Data from a Web Table

Usually, data on a web site that is easily usable is the last traded price of a security. This is usually presented in a table. You simply have to tell the program the URL, the table number, and the row and column in the table. We now work through an extended example to show you how to do this.

Note: Please read the section on linking to other types of data as well since it contains important information as well, such as managing a multi-currency portfolio.

Suppose you would like the quote for IBM from www.bloomberg.com

First, select “Web Table” as your data source:

This brings up the following window:

You now need to specify the URL and information about the table containing the quote. We have two small utilities that help in this. The first is a built in (minimal) web browser and a second, which allows you to view the source of the URL, so you can see exactly how the text on the web page is written.

So select “Web Browser” from the View menu to get:

Type in the URL www.bloomnberg.com and press Enter to get:

You can see STOCK QUOTES at the top of the screen. Type in IBM and press Enter to get:

The data you want is on the page: the last traded price for IBM.

Now, click the FTS icon at the top of the browser window and close this window to get:

Click “Get Data” and once it is done, click “Find Tables” to get:

You are seeing the contents of Table 1. Scroll down the tables, and you will find the stock quote in Table 5, row 4 column 1:

Note: On some web sites, the table number can change from time to time. This occurs particularly because of advertisements. However, you can usually identify the correct table because a heading precedes it. You can type in this heading in the field marked “String Before Tables.” In the example here, you could specify the string as “Detailed Quote,” in which case the program would only search for tables after the string “Detailed Quote.”

Click on the quote (the number 127.3750 in this table) and then press the letter b. This sets this table entry to be the bid. Then press the letter a, which sets this table entry as the ask. Finally, click on a cell and press the letter l (“ell”). This selects the cell as the last traded price.

Important Note: In this example, we have used the last traded price as both the id and the ask. On some sites, you get all three: the bid, ask, and the last trade. If you had the bid and ask in separate rows and columns, you would select each individually. In that case, the program automatically uses the last traded price if the bid and ask are unavailable, for example, if you look at your portfolio after markets are closed. If you do not want it to use the last traded price in such a case, do not select a table and cell and do not press the letter l (“ell”).

Then, click OK. You will see:

Then click Add (after entering the security name):

Click “Update”:

The program has obtained the quote from the Bloomberg web site.