Automatic MOS Calculator Watchlist for Microsoft Excel --- *Temporarily Offline*

[alwayzballyn]

When I try and use the calculator most (or all) of the queries fail. I tried the most recent tips about setting macros to low and entering in the symbol at the bottom of column B in the watchlist tab and I still have the same problem. Is there a common problem that I may be experiencing? I am frustrated because it seems that it is working for everyone else and I have been trying to figure this out for some time now. Thanks for all your help!

[rharmelink]

Justin -- a suggestion: Not sure where I saw it, but I copied this info a while back from some forum:

When requesting technical support, try and include all of the following information:

1. The make and model of your computer.
2. The hardware configuration: CPU type & speed, installed RAM, hard disk size, available free space, etc.
3. The version of your operating system.
4. A precise description of the problem. (Note: "I get an error" is not a precise description. If you get an error message, write it down and include it in your request for support.)
5. What steps you have already taken to attempt to troubleshoot the problem yourself.

How about including something like that on the top message of this thread, where the workbook is? That may help diagnose some of the problems, without having to waste time asking for more information.

I think I'd insert another few questions in between 3 & 4:

3.1 Which version of EXCEL are you using?
3.2 Which browsers do you have installed (i.e. FireFox, IE6, IE7, ...)?

I just saw something on another forum that there may be a problem with Web Queries in EXCEL when IE7 is installed? It seemed to indicate that they may share the same "Temporary Internet Files" area and some of the browser attributes may control the usage of that area, giving EXCEL some headaches from time to time? The details were sketchy though, so I'm not sure how reliable the report was. But some of the more detailed information above may help us establish some kind of pattern?

[Justin]

Randy>> I absolutely agree with you, and I'm already on it :)

Thanks to the donations received by Hank, Rick and Sherry I was able to purchase what looks to be an excellent bug tracking utility that plugs right into the vbulletin forum software. Special thanks to these members for providing this utility for us.

What's great is that it looks like I should be able to customize this to directly suit our needs. I'll do my best to keep everyone posted.

[Danklsr]

Thank-you Justin and the whole team for your work. I will be in a better position to make a donation soon. But I will.....


Dan

[iceman1611]

Justin I just updated MOS to 3.03a I had 3.03 working on 3/02/7 and it was great but no nether version will update stocks list may be its one of the servers I will try again on Monday when the markets open. Just wondering if any one else is having trouble?

[Justin]

Hi everyone,

First and foremost - yes the spreadsheet is down, and yes we are aware of it. Nearly 100% of the errors mentioned in the previous posts are directly or indirectly caused by something beyond our control. We can't prevent it, but we can compensate for it by paying constant attention to the spreadsheet and making the necessary adjustments as often as required.

Those who have followed the evolution of the MOS Calculator for any length of time have no doubt noticed the countless features and additions to the spreadsheet. We've come a LONG way from the beginning! Heck one of these day's I'll post some pictures of the earlier days of the calculator just for laughs :) Most, if not all of these have been incredibly useful to many of us here in the community.

The problem is many of these additional features require the spreadsheet to use complex calculations which are based on the results of another complex calculation, and so on and so forth. This requires absolute perfect harmony with the data site it is attempting to extract the data from. If MSN Money changes the layout of any one of their pages even the slightest bit it wreaks havoc on the spreadsheet and nearly all of its calculations.

The last handful of releases to the spreadsheet were actually little more than adjustments to reflect the latest changes to the data site. Some are major, and some are minor. But they all have one thing in common: they take massive amounts of time to complete. To top it off, lately MSN Money has been making changes every week or two, and in some cases every few days.

Our volunteers have spent unfathomable amounts of time in trying to keep the spreadsheet up to date. Each has generously volunteered countless hours of personal time to keep this thing "running" as often as possible. Unfortunately, maintaining the spreadsheet has become a part time job at the very least. It has become increasingly difficult to reach the select few who actually understand the spreadsheet enough to work on it, and I simply can not place any further burden on these volunteers by asking them to continue making these nearly constant updates.

We’ve gotten TONS of positive feedback on the spreadsheet, both for its concept and its execution. I know it has saved me hundreds if not thousands of hours by letting me mow through entire stacks of symbols in no time at all. I am confident I am not alone in this regard. While I in no means advocate the use of any single source for data, I believe this has got to be one of the best preliminary research and analysis tools I have ever come across, especially for Rule #1 Investing.

I want to help maintain the spreadsheet - but as I mentioned above, there have been nearly a dozen programmers who have had a hand in developing the calculator. During the excitement of watching all of these additional features get plugged into the spreadsheet, I lost sight of what was really important here: Speed, Simplicity and Standardization.

My solution is to completely rebuild the spreadsheet from the ground up. The tool is going to better resemble its earlier days of calculation, using formulas that I do understand. Once I've finished this initial rebuild, and considering the amount of time I already spend on here I should be able to release the necessary future updates almost immediately.

I do have a full time job operating a family business, and we are heading into our busiest time of the year. Please understand that a complete rebuild of the spreadsheet is going to be a massive undertaking for me. If I work on it nightly I should be able to have it within a week or two.

Thank you for your continued patience and support everyone, I promise to make it worth your while.


Sincerely,

Justin Brand

Thadmann was kind enough to post a temporary update to the current spreadsheet. There have been mixed reports about its full functionality, but it is worth a try until we can get something a little more concrete in place.

[Justin]

UPDATE:

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the status of the Auto MSN - I haven't had quite as much time to work on this as I would have liked, but I'm getting close. There are just got a few more known issues to figure out how to compensate for and we should be ready for a release.

I've also made a few variations to the layout and color scheme. I think it will simplify absorbing all the information that the spreadsheet is trying to tell you, as well as improve the overall "feel". Hoping to have these final adjustments finished in the next week.

You can click Here for a preview of the updated spreadsheet. Thanks again for your patience everyone!

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[dennis]

looks great, thanks for all the hard work!!!

[golfz]

Originally Posted by Justin

UPDATE:

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the status of the Auto MSN - I haven't had quite as much time to work on this as I would have liked, but I'm getting close. There are just got a few more known issues to figure out how to compensate for and we should be ready for a release.

I've also made a few variations to the layout and color scheme. I think it will simplify absorbing all the information that the spreadsheet is trying to tell you, as well as improve the overall "feel". Hoping to have these final adjustments finished in the next week.

You can click Here for a preview of the updated spreadsheet. Thanks again for your patience everyone!

Attachment 344

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This is good news and kudos to all who work to make the calculator a reality.
Since this is a new iteration is it possible to make it such that any value in any cell can be made for manual input or override?

That way one can run a +what if scenario+ by changing any vlue anywhere on the spreadsheet. That includes the big five numbers and the values that made the calculations that arrived at the big 5.

This may not be possible but I wanted to ask.

Thanks

[jkruer01]

It is looking good. I like the fact that the numbers are at the top. That is the more important information.

I noticed that the current price isn't on there. Was this done on purpose or was it accidentally left out?

Thanks!