Principia Archive Explorer

Transcription

1 Principia Archive Explorer Welcome to the Principia Archive Explorer. This tool bundles together all the historical releases you need and makes it easier for you to install, download, and export the data to Excel as you switch between time periods. Principia Archive Explorer enables you to access research data at any point in the past from one central location. Installation The Principia Archive Explorer is delivered as a self-extracting executable (.exe) files. The size of this file and the amount of hard disk space required varies depending on module(s) and time period(s) purchased. Install size could easily run over several gigabytes for a complete historical archive for most modules. (Ex. A Mutual Fund quarterly module that contains historical archive data from January 1996 to July 2011 is estimated to be 3.09 GB). In addition, the installer will require that you have Admin Rights. To install: 1. Insert a Principia Archive Explorer disc to your computer s CD/DVD drive, double-click the file Principia(*****).exe located on your CD. *asterisk in file name represent frequency and release date 2. A Principia Archive Explorer Installer dialog pops up as below screenshot shown: 3. Click Yes, you will see a progress dialog while the files are uncompressed (extracting).

2 4. After the files are uncompressed to a temp folder, you will be asked to select an installation folder and shown a browse dialog box from which to choose your install location. a. New Install: It is suggested that you select a location and make a new folder for the Principia Archive Explorer. b. Overwrite Install: Since the Morningstar Archive Explorer is designed to be an integrated tool, it will be displayed in the dialog box as the default location if you have an existing installation. We strongly recommend that modules be installed to the same location. If you choose a different location for an archive, you will lose the ability to access your other archive data sets, due to registries pointing to a different install location.

3 5. After selecting the location of installation, click OK. All files will be copied from temp folder to your install location. Please wait until the copying completes. 6. You will be notified that the Principia Archive Explorer installation is successful when the install finishes. Click OK. 7. Once installed, find the install location, and double-click on the file named PrncpaExplorer.exe.

4 8. This will bring up a small dialog window with two selection boxes and two menu items. Exporting Archive Data A Principia unlimited export code is required. If you have not purchased an unlimited export code and would like pricing, please contact your Principia Account Executive. To begin exporting: 1. All installed universes will be detected if they have been installed to the same location. After choosing a particular universe, select the desired year/month to export. 2. Choose from the file menu your desired filter either all records or a filtered list based on your search criteria from a search dialog. 3. You will be prompted to enter your unlimited export License code in a dialog box. If the code is valid, the selected Export process will begin. * You can perform more exports of the different types, and they will be added to new tabbed Excel spreadsheets within the same Excel workbook. An appropriate name will be shown on each spreadsheet tab. You can save the Excel workbook using the Save option from within Excel.

5 Saving and Retrieving Searches You can save and retrieve your search criteria. However, because of code and data changes over the lifetime of Principia, searches may not work across all time periods. Because of this, we suggest you save the search file into the year/month folder for which it was created. You can copy it to another year/month folder to reuse it, but you may encounter errors if fieldnames or data structures have changed. To save a search: 1. Enter your search criteria, and click the Save button. 2. Type a filename in the dialog box and press Save. Do not type a file extension.

6 To retrieve a saved search from within the seach dialog: 1. Click the retrieve button while the Search dialog is displayed. 2. The selection dialog will default to the currently selected year/month folder. You may navigate to another folder, but you must select a folder within the same universe. You cannot use saved searches from other data universes. If you have additional questions or need assistance with the Principia Archive Explorer, please contact our Product Support team. Morningstar Product Support Call Monday Friday 7am 7pm CT productsupport@morningstar.com