   User's Guide for theOWL Portfolio Price Loader (OPPL)Version 2.4
                                   
                Copyright 1992-1994 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
                                   
                              Written by:
                          'Otto-Williams Ltd.
                             P.O.  Box 794
                         Lanham, MD 20703-0794
                                 U.S.A
                                   
                        Phone:  (301) 306-0409
                        Compuserve:  72144,1223
                 Internet:  72144.1223@compuserve.com
                                   
                                   
  
                               CONTENTS
                                   
GETTING STARTED
     Technical Support
     Changes
     Installation
RUNNING OPPL
     Import Closing Quotes
     Browse Closing Quotes
     Abandon Closing Quotes
     Set Import Format
     Set Quote Year
     Commit Data & Exit
DOWNLOADING STOCK QUOTES
     Compuserve CIM
     Compuserve Weekly Quotes
     Prodigy
     GEnie
     Dow Jones News Retrieval Service
     America Online
     PRN-5 Format (Farpoint BBS)
     Just Data (Australian Stock Exchange)

                                   
                            GETTING STARTED

The  OWL  Portfolio  Price Loader is designed  to  help  you  maintain
current and historical prices for stocks, bonds and mutual funds  that
you are tracking using the OWL Personal Portfolio Manager (OPPM).  The
program  works by updating OPPM's price data using price  quotes  that
have been downloaded from an on-line data service.  OPPL accepts price
data  downloaded  from  Prodigy,  CompuServe,  GEnie  Dow  Jones  News
Retrieval Service, America Online, Farpoint BBS and Just Data.


Technical Support
  
  For  technical  support, contact 'Otto-Williams  Ltd  at  the  above
  address  or call (301) 306-0409.  Support is also available  via  E-
  Mail  on Compuserve (write to:  72144,1223) and Internet (write  to:
  72144.1223@compuserve.com).
  

Changes
  
  Version 2 incorporates the following changes and enhancements.
  
  1.  Mouse support  has  been added.  Double  click  the  left  mouse
      button  to  select a menu item.  The right mouse button  cancels
      the current menu.
  2.  OPPL now  remembers the file name of the last file  successfully
      loaded  and  defaults to this file name the next  time  OPPL  is
      run.
  3.  OPPL now  remembers the last quote date successfully loaded  and
      warns  you  if you enter a date span which is earlier than  data
      which has been previously loaded.
  4.  Menu selections  using the keyboard must  now  be  confirmed  by
      pressing  the  return key.  The earlier version ran  the  option
      when the first letter of the option name was pressed.
  5.  Ticker symbols  are no longer case sensitive i.e.(if  your  OPPM
      data  base  contains  the symbol "Ibm"  and  the  download  file
      contains  "IBM", OPPL see these as matching ticker  symbols  and
      accept the record.
  6.  OPPL  is   now   compatible   with   quotes   downloaded   using
      Compuserve's  WinCIM.  Earlier versions supported  only  DosCIM.
      Also  the handling of data records that do not contain an update
      date  has been modified (please read the Compuserve CIM  section
      below).
  7.  OPPL now supports loading Compuserve's weekly composite quotes.
  8.  The browse  function  has been enhanced  with  scroll  bars  and
      mouse support.
  9.  OPPL is now compatible with quotes downloaded from Farpoint  BBS
      in a ".PRN" format.
  10. OPPL is  now  compatible with quotes downloaded from Just  Data,
      an Australian data service.
  11. OPPL is  now  compatible  with quotes downloaded  using  America
      Online's portfolio feature.
  

Installation
  
  The  OPPL program and data files must be installed on the same drive
  and  directory as the OWL Personal Portfolio Manager (OPPM) program.
  Copy   OPPL.EXE,   OPPL.DBF,  OPPLCFG.DBF  and   OPPL.HLP   to   the
  drive\directory where OPPM.EXE is installed.  Example:  if  you  are
  currently using version 5.0 of OPPM and it is installed on  C:\OPPM5
  use the following commands:
  
       COPY OPPL.EXE C:\OPPM5
       COPY OPPL.DBF C:\OPPM5
       COPY OPPLCFG.DBF C:\OPPM5
       COPY OPPL.HLP C:\OPPM5
  
                                   
                             Running OPPL
  
  Before  running  OPPL  be sure to review the applicable  section  of
  this  guide  on downloading quotes.  OPPL has specific  requirements
  for  file  formats and file contents which must be met to avoid  the
  possibility of introducing invalid data into your database.
  
  Once  you  have captured a file containing closing quotes,  you  can
  run  OPPL to import these prices into the OPPM price database.  OPPL
  accumulates   daily  quotes  into  OPPM's  composite  weekly   price
  database as follows.
  
  1.  If a  weekly  price  record  DOES  NOT  exist  within  the  OPPM
      database  for  the  date being loaded, a  new  price  record  is
      created  and  the  import record's HIGH, LOW, CLOSE  and  VOLUME
      data are transferred to the new record.
  2.  If  a weekly  price record DOES exist within the  OPPM  database
      for  the date being loaded, the import records high and low  are
      compared  to the existing high and low and the existing record's
      high  and  low  are  updated if necessary; the  import  record's
      volume  is  added  to  the  existing volume;  and  the  existing
      closing price is updated to the import record's closing price.
  
  To  run OPPL set your default drive\directory to the drive\directory
  where OPPM and OPPL are installed and type "OPPL".  Example:
  
       C:
       CD \OPPM42 OPPL
  
  The  program  has  6 options which are described  in  the  following
  paragraphs.
  

Import Closing Quotes
  
  This  option reads a file containing captured closing quotes, checks
  the  ticker  symbols  against  your  OPPM  database  and  creates  a
  temporary  database of prices.  NOTE:  Only those quotes  that  have
  ticker  symbols  matching the ticker symbols in your  OPPM  database
  are  accepted.  In addition, any quotes that are not within the date
  span that you specify will be ignored.
  
  WARNING:   Before  selecting this option, be sure that  the  current
  setup  shown  in  the  upper right corner of the  screen  shows  the
  correct  file type for the file you will be loading.  See  Set  File
  Format below.
  
  After  selecting  this  option, enter the  name  of  the  file  that
  contains  the closing quotes you want to load.  Be sure  to  include
  the  full drive and path specification when entering the file  name.
  Once  you have correctly entered the file name, enter the date  span
  you  want  loaded.  DO NOT INCLUDE DATES THAT HAVE  BEEN  PREVIOUSLY
  LOADED.   Loading closing quotes for the same date  more  than  once
  will cause invalid volume data in your OPPM database (the volume  of
  shares  will be too high because the repeated day's volume  will  be
  added  more  then  once).  Closing quotes are not committed  to  the
  OPPM  price  database until you exit the program.  Multiple  closing
  quotes files can be imported by re-selecting this option.
  

Browse Closing Quotes
  
  This  option allows you to view the closing quotes which  have  been
  read  and  accepted by the program using the Import  Closing  Quotes
  option.  This allows you to preview the imported data before  it  is
  committed to the OPPM price database.
  

Abandon Closing Quotes
  
  If  you  made an error and imported the wrong file or specified  the
  wrong  date  span,  you  can  abandon  all  closing  quotes  in  the
  temporary  database  by selecting this option.   This  will  prevent
  erroneously  loaded closing quotes from being written  to  the  OPPM
  Price database.
  

Set Import Format
  
  Before  using  the Import Closing Quotes option, check  the  current
  setup  in the upper right corner of the display to insure that  file
  format is properly set.  If not, use this option to select the  type
  of file you will be importing.
  

Set Quote Year
  
  Since  the  closing quotes output by GEnie and Compuserve are  coded
  with  the month and day only, the program assumes that the  year  of
  the  quotes is equal to the year set in your system.  If this is not
  the  case,  select this option to specify the year of the quotes  to
  be imported.
  

Commit Data & Exit
  
  This  option  will  commit all closing quote data in  the  temporary
  database  to the OPPM price database and exit the program.   If  the
  temporary  database is empty (no files loaded or  you  selected  the
  Abandon  Closing  Quotes option after loading  your  closing  quotes
  files) the program will simply exit to DOS.
  
  
                       DOWNLOADING STOCK QUOTES
  
OPPL  supports  loading stock, bond and mutual fund quotes  downloaded
from  Prodigy,  CompuServe, GEnie Dow Jones  News  Retrieval  Service,
America  Online, Farpoint BBS and Just Data.  The program has specific
requirements  for  download  file  formats  and  contents  which   are
described in the following paragraphs.
  

Compuserve CIM (Compuserve Information Manager) Quotes
  
  Current stock quotes can be obtained from Compuserve when using  the
  Compuserve  Information Manager (DosCim or WinCim) by selecting  the
  "Quotes"  option  under the services menu.  The Compuserve  software
  permits you to predefine the ticker symbols for the quotes you  want
  to  retrieve.   Once  you have defined a group  of  ticker  symbols,
  select  "Quotes" followed by "Get All" to display the current quotes
  for  all  predefined issues.  To download these quotes to your  hard
  disk  select "SAVE" or "SAVE AS" under the file menu.  We  recommend
  that  you save the file in your OPPM directory (double click on  the
  drive  letter  then  select the directory  where  OPPM  &  OPPL  are
  installed)  and  enter  a  file  name  other  than  the  default  of
  "UNTITLED.TXT."
  
  WARNING:   Data  downloaded  using the  CIM  Services/Quotes  option
  often contains an update time and not an update date.  Records  that
  do  not contain an update date are assumed to be dated on the ending
  date  of  the import time span that was entered.  Note:   OPPL  does
  not support loading of Compuserve's Basic Quotes.
  

Compuserve Weekly Quotes
  
  Compuserve  also provides historical weekly composite quotes  which,
  though  a  premium service with a charge of 5 cents per  quote  plus
  time  charges,  provides an excellent means of  back-filling  prices
  for  an  issue that you have recently begun tracking.  (Balance  the
  charge of $2.60 for 52 weeks of historical data against the time  it
  would  take  to  extract and enter the data  from  newspapers).   To
  obtain  weekly  composite prices go to the "Issue  Pricing  History"
  section  of  Compuserve (GO PRICES).  Once you enter  this  section,
  set  your communications program to begin logging data (Press F5  in
  DosCim).  You will be prompted as follows:
  
     Issue:  (Enter the ticker you want historical prices for)
     (D)aily,  (W)eekly, (M)onthly ?:  (Enter "W" for weekly)
  
  Next  you  will be asked to enter the "starting date  or  number  of
  periods  from  the last pricing data." Enter "52" to  get  the  most
  recent  52  weeks of data.  After the data has been  displayed,  you
  will  be  prompted for another issue.  WARNING:  if  you  choose  to
  capture  historical  quotes for another  stock,  the  time  span  or
  number  of periods you previously entered will stay in effect.   You
  will  not  be prompted to reenter this data.  Once you have acquired
  the  desired  weekly  composite prices, signal  your  communications
  program  to close the log file and type "/EXIT" to leave  the  Issue
  Pricing History section.
  

Prodigy
  
  Current  quotes  can be obtained from the Prodigy Quote  Track  page
  (Jump  -  Quote Track).  Within quote track, you must establish  one
  or   more  "Tracks"  containing  the  ticker  symbols  you  want  to
  download.  Prodigy's tracks are limited to 15 issues per track.   If
  you  are tracking more than 15 issues we suggest using the Hard Disk
  track.   The  hard  disk track is limited to 50  issues  per  track.
  Consult  Prodigy's help screens for more information on establishing
  tracks.
  
  After  establishing your track(s), select the report  setup  option.
  Setup  your  report  options to output the report  to  a  "delimited
  file"  (  *.CSV  format).  If you will be importing quotes  to  OPPM
  from  several Prodigy sessions at one time, select the append option
  in  the  report  setup.   Alternatively, if you  will  be  importing
  quotes to OPPM each time you download, select the overwrite option.
  
  WARNING:   When downloading quotes from prodigy, be sure to download
  "CURRENT QUOTES" and NOT "CLOSING QUOTES."
  
  Prodigy  permits  you  to save report setups  for  either  a  single
  session  or for all future sessions.  To save time in future Prodigy
  sessions,  we  suggest that you make this setup  permanent  for  all
  prodigy  sessions.  Once your quote track and report setup has  been
  saved, it is not necessary to modify these for future sessions.   To
  download  quotes,  open your quote track (FILE  MENU)  and  run  the
  report option (FILE MENU).
  

Genie
  
  Closing  stock and mutual fund quotes can be obtained using  GEnie's
  closing quotes page.  Type "M270;1" at any GEnie page to go  to  the
  closing  quotes  page.   Before selecting  the  option  to  retrieve
  closing  quotes,  set your communications program to  begin  logging
  output  to a file.  Enter up to 30 ticker symbols of the stocks  and
  mutual  funds  you  want to retrieve.  After  retrieving  up  to  30
  quotes  the  "Enter Ticker Symbol(s)" prompt will reappear  and  you
  may  enter additional ticker symbols until you have retrieved quotes
  for  all of the stocks and mutual funds you are tracking.  Once  you
  have   retrieved  all  of  your  closing  quotes,  set  your   modem
  communications program to stop logging.
  
  NOTE:  depending on your modem communications program, much of  this
  process  can  be  automated through the use of  scripts  or  command
  files.   Check the documentation of your communications program  for
  details.
  
  The  ticker  symbols for stocks and mutual funds  you  are  tracking
  using  OPPM  must match the ticker symbol, type and class  shown  in
  the  GEnie  closing  quotes.  This is entered in the  ticker  symbol
  field in OPPM as:
  
       GEnie Ticker Symbol <space> GEnie Type <space> GEnie Class
  
  Examples of stocks are:
  
     Genie      Tick Description    TP C   OPPM Ticker
     -------------------------------------------------
     GM         GENERAL MTRS CORP   GM     GM
     GM         GENERAL MTRS CORP   PR B   GM PR B
     GM         GENERAL MTRS CORP   PR P   GM PR P
  
  Note that all mutual funds have a type of "X".  This type should  be
  ignored and NOT included in the OPPM ticker symbol field:
  
     Genie      Tick Description      TP C   OPPM Ticker
     ---------------------------------------------------
     FMAGX      FIDELITY MAGELLAN FD  X      FMAGX
     JANSX      JANUS FD INC          X      JANSX
  

Dow Jones News Retrieval Service (DJNRS)
  
  OPPL  supports  quotes  retrieved from Dow  Jones  News  Retrieval's
  current  quotes  (//CQ),  historical quotes  (//HQ)  and  Dow  Jones
  Averages (//DJA) databases.
  
  //HQ:   The historical quotes database allows you to retrieve up  to
  one  year's  worth of daily quotes for stocks.  After selecting  the
  HQ  database set your communications program to begin logging  to  a
  new  file.   Enter  the  symbol of the stock you  want  to  retrieve
  quotes  for  followed by "P1" e.g.(IBM P1).  DJNRS will  display  12
  days  of  quotes for the selected stock.  Each time  you  press  the
  return key, the preceding 12 days of quotes will be displayed  until
  a  full  year's  of  quotes  have been displayed.   After  you  have
  retrieved   all  the  quotes  you  are  interested  in,   set   your
  communications  program  to  stop  logging.   Note,  you  may   save
  historical quotes for multiple stocks to a single log file.
  
  //CQ:   The  current quotes database allows you to retrieve  current
  quotes  for  stocks  and  mutual  funds.   After  selecting  the  CQ
  database set your communications program to begin logging to  a  new
  file.   Enter the symbols of the stock or mutual funds you  want  to
  retrieve  current quotes for.  You may enter up to 5  symbols  at  a
  time  separated by a space.  DJNRS will display current  quotes  for
  each  selected  security.   You may enter more  symbols  as  needed.
  After  you  have retrieved all the current quotes you are interested
  in,  set your communications program to stop logging.  Note, do  not
  save  current quotes for multiple dates in the same log file.  Since
  the  DJNRS CQ database does not display the date, OPPL is unable  to
  distinguish the date that the quote applies to.
  
  //DJA:   The  Dow Jones Averages database allows you to retrieve  up
  to  one  year's  worth  of daily quotes for the  various  Dow  Jones
  Averages.   After selecting the DJA database set your communications
  program  to  begin logging to a new file.  Enter the symbol  of  the
  average  you  want to retrieve quotes for followed by "P1"  e.g.(DJI
  P1).   DJNRS  will  display  12  days of  quotes  for  the  selected
  average.  Each time you press the return key, the preceding 12  days
  of  quotes will be displayed until a full year's of quotes have been
  displayed.   After you have retrieved all the quotes for a  selected
  Dow  Jones Average, set your communications program to stop logging.
  Note,  do  not save different averages to the same log  file.   OPPL
  reduces  volumes  of  Dow Jones Averages by a factor  of  10.   When
  loaded,  DJA  volumes are in units of thousands instead of  hundreds
  as shown in the DJA download file.
  

America Online
  
  Current  or  Closing stock and mutual fund quotes  can  be  obtained
  using  the Display Portfolio feature of America Online for  Windows.
  After  signing  onto America Online, click on "Go To"  in  the  main
  menu (top of screen) then click on "Stock Quotes."
  
  If  you  have not already entered ticker symbols for the issues  you
  wish  to  track,  enter each ticker symbol then  click  on  "Add  to
  Portfolio."   The  ticker  symbols you add  to  your  portfolio  are
  retained  for  all future sessions so you only need  to  enter  them
  once.
  
  To  display  current prices for issues in your AOL portfolio,  click
  on "Display Portfolio."  Next click on "Save Portfolio" and enter  a
  file  name  (e.g.,  PORT.TXT) where the prices will  be  saved.   By
  default,  the file will be saved in the "\WAOL" subdirectory.   When
  you  import the quotes into OPPM using OPPL, you will need to  enter
  the full name of the file (e.g., C:\WAOL\PORT.TXT).
  
  Quotes  downloaded  in  this  way do not  contain  volume  or  daily
  high/low data and as such, the volume loaded into OPPM will  be  set
  to  zero  and  the  high/low will be set equal  to  the  current  or
  closing quote (depending on the time of the download).  The date  of
  the  data  is  assumed to be the date of the beginning of  the  date
  span you entered.
  

PRN-5 Format (Farpoint BBS)
  
  The  PRN-5  format  is  an  ASCII -- comma delimited  format  having
  records  of  the  following form:  date,high,low,close,volume  where
  the  date is in the form "yymmdd" and prices are in decimal  format.
  For example, a record for 30 October 1993 would be written:
  
       931030,27.5,26.125,27.25,30643
  
  All  records  in  a  given PRN file are for a single  issue  (ticker
  symbol).   The Farpoint BBS provides free (except for  the  cost  of
  the  phone  call)  downloading of historical stock quotes  in  PRN-5
  format.   Data  is available for most stocks listed  on  U.S.  stock
  exchanges.   When  downloading from this service you  will  download
  one  file  for  each  stock  using one  of  several  supported  file
  transfer  protocols such as XModem.  The phone number  for  Farpoint
  BBS is (312) 274-6128.
  

Just Data (Australian Stock Exchange)
  
  OPPL  will  import  daily stock quotes downloaded from  "Just  Data"
  data  service in Australia (Just Data, 26 Bellevue Street,  Highgate
  Hill, Q 4101, Phone 008 777 972 or (07) 899 2148).  Downloaded  file
  data should be in the following form:
  
     ad19900814cnAdtSdbJDvn1.0            Header / date record
     cABCs1f1050h1100l1050a1100v65000     Stock price records
     cCBAs1f990h1020l980a1000v1022
     cDBAs1z2200v45000
     yUGa2220.7                           Index price records
  
  The  above  format  is exactly as the data is downloaded  from  Just
  Data  and  should  not be modified by any of Just  Data's  available
  data  conversion utilities.  If multiple days of data are  contained
  in  a  single file, the price records for each day must be seperated
  by a Header/Date record.
  
                           <End of Document>
