The new features and miscellaneous enhancements outlined below were introduced in the 4.7 Version.

Product Enhancements for Version 4.7:
Release Date: November 3, 2000

• Major New Feature: Setup: Schedules
• New and improved date/time control
• New moving average type: Modified MA
• Delete button (trashcan) added to main toolbar
• Custom Indicator efficiency improvements
• Windows platform improvement to list and list edit controls
• Relative Strength (token RS) added to RTL language
• Three Line Break (TLB) added to RTL Language
• Improvement to DV token (Date Specific Value)
• Improvement to STAT token (Statistics)
• Statistics technical indicator for charting
•  Revised meaning of unqualified historical tokens
• Remove technical indicators using keyboard shortcuts
• Run schedules using keyboard shortcuts
• SHOW function added to RTL Language
• New Three Line Break and Point & Figure Technical Indicators
• New Schedule actions: start/stop data, print, etc.
• New Schedule option to defer schedules at startup
• Shift-click in traditional chart vertical scale area.
• Trendline/Reference Line Alerts
• Dial/Data bulk download using Schedules
• Using keyboard shortcuts to cycle through windows
• Bid/ask markers on traditional intra-day charts
• Bear Power/Bull Power (Elder-Ray) indicators added
• New Paint Bars indicator (tour screenshot)
• Histograms are painted in two colors
• Setting Highlighting color for instruments using a Scan
• New methods for cycling through open windows
• What's New in Version 4.6
  
  
• Major New Feature: Setup: Schedules
  Investor/RT 4.7 provide a significant new feature in its ability to automate user-specified sequences of actions, call "Schedules". For a more details, click here.
• Improved date/time control
  Investor/RT 4.7 introduces a new, more powerful "date/time" control mechanism. A "date/time control" is a rectangular area within a window in which the user specifies a date and optionally, a time. The new date/time control is initially used in the File: Export window and the Data Download window. In both instances, two of the new date/time controls are used to specify a starting date and an ending date for the export or download. Like the original date/time control, the new one can express dates and times in absolute terms, e.g. May 23, 1999 at 10:30 am. The new control provides considerably more flexibility by enable the specification of relative dates and times. For example, the starting date for a download can now be expressed as "6 months ago", or "1 year ago", or "5 days ago". Dates can also be specified as beginning at some relative time, e.g. "beginning of week", "beginning of month", "beginning of quarter", or "beginning of year". Dates can also be specified generally as a number of "bars ago". Depending on the periodicity the control automatically calculates the date based on the bar count.
• New moving average type: Modified MA
  For more information on "Modified Moving Average" click here.
• Delete button (trashcan icon) added to main toolbar
  Prior to Investor/RT 4.7, the "Delete" command was hidden several menu layers down in the Control Menu. Most new users of Investor/RT were hard pressed to find out how to delete charts, quote pages, and the like. To make deleting things easier and more obvious, a delete button in the form of a trashcan icon has been added to the main toolbar. The action taken when this button is clicked depends on which window is in front at the time. If a chart, quote page, portfolio, quick quote, scan, custom indicator, trading signal, or trading system window is in front, Investor/RT will ask if you really what to delete that object and if so, the object is deleted from the database. The deletion is not undoable so read the prompt before clicking "Delete" in the prompting dialog box. If some other window is open, Investor/RT will open the general-purpose "Delete Object" window, the same window you get if you use the Control Menu to access the delete function. If you want to delete something and do not wish to be bothered by the prompting message, click the main toolbar trashcan while holding down the ctrl key (option key on Macintosh). The one exception to this is a portfolio window; Investor/RT will always prompt for confirmation when deleting portfolios.
• Custom Indicator efficiency improvements
  Improvements were made in version 4.7 to reduce the calculation overhead required when custom indicators are used within intra-day charts. Such charts are updated tick by tick. On very active issues this was causing excessive calculations to be performed to keep the custom indicator in sync with the latest price(s). When new intra-day bars are added to a chart, e.g. upon conclusion of the intra-day interval, custom indicators are recalculated in their entirely. Ticks that arrive in-between cause only a recalculation of the last intra-day bar's custom indicator(s).
• Windows platform improvement to list and list edit controls
  So-called "list button" controls in various Investor/RT windows have been improved to display many more choices than before. A list button is a control with a down arrow to the right for selecting from a drop down menu of available choices. Prior to 4.7, list buttons displayed only six choices with other choices available only by operating a scrollbar. In most windows, the full list of menu choices is now displayed with no need to scroll. The Macintosh version of Investor/RT has always displayed the full list of choices when operating list button controls.
• Relative Strength (token RS) added to RTL language
• Three Line Break (TLB) added to RTL Language
  Scans, trading signals and custom indicators can now make reference to relative strength and three line break conditions.
• Improvement to DV token (Date Specific Value)
  The DV indicator in the RTL language has been improved to incorporate the new "date/time control" discussed above in item #2. Specifically, relative times can now be specified for the date/time at which a particular market price is to be retrieved. For example, you can configure a DV token to get the "close" for the current date, one hour back. This kind of relative time specification is independent of periodicity, so if you run a scan with one-minute data or 30 minute data, Investor/RT will find the value in question based on one hour back from the current time of day. This is especially important when scans are embedded with chart windows as markers. Investor/RT can find the appropriate value as the periodicity of the chart changes. One consequence of this new feature is that scans which include the DV function must be edited to specify the date/time using the new date control.
• Improvement to STAT token (Statistics)
  The new date/time control has also been incorporated into the STAT indicator. STAT can now be setup to calculate min, max, average, etc. either for a fixed number of periods or "for all bars since a specified date time". The "since" option allows the user to specify a date/time using the new date/time control which means relative dates and times can be used. For example, suppose you have a signal that needs to consider the average closing price for all minute bars since the current trading session began. The STAT indicator would specify "Current Date, Session Open" as the "since" date/time. Prior to 4.7, a fixed number of bars back was required to be specified. This improvement means that a variable number of bars will be considered depending on how much time has elapsed in the trading session.
• Statistics technical indicator for charting
  Prior to 4.7, the Statistics indicator was used only in the RTL language (via the STAT token) for statistical calculations. Now, the Statistics indicator can be added to charts directly just like any other technical indicators. For example adding a Statistics indicator specifying "maximum close in 30 periods" to a chart typically shows a stair step line as new 30 period highs are reached. Adding the STAT indicators used in scans to charts helps you to visualize how the STAT function is changing value over time.
• Revised meaning of unqualified historical tokens
  A change was made in the RTL language to clarify and make consistent the meaning of "unqualified historical tokens". Historical tokens (OP, HI, LO, CL, etc.) when written "as is" with no trailing number (qualifier) are always treated as if the token were suffixed with a zero qualifier, e.g. CL, CL0, and CL.0 are all synonymous. CL.0 (or CL alone) always means "the closing price of the most recent bar" regardless of periodicity. For example, when HI is used in a scan run with periodicity of one minute, HI is the high price of the most recent one-minute bar. Note that this value may be higher, lower, the same as the daily bar high. When running intra-day scans or backtesting with an intra-day periodicity, if the trading signal or scan needs to reference the high of the current trading day rather than the high of a particular intra-day bar, use the STAT token to get the Max High since current date/session open. When running scans with Daily periodicity, of course, OP, HI, LO, CL are always the current day's open, high, low, or close price at the time the scan runs.
• Remove technical indicators using keyboard shortcuts
  The keyboard shortcuts feature has been enhanced to add a "Remove" action for specific technical indicators. For example, you could setup F2 to mean "Add MACD" and shift-F2 to mean "Remove MACD". Then, with a chart open, press F2 for quick view of the MACD for the instrument, then press shift-F2 to remove it. Here is another example--some users employ lots of trendlines and fall victim to trendline clutter after awhile. Add a shortcut for "Remove Trendline", say F3, then press F3 (repeatedly if necessary) to clean up a cluttered chart when appropriate. This is much easier and faster than having to select each trendline individually and delete it.
• Run schedules using keyboard shortcuts
  Keyboard shortcuts can be defined for running a particular schedule (see item #1 above for more information on schedules). Since a schedule can include actions to perform keyboard shortcuts, this enables you to define one shortcut key what executes two or more other shortcuts keys in sequence. If a schedule is run in response to a keyboard short and the schedule contains an action that performs the same shortcut that invoked the schedule in the first place, Investor/RT will detect the situation and skip the self-referencing shortcut action.
• SHOW function added to RTL Language
  The SHOW function is designed to facilitate testing of scans and trading signals. The SHOW function takes any RTL expression and displays the numeric value of the expression. If a SHOW is used in a scan or a custom indicator, the diagnostic output goes into the "Message Log". You can then view the output using File: Open: Message Log (or by double-clicking in the main toolbar message area). When a SHOW function is used in a trading signal, the output goes into the backtesting detail report so the evaluation of the expression can be seen at each bar during a backtest. More than one SHOW function can be included in a scan, custom indicator, or trading signal. The SHOW function always evaluates as TRUE. For example, the trading signal:
  
  SHOW( (HI + LO)/2) and SHOW(CL) and CL >= (HI + LO)/2;
  
  Would evaluate as TRUE whenever the closing price is above the midpoint of the high/low range. The values of the midpoint and the closing prices for each bar would be displayed in the detail output if this signal were used in a trading system.
• New Three Line Break (TLB) and Point & Figure (PNF) Technical Indicators
  Click here for additional information.  This is an exciting new feature for users of three line break and point and figure charts. Essentially, this enhancement enables three line break and point and figure charts to be embedded into any traditional chart. When a TLB or PNF indicator is added to a traditional chart, there is an option to "Expand" the indicator so that it matches the fixed time axis of the traditional chart. Thus you can see the breaks and reversals superimposed "in time" with traditional bar charts and technical indicators. When the "Expand" option is not checked, the breaks and reversals are shown in condensed time. That is, the time axis of the traditional chart window has no relationship with the TLB or PNF bars in this case. This feature allows three line break and point and figure analysis to be carried out within a single open.
• New Schedule actions: start/stop data, print and others
  Several new "actions" can now be added to schedules:
  
  1. Start Data
  2. Stop Data
  3. Print
  4. Close Window
  5. Close All Windows
  6. Activate Schedule
  7. Inactivate Schedule
  
  The Start Data action will be of interest to Internet data feed users. Investor/RT has an option to "automatically reconnect" to Internet data feeds if the software detects a loss of data flow. In some circumstances, however, the automatic reconnect will fail due to a connection error of some kind and the data feed will end up in a "stopped" state. Create a schedule with a Start Data action and set it up to run every two minutes during a trading session. Each time the schedule runs, if the data feed is operating normally, nothing is done, but if the feed has been stopped due to an error or some kind, the schedules "start data" action will trigger another attempt to re-connect to the data service. Similarly, schedules can include a command to stop (disconnect) from the data service, e.g. after the close of trading. 
  
  The Activate/Inactivate Schedule actions give you the ability to control other schedules by turning them on or off. As a simple example, suppose you have a scan you wish to run every five minutes during a trading session, but you do not wish the scan to run between 12:00 noon and 1 pm. Create Schedule_A to run the scan every five minutes for the trading session. Then create a Schedule_B that runs once day at 12 noon; its only action is to "Inactivate Schedule_A". Finally, create a Schedule_C that runs once a day at 1 pm with the action "Activate Schedule_A". You can, of course, activate and inactive many schedules by adding multiple actions to a schedule to exercise more complex control over which schedules to run at any given period of time.
• New Schedule options added
  Two options have been added to the scheduling feature of Investor/RT. First, there is an option to defer the running of periodic schedule for one or more minutes after startup. If this option is selected, Investor/RT will not begin running periodic interval schedules until the specified number of minutes has elapsed since Investor/RT started execution. This option is designed to enable the user to have a few minutes after startup to setup various things before schedules begin running on their own. The second option is a checkbox in the Schedule Setup window to "Suspend All Schedules". When this box is checked all automatic initiation of schedules is suspended until the box is unchecked again. If the "Suspend All Schedules" option is off and the "defer" option is not selected, then schedules will begin running automatically at startup as appropriate. As an "emergency startup procedure", Investor/RT will "Suspend All Schedules" if the ctrl-key is held down (option key if Macintosh) during the startup process. In this case, it will necessary to open the Schedule Setup window and uncheck the "Suspend All" checkbox for schedules to begin running again.
• Shift-click in traditional chart vertical scale area
  Within traditional chart windows, a shift-click in the vertical scale area of any window pane instructs Investor/RT to rotate the "drawing order" of the graph elements within the pane. For example, suppose you have a bar chart, a moving average, and a Point and Figure chart within the same pane, in that order. This means that the bar chart is drawn first, then the moving average line is drawn on top of the bars, then the PNF display is drawn on top of that. If you shift-click in the vertical scale area, the first element in the pane (the bar chart) will be moved to the end of the list. Thus the MA, then the PNF, and finally the bar chart will be drawn. To best way to visualize this useful feature is to put a bar or candlestick chart and two or more indicators into a pane and shift-click repeatedly to see the visual effect. Another benefit of this feature is that the graph element values shown in the pane title bar are reordered as well.
• Trendline/Reference Line Alerts
  Trendline alerts have been a feature of Investor/RT for some time. This feature has been extended to (horizontal) reference lines . Reference lines in a traditional chart with the alert option checkmarked will show a message alert box (and play an optional sound) if the price of the associated instrument falls below or rises above the reference line. When you use the mouse to adjust the level of a reference line, Investor/RT will determine if the new reference line price value is either above or below the current price and will then alert you if the current price hits or crosses over the reference line price from either direction. The user can specify the sound to be played when a reference line or trendline break occurs. This is a new feature for trendline alerts. In the settings for the trendline and reference line indicators, a menu of sounds is available. Once of the choices is "<Default Alarm Sounds>. If selected, IRT will play either the "High Alarm Sound" or the "Low Alarm Sound" as specified in Setup: Preferences: Sounds when the current price reaches or crosses over from below or above, respectively. In the case of Reference Lines, the user may also specify a short text title for the reference line. This title will appear in the text of the alert message window when a reference line alert triggers.
• Dial/Data bulk download using Schedules
  Three Dial/Data bulk download commands have been added to the list of "Database Functions" that can be selected as actions in a schedule. Note that bulk downloading requires that the user either be using the either the Dial/Data or myTrack version of Investor/RT or have a Dial/Data account for use in conjunction with some other data service. The bulk downloads will be requested for the current day so these actions should only be used in schedules that run well after the close of trading. Typically bulk downloads are available from Dial/Data by 6 PM Eastern Time after the close of trading.
• Using keyboard shortcuts to cycle through windows
  Keyboard shortcuts can now be defined for cycling through specific kinds of windows. In Setup: Preferences: Keyboard Shortcuts, pick "Next Window" as the action, then pick the desired window type from the list, e.g. All Window, Traditional Charts, All Charts, etc. This new capability is especially useful when you have several charts or quote pages "stacked" on top of one another and you want to view them one at a time by simply pressing one function key on the keyboard. Furthermore, since keyboard shortcuts can be included in a schedule, you can easily setup a shortcut to cycle through your charts or other windows types at some designated periodic interval during certain times of the day.
• Bid/ask markers on traditional intra-day charts
  Intra-day traditional charts now show the current bid/ask-spread as a vertical line hugging the vertical scale. The price of the last trade is shown as a tick mark on the left of the vertical scale axis. Prior to version 4.7 the bid, ask, and last prices were shown using small rectangular markers that were more difficult to see.
• Bear Power/Bull Power (Elder-Ray) indicators added
  Bear Power and Bull Power are oscillators described in Alexander Elder's book "Trading for a Living", pp 123-125. The Elder-Ray Bull Power indicator is the difference between the current bar high and an exponential moving average. Bear Power is the difference between the current bar low and the EMA (usually negative). Elder uses a 13-period exponential moving average plotted as a histogram in his examples. These indicators have been added to the RTL language (tokens: BEARP and BULLP) to enable scanning and backtesting using these indicators.
• Paint Bars indicator  (tour screenshot)
  A powerful new technical indicator named "Paint Bars" has been added. It's purpose is to enable certain bars or periods of time to be highlighted in traditional chart windows based on any criteria that can be expressed as an RTL scan, trading signal or custom indicator.
• Histograms are painted in two colors
  Various technical indicators and all custom indicators that are drawn in histogram format, now have two color choices, an up color and down color. When the oscillator is rising in value the histogram bar is drawn using the up color, otherwise the down color is used. This change makes is easier to spot a change in slope in an oscillator. MACD, Bull Power, Bear Power, Elder Force Index, and custom indicator histograms have this new capability.
• Setting Highlighting color for instruments using a Scan
  A new RTL token COLOR can be used to test or set the highlight color of instruments. A few "contant" tokens have also been added to facilitate setting highlight color. For example, the scan:
  
  SET(COLOR, COLOR_LTBLUE)
  
  will set the highlight color of all instruments in the source quote page to light blue. Setting the COLOR token to zero for an instrument turns off highlighting for the instrument. Setting the highlight color to a non-zero value not only sets the color but also turns on highlighting. Thus,
  
  SET(COLOR, 0)
  
  turns off highlighting for all symbols
  
  SET(COLOR, (CH > 5)*COLOR_PINK)
  
  highlights (in pink) all instruments with net change in price of $5 or higher, and turns off highlighting for all other instruments. NOTE: the express (CH > 5) evaluates as zero if the express is false and one if the expression is true.
  
  SET(COLOR, (CH > 50) * COLOR_PINK + (CH<=50) * COLOR_LTBLUE)
  
  highlights instruments priced above $50 in pink, those priced at $50 and below in light blue
  
  COLOR can also be used as a scan criterion. For example,
  
  CL > 50 AND COLOR = COLOR_PINK
  
  lists instruments priced above $50 that are also presently highlighted with color pink. 
  
  Setting COLOR to a value -1 through -256 will set the color to the corresponding color in the standard Investor/RT color pallet that pops up when you click on a color control. For example,
  
  SET(COLOR, -81)
  
  will SET the color of all instruments to color number 81 which happens to be a pastel green color on the Macintosh platform and a green-yellow color on Windows due to differing color palettes in use.
  
  Investor/RT uses the RGB (red, green, blue) model internally to represent colors. All colors are represented by (usually large) numbers consisting of a R (red), G (green), and B (blue) component. R, G, and B are numbers between 0 and 255. The color number for any color is then calculated by the formula:
  
  (R * 65536) + (G * 256) + B
  
  Any color in the "24-bit spectrum" can be represented by some combination of R, G, and B in the above formula. For example, a light gray can be obtained by equal values of 200 for R, G and B, as in this example:
  
  SET(COLOR, 200 * 65536 + 200 * 256 + 200)
  
  set all instruments highlight color to light gray
  
  The "Highlight Color" data column can be added to a quote page so you can see the actual RGB value assigned, if any, as the highlight color for each instrument. Highlight colors can be set using the color pallet by clicking on the highlight color control in the Setup: Instrument window.
• New methods for cycling through open windows
  Prior to version 4.7, the "Next Window" command in the Window menu had the effect of sending the frontmost window behind all other windows, thereby revealing the window(s) behind the former frontmost window. This menu item has been renamed "Send to Back" in the Windows menu in 4.7. The Next Window command now has the effect of simply bringing the "next" window in the Investor/RT window list to the front. After moving forward through the window list, you can move backward through the list in the reverse sequence using the new "Last Window" command. This improvement enables the user to move forward and backward through the window list in a logical sequence. On the windows platform, the keyboard shortcut ctrl+tab moves forward; to reverse use shift+ctrl+tab. On the Macintosh platform, command+N is used to move forward to the next window, while shift+command+N reverses the direction. Option+command+N issues the "Send to Back" command on the Macintosh as well.
  
  Additionally, function key shortcuts can be setup for Next Window (by type), Last Window, and Send to Back using the Setup: Preferences: Keyboard Shortcuts command.