When I tried to update the MSN data, it gave me lots of errors " Error: No data" and skipped many symbols while updating.

I started using the Yahoo & Google Downloader (http://download.cnet.com/Yahoo-Google-Historical-Quotes-Downloader/3000-2057_4-10363602.html) to download and update data from the MSN. This program has an option to update the database or to refresh it. I noticed that when I tried to update the data from MSN it gave me lots of errors "Error 302" and also skipped many symbols. Therefore, it was not possible to work with it this way. However, after I changed the settings to refresh the data, the download did not give me any error and the whole data was downloaded without skipping any symbol.

So I think, may be Wealth Lab MSN static adapter has the same problem as the blue program has? May be you need to add an option to refresh the MSN data without updating it, so symbols will not be skipped? Or possibly there is another solution to the problem?

MSN (the vendor) is known for data hiccups. If you want to refresh, simply follow the advices given in this thread:

DataSet Reload

I try to download Forex data from MSN (for example symbol /USDEUR, /CHFEUR, /CADEUR, /AUDEUR)
I receive all the time the following message :

[4] /CHFEUR Error: Data parsing error. Symbol: /CHFEUR, LineNumber: 8
String:
Message: String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.

Any idea ?
Thanks in advance

Works OK for me now.

You might want to:

* try reloading the data (now, or at a later time if you're hitting a server returning broken data),
* entering the symbol(s) as CHFEUR i.e. w/o the slash (also works for me),
* specify a different starting date,
* or if still no go and you want an immediate solution, try different provider e.g. QuoteMedia

For the record, have you changed display language in Windows 7?

One more thing: do other MSN symbols work? Like pure U.S. tickers e.g. QQQ, AAPL, MSFT.

The problem comes with my regional setting in Windows control panel. I change the default short date to "dd-MMM-yy". Now with the default value ("M/d/yyyy"), it works fine.
Thank you for your support.

Good to know that. I couldn't reproduce it (will double check later) but my experience with the changed short date format was that a MSN data update was being requested on every change of a symbol despite on demand data update was off in DM.

We'll pass these issues on to the MSN provider developer.

The built-in MSN provider has been updated to version 2012.12 and was renamed to MSN Static, Streaming and Fundamental provider.

MSN Streaming (EOD) provider, together with revamped MSN Fundamental provider, has been added to MSN Static provider. The extension is available for update via the Extension Manager, or for direct download from our website:

MSN Static, Streaming and Fundamental

Additional information:

* Change Log
* MSN Fundamental Data for Securities

P.S. The existing "MSN Fundamental Data for Securities" has been withdrawn. It's highly recommended to uninstall it.

Important fixes and changes in version 2013.06 of the MSN provider:

Highlights:

Change: updated MSN classification to May 2013 (doesn't apply to previous builds since the location has changed)
Change: Much faster daily update speed (and less traffic) by virtue of data feed URI change
New: MSN tab in Data Manager replaces "Provider Settings" form
New: option to return data with partial bar
Fix: due to past MSN website redesign, dividends/splits stopped downloading
Fix: random gaps in downloaded data of about a month each

...and more.

Version 2013.07 of the MSN static, streaming and fundamental provider has been released. Maintenance release fixing just one bug:

* Fix: Incorrectly removing last bar during update with Partial Bar option disabled on some occasions ("-1 bars added")

IMPORTANT: TO ALL USERS OF MSN PROVIDER OUT THERE

On June 18, 2013 MSN introduced "new powerful charts" on their website, with data powered by Morningstar. Unfortunately, it resulted in decease of the MSN provider. Ultimately, MSN has stopped returning any static/fundamental data past 06/28/2013. Other technical analysis software products have just the same experience these days.

Since Morningstar has become the data vendor for MSN Money, I recommend switching to the Morningstar provider extension as a replacement. It's a full-fledged solution that includes static, streaming and fundamental data.

IMPORTANT: MANDATORY PROVIDER UPDATE.

Important fixes and changes in version 2014.05 of the MSN provider:

* Fix: static and streaming providers work again
* Change: data feed no longer returns splits and dividends (broken beyond repair)
* Change: depreciated MSN tab in Data Manager and provider configuration files (SymbolsStartDate.xml and MsnClientSettings.xml)
* Change: depreciated "Starting Date" (all available data is always loaded during initial data collection)
* Fix: broken configuration files can no longer cause application crash
* Fix: provider works in Strategy Monitor

29Aug2014: The following has occurred several times today, though not at the same place. The last visible log entry shows different symbols.

WLP terminates with a generic Windows MessageBox titled "Wealth-Lab Pro", having button, "Close Program":

QUOTE:
Wealth-Lab Pro has stopped working

A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.

I haven't gotten to completion in three attempts. The last log row (this last time) says, "ALLE 24 fundamental items updated"

I'm running WLP version 6.7.18.0 (64-bit) and MSN provider version 2014.05 (under Windows 7).

My update of Dow 30 has finished. (I only noticed that it was slow due to duplicate outgoing requests for some reason.)

Need to be able to reproduce. Is your network connection OK? How many stock symbols are you updating?

QUOTE:
Is your network connection OK?

Network connection has no problems and has had no changes in years. No hardware changes at all for at least six months.

QUOTE:
How many stock symbols are you updating?

I'm not sure because I don't know the specifics of a Provider. I would presume it only updates a symbol once, no matter how many DataSets it's in. My DataSets have perhaps 900 unique symbols. Summing DataSet counts is perhaps 60% higher. For instance, I have an "S&P 500 excluding financials" DataSet that overlaps my "S&P 500" DataSet.

S&P 500 DataSet symbols...
A AA AAPL ABBV ABC ABT ACE ACN ACT ADBE ADI ADM ADP ADS ADSK ADT AEE AEP AES AET AFL AGN AIG AIV AIZ AKAM ALL ALLE ALTR ALXN AMAT AME AMGN AMP AMT AMZN AN AON APA APC APD APH ARG ATI AVB AVGO AVP AVY AXP AZO BA BAC BAX BBBY BBT BBY BCR BDX BEN BF.B BHI BIIB BK BLK BLL BMS BMY BRCM BSX BTU BWA BXP C CA CAG CAH CAM CAT CB CBG CBS CCE CCI CCL CELG CERN CF CFN CHK CHRW CI CINF CL CLX CMA CMCSA CME CMG CMI CMS CNP CNX COF COG COH COL COP COST COV CPB CRM CSC CSCO CSX CTAS CTL CTSH CTXS CVC CVS CVX D DAL DD DE DFS DG DGX DHI DHR DIS DISCA DLPH DLTR DNB DNR DO DOV DOW DPS DRI DTE DTV DUK DVA DVN EA EBAY ECL ED EFX EIX EL EMC EMN EMR EOG EQR EQT ESRX ESS ESV ETFC ETN ETR EW EXC EXPD EXPE F FAST FB FCX FDO FDX FE FFIV FIS FISV FITB FLIR FLR FLS FMC FOSL FOXA FSLR FTI FTR GAS GCI GD GE GGP GHC GILD GIS GLW GM GMCR GME GNW GOOG GPC GPS GRMN GS GT GWW HAL HAR HAS HBAN HCBK HCN HCP HD HES HIG HOG HON HOT HP HPQ HRB HRL HRS HSP HST HSY HUM IBM ICE IFF INTC INTU IP IPG IR IRM ISRG ITW IVZ JBL JCI JEC JNJ JNPR JOY JPM JWN K KEY KIM KLAC KMB KMI KMX KO KORS KR KRFT KSS KSU L LB LEG LEN LH LLL LLTC LLY LM LMT LNC LO LOW LRCX LUK LUV LYB M MA MAC MAR MAS MAT MCD MCHP MCK MCO MDLZ MDT MET MHFI MHK MJN MKC MMC MMM MNST MO MON MOS MPC MRK MRO MS MSFT MSI MTB MU MUR MWV MYL NAVI NBL NBR NDAQ NE NEE NEM NFLX NFX NI NKE NLSN NOC NOV NRG NSC NTAP NTRS NU NUE NVDA NWL NWSA OI OKE OMC ORCL ORLY OXY PAYX PBCT PBI PCAR PCG PCL PCLN PCP PDCO PEG PEP PETM PFE PFG PG PGR PH PHM PKI PLD PLL PM PNC PNR PNW POM PPG PPL PRGO PRU PSA PSX PVH PWR PX PXD QCOM QEP R RAI RDC REGN RF RHI RHT RIG RL ROK ROP ROST RRC RSG RTN SBUX SCG SCHW SE SEE SHW SIAL SJM SLB SNA SNDK SNI SO SPG SPLS SRCL SRE STI STJ STT STX STZ SWK SWN SWY SYK SYMC SYY T TAP TDC TE TEG TEL TGT THC TIF TJX TMK TMO TRIP TROW TRV TSCO TSN TSO TSS TWC TWX TXN TXT TYC UA UNH UNM UNP UPS URBN USB UTX V VAR VFC VIAB VLO VMC VNO VRSN VRTX VTR VZ WAG WAT WDC WEC WFC WFM WHR WIN WLP WM WMB WMT WU WY WYN WYNN X XEC XEL XL XLNX XOM XRAY XRX XYL YHOO YUM ZION ZMH ZTS

Here's the log from a run I cancelled. It seems surprising that it succeeds, saying "24 fundamentals update", on custom indices and other market indices. Surprising to me that it even tries custom indices, for fundamentals.

CODE:
Please log in to see this code.

So this seems like an intermittent bug. These animals are a "joy" to reproduce.

QUOTE:
It seems surprising that it succeeds, saying "24 fundamentals update", on custom indices and other market indices.

Even on invalid symbol it will return a successful update of 24 items. You may disregard that: it's a display quirk only.

QUOTE:
Surprising to me that it even tries custom indices, for fundamentals.

In By Provider mode ("Update all data"), fundamental data providers update all symbols existing across all DataSets.

Tried it again this afternoon. It ran about an hour, then the same crash. I could see symbol NATI on the grayed-out pre-crash log so I'd guess it was about half done. It seems to be a different place every time (not the same symbol). I don't run it often. The last time was in May when it was successful.

Will anything be done on this? I've been trying it at least once a day and it rarely gets even half way before crashing. It consistently fails, though not at the same symbol.

The issue has been entered into our product backlog. Eventually we'll get to the bottom of it but please don't expect a speedy resolution given its intermittent nature (I was unable to reproduce) and my inability to dedicate time this month due to work on a higher priority project.

Please create a support ticket so I could attach you a build for debug purposes. tia.

Hi Leonard,

I was able to find some time this weekend to fix a couple of issues in the MSN provider. Please update to v2014.09 and retry. Also, update speed should be faster now. If this doesn't fix the crash, let me know.

Eugene,

It worked and seems twice as fast. My run updated 1,150 symbols in 25 minutes. Thanks.

Len

Len,

Thanks for the positive feedback Len.

Important fixes and changes in version 2014.09 of the MSN provider:

* Fix: increased speed of fundamental updates
* Fix: potential crash on incorrect fundamental data received
* Fix: update fails because in static data, volume is not always being handled correctly by 3rd party component (workaround: zero volume will be returned in this case)

ATTENTION

MSN provider suite is completely broken by a MSN website redesign. The MSN extension has been unpublished.

Please put this note in the wiki data providers list to save some other poor soul 90 minutes of searching and reading obsolete information in an effort to discover why the MSN provider dll v2013.05, that came with WLP 6.9 (er, the MSN extension is published with WLP 6.9), doesn't work with WLP 6.9 (update dataset pricing yields error "String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.")

We do have such note on the Open Issues page:

* MSN provider returns Error: no data. Provider is broken beyond repair. Please use an alternative provider.

I had no idea that MSN is still being distributed with WLP. Or more likely it's simply a remnant of an upgraded installation. The provider has been removed from the WLD installation package.

QUOTE:
The provider has been removed from the WLD installation package.

Does that mean that when I update Wealth-Lab I will lose the ability to access data stored as MsnStaticProvider? If so, that would make me sad.

Not yet but this will happen eventually. We will remove the provider in a future version of WLP like we already did in WLD. That data is worthless after not having been updated for over a year now. The MSN data wasn't unique in any aspect - AFAIR, it had been licensed from CSI (just like Yahoo) before MSFT switched to Morningstar etc.

ATTENTION

MSN provider suite is broken beyond repair by a MSN website redesign. The MSN extension has been unpublished.

QUOTE:
That data is worthless

I respectfully disagree. Having data for symbols which no longer trade is very useful.

As you know, one of the things I do to clean my data is to compare it to other data providers. I can certainly imagine situations where in the future I might want to go back and look at that data.

QUOTE:
Having data for symbols which no longer trade is very useful.

Sure! But the good thing is that you don't need the MSN provider to use your data. The .WL format is universal across data providers. Right now, you can plug the accumulated data for those delisted symbols into a DataSet by a functioning provider like Google or Yahoo!, for example:

Is it possible to create a DataSet from bars generated using SaveToFile (*.WL)?