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What's New in Version 9.0
Several new features and miscellaneous enhancements, available now in
our latest release,
are outlined below. Click here to download.
New in 9.1
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License Activation
Investor/RT 9.1 introduces a new product license activation
system with two major benefits to Investor/RT users: (1) automatic
monthly activation, eliminating the need to re-register each month via
email, and (2) greater license flexibility. The license can be used on
any one machine (PC or Mac) with any supported data source, any data
service account.
Each Investor/RT user will have a unique 18-digit licence code obtained
by logging into your account at https://www.linnsoft.com/login. To
activate the license, go to Setup: Preferences: License Activation;
select "Online Activation" at the top of the window; enter or paste the
licenseCode into the space provided; click "Activate License".
If you wish to use the license on a different machine, go to Setup:
Preferences: License Activation and click the De-Activate license
button. You may then use the same license code to activate on a
different computer. To return to the original machine, de-activate the
license on the secondary machine; return to the original machine; go to
Preferences: License Activation and click the Activate license button
(no need to enter the license code since Investor/RT retains it
internally while the license is inactive). An internet connection is
required to activate the license. Simultaneous use on two different
computers requires an additional license. See
http://www.linnsoft.com/pricing/ for pricing.
The new licensing system make it possible for existing subscribers to
update their licenses to add or remove common features. Go to Setup:
Preferences: License Activation and click the Update License button and
follow the on-screen prompts. The Linn Software web site now supports
user login to view license details, update billing information, and add
additional licenses. Login at
https://www.linnsoft.com/login using your email address and
password. The login page will email you your password if you have
forgotten it.
During the transition period to the new licensing system, Investor/RT
continues to support classic "registration codes". At the top of the
License Activation window, you can select "Manual Registration" and
register as before. Once you have received your new 18-digit license
code, there should be no reason to use this method. Customers with
prepaid registration codes can use either activation method.
For MS Windows users, a separate stand-alone application,
controlActivation.exe, is available in the investrt install directory.
This application can be used to activate or de-activate the Investor/RT
license on a machine. Windows Vista users must run this application "as
administrator" to perform the very first activation of the license under
Vista. Thereafter, the license may be activated or deactivated using
Investor/RT itself or the controlActivation.exe application without the
need to run as administrator.
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TransAct Futures Beta
Testing Begins
Details to follow...
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Windows Vista Compatibility
Version 9.0 of Investor/RT is not Vista compatible. If you run
Version 9.0 "As Administrator", Investor/RT operates as it does under
Windows XP. The Investor/RT database and other files within the install
folder in Program Files are updated as the application runs. Running the
software with administrative access is not recommended by Microsoft.
Users who run Investor/RT this way are greeted with warnings each time
the software is launched and must click to "allow" the program to run in
this fashion. Version 9.0 can be run without administrative privileges
if you setup the program properties to run in XP/SP2 compatibility mode.
When run this way, Vista does not issue the warnings; Vista does not
allow the program to update files inside the Program Files either;
instead Vista makes hidden copies of the Investor/RT database files
inside a "Virtual Store Program Files" folder in the user folder and
updates all Investor/RT files there. This Vista technique, called File
Virtualization, enables Investor/RT to run without administrative
access. The problem with this technique is that when you startup
Investor/RT and run as administrator, the database in use is the
database whose files are inside the real Program Files install folder.
But if you startup without administrative access, Vista uses versions of
those files stored elsewhere. The files will generally not be "in sync".
This can be quite confusing needless to say. So with version 9.1 we have
developed a way to allow Investor/RT to run with normal user access
permissions where Investor/RT keeps the database and other files it uses
in a user-specific folder.
Version 9.1 is Windows Vista compatible, subject to one minor limitation
discussed below. Investor/RT can run as a normal Windows Vista
application without administrative access. To accomplish this
Investor/RT creates a folder named "IRT" within the "user folder" where
the user has permission to read and write files. This "IRT" folder will
appear along side "Documents" and other familiar Windows Vista folders.
The first time you run Investor/RT without XP/SP2 Compatibility mode
enabled, Investor/RT will create the "IRT" folder. It will create
subfolders within "IRT" named admin, news, tickdata, and data_f. The
empty data_f folder is where Investor/RT expects to find the Investor/RT
database files. Investor/RT will then quit after instructing you to copy
your data_f folder into the "IRT" folder. The data_f folder you will
copy there is found inside the Investor/RT install folder (typically
inside Program Files, see below for more details). After copying the
data_f folder into the "IRT" folder, start up Investor/RT. The software
will then use the "IRT" folder as its working folder and expect to find
the database there. Investor/RT does not require "Run As Administrator"
any longer since it does not update files within Program Files. Instead,
the Investor/RT database and all other files the software modifies
reside inside the user folder where, by definition, the local user has
read and write permission.
Windows Vista compatibility is available to Vista users whose user
folder name (Vista user name) is 16 characters or less in length. This
restriction is related to technical limitations on directory path length
imposed by the database management system Investor/RT uses internally.
Those with Vista user names that exceed this length can run Investor/RT
in XP/SP2 compatibility mode.
Existing Investor/RT users may continue to run Investor/RT Version 9.1
in XP/SP2 compatibility mode. If you elect to do this, unlike version
9.0, you must setup Investor/RT to Run as Administrator. Running the
software in this fashion leads to Vista prompting messages "allowing"
Investor/RT to start.
Existing Investor/RT users who wish to run Investor/RT as a Vista
compliant application can make this transition quickly. Right-click on
the Investor/RT executable and choose "Properties". Uncheck XP/SP2
compatibility and "Run as Administrator". Create the "IRT" folder
yourself and put your data_f folder into the "IRT" folder. When you
startup Investor/RT without XP/SP2 compatibility, the software will
detect that the "IRT" folder and the database files are present; it will
create the other subfolders as needed (admin, news, tickdata) and begin
execution as Vista compatible.
Or, you can Start Investor/RT; it will setup the "IRT" folder, give you
instructions, and quit. Move the data_f folder from the install folder
into the "IRT" folder and startup again. If you have been running
Investor/RT as administrator then the data_f you copy will be the one in
the Investor/RT install directory in Program Files. If you have not been
running version 9.0 as administrator, then you will find the data_f
folder nested deeply inside a folder named "AppData" in your user
folder. If you do not see AppData in your user folder, click on
"Organize" and select "Folder & Search Options". In the "View" tab,
select the option "Show Hidden Files and Folders". You will then see the
AppData folder; open it and follow the path .../AppData/Local/Virtual
Store/Program File. Inside this virtual Program Files folder you will
find a Investor/RT folder with the data_f folder inside. Copy this
data_f into your user folder's "IRT" folder.
Investor/RT users installing for the first time on a machine (or for the
first time for a user account on the Vista machine) will startup
Investor/RT by default as a Vista compatible application. The software
will create the "IRT" folder as described above, provide instructions
for doing the copy and quit. This copy step is a one-time inconvenience;
but we plan to explore ways to have this happen automatically in future
versions of Investor/RT and/or Investor/RT installers.
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Miscellaneous 9.1
Fixes and Improvements
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The playback window is now resizable. A bug was fixed that could cause
the dimensions of the window to be saved incorrectly; the playback
window would appear with distorted dimensions when opened thereafter.
The window now opens to its default size if the height or width of the
window are unreasonable.
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Setup: Preferences: License Activation and Setup: Preferences:
Registration both open the Licensing window.
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IB destined "pass-thru" trading orders with action "Revise Order" were
not sending the revised stop, limit, quantity, duration, or order type
to Autotrader. This has been corrected in 9.1. Also Revise Order trading
order that use V# variables (for situations where there can be multiple
orders working for the same symbol), now properly indentify the correct
order number to revise using the V# variable.
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The Download Data submenu in the right-click menu for chart windows has
been improved. For intra-day charts, Market Profile and Footprint
charts, the first choice is "Current Session". This downloads intra-day
bars or ticks for the current session in progress or the previous
completed session during non trading hours. The "Current and Previous
Session" choice expands the download to encompasses the two most recent
trading sessions. The "Full Data" choice shows the number of days of
daily bars, intraday bars, and tick data that will be downloaded. This
is called a "full download". The numbers of days are the settings
specified in the Historical Data retention preferences. The menu item
text will reflect the override settings for the particular symbol in the
chart, if applicable. The final selection is "Other..."; this choice
opens the Download Data window with the chart's symbol pre-specified.
You may then revise the number of days of data you wish to download. The
chart will update when the download is complete.
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Chart buttons with purpose "change periodicity" now accept Point and
Figure periodicity descriptors of the form: <boxsize>x<reveral-criteria>[optional
space(s)] P. Here are some examples: .25x3 PNF,.50x4 PNF,.33x5 P.
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The RTL ALIGN function now works properly, aligning a date number the
most recent trading date. ALIGN(YYYMMDD) where YYY MM DD are digits
(e.g. 1080704 for July 4, 2008) now computes correctly; it uses the
default stock session as set in Setup: Preferences: Instruments to align
the date back to the most recent non-holidy trading session end date.
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Sending trading orders to Interactive Brokers now works properly for
"Forex" security type. Investor/RT ticker symbols for Forex instruments
take the form xxx.yyy where xxx is the underlying IB symbol and yyy is
the currency of the contact. For example the Investor/RT symbol EUR.USD
is translated to symbol EUR with IB security type "CASH" when the
trading orders for this Forex instrument are sent to Autotrader. It is
not necessary to use a broker alias in the setup for EUR.USD. If a user
is trading Forex as well as Eurex futures contracts e.g. (EUR.USD and
EURU8), both will have EUR as the underlying symbol; however, the Forex
instrument will have IB security type CASH, while the futures will have
IB security type FUT (and an expiration date of the contract) when
communicating the order to IB and/or Autotrader for managed trades.
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