MenuItem paint problem

[Brillo]

I'm using Ninja 6.5.1000.13 on Vista.

I'm having 2 problems with it that may require developer support:

1) When I run it for the 1st time after starting windows, the splash screen hangs while loading my workspace. I had this problem previously and since uninstalled and re-installed Ninja... and I also got rid of all workspaces. The problem continues with the re-install. When I double click the splash screen I get prompted to end the process ( which is hanging ). Then when I start it the second time it doesn't hang.

2) The 1st time I display any context menu ( not a toolbar menu, but a menu that comes up by right clicking on the NinjaScript editor for example ), the menu is drawn semi-transparent until I mouse over some of the items. At that point the menu comes fully into opacity. Next when I select the menu item ( the command is executed fine ), the menu is closed BUT the menu item I selected remains on the screen in a semi-transparent. Even if I close Ninja Trader this menu item remains painted. I've spied on it with Visual Studio's Spy++ and it's not a "window"... no win32 handle or anything like that. See the attached screenshot that shows the result of the menu items from when I was saving some NinjaScript. The only way I can get rid of it is by rebooting. This is a major problem because as soon as I start using Ninja I end up with a menu item that blocks my view of... well everything!

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Brillo,

on 1. please delete the default.xml workspace from the MyDocuments > NinjaTrader 6.5 > workspaces folder and restart NT fresh.

2. Those are artifacts and are not related to NinjaTrader specifically, but are normally video card issues, perhaps a fresh video card driver install can help? Some video card drivers allow adjusting performance / acceleration settings, I would adjust those as well to see if it makes a difference in your case.

[Brillo]

Hi Bert, I have a little bit more information for each:
1) I will try what you suggested for the startup problem tonight. But what I've seen is that it was happening while loading the default workspace. Then later, I had created a 2nd workspace which is loaded after the default workspace in the startup sequence. Since I created that 2nd workspace it hangs after trying to load that one, not the default one. This leads me to believe that it is not actually the workspace loading that is hanging, but rather, whatever the next step in the startup sequence.
I'll let you know what happens with the experiment.

By the way, I would recommend that the splash screen NOT be system model. It adds no value other then to get in the way. If the user wants to use other applications while waiting for Ninja to load, they can't.

2) I was able to get rid of the rouge menu item w/out rebooting. I shut down all other applications. I suspect it may have something to do with Outlook 2003 or the Windows gui process that manages the new Vista look and feel ( dmv.exe... can't remember the exact name ). I had killed that and outlook and then the menu went away. I'll experiment some more with this as well.
I can also see if there are any video patches for the computer and I can try reproducing it on a different machine. I will let you know what happens.
-Tim

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

Tim, thanks for the in your suggestions - please let me know how it goes in your testing later.

[Brillo]

Outlook 2003 and Ninja... not friends!

All the problems I've described have stopped happening since I've stopped running Outlook 2003 while running Ninja. Incredible! If I have Outlook 2003 running Ninja hangs after loading all the workspaces ( the splash screen still says it's loading the last workspace but I think it's finished with it for reasons stated earlier in this thread ). Further, if while the splash screen is hanging I then close Outlook 2003, Ninja continues and finishes loading. Must be a deadlock for some system resource but I can't imagine what that could be. Does Ninja acquire a lock to some system resource at that phase of the startup? Only a developer would know. Also, the menu ghost problem went away as well.

[NinjaTrader_Ben]

Hello,

The menu ghost problem is a Vista issue. It happens with other programs as well, not just NT.

I'm jumping in here but have you tried deleting the workspace (file/workspaces/delete) and recreating it? This may correct the issue. I've never heard of the outlook conflict you speak of so I suspect it is something else.

[Brillo]

Hi Ben, Yes I've tried your suggestion ( see #1 in the 1st post in this thread ). I've been able to reproduce the issue again and again with Outlook 2003. I'm sure that the problem is with that.

[NinjaTrader_Ben]

Hello,

OK, we can help you further if you do the following:
- Duplication the situation then immediately afterward send us an email via help/mail to support so we can look at your log and trace files
- Send us detailed step by step instructions on how to reproduce the issue.

If I have both of these, I can send it to our development team for analysis. If I do not have those I cannot send it to development.
Thanks!

However, I do suspect it is not NT because this conflict would be known by now.