Using Google Drive for Signals
You can connect APM to your Google Drive to pull signals from a specified folder.
NOTE: Since APM requires read access to Google Drive, it is recommended that you create a new Google account if you do not wish to grant APM access to all your Google Drive files.
![[Image: google_drive_example2.png]](http://aleratrading.com/forum/images/documentation/google_drive_example2.png)
Posting Your Signals
There are two main ways to post your signals to Google Drive
Backup and Sync
Use Google Backup and Sync to sync a local folder on your computer to your Google Drive. You can then write signals to this folder and they will automatically be uploaded to your Drive. Note that Backup and Sync only recognizes file changes WHEN the file contents change. This means the last modified time on your file will not update when you change it locally on your computer, unless you change the file contents too. You can change file contents without modifying signals by adding a blank new line to the file.
Google Drive API
If you're familiar with programming, you can attempt to upload files to your Drive directly through your code.
*IMPORTANT*
Google Drive only stores the last modified time up to one second accuracy AND since signal files are processed in the order of OLDEST to NEWEST, you need to make sure that your files are generated 2 seconds apart to ensure that they are processed in the desired order, e.g. process sell signals first, then buy signals. If you do not care about the order of your signals, then the last modified time does not matter.
Sharing Your Signals
Simply share your Google Drive folder with the desired party and have them use the same Folder ID in their APM instance.
You can connect APM to your Google Drive to pull signals from a specified folder.
NOTE: Since APM requires read access to Google Drive, it is recommended that you create a new Google account if you do not wish to grant APM access to all your Google Drive files.
- Find or create the folder in Google Drive that will store the signals
- Open the folder in your browser and copy the Folder Id from the URL (it is the last part of the URL, should look like in the image below)
- Paste this Folder Id into the settings page and click Save
- The first time you do this, you will be redirected to your browser in order to login into your Google account
- Allow Alera to have readonly access to your Google Drive. You may want to create a new Google account just to use with APM.
- If you gave a correct Folder Id, then the settings will save, otherwise you will see an error in APM
- To test that everything is working, place a signal file in the Google Drive folder and hit the folder button beside the Folder ID to view your files (or hit Order Preview)
Posting Your Signals
There are two main ways to post your signals to Google Drive
Backup and Sync
Use Google Backup and Sync to sync a local folder on your computer to your Google Drive. You can then write signals to this folder and they will automatically be uploaded to your Drive. Note that Backup and Sync only recognizes file changes WHEN the file contents change. This means the last modified time on your file will not update when you change it locally on your computer, unless you change the file contents too. You can change file contents without modifying signals by adding a blank new line to the file.
Google Drive API
If you're familiar with programming, you can attempt to upload files to your Drive directly through your code.
*IMPORTANT*
Google Drive only stores the last modified time up to one second accuracy AND since signal files are processed in the order of OLDEST to NEWEST, you need to make sure that your files are generated 2 seconds apart to ensure that they are processed in the desired order, e.g. process sell signals first, then buy signals. If you do not care about the order of your signals, then the last modified time does not matter.
Sharing Your Signals
Simply share your Google Drive folder with the desired party and have them use the same Folder ID in their APM instance.