1.0.3-b Available

Version 1.0.3-b PalOMoney.exe bug fix is available as a zip file for direct download outside the store. If you have lost the URL, please request it again. See the wiki 1.0.3-b Release Notes..

This is my 3rd request. You keep saying 1.0.3.b is available, but it isn't. You then say "please request it again". I have. GRRRRRRR.

My Downloadable Products shows PalOMoney Experimental Rev 1.0.3-a Debug -- Windows Installer as available, but it errors out because it should be the "b" version. You stated you'd send link via email but I've never received that either. Suggestion, at least for testers: Have the downloadable products be a link to your available .msi downloads page so you don't have to manually update the link(s). When you add the newest beta, it will just show up there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2013 08:05PM by ameridan.

Update: The store download was mis-named. I renamed it and downloaded it from a dummy acct. I hope it works now. However, I suggest installing just the .exe for now because the new .msi is experimental. It should be able to uninstall old versions without requiring the user to use the control panel first. As is typical of such matters, although tested here, it may not work there.

------- original post ------

The direct download is:
(REDACTED) PalOMoney_exe_1_0_3_b_x86d.zip

Sorry for the store download problems. I'll try to see what's wrong. You gave me a clue. I can't test it directly, since it is your account.

Evidently, email from the site to you has stopped working. It works to other accts here. Here are the most recent emails. Your email address is replaced by AMERIDAN for your privacy. The email delivery logs follow each message. Perhaps the site is making an error sending the messages, but they are accepted, so I don't know. Perhaps they ended up as spam?

(Emails and Log Files Redacted)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2013 07:23PM by dev.

OK, I've installed the newest version and made some headway, but still no quotes show up in the Portfolio screen.

1) The 1.0.3.b .msi does indeed uninstall the old version on its own, which explains why no acknowledgement window appears for a 1½ minutes after opening. If there is an option to present a window stating that an uninstall is in process, that would be better. Sorry, I didn't know you preferred the zip file install.

2) Now I see why you question my Grouping suggestion. By clicking on Manual, I was able to select, using [ctrl]Enter, the securities I wanted quoted and the ini file confirms that only those were submitted to Yahoo for quotes. Is this a proper method?

3) My ini file is attached and indicates that quotes were updated, but the log files (yes, we are now producing log files) indicate an error:

Quote

2013-02-17_23-18-49=MoneyPal 1.0.3.181 using quote source 0: 'Finance.Yahoo.CSV' and log level 0.
2013-02-17_23-18-49=Opening Money File 'C:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\PalOMoney.mny'
2013-02-17_23-18-49=Error 80040154 opening C:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\PalOMoney.mny

4) Ditto for the Python quote source, which did produce the desired quoteCSVpy.csv file, but the quotes aren't reflected in PalOMoney's Portfolio screen. Is my assumption correct that external quote sources (like Python) should show up there? Or is it because I selected Manual updates?

5)

Quote

Last Launch="PASSWORD Files\PalOMoney.com\PalOMoney\MoneyPal.exe" "C:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\PalOMoney.mny" -s2 "-fC:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\quoteCSVpy.csv"

What does this mean? Now I question your handling of the password - is the password to Money being stored on the hard drive or transmitted to PalOMoney.com?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2013 03:02PM by ameridan.

Quote

1) The 1.0.3.b .msi does indeed uninstall the old version on its own, which explains why no acknowledgement window appears for a 1½ minutes after opening. If there is an option to present a window stating that an uninstall is in process, that would be better. Sorry, I didn't know you preferred the zip file install.

Right, the installer needs some "uninstall" feedback mechanism.

The zip file had the then correct version, but that is in the past now. The .msi version was slightly different, and I believe added the PASSWORD redaction function to keep passwords out of the .ini file, plus a bunch of experimental stuff. (By the way, that redaction function caused the obliteration of the beginning of the Last Launch line in your .ini file because that file was not password protected (it's the old -1+2=1 problem). It is just the log file affected. The bug has been since fixed, in the -c release (soon).

Quote

2) Now I see why you question my Grouping suggestion. By clicking on Manual, I was able to select, using [ctrl]Enter, the securities I wanted quoted and the ini file confirms that only those were submitted to Yahoo for quotes. Is this a proper method?

I don't know. I was unaware that Ctrl+Enter selection had any effect. The code just loops through the Windows list control, and pulls what look like valid symbols from the Symbol column, and, if not empty(), adds them to the list. If a selection mechanism suppresses unselected entries from a list somehow, I need to learn about this. Here, after selecting 3 securities and hitting Update Now, all the securities were updated. More later.

Let's fix this. Does setting the Portfolio Online Status selector to Valid Online suppress the unwanted securities? If not, there is something (the account number) hidden in your symbol fields, possibly hidden with an initial CRLF (carriage return or line feed) or tab. This has fooled me many times. On the other hand, if there were a CRLF hidden, it would not be removed, and make it to (and ruin) the list, so that's not it. I wonder what could make the contents of the Symbol column invisible?

It looks like we have to add code to 1) display something visible if the Symbol field is not empty() and 2) check to see if an empty() Symbol field contains invalid characters before just adding it to the ticker list (although your list included what would be visible numbers). Complicated. Maybe we can display "(empty)" for empty fields.

Also, the "Toggle" update method enhancement is being escalated. This will include the UI to toggle securities Online Quotes field on and off, and, perhaps, a filter in the ticker list creation method to look at that field (which is ignored). This would mean that any security with the field false would not be in the ticker request list, which is logical and easily explained. We could also add a selection mechanism, like you mentioned.

2013-02-17_23-18-49=Error 80040154 opening C:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\PalOMoney.mny

Assuming this is a MoneyPal error. This error code has not been seen, and will research. Starting a new wiki Error Codes topic. The online Usage and Test Installation help topics link there.

The funny thing is that PalOMoney was running and had the file open, and PalOMoney uses the same module to open and access the Money file. Perhaps there is a file locking issue, or something else. Until this is figured out, you can try:

• Close Money, PalOMoney, and try again.
• Make a copy of known good Money file, and try that one.
• Reboot XP and try again (don't worry, you don't have to "Reinstall Windows").
• Open the file in Money, and see if there are any inconsistencies. Do a repair. Try again.

Quote

4) Ditto for the Python quote source, which did produce the desired quoteCSVpy.csv file, but the quotes aren't reflected in PalOMoney's Portfolio screen. Is my assumption correct that external quote sources (like Python) should show up there? Or is it because I selected Manual updates?

Yes, all external quote sources are imported by the internal sources 2 (csv) and 3 (xml, not implemented) (or 3 and 4 if counting from 1), and show up in the Portfolio View. They didn't show up because MoneyPal* could not open your Money file.

Note: I forgot the last time to mention that your external quote source example has Header Schema=1, but the .csv does not have a header, and the setting should be unchecked, which is zero (0) in the .ini file. However, that would not cause the "Cannot open file" error. You would hit this later, as nothing could be imported. By the way, I believe that Yahoo finance API supports 50 tickers per request, so Request Tickers=50 should work. We keep it low for testing to make sure that one quote batch does not overwrite the previous one, etc. But you can let it rip.

Quote

Last Launch="PASSWORD Files\PalOMoney.com\PalOMoney\MoneyPal.exe" "C:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\PalOMoney.mny" -s2 "-fC:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\quoteCSVpy.csv"

What does this mean? Now I question your handling of the password - is the password to Money being stored on the hard drive or transmitted to PalOMoney.com?

It means you are running the first version that redacted the any password saved in the .ini file. Prior to that, the password was saved so anyone with access to your Money file folder could just read it -- clearly not a good idea. Anyway, if people are going to use password protected files, it is imperative to protect the password, which meant adding the redaction code. This issue is mentioned in the wiki caveats regarding using a password protected Money file, although that part of the issue is now obsoleted by the redaction.

So the password is no longer stored on the hard drive, and of course, not transmitted to PalOMoney.com or anywhere else. This can be verified using a packet sniffer, like e.g., WireShark). That issue here is a large part of the reason to use Money in the first place -- we don't want our passwords stored somewhere on the net.

* By the way, MoneyPal is a stand-alone updater that can be called from any other process, e.g., python scripts. With all the initial troubles in passing valid command line arguments, plus the extra resources launching an external process entails, it seems natural to internalize the functions in PalOMoney. But MoneyPal is a useful utility on its own, and good for troubleshooting. You can copy the Last Launch entry and paste it on at a command prompt, and launch MoneyPal to see what happens. In this case, the window will not close, and you can see and read what it's doing.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2013 08:22PM by root.

This bug has been replicated and fixed:

2013-02-17_23-18-49=Error 80040154 opening C:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\PalOMoney.mny

Launched from Command Line (see Troubleshooting MoneyPal. ) after un-registering the Money database engine:

MoneyPal 1.0.3.183 using quote source 0: 'Finance.Yahoo.CSV' and log level 0.
Opening Money File 'C:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\PalOMoney.mny'
Could not open engine, error 80040154
Error 80040154 opening C:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\PalOMoney.mny

Thank you for discovering this obscure bug. The key was the "Could not open engine, error 80040154" display in the command prompt window, but not in the log file. I didn't realize that MoneyPal had never worked for you. A new version of MoneyPal will be available (asap) at
https://www.palomoney.com/pom/MoneyPal_exe_1_0_3_c_x86d_pp.zip
Check your email for the zip file password.

Please download the zip file, rename or delete your existing MoneyPal.exe file in the PalOMoney installation folder, and copy MoneyPal.exe into the folder.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2013 05:40PM by dev.

Quote

Thank you for discovering this obscure bug. The key was the "Could not open engine, error 80040154" display in the command prompt window, but not in the log file. I didn't realize that MoneyPal had never worked for you. A new version of MoneyPal will be available...

I'm finally getting quotes now :) But because I used the Manual option before, when I right-click the securities I want quotes for and click on Active, nothing happens (seems like it should toggle back to Active again). So I get a command window where quotes are being requested for securities that are unquotable and not for the stocks I would want to see quotes for. The quotes that do update seem to have an error in the log (even though they update)

2013-02-19_18-14-27=MoneyPal 1.0.3.186 using quote source 0: 'Finance.Yahoo.CSV' and log level 0.
2013-02-19_18-14-27=Opening Money File 'C:\Documents and Settings\Dan's\My Documents\Microsoft Money\PalOMoney\PalOMoney.mny'
2013-02-19_18-14-35=Error 800a1390 finding ^IXIC in Money.
2013-02-19_18-14-35=Creating ^IXIC	3213.59	Tuesday, February 19, 2013
2013-02-19_18-14-37=Error 800a1390 finding DODIX in Money.
2013-02-19_18-14-37=Creating DODIX	13.86	Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Quote

By clicking on Manual, I was able to select, using [ctrl]Enter, the securities I wanted quoted and the ini file confirms that only those were submitted to Yahoo for quotes. Is this a proper method?

I don't know. I was unaware that Ctrl+Enter selection had any effect. The code just loops through the Windows list control, and pulls what look like valid symbols from the Symbol column, and, if not empty(), adds them to the list. If a selection mechanism suppresses unselected entries from a list somehow, I need to learn about this. Here, after selecting 3 securities and hitting Update Now, all the securities were updated. More later.

Let's fix this. Does setting the Portfolio Online Status selector to Valid Online suppress the unwanted securities? If not, there is something (the account number) hidden in your symbol fields, possibly hidden with an initial CRLF (carriage return or line feed) or tab. This has fooled me many times. On the other hand, if there were a CRLF hidden, it would not be removed, and make it to (and ruin) the list, so that's not it. I wonder what could make the contents of the Symbol column invisible?

It looks like we have to add code to 1) display something visible if the Symbol field is not empty() and 2) check to see if an empty() Symbol field contains invalid characters before just adding it to the ticker list (although your list included what would be visible numbers). Complicated. Maybe we can display "(empty)" for empty fields.

Also, the "Toggle" update method enhancement is being escalated. This will include the UI to toggle securities Online Quotes field on and off, and, perhaps, a filter in the ticker list creation method to look at that field (which is ignored). This would mean that any security with the field false would not be in the ticker request list, which is logical and easily explained. We could also add a selection mechanism, like you mentioned.

In answer to your question "Let's fix this. Does setting the Portfolio Online Status selector to Valid Online suppress the unwanted securities?" the answer is Yes, because apparently I toggled them to Manual as discussed before and can't toggle them back.

2013-02-19_18-14-35=Error 800a1390 finding ^IXIC in Money.

That message indicates that MoneyPal cannot find an "Online Quotes" price for that symbol in the money file. This is a normal message for a new ticker that has never had online quotes.

If you keep getting this message for tickers that do have "Online" quotes, that's a problem. You can tell if a security has online quotes by opening the quotes list for that ticker in Money.

MoneyPal searches for an existing price because if there is a price for that date, MoneyPal should update the price record, and not create a new price record. Otherwise, you might end up with dozens of quotes in a single day, all with the same date and time (Money saves the time as 0:00). Money would not be able to make sense of this, so MoneyPal updates a date's price, and does not create a new record. This is a bit of a limitation in Money.

Quote

In answer to your question "Let's fix this. Does setting the Portfolio Online Status selector to Valid Online suppress the unwanted securities?" the answer is Yes, because apparently I toggled them to Manual as discussed before and can't toggle them back.

Versions 1.0.3 and earlier don't have the any of the right click menus hooked up to code, other than "The feature you selected is not available in this version." dialog. I see that "Toggle Online" and "History" don't even do that, they just silently do nothing, an oversight. Version 1.0.4 (soon) implements "Toggle Online." So how did you toggle them to "Manual?" Did you use Money to do this? Or Sunset?

Earlier, you wrote:

Quote

... By clicking on Manual, I was able to select, using [ctrl]Enter, the securities I wanted quoted and the ini file confirms that only those were submitted to Yahoo for quotes. ...

This is what I did:

• Set the Portfolio Online Status selector to "Manual." The list displays only those securities for which I cannot get online quotes.
• Clicked on a security in the list.
• Pressed Ctrl+Enter. Nothing happened here.

Version 1.0.4 will include the "Toggle Online Quotes" function. We will add the "Not this version" dialog to the unimplemented functions in the right click. When you get that version, you should be able to easily change the status of your securities.

By the way, if you right click on the Symbols column, the context menu will display the contents of that field. This is another way to tell if a field is in fact empty, or what. You may see account numbers on this menu pick, if they are in the Symbol column.

Quote

This is what I did:
Set the Portfolio Online Status selector to "Manual." The list displays only those securities for which I cannot get online quotes.
Clicked on a security in the list.
Pressed Ctrl+Enter. Nothing happened here.

I agree, but it seems to me that after I hit Update then the Status changed to Manual for the selected securities.

(I'm not positive though, perhaps they had already been set to Manual prior to my experimentation.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2013 11:48PM by ameridan.

Quote

I agree, but it seems to me that after I hit Update then the Status changed to Manual for the selected securities.

(I'm not positive though, perhaps they had already been set to Manual prior to my experimentation.)

Ok, let's put this on the back burner for now. Soon you will be able to toggle that field at will, so we still have to be vigilant to make sure that the field does not change on its own.