System.Drawing.Drawing2D.DashStyle

[NJA_MC]

I have starting working with the Draw.Line() function.

What I have had trouble doing is getting the DashStyle.Solid to be recognized. Although most of your technology now uses the "System.Windows.Media", this particular parameter still comes from the older NT7 namespace "System.Drawing.Drawing2D.DashStyle". If I add this USING directive it cause some ambiguous reference that need to be fixed. I will add the explicate reference "System.Drawing.Drawing2D.DashStyle.Solid" for now.

Is there a reason you need to mix this technology with the newer approach? This seems to stick out like a soar thumb. I understand if this was a short-cut for now, but will likely cause a code break later if you want to roll it under the Windows.Media.

[gregid]

It sticks out even in the Draw.Line implementation itself:

		// line overloads
		private static Line Line(NinjaScriptBase owner, bool isAutoScale, string tag,
								int startBarsAgo, DateTime startTime, double startY, int endBarsAgo, DateTime endTime, double endY,
								Brush brush, System.Drawing.Drawing2D.DashStyle dashStyle, int width)
		{
			return DrawLineTypeCore<Line>(owner, isAutoScale, tag, startBarsAgo, startTime, startY, endBarsAgo, endTime, endY, brush, dashStyle, width, false, null);
		}

What was wrong with DashStyles in Media namespace that it is not used?

[NJA_MC]

Yup,

Strange all the Drawing tools use the 2d version.

[NinjaTrader_Dierk]

Thanks guys. I will have the team run some analysis and will get back to you.

[NinjaTrader_Dierk]

You are right. We will remove/replace those references. #8190

Note: this will break existing NT8B1 code.

Thanks for reporting.

[gregid]

There is at least one more conflict: in the Draw.Text, System.Drawing.StringAlignment is being used.
With the change to System.Windows.Media it should use TextAlignment instead

public static Text Text(NinjaScriptBase owner, string tag, bool isAutoScale, string text, DateTime time, double y, int yPixelOffset,
			Brush textBrush, Gui.Tools.SimpleFont font, System.Drawing.StringAlignment alignment,
			Brush outlineBrush, Brush areaBrush, int areaOpacity)
{
	return TextCore(owner, tag, false, text, int.MinValue, time, y, yPixelOffset, textBrush, alignment, font, outlineBrush, areaBrush, areaOpacity, false, null);
}

[NinjaTrader_Dierk]

Thanks. We'll look into.

[NinjaTrader_Dierk]

Update: already fixed with most recent changes on removing 'System.Drawing' references...

[gregid]

Another conflict

Pen for DashStyle uses System.Windows.Media.DashStyles
Stroke for DashStyle uses NinjaTrader.Gui.DashStyleHelper

Also there is no property grid editor for System.Windows.Media.DashStyles it simply displays "System.Windows.Media.DashStyles":

[NinjaScriptProperty]
[Display(Name = "Detail Dash Style1", Order = 0, GroupName = "Visual")]
public DashStyle DetailDashStyle1
{ get; set; }

versus DashStyleHelper which displays correctly (it is enum after all)

[NinjaScriptProperty]
[Display(Name = "Detail Dash Style2", Order = 1, GroupName = "Visual")]
public DashStyleHelper DetailDashStyle2
{ get; set; }

My understanding is that Pen should also use DashStyleHelper

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

Thanks for the report, we're reviewing DashStyleHelper for Strokes and Pens as well...

Regarding the property, I can reproduce and reported to development - NTEIGHT-8201

[gregid]

Thanks for the report, we're reviewing DashStyleHelper for Strokes and Pens as well...

Regarding the property, I can reproduce and reported to development - NTEIGHT-8201

Can you already tell me which one is going to be used more likely for both Stroke and Pen: DashStyleHelper or DashStyle - I have plenty of properties like this and would like to make changes accordingly.

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

I will be sure to update once our devs have finalized on this decision.

[gregid]

While we are at Stroke and Pen there is one minor issue I would like resolved - when adding plot with a Stroke:

AddPlot(new Stroke(Brushes.Orange, DashStyleHelper.Dash, 2.0f, PlotStyle.Line));

I can add in one line all the information I use for plots in 99% of cases, but if I want to change the way it plots I can't use Stroke (ie: there is no Plot.Stroke) so I can't do something like:

Plots[0].Stroke = new Stroke(Brushes.Red, DashStyleHelper.Dot, 1.0f, PlotStyle.Line)

I can achieve this using Plot.Pen:

Pen newPen = new Pen(Brushes.Red, 1.0f);
newPen.DashStyle = DashStyles.Dot;
Plots[0].Pen = newPen;

but as you can see it requires 3 lines instead of the initial 1 line. Obviously, the DashStyle conflict you are looking now to resolve also complicates things but this is temporary I believe. It also adds to confusion since I created a plot with a Stroke and now edit Pen instead.
So what I would like to see is either access to Plot.Stroke (just as it is with Plot.Pen at the moment) or adding one more overload to Pen:

Pen(Brush brush, DashStyle dashStyle, double thickness)

(whichever DashStyle it is going to use in the end)

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

Can you already tell me which one is going to be used more likely for both Stroke and Pen: DashStyleHelper or DashStyle - I have plenty of properties like this and would like to make changes accordingly.

DashStyleHelper will be used as parameter for all methods and objects.

For your last question, Plot class is inherited from Stroke, so you can directly access any of the stroke properties from the Plots[arrayIdx]

I believe the below solves your problem(?)

AddPlot(new Stroke(Brushes.Orange, DashStyleHelper.Dash, 2.0f), PlotStyle.Line, "MyPlot");
Plots[0].Brush = Brushes.Pink;
Plots[0].DashStyleHelper = DashStyleHelper.Dot;

[gregid]

DashStyleHelper will be used as parameter for all methods and objects.

For your last question, Plot class is inherited from Stroke, so you can directly access any of the stroke properties from the Plots[arrayIdx]

I believe the below solves your problem(?)

AddPlot(new Stroke(Brushes.Orange, DashStyleHelper.Dash, 2.0f), PlotStyle.Line, "MyPlot");
Plots[0].Brush = Brushes.Pink;
Plots[0].DashStyleHelper = DashStyleHelper.Dot;

Surprisingly it does - my problem was due to Plot.Pen being read only and the confusion associated with it. Changing Plot properties directly makes more sense than adding Stroke then editing Pen