Hello,
I am starting a new thread with this message because it is a
starting point to proceed with filling in the Glossary database
and contains the template to do so. I have included the template
in the text of this message, and also attached a .txt and a .rtf
version of the file. I can also email or upload them if these is
not sufficient for some who wish to contribute.
I have racked my brains for a few days trying out different
variations of the previous suggestions (including my own) and
thinking about how the Glossary data could be used, and also
about how to parse and translate it into other formats. I also
filled out a couple of entries several different ways to see how
it was to work with.
I discovered it is easier to work with a fixed width font, and I
have backed away from the pseudo XML syntax as that was more
confusing to the human eye than a simple Keyword: type of
entry. There is no difference in ease of parsing. I did retain
a couple of ideas from the XML that would help make it more
robust to parse.
Translating formats = fill a bucket with one entry of defaults,
then parse in the data items of one entry, then empty the bucket
in whatever format to "print" or populate a database.
I thought about having a rigid functional hierarchy to place
entries, but rejected that because it is so much more useful to
be ab le to assign an entry to multiple functional groups. If I
want to find all the string functions, or I want to get all the
Date/Time functions I would have overlap and I want to see that
in a listing. In reality, the groups are just more search tags,
but they could be treated a little differently under certain
circumstances. By defining the functional groups, we get a
consistent way to find or organize some types of output. We have
to define more functional groups than we now have, but that can
come over time.
READY TO PROCEED!
I am ready to proceed with creating glossary entries at this
point. I might personally be able to do one a day on average.
At that rate it would take many years to compile a complete
glossary for AB. This is one of the reasons that it will take
many hands to make this happen. It is a bit tedious to find
things like links to other sources of inf ormation. On the other
hand, information can always be added later to any entry to flesh
it out, as long as the basic stuff is there. It just gets more
useful over time.
After filling out just a couple of these, I have a great
appreciation for the initial work Keith did that really got the
ball rolling. Thanks again Keith.
I will continue filling out the entries for the string
manipulation entries.
Please volunteer to make a text file for one of the other
functional groups.
Here are some small ones to try out that are not too demanding:
Form the AFL Function Reference - Categorized list of functions
< span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-
weight: bold;">Referencing other symbol data
Time Frame functions
File Input/Output functions
Statistical functions
Moving averages, summation
Lowest/Highest
Composites
Basic price pattern detection
Just pick one and reply to this post, or send an email to me to
stake your claim.
Thanks in advance to all who off er to help with this project.
Best regards,
Dennis
Template sample for Glossary Database entry --20080906
Font used: Courier Regular 12 point fixed width UniCode UTF-8
Notes about template:
Text is ignored if it is not between Begin_entry: and End_entry:
keywords.
This allows Keyword: in comment lines outside the structure or
the
whole entry to be ignored as shown below.
Text is ignored if the line does not start with a data item
Keyword:
This allows comment lines inside a structure.
However, I would recommend starting a comment with "//" to be
more clear .
The order of some items is important.
A "*" below indicates an item that must follow the previous item.
Some items can be repeated as many times as needed.
;A "+" below indicates these items.
A group listing is used to determine to which groups this entry
belongs.
The Tag_group: would have an entry for every level above this
entry.
An entry can also be a member of more than one group,
for instance, a string function might also be a date or time
function.
The Tag_group: data are also treated as search tags.
A synonym could have an entry that simply references another entry.
General Template:
//Begin_entry: Starts an entry (// forces ignore this entry)
Name_entry: Entry Text
Name_long: Expanded Name
Description: Short description of entry
Return_type: Return Value type (a, n, t, an, nt)
Return_name: Optional Descriptive Name of Return Value
Arg_type: +Argument Value type (a, n, t, an, nt)
Arg_name: +*Optional Descriptive Name o f Argument Value
Arg_default: +*Optional Default Argument Value
Link_ABdoc: Link url to AB manual document
Link_vi deo: Link url to AB video help
Link_tutorial: Link url to AB tutorial doc
Link_KBdoc: Link url to AB knowledge base
Link_UKBdoc: Link url to Users knowledge base
Link_url: +Link url to any useful page
Link_name: +*Optional Name text for any Link above
Version_AB: Earliest AB version to support feature (x.x)
Tag_group: +Group term from group hierarchy list
Tag_search: +Search term
Related_entry: +Related Glossary entry
End_entry: Ends this entry
// The simplest synonym entry would look like this:
Begin_entry:
Name_entry: AFL
Name_long: AmiBroker Formula Language
Description: Abbreviation for AmiBroker Formula Language
Tag_group: AFL
Related_entry: AmiBroker Formula Language
End_entry:
// String manipulation functions:
Begin_entry:
Name_entry: Asc()
Name_long: get ASCII code of character
Description: Returns the ASCII code number for a text character
Return_type: n
Return_name: ASCII code
Arg_type: t
Arg_name: String
Arg_type: n
Arg_name: CharacterPosition
Arg_default: 0
Link_ABdoc: http://www.amibroker.com/f?asc
Link_url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII
Link_ name: ASCII Definition and table
Version_AB: x.x
Tag_group: AFL
Tag_group: Functions
Tag_group: String manipulation
Tag_group: Type Conversions
Tag_search: ASCII
Tag_search: character
Tag_search: convert
Tag_search: code
Related_entry:
End_entry:
Begin_entry:
Name_entry: DateTimeToStr()
Name_long: convert datetime to string
Description: Returns a text representation of the datetime
number
Return_type: t
Return_name: DateTime Text
Arg_type: n
Arg_name: DateTime Number
Link_ABdoc: http://www.amibroker.com/f?DateTimeToStr
Version_AB: x.x
Tag_group: AFL
Tag_group: Functions
Tag_group: String manipulation
Tag_group: Type Conversions
Tag_group: Date and Time
Tag_search: datetime
Tag_search: date
Tag_search: time
Tag_search: convert
Related_entry: StrToDateTime()
Related_entry: Now()
Related_entry: DateTime()
Related_entry: TimeNum()
Related_entry: Date()
End_entry:
