CSI Default screen?

Use this forum to discuss data providers like CSI, charting, or other non testing software.
Post Reply
LeapFrog
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 695
Joined: Mon May 17, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Boston, MA

CSI Default screen?

Post by LeapFrog »

I'll bet someone knows a workaround for this...

Every time I open CSI UA I get the funny squashed up screen image below...I have to rearrange it every time...damn annoying.

A call to Tech Support resulted in them saying they would add a "feature" to remember the previous screen layout on exiting.

Is that all there is for now?
Attachments
Opening Screen
Opening Screen
CSI.PNG (28.73 KiB) Viewed 5939 times
sluggo
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 2987
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 2:50 pm

Post by sluggo »

Leap, my setup behaves the opposite way. It always remembers the way I fiddled with the UA window, and it always brings up the UA window the way I left it when I last exited. Just what you want.

As a test, I resized the left-versus-right divider to make the left piece of the screen big, and the right piece (where charts are plotted) very small. Then I resized a couple of columns on the left, to make them much wider than normal. Note how the first column "Symbol" is so wide, there's blank space after the symbol ID's. The "Description" field is extra wide too.

Maybe this is a Windows thing (I am running Windows XP). Maybe there is a deeply buried clickster checkbox thingaboo, under a stack of nine menus, that gives you the ability to "Remember Window Configurations upon Exit" or something.

Perhaps a company located on Charleston Road in Mountain View, California could help you search for such a setting.

Sorry, good luck ......
Attachments
What I see whan I launch UA
What I see whan I launch UA
csiua.png (83.24 KiB) Viewed 5925 times
LeapFrog
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 695
Joined: Mon May 17, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by LeapFrog »

I knew it - there is favoritism among vendor's customers - Sluggo has a specially buffed "preferred" copy of 2.9.3. Bet in my case they read those skeptical comments of mine about CSI on this forum and gave me the poor man's version of the software...I'll have to serve penance for a bit longer.
sluggo
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 2987
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 2:50 pm

Post by sluggo »

A bit of forensic examination shows that the CSI Unfair Advantage application program, remembers these settings itself. (It doesn't request help from Microsoft Windows.)

They are stored in the file C:\ua\unfair.ini which is an ASCII text file that can be opened and browsed with Windows Notebook.

A bit of one-variable-at-a-time experimentation has convinced me that the relevant lines of this file are the ones circled in the image below.

The ones in Red control the width of the columns in the left hand pane, such as "Symbol" etc.

The ones in Green control the size of the UA application window itself, and its position on your screen, when you launch.

The one in yellow controls the position of the (vertical) divider bar, which separates the portfolio panel (on the left) from the chart panel (on the right).

Assuming all of this is true, the question is: why aren't your settings being saved in the file "unfair.ini" and/or, if they are being saved, why are they being ignored? You may want to check
  • Do you have an unfair.ini file, at all?
  • If you do have an unfair.ini file, does it have the "Read Only" property? (this would be VERY BAD)
  • If you edit unfair.ini (while CSI is not running!) using Notebook, and change one of the numbers manually (I suggest: DefaultMainWindow_Height), then launch CSI, does it make any difference?
  • Do a manual edit to unfair.ini, launch UA, exit UA, and then look at unfair.ini again. Is your manual edit still there, or has UA erased it?
  • and so forth
Good luck Mr. Phelps.
Attachments
browsing / editing the file C:\ua\unfair.ini  using Windows Notebook
browsing / editing the file C:\ua\unfair.ini using Windows Notebook
ua_unfair_ini.png (25.59 KiB) Viewed 5890 times
LeapFrog
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 695
Joined: Mon May 17, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by LeapFrog »

Now we're getting somewhere - clearly this is the devil file.

Well, I can open it, change DefaultWindowHeight and hey presto, the window height changes...save it, reopen it...same as when last closed...but, the PortfolioPanel width is a different story.

When I change that setting manually, open UA, yes, the width is the new setting, but after closing and reopening, it springs back to the setting shown in my first email. Very odd behaviour. I'll try fiddling some more.
Tim Arnold
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9015
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2004 1:41 pm
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Post by Tim Arnold »

This sounds like a problem we sometimes have with Vista and the Program Files directory. Did you install UA in the Program Files directory and are you using Vista?
Asamat
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 175
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 7:50 am
Location: Walldorf, Germany

Post by Asamat »

My UA version 2.9.3 Build 6 shows exactly the behaviour LeapFrog describes. It runs on XP; UA has its own folder, not in the program directory.

After sluggo's finding what remains missing is the trigger why UA sometimes saves/overwrites the PortfolioPanel settings and sometimes not. Despite playing around I did not find any pattern or indication.

Through the years of using UA my UA screen always opened split about 1/3 Panel to 2/3 chart area. Now, after trying several options (like "Restore Portfolio Manager") for the first time, it opens consistently with the Panel only about 3 cm wide - unuseable. I have to manually adust every time. The UA UI is so incredibly user-unfriendly, it's outright funny.

Regards,
Asamat
LeapFrog
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 695
Joined: Mon May 17, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by LeapFrog »

Same as Asamat here Tim - UA in its own directory folder under the C: prompt - XP Pro.

Isn't it amazing that a product out for so long with presumably the lions share of the data vendor market for retail and probably a bunch of hedge funds, does something so stupid as not to remember the preferred screen setup.

Customer Support seems to be of the view that: "No, it doesn't remember, and oh, what a great idea, we will put that down in the features request box" or the customer support person is an idiot.

I'm going to keep working on Sluggo's guidance/suggestions and see if something will work.
sluggo
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 2987
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 2:50 pm

Post by sluggo »

Um, Leap, I don't think hedge funds use CSI Unfair Advantage. For two reasons: (1) Hedge funds generally prefer the institutional data providers and can afford to pay the (incredibly higher) price; (2) Unfair Advantage is not offered to professionals, see their license agreement (here). CSI's professional product is just raw contract data with no charting and no continuous contract building and no Portfolio construction. It is assumed that professionals have their own custom software to do this.
LeapFrog
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 695
Joined: Mon May 17, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by LeapFrog »

sluggo wrote:Um, Leap, I don't think hedge funds use CSI Unfair Advantage. For two reasons: (1) Hedge funds generally prefer the institutional data providers and can afford to pay the (incredibly higher) price; (2) Unfair Advantage is not offered to professionals, see their license agreement (here). CSI's professional product is just raw contract data with no charting and no continuous contract building and no Portfolio construction. It is assumed that professionals have their own custom software to do this.
I guess it depends how big a hedge fund we are talking about - I know 2 hedge fund managers who do use CSI (but don't tell CSI that).
LeapFrog
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 695
Joined: Mon May 17, 2004 4:18 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Post by LeapFrog »

CSI responded to my email about this issue and have identified a coding mistake which is causing the window squishing.

Next release will fix it (they have sent me a pre-release which I'm testing for them.)
sluggo
Roundtable Knight
Roundtable Knight
Posts: 2987
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 2:50 pm

Post by sluggo »

LeapFrog wrote:CSI have identified a coding mistake which is causing the window squishing. Next release will fix it (they have sent me a pre-release which I'm testing for them.)
Well done, Leap! CSI customers are grateful for your tenacity and persistence.
Post Reply