Storing Useful Trading Ideas & Information

[lakemac]

Part 3 - underlying behaviours

Imagine you have this wonderful trade idea but it needs a formula to work out the profit/loss.

By allowing grouped areas of the note taking space to have a behaviour assigned to them it turns it into a mini spreadsheet or even a formatted area. I know one of the annoying things about Excel is I can't see the formula AND the result at the same time. A bit of chunking and zoom functionality solves this. Not only that but the cross references between calculation areas (ie. cells) is visible as lines between rectangles.

Need to pretty print today's trading activity, draw a "string" thru those items you want, zoom in on them arrange them into a roughly coherent order, group them and attach a document formatting behaviour to the group.

I mentioned originally that I wanted all behaviours including keystroke and mouse controls to be programmable - well by zooming down far enough the behaviours are nothing more than a series of linked boxes that control the flow of keystrokes and mouse movements attached to various behavioural modules.

This kind of functionality comes from some very seminal work I did on object based design and development which also extends up to project management.

The final key is storing and indexing all this.

[lakemac]

Part 4 - storage

The funny thing is once you throw away the idea of deletion (is that self referential or is my mind a bit bent?) databases become very simple. By keeping everything your database it just gets bigger. Does it get slower - not really. Why? The key is aged data. As you move into the newer parts of the database the older parts are (normally) less often accessed. By being able to access your link database (remember fundamental data is stored as files in the underlying native filesystem) at the most recent points you are more likely to maintain speed of access no matter how much information it stores.

One thing you do have to watch is manually moving files that the database points to. In an ideal world the filesystem should work in tandem with the links database but short of writing my own filesystem it is not going to happen.

One of the clever things that this system needs to do is a form of auto indexing. Take Google for example - it indexes things all the time but it does not string them together. Google's indexes are there to bring up search results quickly. Trouble is the page ranking changes and you can't "keep" the results of a search as a list (well maybe you can - there might be a tool out there for that kind of thing). What I am after is the note taking space effectively strings together searches that it does. These can take the form of either "inferred" groupings or strings if you like (say grouped by each day or a stock code then sorted by timestamp) or manually directed groupings (think I don't want that result from google but I want this, this, this and that one). Each search - string/grouping - gets remembered (nothing gets deleted remember - there goes my mind loop again ).

Effectively these searches/indexes/groupings become new chunks that I can zoom in or out from, link to and cross reference multiple times.

So now you know - the idea is out there.
Pity the product doesn't fully exist.
I have bits of it operational but time has not been available to push it along.

I would be interested to hear what others think of the idea.
I have some static diagrams that show what it could look like which I might post up when I get the time.

For now Freemind has to suffice

[ggkfc]

Part 4 - storage

The funny thing is once you throw away the idea of deletion (is that self referential or is my mind a bit bent?) databases become very simple. By keeping everything your database it just gets bigger. Does it get slower - not really. Why? The key is aged data. As you move into the newer parts of the database the older parts are (normally) less often accessed. By being able to access your link database (remember fundamental data is stored as files in the underlying native filesystem) at the most recent points you are more likely to maintain speed of access no matter how much information it stores.

One thing you do have to watch is manually moving files that the database points to. In an ideal world the filesystem should work in tandem with the links database but short of writing my own filesystem it is not going to happen.

One of the clever things that this system needs to do is a form of auto indexing. Take Google for example - it indexes things all the time but it does not string them together. Google's indexes are there to bring up search results quickly. Trouble is the page ranking changes and you can't "keep" the results of a search as a list (well maybe you can - there might be a tool out there for that kind of thing). What I am after is the note taking space effectively strings together searches that it does. These can take the form of either "inferred" groupings or strings if you like (say grouped by each day or a stock code then sorted by timestamp) or manually directed groupings (think I don't want that result from google but I want this, this, this and that one). Each search - string/grouping - gets remembered (nothing gets deleted remember - there goes my mind loop again ).

Effectively these searches/indexes/groupings become new chunks that I can zoom in or out from, link to and cross reference multiple times.

So now you know - the idea is out there.
Pity the product doesn't fully exist.
I have bits of it operational but time has not been available to push it along.

I would be interested to hear what others think of the idea.
I have some static diagrams that show what it could look like which I might post up when I get the time.

For now Freemind has to suffice

im using somethign free called Keynote NF (original keynote stopped development)
its freeware and small

[gav]

I've been using OneNote for a little while now. I love the application, but I'm having difficulty saving and accessing my work. Do you have to save each tab as an individual file as "OneNote Sections"? Or are you able to save the whole thing as one file using the "OneNote Single File Package"?

I just want to be able to save it as one file, but at the moment I have several "OneNote Sections" files saved (some duplicates where some have less information than others, I have no idea why), then I have a "OneNote Single File Package" file saved - yet when I click it there is nothing there, but then other times when I click it, my work appears. It's really confusing. I have saved hours worth of work, yet I'm having a friggen heart attack each time I try to open my work because it seems to be sheer luck whether its there or not when I open a file.

Whenever I manage to open a file that contains any of my work, a little pop-up box comes up saying "Unpack Section". WTF does this mean? It opens a folder where all my OneNote files are saved, and it wants me to save something? (I think?)

I tried saving every one of my files onto a flash disk to form some sort of back-up. Yet when I open these files on my partners computer, there is nothing in them!

I've tried going through the help section in OneNote, but haven't found anything useful. Why can't it be as simple as saving an Excel spreadsheet or Word document?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[professor_frink]

I've been using OneNote for a little while now. I love the application, but I'm having difficulty saving and accessing my work. Do you have to save each tab as an individual file as "OneNote Sections"? Or are you able to save the whole thing as one file using the "OneNote Single File Package"?

I just want to be able to save it as one file, but at the moment I have several "OneNote Sections" files saved (some duplicates where some have less information than others, I have no idea why), then I have a "OneNote Single File Package" file saved - yet when I click it there is nothing there, but then other times when I click it, my work appears. It's really confusing. I have saved hours worth of work, yet I'm having a friggen heart attack each time I try to open my work because it seems to be sheer luck whether its there or not when I open a file.

Whenever I manage to open a file that contains any of my work, a little pop-up box comes up saying "Unpack Section". WTF does this mean? It opens a folder where all my OneNote files are saved, and it wants me to save something? (I think?)

I tried saving every one of my files onto a flash disk to form some sort of back-up. Yet when I open these files on my partners computer, there is nothing in them!

I've tried going through the help section in OneNote, but haven't found anything useful. Why can't it be as simple as saving an Excel spreadsheet or Word document?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Sorry gav but none of that makes any sense to me! That probably says more about me than what you've just typed though

I don't actually hit save for anything in onenote. When I fire the computer up in the morning, I double click on the onenote icon on my desktop, it comes up just as I left it the night before. I add to it during the day as required, then just close it down before I turn the computer off. I don't actually hit save for anything

[Sam Collins]

I've been using OneNote for a little while now. I love the application, but I'm having difficulty saving and accessing my work. Do you have to save each tab as an individual file as "OneNote Sections"? Or are you able to save the whole thing as one file using the "OneNote Single File Package"?

I just want to be able to save it as one file, but at the moment I have several "OneNote Sections" files saved (some duplicates where some have less information than others, I have no idea why), then I have a "OneNote Single File Package" file saved - yet when I click it there is nothing there, but then other times when I click it, my work appears. It's really confusing. I have saved hours worth of work, yet I'm having a friggen heart attack each time I try to open my work because it seems to be sheer luck whether its there or not when I open a file.

Whenever I manage to open a file that contains any of my work, a little pop-up box comes up saying "Unpack Section". WTF does this mean? It opens a folder where all my OneNote files are saved, and it wants me to save something? (I think?)

I tried saving every one of my files onto a flash disk to form some sort of back-up. Yet when I open these files on my partners computer, there is nothing in them!

I've tried going through the help section in OneNote, but haven't found anything useful. Why can't it be as simple as saving an Excel spreadsheet or Word document?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

There is an option when you choose "Save As" to select the whole notebook, not just the section, 3 options to choose from just under where you type the name of what you want to call it, can't miss it.

But I'm in the same boat as the professor, I never have and never do save anything in OneNote, it does it all for you, everything is always there exactly as I left it. Not sure why you're having problems, it all seemed pretty straight forward to me. Create notebook, start typing away, create sections, or sub-sections, and thats pretty much it. Its always there from then on.

[gav]

Thanks Frink and Sam for your input.

I've had a look on google and found that OneNote automatically saves as you go along. I've been opening seperate OneNote files in the folder they are saved in, instead of just opening the OneNote program like you have both suggested. I've also been clicking "Save As" at the end of each session before closing my work. It runs quite differently to other Office programs in that respect eg. Whenever I want to open a particular Excel spreadsheet, I'll go to where that particular spreadsheet is located on my computer and then open it, save it in the folder I want to, email it/back up on flash disk.

I'm still not sure how to save onto a flash disk or email my OneNote though. When opened on another computer, the OneNote files I saved on the flash disk are blank. I am sure there is a simple explanation, but I just don't get it.

[Sam Collins]

Thanks Frink and Sam for your input.

I've had a look on google and found that OneNote automatically saves as you go along. I've been opening seperate OneNote files in the folder they are saved in, instead of just opening the OneNote program like you have both suggested. I've also been clicking "Save As" at the end of each session before closing my work. It runs quite differently to other Office programs in that respect eg. Whenever I want to open a particular Excel spreadsheet, I'll go to where that particular spreadsheet is located on my computer and then open it, save it in the folder I want to, email it/back up on flash disk.

I'm still not sure how to save onto a flash disk or email my OneNote though. When opened on another computer, the OneNote files I saved on the flash disk are blank. I am sure there is a simple explanation, but I just don't get it.

Not sure about the saving it and trying to view it on another computer, I assume OneNote is actually on the other computer you're trying to view it on. No reason why it wouldn't work if you saved the whole notebook then opened it again in OneNote on the machine you want to view it on. Did you want to send the whole notebook as an email? You can send each page as an email by just clicking on the email link across the top of the toolbar, or going to file> email. Not sure about the whole notebook though

[gav]

Not sure about the saving it and trying to view it on another computer, I assume OneNote is actually on the other computer you're trying to view it on. No reason why it wouldn't work if you saved the whole notebook then opened it again in OneNote on the machine you want to view it on. Did you want to send the whole notebook as an email? You can send each page as an email by just clicking on the email link across the top of the toolbar, or going to file> email. Not sure about the whole notebook though

Thanks Sam. Yes, the other computer I tried to open it on has OneNote. Ideally I would just like to be able to save it on a flash disk as a back-up, in case something happens to my computer.

[Sam Collins]

Thanks Sam. Yes, the other computer I tried to open it on has OneNote. Ideally I would just like to be able to save it on a flash disk as a back-up, in case something happens to my computer.

Hmm, not sure then. Would've thought the File, Save As, then selecting the whole notebook would work, weird. Sorry I couldn't be of much help! Hope you figure it out.

[lakemac]

Thanks Sam. Yes, the other computer I tried to open it on has OneNote. Ideally I would just like to be able to save it on a flash disk as a back-up, in case something happens to my computer.

Hi Gav.
Couple of pointers that may help you.

1. by default OneNote saves each "tab" across the top (ie. a section in OneNote parlance) as a file with a .one or .onetoc2 file extension. The location of those files is set in the File -> Options -> Save & Backup settings -> Default Notebook Location.

2. Each "Folder" containing one or more sections or "tabs" across the top) is a directory with the name of your "Folder". For example if your OneNote installation is setup so it will save under "My Documents/OneNote Notebooks" and you have a folder called "Trading Diary", then you should see a directory:
My Documents/OneNote Notebooks/Trading Diary

If you then had several tabs say "BHP" "RIO" "ANZ" you should then see three files under the "Trading Diary" directory called BHP.one RIO.one and ANZ.one.

You can use Windows Explorer to confirm these files exist and non-zero in size (set the view type in Windows Explorer to "Details" to show you file sizes).

3. Each section can have multiple pages (and two levels of sub page) in each section (shown by tabs down the right hand side of OneNote's main screen). Those pages and sub-pages are stored within the file for each section ie. the .one file.

4. Onenote also allows you to "archive" if you like a complete notebook as a single file (with the .onepkg extension on the filename) - that is what you have seen in the File -> Save As -> Notebook -> OneNote Package option.

If you perform this action it will bundle up all the individual files for each section tab and store it as a single file with the name of your notebook. Using the above example you would end up with a single file called "Trading Diary.onepkg" placed in your "My Documents" folder (or other location depending upon the settings in your options menu).

Again you can prove that this file exists and has a non-zero size by using Windows Explorer as detailed above.

5. Now there are two options for you re your flash drive backup.
5.1 You can automagically get OneNote to store a backup on your flash drive. Go into the File -> Options -> Save & Backup menu and click on "Backup Folder" in the top Save section. Click on Modify and you can then select the location of your flash drive for backups. Note these are automatic backups - not manual ones. How often OneNote performs an automatic backup is controlled by the options in the Backup section just below the Save section in the options.
5.2 Manual backups. Personally I would leave autobackups in their existing (default) location and do manual backups to your flash drive. To do that I would use the OneNote Package saveas option detailed above (See #4). You should be able to just copy the single file to your flash drive and then open it on another PC with OneNote installed.

One thing though - OneNote 2010 file format is NOT compatible with OneNote 2007. If you create notes using OneNote 2010 and want a PC with OneNote 2007 to open them you have to tell 2010 to save the file as a 2007 version.

If you need more help let me know.

[gav]

Hi Lakemac,

Thanks for your detailed response. Everything you have said make sense, although I am still having trouble opening my "Trading.onepkg" on another computer. I went File -> Save As -> Notebook -> OneNote Package, and saved it on the flash disk as "Trading.onepkg". All sweet.

Then when I try to open this file on my partners computer (we both have OneNote 2007), I open OneNote, click File -> Open -> Section. I then make sure "OneNote Single File Package" is selected, then I click "Trading.onepkg" which is saved on the flash disk. It opens the first tab of my Trading.onepkg, then a pop-up msg says "Unpack Section", with the "File Name" being the name of my first tab and it wants me to click either Save or Cancel.

Clicking cancel closes my Trading.onepkg file (OneNote remains open). If I click "save", it saves a OneNote Section file as the name of my first tab on my flash disk. The first tab in my Trading.onepkg is called "System Design & Analysis", so it saves "System Design & Analysis.one" on my flash . It shows this tab on my partners computer, but the other tabs from my Trading.onepkg are not there.

At first I thought I must have accidentally saved my Trading OneNote file as as "Trading.one" instead of "Trading.onepkg". But it's definitely a OneNote Package file type.

I tried opening the flash disk folder in My Computer, then double clicked Trading.onepkg. This simply does what I mentioned above (opens OneNote with the first tab of my Trading.onepkg, then the "Unpack selection" pop-up appears again)

I hope that makes sense..

[lakemac]

Hi again gav,

Your description makes sense but what it is doing doesn't make sense.

I am testing OneNote 2010 so it may have fixed/changed how it operates with pkgs relative to 2007.

Suggestions:
1. have a look at the options settings. It may be that when you open an archive from another source on your other PC the directories in the option settings revert to the settings for the archive - not the current PC. Not sure if this is the case as I can't replicate what is happening your end. If OneNote on the second PC is saving things on your flash drive when it opens your trading diary this could be the case. Try changing the directories to the "My Documents" path of the user on the second PC.

2. Don't use Microstuffed products LOL. The only one I trust is Excel. Word I use under torture (my preference is an old Unix formatter called troff - but that is another story).

3. I notice there is a service pack (SP1) for OneNote 2007 which talks about opening issues but they primarily relate to systems with SharePoint installed. Even so I would still make sure your OneNote 2007 is patched with SP1.

4. Upgrade to OneNote 2010... Yeah I know $$$.

5. Doing some other looking on google there were a couple of articles about sync issues between PC's. It may be that your second PC thinks it has a copy of the first PC's notebooks and thus gets itself in a knot. Try doing this:
on the second PC rename the directory that contains the OneNote files. Try loading your first PC's OneNote package. If that doesn't work then you may need to also rename or change the directory OneNote uses for its cache (see the option settings for this).

6. You don't mention what operating system each PC is running. I am testing on Win XP SP3. With Vista your mileage may vary as they say.

7.

8.

[gav]

Thanks again Lakemac. I'll try what you have suggested when I get home tonight.

On my PC I am running Windows 7, the other computer has Vista.

[Timmy]

I was wondering how people store useful trading ideas and information.

Evernote is great.
Mainly on the PC, but if I'm out and have to access it I can on both iOS (phone) and Android (tablet).

http://evernote.com/

[dgcruzing]

Evernote is great.
Mainly on the PC, but if I'm out and have to access it I can on both iOS (phone) and Android (tablet).

http://evernote.com/

+1 on evernote..
I are just getting back into a list of highrisk smallcaps and doing it via android mobile and android tablet.
by going evernote pro..i have hardcopy of all my notes on every device..and syncs back to my desktop..

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[gav]

Well, since this thread started over 2 years ago I've been using OneNote and I'm very happy with it

[dgcruzing]

Gav,
i have been a onenote user for many years too and found it to be unique in its time..
also that's not to say that as windows 8 mobile becomes more available it wont progress.
but the problem is many of us are mobile now adays..
we might be out on a business trip, dinner,or even visiting the doctors with the wife and kids..
while we have that down time..alot of us have smart phones and or pads (android/ipads).. thus we need
to utilize a snatch and grab techniques while we power read through stock information..
And onenote at this stage is still a bit limited to desktop only..
but with saying that..i do have a version on my pad.. but don't use it..as i have found evernote far easier to build a database of dated
comments on stocks i am following. also another good tip while using mobile is readitlator..
where while you are surfing on the go and can come back to the link..evernote also allows saving the link to a file as well..
also, while reading a newspaper on a plane or magazine, it used to be a case of ripping out the page, where now its a quick snap with the
phone/pad and you have it on the cloud for access later.. http://getpocket.com/


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