Decoding Layout Files

[steveh_131]

Hello everyone,

I have a question and was hoping someone here would know the answer.

My father has spent thousands of hours building up complex layouts that are packed with trend lines, notes, calculations and all sorts of custom additions.

Now all of this work is locked into these .mwl layout files.

Is there any way to decode one of these files to see its contents? I've tried viewing it in Notepad++ and it's packed with all sorts of strange characters and I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to it.

I'd appreciate any help you guys could offer. Thank you in advance.

Steve

 

[wisp]

Hello everyone,

I have a question and was hoping someone here would know the answer.

My father has spent thousands of hours building up complex layouts that are packed with trend lines, notes, calculations and all sorts of custom additions.

Now all of this work is locked into these .mwl layout files.

Is there any way to decode one of these files to see its contents? I've tried viewing it in Notepad++ and it's packed with all sorts of strange characters and I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to it.

I'd appreciate any help you guys could offer. Thank you in advance.

Steve

Amibroker or something else?

 

[Dax Devil]

Hello everyone,

I have a question and was hoping someone here would know the answer.

My father has spent thousands of hours building up complex layouts that are packed with trend lines, notes, calculations and all sorts of custom additions.

Now all of this work is locked into these .mwl layout files.

Is there any way to decode one of these files to see its contents? I've tried viewing it in Notepad++ and it's packed with all sorts of strange characters and I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to it.

I'd appreciate any help you guys could offer. Thank you in advance.

Steve

These are java-based motivewave layout (mwl) files. They can only be opened in Motivewave program. Download trial version from their site.

 

[steveh_131]

Amibroker or something else?

I'm not certain yet. I'm strongly considering coding my own app.

We utilize a sort of unusual analysis method that combines some mechanical indicators with a largely visual analysis. Amibroker and metastock don't really seem to offer exactly what I'd like to have.

I am strongly considering writing my own app to accomplish this. It would be nice if I could find something open source to start with, but most of my experience is in C# and winforms/wpf, and none of the open source apps I've found are in my wheelhouse.

These are java-based motivewave layout (mwl) files. They can only be opened in Motivewave program. Download trial version from their site.

This seems to get me in the right direction. I'll look into Motivewave. Thank you.

ETA: Motivewave is another trading app? That's strange, why is metastock using their file format?

 

[steveh_131]

Motivewave wasn't much help, I'm afraid. I didn't see anywhere to open an MWL file - everything seemed to be in an internal sort of database.

If it's coded in Java, is this file some sort of special java structure?

 

[mastermind007]

Hello everyone,

I have a question and was hoping someone here would know the answer.

My father has spent thousands of hours building up complex layouts that are packed with trend lines, notes, calculations and all sorts of custom additions.

Now all of this work is locked into these .mwl layout files.

Is there any way to decode one of these files to see its contents? I've tried viewing it in Notepad++ and it's packed with all sorts of strange characters and I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to it.

I'd appreciate any help you guys could offer. Thank you in advance.

Steve

You cannot read the file in notepad because the file is saved in binary format. It may or may not be encrypted. As is usually common in binary files, contents of one file may be linked to another binary file of same or different extension.

I google'd MWL file extension and this site tells that MWL is Mighty Draw file.

http://filext.com/file-extension/MWL

 

[Dax Devil]

Motivewave wasn't much help, I'm afraid. I didn't see anywhere to open an MWL file - everything seemed to be in an internal sort of database.

If it's coded in Java, is this file some sort of special java structure?

Is there a word 'Analysis' before the extension .mwl? Eg. Tatamotors NSE-primary analysis.mwl.

If not then google '.mwl file'. You will get couple of website addresses to tell you which program you need to open it with.

BTW, motivewave new versions use .mwml extension

 

[steveh_131]

Is there a word 'Analysis' before the extension .mwl? Eg. Tatamotors NSE-primary analysis.mwl.

If not then google '.mwl file'. You will get couple of website addresses to tell you which program you need to open it with.

BTW, motivewave new versions use .mwml extension

No... are you saying I should add this word, then Motivewave will open it?

If it does open it, does that help me at all in decoding the file and using it in other apps?

Do you know why Metastock and Motivewave would both use the same file format? That's curious to me.

 

[Dax Devil]

No... are you saying I should add this word, then Motivewave will open it?

If it does open it, does that help me at all in decoding the file and using it in other apps?

Do you know why Metastock and Motivewave would both use the same file format? That's curious to me.

No no. you don't add anything. When motivewave exports a scrip's analysis it stamps the scrip name with analysis as default. Like, suppose, if I have made 4 nifty analyses across TFs, and I export them one by one. They will be like Nifty nse-primary analysis, secondary analysis...and so on.

Metastock is not written in java, it can't use any native java-based file unless it the said file gets made compatible for it. I don't think motivewave files can be made compatible to metastock.

Did you google to try other programs to open it? I saw one saying MWL is a some sort of drawing program file. Check.

 

[steveh_131]

No no. you don't add anything. When motivewave exports a scrip's analysis it stamps the scrip name with analysis as default. Like, suppose, if I have made 4 nifty analyses across TFs, and I export them one by one. They will be like Nifty nse-primary analysis, secondary analysis...and so on.

Metastock is not written in java, it can't use any native java-based file unless it the said file gets made compatible for it. I don't think motivewave files can be made compatible to metastock.

Did you google to try other programs to open it? I saw one saying MWL is a some sort of drawing program file. Check.

Oh, I see. I'm with you now. These are definitely not Motivewave files, they were created in Metastock. I've opened it in notepad, and when someone mentioned it was binary I tried it in Hexinator. In hexinator, I can see the text that my dad has entered over the years. But it's surrounded by blank characters or weird ASCII characters that I can't figure out.

It should essentially just contain a list of line studies and scraps of text, then the location they should sit on the chart. But it all looks like a jumbled up mess.

I spent several hours on google getting nowhere... I'm sure there are no apps out there already that can get me where I need to be, I was really just hoping that there was some way to parse the data in this file programmatically.