Text string length (custom properties...)

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

I'm disappointed with the max length of text-type custom properties. Only 25 characters. I was planning to use a custom property for more detailed classification of my investments (sub-industries..) but it's definitely not possible.

I don't know the reason(s) why the string length is so limited. Investment's Description field or categories (sector, asset type...) can be up to 49. At least I would want the same for text-type custom properties.


More globally, 49 characters is limited too. Thanks to the rich text controls hyperlinks are now handled, but with 49 characters usefulness is very limited. Link length are most of the time longer than that. Not to mention only 25 characters for links....

We could expect something like up to 250 characters allowed....

My guess for the reason of the current string length limitation is that the field contents have to fit nicely in various location in the program (Portfolio Editor column, graph legend, reports...). Why not is this case truncate the strings in these locations (e.g. to 49 characters, and append to them "..."), and if we want to see the entire string he'll have to open the investment's Properties dialog. 49 characters is more than enough to give a good clue of a lengthy text. At least we could use these fields comfortably with long strings, and it would be possible to enter / activate most of the links we need in the investment's Properties dialog.

Maybe there are other (technical) reasons for the limitation, I don't know. Nowadays it's hard to believe that the text strings must be no more than 49 characters.

Thanks

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Okay, thanks for the feedback. I agree it would be better for these fields to accommodate longer strings.

[Djobydjoba]

Hi Mark,

A little disappointed to not see an increase in field size for the custom properties, text type in FM 2026 (but there are a lot of good additions for compensation).

I want to use 2 levels of the GICS classification to classify my stocks in Fund Manager.

- By Sector: the 11 sectors of GICS, set in the Sector category of FM > done.

- Now I would like to add for each stock its GCSI sub-industry, which is a very good way to describe, very briefly, the company's main activity. The GCSI sub-industry info is displayed on most financial websites.
E.g: "Electrical Components & Equipment"
See here too for the entire list.

There are approx. 150 different sub-industries, so too much to put that in a FM category, like "Investment Goal" (99 slots max). The ability to allocate in % between sub-industries is not needed (a company belongs to only 1 sub-industry). The grouping with a pie-chart, etc. could be a bonus but is not really needed. So a custom property would be quite appropriate for this purpose.

But the size max. of the text string in custom properties is really too short to make it possible.

So I hope in a future the ability to use the GCSI sub-industries in FM:

- either by adding more available slots to the FM categories (eg. 200 instead of 99)
- either by enlarging maximum size in custom properties (which would be probably good for other needs too, like URLs).

Thanks.

[Mark]

Hi Djobydjoba,

Sorry we weren't able to include this improvement. I agree it would be beneficial.