Changes to XML strategy files made in external editor don't appear in WL
Author: snout_hound
Creation Date: 4/8/2009 1:03 AM
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snout_hound

#1
I seem to be experiencing some trouble editing XML strategy files that I do not understand. I am trying to edit them with a different editor that I greatly prefer rather than the editor which is built into WL. However, it seems that my changes don't really appear in WL. What I have been trying so far is to close my strategy window and then do some editing on the relevant strategy that I am working on. Then I go to WL and open that strategy but it does not seem to have taken my changes.

Should what I am trying to do work or is there something going on under the hood of WL that makes this a flawed procedure?

Thanks,

Dave
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Eugene

#2
Dave,

Your changes will appear in WL5 when it's restarted. The same applies to changes made in SymbolInfo.xml (Symbol Info Manager config). And I think if you've made some changes to the same strategy in WL's built-in editor, they will overwrite your changes made externally. In addition, no new manually created strategies will appear in WL5 until it's restarted too.
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snout_hound

#3
OK. Thanks for the info. I had wondered if I needed to restart WL and had also observed what you described about a new manually created strategy not being recognized although I had not tried to restart WL.

I had been wondering if maybe WL was using a different temporary strategy file that was located somewhere else in the file structure but had not yet figured out where that would be if in fact that was the case. Perhaps what you are saying is that changes to a strategy once it is opened up are actually stored in memory and not in some other temporary file.

Anyway, thanks for the information in your post above.

Dave
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Eugene

#4
QUOTE:
Perhaps what you are saying is that changes to a strategy once it is opened up are actually stored in memory and not in some other temporary file.

I'm under the same impression that WL5 works with an in-memory copy of a strategy.
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snout_hound

#5
I guess I have come up with a somewhat kludgy way to work around these issues while allowing me to edit my strategy source code with my editor of choice. Here is how it goes:

1. Make a Null_Strategy within WL5 which essentially has a single blank line for the source code.

2. Open that Null_Strategy and do a save as to another strategy that will be used only for my edit, compile and debug cycle. Call that strategy Test_1 for lack of anything more clever.

3. From my other editor, copy my latest version of the source code into the Paste buffer.

4. Within WL5, open Test_1 and paste in my latest source code from the Paste buffer.

5. Do my testing and debugging.

6. Repeat steps 1-5 as needed.

7. When I have a new strategy that I am happy with, do a save as with Test_1 to save it to a more permanent strategy name.

This is a very workable approach for me although it is certainly kludgy.
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