This dialog is available from the File / Import / Prices / Generic... menu command from within any window.

Fund Manager can import prices from a very wide variety of text files, with differing formats. You specify the format of the file at the time of importing. You will also provide Fund Manager with the complete path and filename of the file to be imported.

The "Generic..." price import command works on one line of the input file at a time. In order to update a price each line must contain at least 5 pieces of information:

month

day

year

share price

ticker symbol

There may be more than the 5 key pieces of information on each line, but only these 5 are required. If each line does not contain all 5 pieces of information, you can "specify" the date or the ticker symbol or both to apply to all lines in the input file. If no date is specified, each line must contain the month, day, and year. If no ticker symbol is specified, each line must contain the ticker symbol.

In addition to the required fields, the generic import can also update the following optional fields:

volume

high

low

open

INPUT FORMAT DIRECTIONS:

You specify the input format (called "format string") of the file to be imported. Any character may be part of the format string. Fund Manager recognizes certain character combinations (called "keys") in the format string to represent each of the required and optional variables:

The YY key can represent either a 2 or 4 digit year. The UD key represents the presence of a 6 character string containing the year, month, and day. The string has the format: yymmdd, where yy = year, mm = month, and dd = day. The string must be the full 6 characters long. The ED key is similar to the UD key, but matches a full 8 characters in the format of yyyymmdd.

A tenth key can be used in the format string to identify fields in the imported line that do not get used. This key is often necessary to act as a place holder for unused fields. This key is analogous to the wild card character '*' in DOS. The tenth key is:

A comment key can be used to add comments at the end of the format string. Fund Manager remembers the last 6 used format strings. Comments can be useful to remember the source of prices for the associated format string. Everything in the format string after the comment key is considered a comment and is ignored by Fund Manager when importing. The comment key is:

A tab key can be used when importing tab delimited files. Without using the tab key all white space in both the format string and imported line will be treated as a single space. When files contain both spaces and tabs and it is necessary to differentiate between them, use the tab key. The tab key is unique in that it can be adjacent to any other key without delimiters between the tab key and any other key. The tab key is:

All keys must be upper case when specified in the format string. Each of the 9 key variables can only be specified once. If the date is specified, then none of the MM, DD, YY, UD, or ED keys can be present in the format string. Similarly, if the ticker symbol is specified, the key SYMB can not be present in the format string. If the UD or ED keys are present, then none of the MM, DD, or YY keys can be present, and vice versa. Also, if nothing is specified, enough keys to obtain all 5 required pieces of information must be present in the format string.

Each key in the format string must be separated by at least one character, space, comma, or any other delimiter. (The only exception is the TAB key.) For example the following format string is illegal:

MMDDYY SYMB NAV

It is illegal because there is nothing separating MM from DD or DD from YY. The following table lists several examples of acceptable format strings, what would need to be specified for each case, and what the import line would actually look like in each case.

A single space in the format string will match any amount of white space (a single space, multiple spaces, or tabs) in the imported line. The NAV, HH, LL, and OO keys will match on either decimal or fractional prices, but for fractional formatted prices the delimiter can not be a space. The XX key will match everything up to the delimiter immediately following this key. If no delimiter is specified after the last XX in the format string it will match the rest of the line.

The generic import can automatically create new investments. If there is no open investment that matches the current symbol, a new investment can be created with this symbol. To enable this feature, turn on "Create New Investment(s) as Needed". See New Investment Options Dialog for controlling the options for this feature. This feature can be useful for creating a large number of investments quickly.

Notes on Split Adjusted Prices:  The generic price import expects actual closing prices, not split adjusted prices.

See Also

Price Updates

Importing Prices

Generic Transaction Import