mov-users

[Glenn M. <gra...@op...>]

Greetings,

No mail archives and a new(ish) project so perhaps it's just me and the
developers?

I'm unfamiliar with java however the screenshots showed Australian
stocks. Being from Down Under myself I put past experiences behind me
(java on a 200mmx -- linux OS) and installed MOV.

This will be a long and (excessively) wordy account of the install but I
feel it's better documented and perhaps corrected, for other potential
users to benefit from.

Short version:
--------------------------
 Specify the path to the "new" java -- $JAVA_HOME/bin/java -jar venice.jar
 
 The system preferences directory -- /etc/.java/.systemPrefs needs to be 
 created and marked as +rwx for the user
 
 The importer doesn't parse comments ie: no Downloader style headers
 allowed --  <TICKER>,<DTYYYYMMDD>,<OPEN>,<HIGH>,<LOW>,<CLOSE>,<VOL>
 
 Is there a possibility for a small sample data file to be included, it
 would make it easier for a new user to fully test drive the package.

 The import file dialog box does not default to the last viewed
 directory.
 
 What I've seen so far I like. :-)

Long version:
--------------------------
System details:-
Red Hat Linux release 9 (Shrike)
AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2200+

I visited http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/download.html and downloaded
the SDK. I tried the JRE first but it obviously didn't cut it so the SDK
(Developers Kit?) was installed.

First attempt at running it barfed so in my ignorance I went ahead and
installed the ant, however no-go with that either.
 11:51 AM $ant build
 Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:
 org/apache/tools/ant/Main

OK - back to RTFM and I decided that I really only needed the Running
section of the readme.txt so I reapplied myself to that area.

 11:31 AM $sh venice
 Warning: -jar not understood. Ignoring.
 Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: venice.jar
    at 0x40268e17: java.lang.Throwable.Throwable(java.lang.String)
    (/usr/lib/./libgcj.so.3)
.... snip ...

and then the penny dropped...
 
 11:32 AM $which java
 /usr/bin/java
 11:32 AM $`which java`
 Usage: gij [OPTION] ... CLASS [ARGS] ...
           to invoke CLASS.main, or
           gij -jar [OPTION] ... JARFILE [ARGS] ...
           to execute a jar file
    Try `gij --help' for more information.
 11:32 AM $gij --version
 gij (GNU libgcj) version 3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-5)
  
  Copyright (C) 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There
  is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
  PURPOSE.

Wrong java!

The solution was to modify the venice script so that the correct java was
called...

#!/bin/sh
$JAVA_HOME/bin/java -jar venice.jar

12:00 PM $echo $JAVA_HOME
 /usr/local/j2sdk1.4.1_02/
 
where JAVA_HOME was exported from /etc/bashrc as 
JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/j2sdk1.4.1_02/
 
 Viola! it runs -- of course they say :)

It then started complaining...
java.lang.SecurityException: Could not lockSystem prefs.Lock file access denied.
at java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences.checkLockFile0ErrorCode(FileSystemPreferences.java:926)
....snip....

so I took the bit in my teeth and (GASP!) ran it as root and got a more
informative message.

18/04/2003 12:09:42 java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences$3 run
INFO: Created system preferences directory in /etc/.java/.systemPrefs

I've had to change the permissions on the /etc/.java/.systemPrefs to
world readable, writable and executable so that the non-root user can
use that directory.

It's running and I haven't setup MySQL yet, so flat files are the go for
the moment. I've got old data from my Metastock and MSWindows days but
importing that barfed on the old headers that the Downloader would
ignore (From memory I think it insisted on them?)

<TICKER>,<DTYYYYMMDD>,<OPEN>,<HIGH>,<LOW>,<CLOSE>,<VOL>
AAC,20011204,0.890,0.900,0.880,0.890,226605
AAR,20011204,0.026,0.026,0.026,0.026,0

So the data format needs to be clean  ie:- no comments or the importer
needs to ignore the <> headers.

The import file dialog box; any chance of it defaulting to the last
viewed directory? It would make the task of importing a long list of
text files quicker, and less tedious.



-- 
Cheers
 Glenn

I am a bookaholic.  If you are a decent person, you will not sell me
another book.