Datafeed Toolbox™

Using the Datafeed Dialog Box

About the Datafeed Dialog Box

The Datafeed dialog box establishes the connection with the data server and manages data retrieval. To display this dialog box, enter the dftool command in the MATLAB^® Command Window.

The Datafeed dialog box consists of two tabs:

• The Connection tab establishes communication with a data server. You can use the Connection tab to connect to data servers from the following data service providers:

  • Bloomberg

  • FactSet

  • Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)

  • Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data's RemotePlus™

  • Yahoo!

  For more information, see Connecting to Data Servers.

• The Data tab specifies the data request. For more information, see Retrieving Data.

• You can also set overrides for the data you retrieve. For more information, see Setting Overrides.

The following figure summarizes how to connect to data servers and retrieve data using the Datafeed dialog box.

The Datafeed Dialog Box

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Connecting to Data Servers

1. Click the Connect button to establish a connection.

2. When the Connected message appears in the Status field, click the Data tab to begin the process of retrieving data from the data server. For more information, see Retrieving Data.

3. Click the Disconnect button to terminate the session highlighted in the Current Connections box.

For Bloomberg^® data servers, you must also specify the port number and IP address of the server:

1. Enter the port number on the data server in the Port Number field.

2. Enter the IP address of the data server in the IP Address field.

3. To establish a connection to the Bloomberg data server, follow steps 1 through 3 above.

   Tip   You can also connect to the Bloomberg data server by selecting the Connect button and accepting the default values.

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Retrieving Data

The Data tab allows you to retrieve data from the data server as follows:

1. Enter the security symbol in the Enter Security field.

2. Indicate the type of data to retrieve in the Data Selection field.

3. Specify whether you want the default set of data, or the full set:

   • Select the Default fields button for the default set of data.

   • Select the All fields button for the full set of data.

4. Click the Get Data button to retrieve the data from the data server.

5. (Optional) Click the Override button if you want to set overrides on the data you request from the data server. For more information, see Setting Overrides.

The following figure summarizes these steps.

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Using the Datafeed Securities Lookup Dialog Box

When requesting data from Bloomberg or Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data's RemotePlus™ servers, you can use the Datafeed Securities Lookup dialog box to obtain the ticker symbol for a given security if you know only part of the security name.

1. Click the Lookup button on the Datafeed dialog box Data tab. The Securities Lookup dialog box opens.

2. Specify your choice of market in the Choose Market field.

3. Enter the known part of the security name in the Lookup field.

4. Click Submit. All possible values of the company name and ticker symbol corresponding to the security name you specified display in the Security and Symbol list.

5. Select one or more securities from the list, and then click Select.

   The selected securities are added to the Selected Securities list on the Data tab.

The following figure summarizes these steps.

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Setting Overrides

To set overrides on retrieved data:

1. Click the Override button. The Override values dialog box opens.

2. Select the field to override from the Override fields selection list.

3. Enter the desired override value in the Override value field.

4. Click Add to add the field to override to the Override field settings list.

5. Click Apply to apply overrides to the current session and keep the Override values dialog box open, or click OK to apply the overrides and close the dialog box.

The following figure summarizes these steps.

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Introduction

Function Reference