Investment Studio > Setup > Directories

Investment Studio organizes its data (portfolios, quotes, download lists and so on) in several disk directories.

The files on your computer's hard drive are organized in directories. Each directory can contain files and other directories ("subdirectories"). The Windows user interface (e.g. Windows Explorer) displays these directories as folders. That's why most Windows users these days would say "folder" when they actually mean "directory". But some of the folders displayed by Windows do not correspond to directories. They only exist within the Windows user interface and contain things like links to files spread across multiple directories or to Windows interface components. So "folder" and "directory" are really two very different things. A directory is a well-defined location within your computer's file system. A folder is a user interface representation of something which may or may not be a directory.

To modify the choice of directories (e.g. to access a different set of portfolios or download lists), click the directory setup button in the upper right corner of Investment Studio's main window:

This opens the Directories dialog, essentially a list of symbolic directory names and corresponding actual directory paths. For instance, the row

means that the symbolic directory name "<DATA>" will be expanded to the directory path "C:\PROGRAM FILES\INVESTMENT STUDIO\DATA\" whenever it's encuntered in a data file's path. To modify this choice, open the directory browser by clicking the button:

The dialog caption shows the symbolic directory name. Use the drive selection box in the upper right corner and the directory tree below it to navigate to the new corresponding directory. Double-click directories to select them. The files in the selected directory are listed on the right (the file list is purely informational - you can't do anything in it; selecting files fills no practical purpose).

The full path to the selected directory is shown in the text box above the OK button. The contents of this box can be edited manually, typically for the purpose of entering the path to a directory which does not yet exist. Doing so will cause the new directory to be created (if possible) when you click OK (you will be asked for confirmation first). Click OK to commit to the new directory selection, click to discard it.

The following symbolic directory names are used:

Name Contents
<DATA> Crucial information including subscription data; Chart and Graph object favorites; and user interface settings. Different users sharing the same computer should have separate <DATA> directories, each one containing a single user's subscription data and settings.

Should only be set to paths containing valid subscription data.
<FOLIO> Portfolios view settings and, most importantly, all portfolios, including transaction data.

Tip: Encrypt your <FOLIO> directory to prevent unathorized access to your portfolio data. Under Windows 2000 and XP Professional, you can encrypt and password-protect directories using the EFS (Encrypting File System) features built into Windows. Under all Windows versions from 95 and up, you can also use third party disk encryption tools like PGPdisk (http://www.pgpi.org) or DriveCrypt (http://www.drivecrypt.com).
<DLISTS> Download lists and objects.
<FOREX> The quote files used for currency conversion, e.g. from individual asset values expressed in EUR to a total portfolio value expressed in USD (in which case the file "EURtoUSD.CSV" would be used).
<QUOTES> Generic (non-forex) quote files.
<MACROS> Macro packages.
<SCRIPTS> Downloader scripts.
<GALLERY> Gallery objects.
<WEBS> Web view profiles and objects.
<BMPS> The bitmaps used in Grid image cells and in Chart and Graph object images.
<TEMP> Temporary files (e.g. raw quotes downloads and screenshots).

If you modify one or more directory paths in the Directories dialog, you have a last chance to discard all changes by clicking in the dialog's upper right corner. Click OK to commit to the new assignment(s).

Modifying one or more directory paths and clicking OK causes all data to be reloaded.

The directory settings are read from and saved to Investment Studio's start directory. Multiple user profiles, e.g. with different <FOLIO> directories, can therefore be maintained through the use of separate start directories. Right-click the Windows shortcut which you use to launch Investment Studio in order to open its Properties dialog and edit the "Start in" field. Create a separate icon with a different start directory setting for each user profile.