CvtQuote 1.0a Documentation R.G. Brickner, CIS:[76530,1456] TITLE: Convert Fractional Securities Quotes to Decimal KEYWORDS: CONVERT QUOTE FRACTION DECIMAL WINDOWS DOS FILTER ABSTRACT: CvtQuote is a simple but sophisticated program to convert securities quotes from fractional form to decimal form. The input is assumed to consist of a standard DOS text file, most probably a capture or log file from an information service session, which contains securities quotes in fractional form. The output is a DOS text file with the fractional amounts converted to decimal amounts. CvtQuote is supplied as both a Windows 3.1 application and as a DOS command-line application. Version 1.0a allows "volume" data containing embedded commas. DESCRIPTION: CvtQuote is a simple but sophisticated program to convert securities quotes from fractional form to decimal form. The input is assumed to consist of a standard DOS text file, most probably a capture or log file from an information service session, which contains lines of the form mm/dd/yy v i i/i i i/i i i/i where the date may or may not include leading zeroes, 'v' is the volume which may or may not contain embedded commas, and i is an integer. (For example: Date, Volume, High/Ask Low/Bid Close/Avg). The fractional part of the amounts need not exist; CvtQuote handles equally well quotes of the form mm/dd/yy v i i/i i i i/i and so on. The output is in the form mm/dd/yy v i.ii i.ii i.ii where the decimal forms of the amounts are the correct conversions from the fractional forms. Lines which do not contain quotes of this form are copied unchanged to the output. Note the parser also recognizes some quotes of the above form with extra embedded characters, so occasional 'noise' may not prevent the parser from recognizing these lines. Only global replacement of lines of the above form is currently supported. Other functionality, such as conversion of selected text or find-and-replace, could be implemented if there is a demand. Do not convert a file twice - the results will not be what you want! Both DOS and Windows 3.1 versions of the program are provided. INSTALLATION AND USAGE - WINDOWS 3.1 VERSION: CvtQuote has been developed for Windows 3.1. To install, uncompress the distribution file, and copy the Windows executable file 'CVTQ_W.EXE' to a suitable directory. Add the executable as a new program item in a suitable group, or choose 'File/Run' from the Program Manager and fill in the path of CVTQ_W.EXE. CVTQ_W.EXE will take a file name as a command-line argument. Once you have started CvtQuote, it behaves much like a simple text editor such as Notepad. The quote conversion capability is accessed by means of the 'Edit/Convert All Quotes' menu item. Choosing this menu item will convert all lines from fractional to decimal form. CVTQ_W.EXE, the Windows version of this program, has a rather limited text-file capacity. If that capacity is exceeded for a given file, it cannot recover the memory. You must restart CvtQuote. Ample warning dialogs are provided. The DOS version of CvtQuote does not have these memory limitations. You may use it in a DOS window or full-screen DOS session to convert large files. INSTALLATION AND USAGE - DOS VERSION: CvtQuote has been developed for DOS 5.0, but it should work with most earlier versions of DOS. To install, uncompress the distribution file, and copy the DOS executable file 'CVTQ.EXE' to a suitable directory which is included in your execution path. The DOS version of CvtQuote runs in two modes, as a filter and with file name arguments. CvtQuote as a filter: CVTQ < INFILE.TXT > OUTFILE.TXT CvtQuote with command-line arguments: CVTQ INFILE.TXT OUTFILE.TXT Any other usage will give you a usage hint. REVISION HISTORY: 1/17/93 Original Version 1.0 2/ 8/93 Version 1.0a, adds ability to parse "volume" data containing embedded commas. "LICENSE": This software is provided mainly to see if anyone has a use for such things. Your comments on the functionality and interface, and suggestions for extensions or improvements are actively sought. Send EMAIL to CIS:[76530,1456] However, if you find CvtQuote useful, it would be kind of you to make a small financial contribution: Send $5 to: R.G. Brickner PO Box 9840 Santa Fe, NM 87504 CvtQuote is Copyright 1993 by R.G. Brickner