GFX-Connect - Interface between users and GFX-Trading.com:

In this page we have the possibility of downloading of this software and also consult its instructions on how to install it and how to use it:

01. GFX-Connect's Minimum Requisites
02. GFX-Connect Software Download
03. GFX-Connect Installation Instructions
04. GFX-Connect Utilization Instructions
05. Installation Problems Solving - ActiveX Controls
06. Important notice about the GFX-Connect use
07. Main Page (GFX Automated Trading Software)

01. GFX-Connect's Minimum Requisites:

  - Windows™ 2000, Windows™ XP or better
  - IntelŪ PentiumŪ III or better
  - 128MB of RAM
  - 512KB of hard disk space for the software
  - Soundboard (for the sound alerts)
  - Connection to the Internet
  - Having signed up at GFX-Trading.com

These requisites are the minimum recommended by us, in spite of the software being able to work with much less hardware resources or even with an older operating system, in that case if needed, adding some missing ActiveX controls that our computer might not have already installed, as explained below.

The Internet connection will be necessary for the user to login at our servers as well as to allow the user to receive the systems' signals given by our trading systems.

02. GFX-Connect Software Download:

We can do the GFX-Connect Software's Download here:

Click here to make the download of the GFX-Connect software.

Together with GFX-Connect, two Expert Advisors are provided for being used on the Metatrader platform. These two Expert Advisors are destined to the hourly system and to the daily system, respectively. It's those Expert Advisors that, interacting with the GFX-Connect software, will give orders on the markets in real time according to the systems' signals.

03. GFX-Connect Installation Instructions:

03.01. Decompression and installation
03.02. The alerts' sound file "Alert.wav"
03.03. Application's shortcut creation
03.04. Installation errors - ActiveX Controls
03.05. The "configuration file is missing" error
03.06. The "Config.dat" configuration file

03.01. Decompression and installation:

Once being done the GFX-Connect compressed file download, and having been put in a folder, we should decompress it. The file is compressed in the .Zip file format, so we should have compression software installed like WinZip or WinRAR. Once installed that software, or in case we have it already installed, we should double click on the compressed file to be able to visualize the files it contains:

As we can see in the example above, we have the compression software open, where we can notice it contains two files: the executable "GFX-Connect.exe", and the sound file "Alarm.wav". The first, the executable one, is the piece of software itself. It's the file that we'll execute whenever we want to use the GFX-Connect.

03.02. The alerts' sound file "Alert.wav":

The second file, the file "Alarm.wav", is a file that contains a siren alarm sound, like those on the anti aircraft sirens in world wars, and with a 23 seconds duration. For that reason, the software is configured to repeat that alert from 23 to 23 seconds whenever it has to play it again.

We can for that reason exchange this sound file for another one with an inferior or equal to 23 seconds duration, and that may be more of our taste, but if we put a sound file of about 5 seconds only, we will have sound alerts with 5 seconds followed by a period of 18 seconds silence each, a reason why we shouldn't use sound files much below those 23 seconds. We can replace it at our taste, even using parts of musics, as long as we reduce that music size to only 23 seconds of duration so we won't hear it cut, and as long as we put it in the Wave sound format.

03.03. Application's shortcut creation:

Our next step will be to create a shortcut for the software we've just installed:

As we can see in the example above, we just need to click with the mouse's right button on the GFX-Connect software icon, and choose the "Create Shortcut" option. After that moment, we'll have already a shortcut created on our folder, which is named "Shortcut to GFX-Connect".

This shortcut, can be placed in any place as we may like:

In the example above, we've just dragged the icon of the shortcut we've just created for the GFX-Connect software to the quick launch bar on Windows™, something that allows us to have the GFX-Connect always available to be executed through the quick launch bar without having to search it around our disk drives every time we would like to execute it. It could be a good option also to put that shortcut on our operating system's Desktop, being that an easy to do option also, because for that we would just need to repeat the process described above, being the user allowed to have as many icons as he would want pointing to the GFX-Connect and in the most various locations.

03.04. Installation errors - ActiveX Controls:

After the short has been created, we should double click in it to execute the GFX-Connect software for the first time. At this point, we can have a problem, which is due to the possible lack of some ActiveX controls needed for the software to run on the user's operating system. If that happens, we will see an error like "Component 'CONTROL' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid", being the word 'CONTROL' able to assume lots of different names depending on the control that is missing, and being that error alert like this one that we'll see below (click to magnify):

If this error has appeared to you, click here to visit our section dedicated to the solution for this problem, referring to the ActiveX Controls' Installation. After correcting this problem, we could go back again to this point and continue the GFX-Connect Software Installation.

(Continuing the Installation Process)

03.05. The "configuration file is missing" error:

In case this error related to the ActiveX controls hasn't appeared or is solved already, it will be a signal that we have all the necessary ActiveX controls already installed in our operating system, and will receive the following alert:

This alert, tell us only "Your configuration file is missing. A new one has been created, please update it later.", which means that, as we have just installed the GFX-Connect software, and we're using it for the first time, it didn't create its configuration file yet, the "Config.dat" file, which we'll see below:

03.06. The "Config.dat" configuration file:

As we can see, the "Config.dat" file has only stored inside two lines, created by default by the software, one "Path=C:\" which will define the path on our hard drive where the software will save the files with the signals for being used later on Metatrader or other systems that the user may develop, and in this case it is defined as being the hard drive's root directory, the "C:\", by default. The user can define by hand the path to be used, but it's unnecessary because we can do it in a much easier way on the software itself, and in case we get wrong and do a mistake writing the path by hand directly on the file, that file will be rewritten with its default values at the next time that the software starts up.

At the second line, we can see written "Timezone=GMT+0", where we can only change the two characters "+0" by a value between "-12" and "+12", which will define the timezone in which the software's user is at the moment, or else it will be used the default timezone of "GMT+0", used in cities like London or Lisbon, something that will be studied later, and in which it is also unnecessary to be changed by editing the configuration file manually because it can be done through some functions on the software itself.

Lets double click now on the GFX-Connect software icon that we have on our folder, or one time on its icon that we have on the quick launch bar where we've just put a shortcut for the software, and we'll see the software opened for the first time.

 

04. GFX-Connect Utilization Instructions:

04.01. The Login process
04.02. Description of the second window and signals' table
04.03. The "Browse" function on the choice of the signals' path
04.04. The "TimeZone" function
04.05. "CheckSound" function and "Last Update" & "Last Check" fields
04.06. The "Export Data" function and the signals' exportation
04.07. The "Signal Alarm", "Test Alarm" and "Stop Alarm" functions
04.08. The "Check Sound" function
04.09. The "Manual Update" and "Exit" functions
04.10. The "Minimize" function and the System Tray

Lets learn now how to use the GFX-Connect software.

04.01. The Login process:

As we can see in the image above, whenever we execute the GFX-Connect software, there are three fields to be filled:

The first field, as we can see, is destined to our username, and the second one to our password. The third field is destined to the choice on the type of system that we want to use. We'll have there on the second field for that reason three choices: "Daily System", for those who want to visualize only the Daily System, "Hourly System", for those who want to visualize only the Hourly Systems, and "Both Systems", for those who want to visualize both the Daily and Hourly systems simultaneously. Depending on the option we chose, we'll have later the signals and alerts corresponding only to the systems we've just chosen. The table with signals could also have one, two, or even three lines of data about the signals given by the systems, respectively, according to those options.

After we've chosen the type of system that we want or can visualize, and also introduced our authentication data, we will notice that the button below, the one with the "Login" word in it, that was disabled before, is enabled now, allowing us already to click on it so that we can login on the main servers. This only happens when all the necessary fields to the login process are filled.

In case there is any mistake we will receive another kind of warning:

The warning that appears to us on the example above, where we can read "The username or password are wrong, or you don't have access to that kind of trading system", means that our username or password are wrong, or else a third kind of problem may have happened: user may not have signed up to GFX-Trading.com yet. For security reasons, it is never informed to us whether it is the username or the password that are wrong, neither what is the system to which that username will have access.

This way, a Daily System's user can only choose the option "Daily System" on the last field during the authentication process, while a Hourly System's user can only choose the "Hourly System" option, and only a user of both can choose any of those three options, not only the "Both Systems" but also those other two individually, in case the user only wants to consult one system alone, or in case the user wants to use many instances of the GFX-Connect software simultaneously to be able to export data of each system to different places and softwares or having for example different sound alerts for each kind of system.

04.02. Description of the second window and signals' table:

Now, if it is all ok during the login process, we will see the following window:

Before continuing, lets look at the table that is drawn in the middle of the GFX-Connect's window. It presents us on its first column with the name of the systems that the user requests (and that has access to), followed by each system's current position, which can be either "Long" or "Short", or even "Out" in case we're speaking about the Hourly Filtered System, meaning the word "Out" that the system is currently without any open position. This column is then followed by the "Date" and "Time" fields, with the positions' opening date and hour, respectively, in which each signal was given by the systems, and at last, the entry price of each position assumed by the system, being possible for this field to be without value in case the system's position is "Out", which is a position that can only appear in the "Hourly Filtered" that unlike the others, is only used to filter some Hourly Regular System's orders, as a decision mechanism for those that don't invest in a 100% automated way. Being out of the market, the "Hourly Filtered" system with it's "Out" position, won't for that reason have an entry price.

This table has also written above in its first cell "Time: GMT+0", to alert us that its dates and times from the systems' signals are on the main servers' timezone, which is GMT+0, or GMT+1 during the Daylight Savings periods, as we'll study later. This way the user is reminded that these times in the table are not affected by the "TimeZone" function that is available on the software and that we'll also study later.

04.03. The "Browse" function on the choice of the signals' path:

The first step that we'll see below, is to define the variable "Path" that we have just seen above on the configuration file. It's here in this field that we'll define the folder in which the GFX-Connect software will save its signals so that our Metatrader software can read them later, or the folder to which we'll export the signals for another software that we may have, to be able to read those signals from the GFX-Trading.com systems.

For that to happen, we should simply click on the "Browse" button has we can see below:

Something that will make the following window appear:

On the example above, we can see already a folder where there have been saved the files "GFX-Daily.csv" and "GFX-Hourly.csv" already by our software, but for those users that execute it for the first time, those two files will not show at first.

We'll have to search the folder where we want the GFX-Connect software to save the systems' signals in the future. As in principle we'll use the Metatrader platform to have our systems giving automated orders in real time, we have to search this way that folder where we have our Metatrader platform installed.

Inside that folder where Metatrader is installed, we'll enter inside the "experts" folder, and after that inside the "files" folder, where we'll find everything empty. Theoretically it's enough for us to choose any file inside that folder and after that to click on the "Open" button that GFX-Connect will filter the name of that file and will put only the path in the appropriated field. In case we don't have any file visible to click on, we should do as in the example that we've just seen, writing something in the "File name" field, as in the example above where the word "test" has been written, and after that clicking on the "Open" button. We could also have written that path manually, or doing "Copy" and "Paste" of that path to the field to save it later. There is something that we should take in account and that's the fact that the "Apply/Save" button only becomes available to be clicked upon when the path's field becomes different from its initial value, the value that is written in the configuration file on the path's variable.

Next we'll have the following result:

On the example above, we see what happens after we choose the folder's path. We have now our first field filled with the path of our Metatrader folder, which in the example above ended up being "C:\Program Files\Metatrader\experts\files\", but that could have been any other thing.

If we closed our GFX-Connect software and reopened it again, we would have that field filled by default value "C:\", as we wouldn't have saved our changes. To do it, we must click with our mouse's left button on the "Apply/Save" button, as we can see by the mouse pointer on the example above. After doing it, that same button would become disabled once again, and will only get enabled again after we change the path field to a value that it's different from its initial value defined on the path variable on the configuration file again.

After having our Metatrader's path defined on the GFX-Connect software, which we must say it's an indispensable step for those who will use our Expert Advisors and indicators designed for the Metatrader platform, as without the path being defined we won't have access to the signals' files, we'll move on to another functions from this software:

04.04. The "TimeZone" function:

We'll study now another important factor, especially for those who are on another time zone other than the GMT+0.

Lets check the example below, and imagine that the user's time is one hour advanced in relation to the system's hours which are GMT+0, being the user's time zone on the GMT+1:

As we can see above, that user's time zone, being one hour advanced to the systems' time, as we can see by the hour defined on the end of the second line that our software shows, which is the user's time updated each second, is at the "05:52:16" value. That brings us a problem. As we can see in the "Last Update" field, which defines the hour when the last systems' update was made, we have the value "04:00:51", which is the hour when the GFX-Trading.com systems supposedly made their last update. Basically, that hour is the same that it had 52 minutes ago, before the user's current hour, and not 1 hour and 52 minutes ago as it might seem, because it is advanced one hour. This could originate some confusion or difficulties in how the user reads our systems and their signals. For that reason, a function was created where the users can choose their time zone, as we can see in the example above, and after being chosen that time zone, which in this case is the GMT+1, as we can notice on the example above by the "+01" value written in that field, we should click on it with the mouse so that it becomes blue and only then will the value be chosen and make some effect:

As we can see now, by clicking on the "+01" value in the "TimeZone" field, the "Last Update" value will automatically jump 1 hour, from "04:00:51" to "05:00:51". This way we end up having the user's time synchronized with the systems' time, without existing confusions this way. We can notice also that as we have chosen a different time zone than the one that is actually saved on the software's configuration file, the "Apply/Save" button becomes enabled again for us to be able to click on it and that way save the configurations so that in the next time we open the GFX-Connect software, it appears already at start with the GMT+1 as initial time zone. If we lower the time zone to GMT+0, and click on the "+0" value (because without clicking it won't assume that new time zone we've just chosen), the button "Apply/Save" will become disabled again, because we would return to the initial time zone configuration value, the one saved on the configuration file.

If you want to know what is your local time zone, your difference in hours to the GMT+0 (Greenwich Meridian Time) which our systems' use, you can check it on the www.greenwichmeantime.com website, were you can check what is the GMT of your country to be able to update the "TimeZone" field on the GFX-Connect software, but on the other hand if may not be necessary, as it is enough to put your "TimeZone" field with the difference in hours that you see existing between the field "Last Update" and your current hour in your own computer when the "Last Update" field is updated, so both hours become synchronized and with the same hour, through the "TimeZone" function on our software.

We should not forget that the "TimeZone" field reflects the difference in hours between the hour of the user's country and the hour in the countries where the GMT is 0, but it is to be noted also that the server doesn't update its hour to the GMT+0 on the Daylight Savings' periods, so the main servers' hours could be sometimes at GMT+1 during those periods, and in those periods it's enough to the user, if the user notices that his country isn't in Daylight Savings also, to adjust the field to one hour lower, and become this way synchronized with the servers' time that has just rose one hour. It's because of this that the "TimeZone" field reflects the difference between the hour of each user's country and the city of London, and not the users' time zone itself.

To know more about the Daylight Savings, click here to check a simple research on the search motor Google™ where you can find more info about that subject.

NOTE: The "TimeZone" functionality doesn't affect the dates and times shown in the table, only the fields that we've studied above.

04.05.
"CheckSound" function and "Last Update" & "Last Check" fields:

Lets see now the CheckBoxes that we have on the left of the inferior part of the software window and the reasons they exist for:

As we can see at left on the image above, there are three different CheckBoxes: one that says "Check Sound", followed by another one that says "Signal Alarm" and at last the "Export Data" one.

As for the first CheckBox, the "Check Sound", it exists only to make a quick sound to alert us whenever the software goes to the Internet to check the existence of new signals. This happens whenever we click on the "Manual Update" button or whenever the current time, which appears at the end of the line that contains the "TimeZone" field, exceeds the time defined on the "Next Check" field, the software will go to the Internet to check if there are new signals from the systems. If there are really new signals, the "Next Check" field will have its own hour but this time with 58 minutes, and updates the "Last Update" field as we can see on the example above. On the table above, there were new signals, given at 04:00:51, as it was shown in the "Last Update" field, and for that reason has passed the "Next Check" field to the 04:58:00. When the current time, which is in the example above at "04:52:16", reaches the 58 minutes defined on the "Next Check" field, it will do the alert sound signalling that it's going to the Internet to search for new signals again, if the "Check Sound" CheckBox is checked, and if there are really new signals, it will update the fields we've just studied.

Whenever there are new signals, it is defined the next check time as being on the 58 minutes, simply because it's good to give it a little tolerance to the time factor, just in case the user's computer clock gets a little delayed, in case the user is lots of time away and doesn't keep it updated, and this way the software could get things done in time with a maximum delay of 2 minutes. If a 2 minutes delay exists, the user's computer will search for new signals at the 58 minutes, which will be 0 minutes from the next correct hour as the user has its computer clock delayed 2 minutes, and this way we can handle delays until 2 minutes with no negative effects.

In case it makes the signals check, and sees that at that time still there are no new signals, it will retry that check for many times, and within many time periods with some different intervals between. If at the 58 minutes there are no new signals, the "Next Check" field will move on to the 59 minutes, when it will retry its search for new signals. If failed getting new signals at the 59 minutes also, the next check will be at the next hour, at 0 minutes. Once reached those 0 minutes from the next hour, and because the software works thinking that the user's clock is with the correct time, it will keep trying many times with a 10 seconds interval between each try, until it reaches the 3 minutes of that hour, meaning that it will do 19 searches for new signals in the first 3 minutes of each hour, in case it doesn't get new signals in any of them.

As it can happen that the user may have the software connected at a weekend or times in which there are no negotiation for some reason, it won't work with that interval between each new signal check until the end of each hour, or it would be doing 360 checks for new signals per hour, and with that, 8,640 useless checks per day, because it would be probable that there would be no negotiations on that period. For that reason, as soon as the time reaches the 3 minutes of each hour, and after failing its try to search for new signals, the "Next Check" field will move on to the 4 minutes, and then to 5, working now this way, with 1 minute intervals. After that, it will try again at 10, 15, 20, already in 5 minutes intervals, and after that in 10 minutes intervals, at 30, 40 and 50 minutes of each hour, and once it reaches those 50 minutes, and failing again to find new signals, it will move on to the 58 minutes again, returning this process to the beginning again.

These are the intervals with which the GFX-Connect software works and searches on the main servers for new signals. It will be for that reason frequent to see at the beginning of each hour the field "Next Check" moving on to the 58 minutes and the field "Last Update" appearing with a new time at the beginning of each hour.

04.06. The "Export Data" function and the signals' exportation:

The last CheckBox, the "Export Data" one, still checked on the example above, being activated this way, is used for the user to choose if the GFX-Connect software will save the two files "GFX-Daily.csv" and "GFX-Hourly.csv" that contain the signals from both the Daily and Hourly systems, respectively. If that CheckBox is unchecked, these two files will never be saved, and for that reason won't allow the Expert Advisors created to function in the Metatrader platform to read the current signals and with them giving their orders in the currencies' markets. If it's activated that function (its CheckBox checked), those two files will be saved each time a new signal appears, and each one of them will have some data, as the current position of each system, the positions' date and time, its entry price, and even the time when the last signal given by the system was read, for that any other trading system may know if it is receiving the systems' signals in time or not.

04.07. The "Signal Alarm", "Test Alarm" and "Stop Alarm" functions:

Lets study now the CheckBox that we've just disabled on the example above, the one in the middle, the CheckBox "Signal Alarm":

In this example above, we have as the only activated CheckBox the "Signal Alarm" one. This CheckBox, allows us to simply decide if we want to be warned with a sound alert when new signals are given by the system or not. If we don't have this CheckBox activated, we won't hear any kind of sound alert when a new signal arrives, in spite of the GFX-Connect window popping up on screen anyway, in case it was minimized to the System Tray. Anyway, even if it was unchecked, the signals would still be exported through the text files whenever that new signals arrived, only if the "Export Data" CheckBox would be activated, there simply wouldn't be any sound alarms only.

If on the other hand that function is activated, whenever there are new signals indicating new orders given by the systems, the software will warn us with a sound alert. If the "Alarm.wav" file exists, which is provided together with the software's installation file itself, whenever there are new alerts that sound file in .wav format will be played. Whenever that sound file doesn't exist, instead of playing that sound file it will be played one beep per second, a beep that is equal to those beeps that are heard whenever the system goes to the Internet searching for new signals. In the cases of non existing sound files, or the users wanting to hear beeps and not a sound alert in Wave format being played and for that reason deletes or simply renames that file, it will be heard an intermittent beep until the user decides to cancel that alarm. Changing the name from "Alarm.wav" file to another one like for example "Alarm-old.wav" is a good way to avoid the GFX-Connect software to play any sound alerts in the Wave format and that way forcing it to just giving beeps.

If it's played the .wav as an alarm, it will have the duration of 23 seconds and will be repeated again at each 23 seconds until the user decides to stop the alarm. For that motive, if the user exchanges that .wav file for another sound file that he likes more, like a music, the user should have in account that it must have near 23 seconds, because if it has more than that, it will be cut by the software at the 23 seconds, time at which it will go back to the beginning of the sound file and plays it again in loop, and if it has less than 23 seconds, the user will have silence periods until it reaches the 23 seconds each time before playing it again.

Also, we have a button as we can see about two examples above, which had written in it "Test Alarm", and that in this example has already written "Stop Alarm" in it. The button "Stop Alarm" appears whenever the alarm is playing. This happens when new signals appear given by the systems and the CheckBox "Signal Alarm" is activated, or simply whenever the users click on the "Test Alarm" button. When one of those two events happen, the alarm starts playing, whether it is a simple beep, or the "Alarm.wav" sound file being played, and it only stops when the user clicks on the former "Test Alarm", which should have written "Stop Alarm" in it now.

We will have lots of times situations like the user being alerted by hearing the sound alarm, going to the computer to see what happened, and clicking on the "Stop Alarm" button to stop hearing that sound alarm. It's important to notice also that if the software is minimized to the System Tray of Windows™ and a new signal given by the systems appear, the software will do a pop-up, stopping being on the system tray and appearing visible on the last location that it was at the last time before being sent to the system tray, as we'll study later.

Once clicked the "Stop Alarm" button, it will become having written in it "Test Alarm" again, by the simple reason of having another function associated: the one to provide the users a way to adjust the sound of those alarms. These alarms are used not only by users that want to follow what the automated systems do and that way being able to follow their orders and accounts, as well as those users that prefer giving their orders manually according to the systems, and that way trying to get even better entry values, according to the circumstances, and for that reason want to be alert whenever there are new positions. As FOREX works 24 hours per day, it is possible for the systems to give new signals during the night and during the users' sleep time, or even signals being given when the users may be in another part of their homes or offices, and that may need to have it in an audible enough to the users' ears. For that reason, the users can, whenever they want to, play the alarm sound manually to be able to adjust the sound to a level that is appropriated to their needs, and also can stop playing the alarm when the sound is at a level at their taste. The users can and should repeat this process the times that may be necessary during their daily routines so they can be always able to hear the signals that they want the software to give them.

04.08. The "Check Sound" function:

In case the "Check Sound" CheckBox may be activated, there will be sound signals whenever the software goes to the Internet searching for new signals, but won't make any sound alert whenever there are new signals by itself, because that's the "Signal Alarm" CheckBox function and only with it activated will it give those sound alerts. These signals given by the "Check Sound" are basically just beeps.

04.09. The "Manual Update" and "Exit" functions:

Lets move on to the two buttons on the right part of the software window below:

We can see in the example above, the mouse pointer over two buttons on the right part of the GFX-Connect software window. Those are the "Manual Update" and "Exit" buttons. The "Exit" button, once clicked upon, terminates the GFX-Connect software, having the same effect that would have had if the user had clicked on the little "X" on the top right of the software window, used on many softwares for closing them. After the moment in which that button is clicked upon, the software is closed and releases the memory that it occupied.

About the "Manual Update" button, it is used to force the software itself to connect to the GFX-Trading.com main servers to verify the existence of new signals in a manual way, instead of having the users to wait for the time in which the software would do it which would be as soon as the time would reach the value shown in the "Next Check" field. Usually this button is never necessary, as even if the signals would come with a little delay, as the software tries from 10 to 10 seconds to search for new signals in the first 3 minutes of each hour, and after that with some different intervals whenever the time reaches the hour defined in the "Next Check" field, and for those reasons this button sees its relevance reduced. Anyway, in case the "Next Update" had its value defined to be for example in the 30 minutes of that hour, and the user being in the 21 minutes of that hour still, and would want to try to check manually for new signals for that hour instead of waiting about 9 minutes for them to be searched again on the 30 minutes of that hour, he could do it by clicking that button. By doing it, the user would listen to the beep the software would do in case the "Check Sound" CheckBox would be activated, warning that it would be searching the GFX-Trading.com servers for new signals, and the software would be doing that, by the user's request.

In case the servers had already new signals, the "Next Check" time would move on to the 58 minutes of that hour, as it had already the updated signals of that hour, and in case there wouldn't exist yet new signals, that time in the "Next Check" field wouldn't be modified, making only the sound telling us that it tried to go to the Internet to search for them, without changing anything. Anyway, it's advisable to use this button only when strictly necessary.

04.10. The "Minimize" function and the System Tray:

Lets watch now one last button still not mentioned, the "Minimize" button:

We can see in the example above, with the mouse cursor over a last button not yet studied, the "Minimize" button, which as its own name indicates, is used not to close the software, but rather to minimize it to the system tray, and when clicked upon it will make the software invisible to the user, but will let its icon visible on the Windows™ System Tray, as we we'll see on the example below:

On the example above, we can see a System Tray. It will be there that the GFX-Connect icon will be placed, somewhere near the time, and whenever we pass the mouse cursor over that icon, we'll see the message: "GFX-Connect - double click to restore", that tells us precisely what we should do to restore the previous software position on screen, which to simply double clicking on the icon. By doing that double click, the GFX-Connect software will be visible again, precisely at the same screen position where it was before it has been minimized at first place.

 

05. Installation Problems Solving - ActiveX Controls

05.01. ActiveX controls missing errors
05.02. Missing ActiveX controls' downloads
05.03. Missing ActiveX controls' installation
05.04. Registering the missing ActiveX controls

This section was made to help solving problems that may happen during the GFX-Connect software installation process related to the lack of some ActiveX controls on the users' operating systems that the software needs in order to function.

05.01. ActiveX controls missing errors:

You are on the right section of this page in case you are trying to run the GFX-Connect software for the first time and have found some error like this:

As we can see through the error shown on the above window, with the message "Component 'comdlg32.ocx' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid", it is told to us that the "comdlg32.ocx" control is not yet installed on our operating system, but as it is used by our software, our software can't function properly without that control being previously installed. The solution is to install it, and this will be the process that we'll see next.

Before anything else, whenever an error message of this kind appears (as there can appear many different error messages, depending on the fact of their operating system having them all installed or not), the following steps must be followed:

First of all, we should make the ActiveX control download:

05.02. Missing ActiveX controls' downloads:

ActiveX controls' downloads:

Controls: msflxgrd.ocx, msinet.ocx, comdlg32.ocx.

05.03. Missing ActiveX controls' installation:

It's pretty easy to install the ".ocx" files in order to allow the GFX-Connect software to work. There are three steps that could be necessary to be done, or not, depending on the situation, so that the missing ActiveX controls may start to work.

First of all, we should do the download of the missing ".ocx" files shown above, and put them at the folder where we have the GFX-Connect software installed. Lets see an example of a folder with the GFX-Connect software and all the ActiveX controls available for download, in a situation where we might need all of them for the software to work:

On the example above, if we needed those three controls for being all missing, and if it would be enough for us to put all of them on the GFX-Connect's folder for it to work well, it would be like this that we would end up having our software folder, with the GFX-Connect executable file, the "Alarm.wav" sound file, and the three missing ActiveX controls, and only after that would us be able to run the GFX-Connect software.

If possible it would be best for us to have the ActiveX controls that we've just installed on the "System32" (or "System") folder, which is found inside the "Windows" folder, even if for that reason we might have to register them by hand, as we'll see below, rather than having them inside the GFX-Connect's folder. This way we limit the number of files in this folder and we allow the controls' use by other different softwares, having this way less probabilities of mistakes in the future and of existing any problems with other softwares needing them also later and not having access to them. The logic of this is that it is better to have an ActiveX control in a folder owned by the operating system itself and being that file the only one to be used by ten or twenty different programs later that might need it, than having the same ActiveX file repeated in each one of those ten or twenty folders from those softwares that need them.

The first step has been done already. In this case we had the warning that the "comdlg32.ocx" file was missing, so we put that file in the same folder where we have our GFX-Connect executable file already installed. After that it's enough for us to run the GFX-Connect software, clicking both on its icon on the folder where it is installed.

In case this process would be enough for the program not to ask for the ActiveX control again, we would have two possible situations, or it would run immediately and be ready to be used, or it would give an error again but this time not from the control that we've just put in our folder, but from another ActiveX control missing (it can go up to three missing ActiveX controls, which are those that are available for download above). Either way, even if it asked us for another control, it would be enough to go back to the first step and repeat the process again.

Attention: In case you have your problem solved already and there are no more error messages about missing ActiveX controls, click here to continue the GFX-Connect software installation process.

Attention: In case there is another error about another ActiveX control missing, click here to repeat the missing ActiveX control installation process.

Now if it continues to ask us the same control saying that it would still be missing, we would have to move on to the second step, which is the one that tells us to put that file not in the GFX-Connect installation folder but on the "\Windows\System32" one. All Windows™ operating systems have a "System32" folder (if we're dealing with Windows™ 2000 or Windows™ XP alike systems), or just "System" (in case we're dealing with older operating systems), which is a folder filled with many ".ocx" and ".dll" files, amongst many others.

It is enough then to drag and drop the ActiveX file to that folder like this:

As we can see in the example above, the "System32" folder contains lots of ".ocx" and ".dll" files, existing thousands of files in that folder. After putting the file over there, we'll try to run the GFX-Connect software again.

Attention: In case you have your problem solved already and there are no more error messages about missing ActiveX controls, click here to continue the GFX-Connect software installation process.

Attention: In case there is another error about another ActiveX control missing, click here to repeat the missing ActiveX control installation process.

05.04. Registering the missing ActiveX controls:

Now if we continue to have the same mistake about this same ActiveX control missing, in that case we should register that control, and for that reason we should go through the following steps:

As we can see in the example above, we'll have to click with the mouse's left button on the "Start" button from the Windows™ task bar, and click on "Run", and we'll see the following window:

In this window, we should use the "regsvr32" command to register our ActiveX control in the folder in which it is found. As in this case we have the "COMDLG32.OCX" control in the "C:\Windows\system32\" folder, we'll execute the following command:

regsvr32 c:\Windows\system32\COMDLG32.OCX

This is done as we seen in the image above. If by chance the file would be found in a different folder, as for example the "System" folder like in previous versions of this operating system, or even in the GFX-Connect software's folder itself, we would have to change that folder's path in the command line, but the "regsvr32" command would be the same. Either way it should always be registered on the Windows™ "System32" (or "System") folder.

After we click on the "OK" button in the "Run" window, we should receive the following message:

"DllRegisterServer in \Windows\system32\COMDLG32.OCX succeeded.". This message can be in other languages, mention other folders or be about other controls, but saying that it was "succeeded" is clear information that the control is already correctly registered. After this, the GFX-Connect software will only have two possible results: it could run without any problem now, and in that case we would go back to the installation process above to continue it, or it could warn us that a different ActiveX control would be missing, and in this case we should restart this process about missing ActiveX controls that we have just passed through. It's important to notice that if we have the ActiveX control already registered in the operating system's folder that we've just mentioned above, it won't make any point to maintain the same equivalent file in our software's folder together with the GFX-Connect executable, so we'll be able to delete that file, and should delete it, if it exists. The software could miss a maximum of 3 ActiveX controls, as it was mentioned above, all three being available for download by the users.

Attention: In case you have your problem solved already and there are no more error messages about missing ActiveX controls, click here to continue the GFX-Connect software installation process.

Attention: In case there is another error about another ActiveX control missing, click here to repeat the missing ActiveX control installation process.

 

06. Important notice about the GFX-Connect use:

It is important to have in consideration that it is only allowed the use of the GFX-Connect software in only one IP per each username. This way, if it is discovered a single username accessing our servers through the GFX-Connect software from multiple IP addresses in simultaneous, that user would see his membership cancelled, as it happens with our website also.