Some NS Editor issues

[gregid]

1. "Saving as" forces you to start new file name with capital letter - which is unnecessary limitation - we very often use prefixes starting with lower case to differentiate the indicators from other developers/providers.
2. I created "Common" folder in the root folder (Custom) from the level of Visual Studio). It updated the solution fine in NS Explorer but then I noticed it displayed only last class added to this custom folder. Additionally after some time the folder ("Common") suddenly disappeared from NS Explorer (it is still visible from VS).
As mentioned before we should be able to use other folders as well (Common, Utilities, etc.) and be able to select files from there to export NinjaScript

[NinjaTrader_Dierk]

>> "Saving as" forces you to start new file name with capital letter - which is unnecessary limitation - we very often use prefixes starting with lower case to differentiate the indicators from other developers/providers.

A comment on this one: This is against MS guidelines where class names needed to be 'Pascal case' (and not 'camel case')

[gregid]

A comment on this one: This is against MS guidelines where class names needed to be 'camel case' (and not 'Pascal case')

If that would be the case than I would see no reason to disallow camelCase (vs PascalCase, ie: UpperCamelCase)
But I suppose you meant the opposite. Even then - although I may agree on general guideline, MS itself doesn't enforce it, only recommends.
In the custom NinjaScript world camelCase is actually quite useful - it provides a way of identifying NinjaScript by its provider yet allows the real content of the file/class to stand out (starts with Upper Case)

[MicroTrends]

Here are some c# guidelines that might help... its what is used in the Blue Chip Corp's in the US and London Financial Institutions + a lot more... its a little thin

http://downloads.microtrends.co/standards/MicroTrends_C_Sharp_Coding_Standards.pdf

[NinjaTrader_Dierk]

My apologies: I got the terms backwards. I edited my original post to avoid confusion...

[gregid]

As I am currently recreating my Custom project structure I would like to create Common folder for generic helper functions applicable to all types of scripts, I remembered I raised this issue somewhere found this thread and realised it wasn't addressed by anyone from NT.

So my question is with the recent changes in folder management how should I approach this? One can't create eg. "Common" folder in NS Editor (only subfolder creation is possible) and then what about exporting files from the "Common" folder?

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

As I am currently recreating my Custom project structure I would like to create Common folder for generic helper functions applicable to all types of scripts, I remembered I raised this issue somewhere found this thread and realised it wasn't addressed by anyone from NT.

So my question is with the recent changes in folder management how should I approach this? One can't create eg. "Common" folder in NS Editor (only subfolder creation is possible) and then what about exporting files from the "Common" folder?

I would suggest you currently put it in the AddOns folder.

To be clear, on your request you want:

Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Common?

Not Documents\NInjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Indicator\Common?

The way it works now (although subject to change since this is not documented behavior):

The files would not be accessible from the NS editor, but would still be compiled and thus accessed through the custom.DLL. Currently you'd need to visual studio project explorer to manage those files.

You would not be able to export an indicator in a non-standard folder either.

Also, only files within the "Indicator" folder generate the required NS wrappers used for indicators. If you're just using some helper method, that should be ok, but if you need to call that indicator like a regular indicator, it needs to be in that folder.

I've added a reference to your post in SFT-326 where we are tracking demand for improving the structure capability of the NS Editor.

[gregid]

To be clear, on your request you want:

Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Common?

Not Documents\NInjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Indicator\Common?

Correct

The files would not be accessible from the NS editor, but would still be compiled and thus accessed through the custom.DLL. Currently you'd need to visual studio project explorer to manage those files.

You would not be able to export an indicator in a non-standard folder either.

Also, only files within the "Indicator" folder generate the required NS wrappers used for indicators. If you're just using some helper method, that should be ok, but if you need to call that indicator like a regular indicator, it needs to be in that folder.

As mentioned before this is for helper/utilites like statistics methods, custom color operations, etc. utilised by all type of scripts (indicators, columns, strategies, bar types, drawing tools - stuff you would usually find in external libraries so no need for wrappers. Since used liberally by all scripts it doesn't make sense to put it in one specific folder, eg. Indicators as it only adds to confusion.

Being able to see/edit it in NS Editor as well as exporting it with other scripts I would find crucial.

I would suggest you currently put it in the AddOns folder.

Seems to be a good place for now.

Ideally it would be great to be able to add folders we want but since I understand it may add unnecessary complexity, a request for "Common" folder (or whatever you would call it: "Libraries", "Other", "Miscellaneous" etc.) seems to me like a simple middle ground solution.

[gregid]

Thinking of folders... have you considered placing predefined indicators (@SMA etc.) into separate subfolder - since they are not being edited by users anyway they occupy quite a lot of estate in the NS Editor and VS making finding your custom indy a bit harder.
Nothing crucial as at least now we can have our own subfolders for our work but all imported indys will go as default to the same folder hence an idea.

Just a thought.

[NinjaTrader_DaveI]

We are already tracking the suggestion to place pre-loaded scripts within new subfolders, and I've added a vote for you on this one (SFT-1009).

I've also logged a new feature request to add a "Common" folder. I can definitely see the use for this, just to be more clear on where helper classes should be located. (SFT-1162)

[gregid]

I've also logged a new feature request to add a "Common" folder. I can definitely see the use for this, just to be more clear on where helper classes should be located. (SFT-1162)

To expand the feature request a bit (optional) the script wizard for the folder (in NS Editor) could simply be called "New Class" and generate simple class.

[NinjaTrader_DaveI]

More details certainly can't hurt. I've expanded the suggestion a bit.