.001 sec per 1000 bars retrieved from data plugin)
b) of course new features (extended resolution and floating point volume) are not available using old plugins
Also, the change only affects DATA plugins. Any other plugins (AFL, optimizer) do not require any change.

Q3. Will new version read my old database structure ?
A3. Yes. AmiBroker 5.27.0 alpha / 5.28 / 5.29 BETA will load your old databases without problems and all your watch lists, drawings, groups, etc are preserved. What is different, is that new version, once it saves the data, will save it in NEW format that is only readable with v5.27 and above.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 5:14 am under Beta,Releases
Comments Off on AmiBroker 5.29.2 BETA released

Starting from today (October 4th), the only available BETA version from members zone would be the most recent one, plus eventually one version back. Such decision was made because people tended to use obsolete BETA versions on random basis which is not good practice.

If you decide to use BETA version, you need to keep it updated to most recent one, or don't use BETA at all.

Most recent BETA version always include fixes to any bugs found earlier so it is important to keep it updated.

Filed by Tomasz Janeczko at 5:34 pm under Beta,Releases
Comments Off on BETA version availability