When you add and option from the option chain is updating the symbol but the naming field is coming up blank I have to add it manually. Updating from Yahoo. TH..

We always request the name, but we have no control over what data Yahoo actually sends back, so if they are not sending the name then it will not get filled in.

This continues to be a problem. I wonder if as a low-priority software update, you could simply extract the name from the symbol. For example, if I enter C Dec 2010 4 call in the Ticker bar, PSM adds the symbol:

'C Dec 18 2010 Call 4', but the name remains blank. It should be:

'C Dec 2010 4.000 call', and all of that info is in the symbol field. Even just propagating the symbol to the name if the name field comes back blank would work (and would be a lot easier, I suspect!)

I'll see what I can do. (The trick will be to not overwrite any custom names that people may have filled in.)

But you would only do this when a new option ticker is added. Otherwise, you'd have that problem now, wouldn't you? I've modified the name field for regular stock tickers, and the modification stays put.

If I always do it when an option ticker is added, then there is no opportunity to pull a more detailed name from the data service, if they provide a name.

Hmmm? First, a question. There seems to be a difference between the first data pull once a ticker is added, and subsequent updates. That is, if I add a new ticker, it appears in that account tab with the Symbol in caps (for a stock) or properly formatted for an Option (as long as I put it in as SYM Mon yyyy price put/call). The type (Stock, Option) is correctly identified, and it appears the numeric fields are left as zeros. The next time that ticker gets updated (usually because I highlight it and choose the update selected icon), current price, stock name, and other numeric fields are made current, and are updated each time, but not the name or symbol fields. So are you saying that you DO replace the name field on each update? I haven't seen anything that indicates that, but I'm not looking at the code either <g>.

Regardless, I would think you could circumvent an eventual update of the name field that a user may not want changed by making that one of the preference items, update 'yes' or 'no'. Right now, it doesn't appear that you're getting names for ANY options. I probably add 5-10 to my 'watch list' account a day, and they are coming in uniformly blank. I did an experiment on Friday and used the new standard name and it didn't make any difference. The name field remains blank until I put data in it. Stocks, ETFs and indices (^) are working fine -- just not options.

As it turns out, Yahoo actually does provide a name, we just were not retrieving it properly. But in any case we have to take all data services into account when we make these kinds of changes, not just Yahoo. Like I said, I will see what I can do.