Importing Mutual Funds Not in the Database
Last revised
04/19/06
FastTrack may use data that you provide which is not a standard part of the FastTrack
database. FastTrack for the Web will read data that you maintain in an ASCII text file. When
FNU files are properly formatted and placed in the C:\FT\
folder, FastTrack will
analyze them just like mutual funds in the regular database. You may add the FNU symbols to
families, rank, chart, and in all
respects use the information normally.
File Name:
The file name can be any name or symbol from 1 to 5 characters PLUS the FNU extension.
DO NOT use a symbol that is already in the FastTrack database. For example, you might have
data on Abbott Labs (a stock) with a file name ABT$.FNU. The $ at the end of a
symbol never occurs in FT ticker symbols. This way both ABT in the FT Stocks1
database and the FNU, ABT$.FNU will be accessible.
Location:
FNU files must be in your FastTrack root directory. Normally, C:\FT\
File Format:
The file must be in ASCII text format, i.e.,variable length lines of text with carriage returns at the
end of each line.
Line 1 should be the ticker symbol (usually the file name without extension). Five
characters maximum.
Line 2 should be the name of the mutual fund, stock, etc. Forty characters maximum.
Lines 3 through the end of the file must have the date, price and distribution, if any, on
that date. For example, if on Mar 4, 1991 the price was 35 5/8 and the equity went
x-dividend with a dividend of $0.30. The corresponding line in the ASCII file would be:
03/04/91, 35.625,0.3
The date may or may not be surrounded by quotes. Both ways work.
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Miscellaneous Requirements
- Spaces are insignificant.
- Commas are required.
- Decimal points are required.
- If you have no distribution data, insert 0 for the distribution on each line.
- FastTrack will give line number error messages when invalid formats are encountered.
These messages usually are not fatal.
- FastTrack resynchronizes itself to the next valid line of data when a format problem has
been detected. This means that your chart may appear to be perfect except that data
discarded due to format problems will appear as a short (perhaps undetectable) horizontal
line on the chart.
When FT4WEb Reads an FNU
- The data is placed in date order regardless of misordering in the file.
- The FNU is reread each time that it is accessed. This means the file may
be edited outside of FT4WEB and then immediately displayed by FT4WEB
as changed. Data is not buffered.
- Errors in the format of the file are logged in C:\FT\FT4WIN\LOG\FNU.LOG,
and not displayed on the screen. If your data seems incorrect, load FNU.LOG
with a text editor (like NotePad) and review it.
Updating the Data
You must keep this data in the FNU file current yourself. The FastTrack update
process will not change the ASCII text files. If you are missing data from these files,
then FastTrack will display a flat line on the chart for the periods missing.
 Limitations
The one thing you can't do is display data outside the data range in the main FastTrack
database. Dates before the beginning of the database or after the date of the last online
update will be ignored.
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