Fixed Scaling Functionality

[mjc4118]

When in FIXED scaling mode You DO NOT Allow me to SCROLL UP/DOWN by clicking on the chart Background and dragging the mouse up and down. You let me scroll LEFT/RIGHT but not up and down. Understanding how a drawing canvas works I cannot understand the reasoning for this. It is anti-intuitive.

Second, The DEFAULT behavior of SELECTING the bars or indicators when they are clicked on is Also a major major PAIN when you are scrolling through a chart. when I want to SCROLL my CHART the default action that I take is to click and DRAG on the chart BACKGROUND and SCROLL LEFT / RIGHT (UP DOWN would be great to in FIXED Scaling!) It is VERY easy when moving quickly to click on the bars or indicator by mistake ...then the attempt to DRAG fails and the chart just sits there with the bars or indicator selected. HERE would be a good place to REQUIRE that the CTRL key is pressed.(It seems we cannot assign any alternative keypress as it is not really hot-key related) It would be great to give us the option to press Control and then click to select a primary chart object like the Bars ...or the indicators Microsoft uses the control key for defining Single select/unselect w/ click. In previous versions YOU CLOULD NOT SELECT...so this is new is strange DEFAULT behavior. THIS is very similar to the function where a DOUBLE CLICK used to bring up the chart properties window that you seem to have REMOVED based on the user poll feedback during the demonstration of V7. That function got in the way of the user scrolling or selecting objects same as this does. Do not get me wrong...being able to select these objects is great and is part of the core ability to cuztomize the charts easily...it just seems that this is not a logical DEFAULT.. It also is one of the reasons we asked for the ability to LOCK lines ...Because they were too easy to select when SCROLLING. Scrolling should be your PRIMARY action. Not SELECTING. Why should I have to limit myself to Scroll bars to move effectively or look where I am clicking on my chart when I am watching PRICE/BID/ASK?

Is it possible to allow us some Toggle ... On the tool bar to TURN OFF Bar and Indicator selection default behavior???? maybe turn off selection all together w/ this toggle and just let us scroll and draw new objects ...??

Once a chart has been configured the user watches the screen for hours and scrolls the data around to view what the markets are doing. We are not clicking and dragging our indicators and bars to and from other chart areas constantly. Lines and other drawing objects are a different case.. This behavior SHOULD BE secondary ...to the display of data and SCROLLING through it!

So...It is my belief that VIEWING the data should be the PRIMARY FUNCTION of a chart. All PRIMARY ACTIONS that occur on a chart should be related to the VIEWING of the data ...not the configuration of the chart itself.

When in FIXED scaling having to press the control key while moving the chart range UP or Down (because I cannot simply drag the chart canvas up or down) is counter intuitive. you should make the assumtion that the user want to SCROLL the chart as the primary function, NOT resize the RANGE of the chart. The CTRL should be used to SHRINK the chart Range. Not To Scroll. I understand why you did this as the default behavior of Ninja 6.5 is to Re-Size when you click and drag on the SCALE...But When Fixed scaling is enabled the users PRIMARY action is SCROLLING not RESIZING. Obviously Fixed scaling is a new concept to ninja and the controls of the vielable area and navigation reflect that.

Hope this feedback helps.

[NinjaTrader_Josh]

1. Majority of use cases do not involve moving up/down and as such you need to hold CTRL if you want to move up/down while dragging the axis. Having a free form canvas on all axis has been more of a hamper than a benefit in our experience for quickly flicking the chart left and right.

2. Thank you for your suggestion.

3. Thank you for the suggestion.

Thank you for the feedback on the fixed scale suggestion.

[mjc4118]

You Said:
1. Majority of use cases do not involve moving up/down and as such you need to hold CTRL if you want to move up/down while dragging the axis. Having a free form canvas on all axis has been more of a hamper than a benefit in our experience for quickly flicking the chart left and right.

In some cases I would agree...but if you trade futures and the market moves up 7 points ...flags and then drops 9 points to new lows all in 1 hour or so and you are on an 89 tick char..or a 144 tick... then depending on your "size/zoom" on your candles you would be surprised how much it does move ...tho I also appreciate your perspective ....but what good is scrolling left right if the candles are BELOW/ABOVE my current price point/scale? and then I need to reach for the control and fiddle with my mouse over the right Scale...


Also ..JUST A THOUGHT... When you are scrolled right have you considered having the BLACK ARROW in upper right that scrolls you right ....center on your price point/vertical axis as well as bringing you back to the hard right edge of the chart....because if you are scrolled up or down...that would be a nice feature to adjust the vertical axis when you click it ... or CTRL Click it ...it scrolls you back and brings current price into view with out resizing your scale?

[NinjaTrader_Josh]

mjc4118,

I can understand that the markets can move a lot very quickly, but for the most part we would imagine people use the auto scaled charts and having the free canvas does cause usability issues. Thank you for your thoughts though. I have forwarded them up.

[bobbethgoo]

This is a great idea!


Also ..JUST A THOUGHT... When you are scrolled right have you considered having the BLACK ARROW in upper right that scrolls you right ....center on your price point/vertical axis as well as bringing you back to the hard right edge of the chart....because if you are scrolled up or down...that would be a nice feature to adjust the vertical axis when you click it ... or CTRL Click it ...it scrolls you back and brings current price into view with out resizing your scale?[/QUOTE]

[NinjaTrader_Josh]

Thanks for the suggestion.

[bobbethgoo]

the more i use 7 the more i want a "center" button, having to use 2 hands to move chart back where i want it is a real drag. thanks

[bobbethgoo]

just ran into some odd behavior, went to compress the horizontal spacing and it moved the chart as if I were holding the ctrl button

[NinjaTrader_Josh]

Can you provide steps to reproduce? Thank you.

[Alfred]

From post #1 below...

Second, The DEFAULT behavior of SELECTING the bars or indicators when they are clicked on is Also a major major PAIN when you are scrolling through a chart.

Totally agree on this chart left click bars select point for additional reasons...there are just way too many ways to accidentally highlight the chart bars by left clicking on them in any number of ways....placing, moving, adjusting, deleting graphic and text objects ...scrolling etc etc....when you have no intention at all of accessing the Data Series window...then you must correct the bar highlight markers that have accidentally been enabeled.....remember...there are already three other ways to access the Data Series window without left clicking on the chart bars...

Thanks....

[NinjaTrader_Josh]

Alfred,

Thank you. Your thoughts have already been noted.

[Zapzap]

Older topic, but I have the same problem:

When dragging the chart, I can only drag it along x-axis. But every chart is two dimensional, not one: meaning, that you MUST move them along x-axis sooner or later.

I know about ctrl, but it only works when pressed and moved ON the axis. I know about your thougths on the issue as well.

But: What about a switch in the options? If ticked, you can move x and y, if unticked you can only move x. You could combine it with ctrl ON the canvas. So unticked and CTRL could move the canvas x and y.

Would be a lot more elegant solution, and like two more lines in the code.

If something needs to be decided, let the user decide.

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Zapzap, thanks for sharing your insight and feedback.