How good is the beta software?

[ETFVoyageur]

My main need is charting, so the following questions pertain only to that aspect of NinjaTrader 8 -- developing custom chart indicators and displaying charts.

If I join the closed beta program will I have usable software (albeit pre-release), or will I just be one more external tester of software that is not yet ready for me to really use?

What I am hoping for is:

• Able to understand the NT8 indicator architecture, and how it has fixed the shortcomings in the NT7 Indicator architecture
• Able to port my NT7 custom indicators over to NT8
• Able to easily handle custom indicators I have downloaded for NT7. My first choice would be to download NT8 versions of them, but I'll settle for it being easy to port them myself.
• Once I have ported any indicators I care about I will no longer need any NT7 charting
• I expect to run into some implementation bugs, and possibly even some design bugs, but I hope not enough to cost me a great deal of time.

Just how good in NT8 beta software? Are my hopes realistic yet? How many of the indicators that were freely downloadable for NT7 are already downloadable for NT8?

(Added later: I am also very interested in Market Analyzer, so any comments on that aspect of NT8 are welcome.)

I understand one of the goals in NT8 is tighter integration with Visual Studio, including the ability to edit code in Visual Studio. Is that there in the beta software yet? (I am running the newly-released Visual Studio Community 2015, if the version matters.)

I presume that the beta is compatible with Windows 10. Is that true?

Any other things I should know before getting into this? Good news? Bad news?

Thanks,
EV

[sledge]

Who's your data provider/broker? You might be able to run both live connections to test. (if your machine is capable of it).

[ETFVoyageur]

I am using Kinetick EOD

One addition to the original post -- I am also very interested in Market Analyzer (I also edited that post).

--EV

[NinjaTrader_PaulH]

Hello ETFVoyageur,

Thanks for your post.

"... will I have usable software (albeit pre-release).." - Yes.

"Able to port my NT7 custom indicators over to NT8" - Yes, the NT8 helpguide provides the information needed via code breaking changes.

" How many of the indicators that were freely downloadable for NT7 are already downloadable for NT8?" We have converted all of the reference samples here: http://ninjatrader.com/support/forum...splay.php?f=30 , other popular indicators/strategies, on the forum, will be ported over as time permits.

"I understand one of the goals in NT8 is tighter integration with Visual Studio, including the ability to edit code in Visual Studio. Is that there in the beta software yet?" - Yes, you can debug your NinjaScript objects using Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 or higher.

"I presume that the beta is compatible with Windows 10. Is that true?" - Windows 10 has not been fully released yet, once it has we will be testing it and it is expected to be supported.

If you are interested in participating in the beta test program, please send an e-mail to Platformsupport[at]Ninjatrader[dot]com - requesting to join the program.

[koganam]

My main need is charting, so the following questions pertain only to that aspect of NinjaTrader 8 -- developing custom chart indicators and displaying charts.

If I join the closed beta program will I have usable software (albeit pre-release), or will I just be one more external tester of software that is not yet ready for me to really use?

What I am hoping for is:

• Able to understand the NT8 indicator architecture, and how it has fixed the shortcomings in the NT7 Indicator architecture
• Able to port my NT7 custom indicators over to NT8
• Able to easily handle custom indicators I have downloaded for NT7. My first choice would be to download NT8 versions of them, but I'll settle for it being easy to port them myself.
• Once I have ported any indicators I care about I will no longer need any NT7 charting
• I expect to run into some implementation bugs, and possibly even some design bugs, but I hope not enough to cost me a great deal of time.

Just how good in NT8 beta software? Are my hopes realistic yet? How many of the indicators that were freely downloadable for NT7 are already downloadable for NT8?

(Added later: I am also very interested in Market Analyzer, so any comments on that aspect of NT8 are welcome.)

I understand one of the goals in NT8 is tighter integration with Visual Studio, including the ability to edit code in Visual Studio. Is that there in the beta software yet? (I am running the newly-released Visual Studio Community 2015, if the version matters.)

I presume that the beta is compatible with Windows 10. Is that true?

Any other things I should know before getting into this? Good news? Bad news?

Thanks,
EV

The answer to all your questions is pretty much "yes", but subject to all the issues that beta programs bring. IOW, some things do not work as described; some things did not carry forward from the previous version etc..

If I may put in a personal word. NT8 seems to have shifted focus considerably towards programmers, while keeping most of NT7 usability for end-users. In fact, the shift to a programmer focus is so deep that it is something of a surprise to me. At this stage, we need to get all (or as many as we can) things that impact programmers to the fore. This is the time to do it, especially, as development has so far been very responsive, not just to bugs, but also to feature suggestions that are low-hanging fruit. I am aware of your coding skills. I think we NEED you in the beta program: this is the best time to effect change; before things get frozen into unsupported territory!

So far, the stability of the code has been a revelation in how to properly conduct a beta, by not releasing code until it is almost ready for prime time. I will call that "good news".

Just my $0.02.

[ETFVoyageur]

The answer to all your questions is pretty much "yes", but subject to all the issues that beta programs bring. IOW, some things do not work as described; some things did not carry forward from the previous version etc..

If I may put in a personal word. NT8 seems to have shifted focus considerably towards programmers, while keeping most of NT7 usability for end-users. In fact, the shift to a programmer focus is so deep that it is something of a surprise to me. At this stage, we need to get all (or as many as we can) things that impact programmers to the fore. This is the time to do it, especially, as development has so far been very responsive, not just to bugs, but also to feature suggestions that are low-hanging fruit. I am aware of your coding skills. I think we NEED you in the beta program: this is the best time to effect change; before things get frozen into unsupported territory!

So far, the stability of the code has been a revelation in how to properly conduct a beta, by not releasing code until it is almost ready for prime time. I will call that "good news".

Just my $0.02.

Thanks for the encouraging reply. You will be happy to hear that I have already sent in my Beta Agreement, and so should be joining you on NT8 soon.

Nice to hear how programmer-friendly NT8 has become, and how well-supported it is. As you are aware, I have had my issues with NT7 indicator architecture -- in some cases finding it difficult to understand just what NT7 is doing and difficult to implement a few things I need. (Understanding the multiple instances of the indicator and the GetProperties() call helped a lot.)

I am very much looking forward to seeing how NT8 supports those needs. I am glad to hear how responsive they have been -- I was hoping that by getting into the beta I could have some influence if some of the NT7 shortcomings have not yet been fixed in NT8. At this point I'd rather put my energy into NT8 indicators instead of doing more NT7 work. It is important that, since NT8 is the future, it work as well as possible.

--EV

[ETFVoyageur]

Hello ETFVoyageur,
... If you are interested in participating in the beta test program, please send an e-mail to Platformsupport[at]Ninjatrader[dot]com - requesting to join the program.

I presume that, since you have already sent me a Beta Agreement, which I have signed and returned, that I do not need to also contact Platformsupport?

--EV

[NinjaTrader_PaulH]

Hello ETFVoyageur,

Correct!