Configure Stockbrowser

Stockbrowser is a program with which stock quotes can be downloaded on a daily basis. The quotes can be fetched from different websites, without the need of a subscription. The quotes are being read from the page and saved into the program. Before you can start downloading the quotes, you first need to 'tell' the program from which source the data must come.

Telling the program which source to use is done with a file with the exact locations in it. In the download section of this page such a file can be downloaded. The file is available through investment tools, stockbrowser, sources_personal.txt.

Other files can be downloaded from the website where the program is available. A forum is also available on this page. In the links section of this website you can find a link to this website.

When you have downloaded a file with the download sources in it, it can be put in the folder in which you installed Stockbrowser (usually C:\Program Files\StockBrowser). Some so called 'definition files' are already available right after the installation of the program. The files that are available right after install are mostly outdated, so it is better to use more up-to-date files which can be downloaded as discussed before.

When the downloaded 'definition' file is being put into the Stockbrowser directory, it must be activated. You can do this by changing the file 'sources.txt'. This file contains all used definition files. All unused files can be removed from this file or deactivated (by adding "##" in front of the line). To activate the file 'sources_personal.txt' a line has to be added to the file. The following line can be used:

#INCLUDE sources_personal.txt

The sources from which the quotes can be downloaded, are activated.

Next, the data which is available on the page must be declared. This is done in the file 'definitions.ini'. For example, this file contains the quote information.

When this is done, the definitions can be read in to Stockbrowser. Open Stockbrowser and click in the menu on File > Reread Download Sources.

The definitions are now available in Stockbrowser, which can be seen in the window 'download groups'.

The definitions which have been read in, are shown in this window.

Composition of a downloadgroup

By clicking in the window 'download groups' on the tab 'Compose download groups', a new group can be created in which all funds are available that you want to download. A group can be added by clicking on 'Add group'. A page can be added to a group by selecting the group and the page and by clicking on 'Add page'.

When the group is created, the group can be selected for download in the selectionbox 'Update:'. Next, by clicking on 'Update:', the data will be updated.

Categorize funds/shares

In Stockbrowser, funds can be categorized into different categories. You can order the funds at own understanding. A fund can be added to a category by selecting the share and by clicking in the menu on 'Tool' > 'Update selected stock' > 'Add to category'. Next, a category and a subcategory can be filled in. Between the category and subcategory, a dot must be added (e.g. Netherlands.AEX for the main index in the Netherlands). Does the combination not exist of the category and subcategory, than it will be added automatically.

The following files which are discussed in this article, can be downloaded from the download section:

• definitions.ini
• sources.txt
• sources_personal.txt