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| Selecting the menu to display the Inputs Grid Detail Canvas.
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| Using the IGrid Detail Canvas, you can see all input combinations with the performance results in a spreadsheet-like format.
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A key feature of the IDC is the ability to see the associated equity curves on every row. Optimax uses the small thumbnails to display these grids. To change the size or characteristics of these graphs, adjust the small thumbnail settings for that historical run.
When you click any row, Optimax displays the detailed performance report for that individual in the main window.
You can sort by any column by clicking the heading. Clicking again sorts in the opposite direction. The sort is stable, enabling you to easily sort by multiple columns. To do this, perform your sort on the columns in the reverse order. For example, if you want your final sort sequence to be Total # of Trades then Fitness, first click on the Fitness heading to sort it, then click on Total # of Trades.
You can move a column by dragging it to a new position.
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Ease-of-use Tip
Resize columns by pointing at that headings and dragging the separator bar between them. Resize rows by pointing at any cell in the left-most column and dragging the horizontal separator bar. You may also use the menu functions to resize all columns to fit the values, to fit the headings, or to the greater of both - this is called the Fit All Columns to Max function in the menu.
Select the Functions menu or right-click the canvas to display a list of functions you can perform.
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| Selecting the Functions menu.
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The Functions menu only contains functions that you can perform on all columns at once. Right-click the canvas to select single-column versions of these functions.
Hiding and Showing Columns
Select the Hide All Columns function to hide all columns except the first column of data. Select Show All Columns to display them all again. To hide or show a single column, select that column from the Columns menu. The check-mark beside its' name indicates its' current state; checked indicates that the column is visible, unchecked means it is hidden. The first column of data can't be hidden, so you are not able to select or deselect it in the menu.
If you have a lot of columns, the Column menu will extend beyond the vertical range of the screen. At both ends will be an arrow, enabling you to scroll up or down in the menu.
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Graphing Columns
Another key feature of the grid is the ability to graph within the cells of the grid, as show below.
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| In-cell graphing enables you to see the raw numbers, the graphs and the equity curves all at the same time.
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Reducing the size of the rows enables you to see many more rows at one time, and when the row height is small enough Optimax will create a continuous graph effect. An easy way to do this is to select the Fit All Rows To Window function, and then resize the window until you see the continuous graph effect, as show below.
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| The continuous graph effect enables you to easily spot correlations between column values.
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When hovering over any cell, Optimax displays the value from that cell in the status bar at the bottom of the window, along with row statistics such as the minimum, maximum and standard deviation of the values in that column. Note that Optimax only displays statistics for columns that have been graphed.
You can increase or decrease the size of the rows (jog them up or down) in small increments by holding down the Alt key and pressing the up-arrow or down-arrow keys.
The size of the equity thumbnails does not change as you change the size of the rows, only the visible portion of the graph that is displayed. When the rows are very small the graphs cannot be easily seen so no new images will be loaded into empty cells; this increases performance when paging up or down.
When you select the Graph All Columns function, hidden columns are not graphed to increase performance.
Flooding Columns
In addition to in-cell graphs, you can flood the background color of a column with a gradient of values, as illustrated below.
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This helps you to visualize how the values in the first column are distributed and how they relate to the values in other columns. It is most useful when you use it simultaneously with in-cell graphing, as show below.
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The main purpose of this is to enable you to easily visualize how values from the first column change as the value from another column changes. It is most useful when you want to examine relationships between two columns. By sorting a secondary column, you can more easily see the relationship between the change in values between the two columns.
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| Here you can see the relationship between Fitness in column 1 and Len1.
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In this example, we have flood-graphed with fitness in the first column, then sorted by the Len1 input. This gives us a clear depiction of how Len1 affects fitness. The smallest Len1 values give the lowest fitness values, and the highest Len1 values yield better fitnesses, with some exceptions as shown by the red and orange lines cutting through the upper section of values.
By moving a different column into the first position and then performing the flood-graph operation again, you can cause the background gradient across all columns to reflect any column of information.
When you select the Flood All Columns function, hidden columns are not flooded to increase performance.
Scaling Types
There are two types of scaling, linear and standard deviation, selected as shown below.
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When graphing using the linear method, Optimax considers the maximum positive value within the column to be +100% and draws a full green bar at that value, and the minimum negative value to be -100% and draws a full red bar at that value. At 0, no bar is drawn. This is useful for values that behave in a linear fashion, such as columns containing input values.
When graphing using the Standard Deviation method, +/-100% is set equal to +/-3 times the standard deviation of the column. Values above or below 3 times the standard deviation are drawn at 100%. This enables you to graph columns containing outliers without the outliers disrupting the scale of the graph. This method can be useful when graphing performance numbers, which often contain outliers.
When flooding using the linear method, Optimax considers the maximum value within the first column to be bright green, and the minimum to be bright red. It then internally creates a linear scale between the two extremes and locates each value in the column on that scale, drawing each as a color on the linear gradient between bright green and bright red. A number that is on the mean between the maximum and minimum is pure yellow. Notice that when using this method red does not always represent a negative number, it only represents the minimum value. Likewise, green is not always positive, it is the maximum. This method is useful for visualizing the distribution of values between maximum and minimum. Yellow indicates values at the mean.
When flooding using the standard deviation method, bright green corresponds to 3 times the standard deviation of the column values, and bright red corresponds to -3 times the standard deviation. Yellow corresponds to 0. Using this method, green will always represent a positive value, and red always represents a negative value. Outliers will not disturb the gradient as they would using the linear method, so this method is appropriate for performance results, while the linear method is more useful for input values.
Select the Clear All Columns function to clear all graphing and flooding. Optimax does not clear hidden columns to increase performance. Right-click and select Clear This Column to clear a single column.
Decimals
By default, Optimax displays the grid with values rounded to 0 decimal places. Using the Set Decimals function, you can set the number of decimals for any or all columns. Values are rounded for display to the number of decimals you specify. To set the number of decimals for a single column, right-click that column and select the Set Decimals For This Column function.
Controlling Images
By default, the IDC uses image auto-load, meaning it automatically loads images each time you scroll so that images are only loaded on an as-needed basis. This gives a good balance between performance and convenience. You can turn this feature off by selecting the menu function Image Auto-load Off, enabling you to scroll more quickly. You can then load the images manually for the current page using the menu function Load Images For This Page.
Alternatively, you can select Load All Images and Optimax will generate and load all images into the grid in a single operation. Once all images have been loaded, scrolling in the grid is very fast. With all images loaded Optimax will also enable scroll tracking, meaning that rows will scroll as you drag the scroll bar, without waiting for you to release it.
If you hide the image column, images will not be loaded until you show it again. This is another way you can increase scrolling speed.
During An Optimization
You can display the IDC both while an optimization is in progress and after it is complete. Your grid format changes will not be saved while an optimization is in progress. However, once the optimization is complete, Optimax remembers all of your grid settings such as column order, width and graphing when you close the window. The next time you open the grid it will appear as it was when you closed it.
Saving To A File
Use the Save As Excel menu function to save the grid data and formatting to an Excel-97 XLS file. Excel does not support as much functionality as the IGrid, so some formatting will not be saved, such as equity curve images and in-cell graphing.
Use the Save As CSV menu function to save the raw grid data to a file on your hard drive as a text file with values separated by commas. This type of file is readable in most spreadsheet programs. No formatting is saved to this type of file.