Tabs keep disappearing after saving a workspace

[claxxical]

I have a workspace that has 4 chart windows with about 7 tabs in each window. No matter how many times I save it, NT will randomly lose some or all the tabs in a window when I restart NT. It will also lose the custom names I assign to each tab as well. This is extremely frustrating. How can these workspace files become so corrupted all the time? Not only that, they are XML which results in HUGE files and all the < and > turn into this mess:

<TradingHoursBreakPenSerialize>&lt;Pen Brush="#FF696969" Thickness="1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"&gt;
&lt;Pen.DashStyle&gt;
&lt;DashStyle /&gt;
&lt;/Pen.DashStyle&gt;
&lt;/Pen&gt;</TradingHoursBreakPenSerialize>

I've noticed this since NT7 so I wonder if the same code has been handling workspaces for all this time. Is this why the tabs keep disappearing? The serialization and deserialization?

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hello claxxical,

Thanks for the post.

This could be caused by your Windows installation not writing XML properly. Please try a reinstall of .NET 4. Instructions on doing so are below:

1. Close down NinjaTrader.
2. Go to the start menu, search for "Windows features", you should see an option that says "Turn Windows features on or off", select that.
3. Uncheck ".NET Framework 4.x"
4. Select OK, then restart your computer.
5. Once rebooted, go back to "Turn Windows features on or off", and check .NET Framework 4.x" to reinstall it.
6. Click OK and reboot your PC once again.

If this does not resolve the issue, make sure that any antivirus program you might have is allowing NinjaTrader full access. Please also test on a different PC if possible.

I look forward to hearing of your results.

[claxxical]

This didn't change anything for me. I also excluded both my NT Program Files folder and My Documents folders from my antivirus.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hello claxxical,

Thank you for the reply.

Could you test out the behavior after you do the .NET reinstall? We have no other reports of this issue so I'm thinking it is an environment issue (something in your Windows installation)

I look forward to assisting further.

[claxxical]

I mentioned that nothing changed for me in the previous message....it does this on other Windows installations as well so I know it's not a random isolated incident just on my machine. I've also always noticed corrupted XML workspace files since NT7. Have you tried to reproduce this?

[FMtrader]

I have a workspace that has 4 chart windows with about 7 tabs in each window. No matter how many times I save it, NT will randomly lose some or all the tabs in a window when I restart NT. It will also lose the custom names I assign to each tab as well. This is extremely frustrating. How can these workspace files become so corrupted all the time? Not only that, they are XML which results in HUGE files and all the < and > turn into this mess:

<TradingHoursBreakPenSerialize>&lt;Pen Brush="#FF696969" Thickness="1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"&gt;
&lt;Pen.DashStyle&gt;
&lt;DashStyle /&gt;
&lt;/Pen.DashStyle&gt;
&lt;/Pen&gt;</TradingHoursBreakPenSerialize>

I've noticed this since NT7 so I wonder if the same code has been handling workspaces for all this time. Is this why the tabs keep disappearing? The serialization and deserialization?

Hello
I have experienced a possibly related problem and after some investigation was able to solve it.

I can recreate the problem by doing the following:

1) Create a a chart template (any chart), turn off the tabs (in properties) and save the template. Exit out of that workspace.
2) Create any new chart in another workspace with tabs showing then click on the adjacent tab to open another new chart. Load a security using the template you created above (the non tab template). Once that chart has loaded put it into the background by clicking the adjacent tab.
3) Save the workspace and exit. In theory you should have saved the two charts listed in point (2).
4) Reopen the above workspace and you likely find only one chart visible and no tabs. If you check properties it will show tabs enabled but you need to reapply them the tabs to re-appear.

My conclusion is that if you have a tabbed chart that was created from a non tabbed template and you place that in the background before first saving the workspace the tabs go missing on all the adjacent charts. The work around is to bring the original non tabbed template chart to the foreground after turning tabs on and re-saving the workspace.

Somehow it appears the non tab property in my original chart template was being saved in my workspace no matter how many times I saved the workspace. I had to bring that original chart to the foreground then save the workspace.

It may be that among your tabbed charts somewhere was one that was initially created without a tab. If your workspace was initially saved with that chart in the background you may be getting the same problem that I experienced. I consider it an NT8 bug.

[TraderYoda]

I used to experience this same issue at random. Never figured out why it happened. I have rebuilt my workspace since it last happened (months ago). Sorry can't be of more help. I hope you get it resolved as it's very frustrating

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hello,

Thank you for your patience.

I was unable to reproduce the error here. I will ask my colleague if he can help reproduce this. FMtrader could you post your workspace file here? It can be located under ..\Documents\NinjaTrader 8\workspaces.

I look forward to your reply.

[pjsmith]

Just to validate FMTraders comment. I've had this bug for a very long time too, over multiple versions, including the latest (it occurred to me again yesterday). Workaround is as quoted above. Right click chart, choose properties, untick show tabs, apply, re-check show tabs, apply, chart tabs are back. I reported this in the forums (and probably directly to support) many, many months ago...

[claxxical]

Even when I show and unshow the tabs, they still disappear. This is driving me crazy now. I tried resaving and re-applying every chart template in every tab (show tabs checked, etc etc) after setting up the workspace exactly how I want it. Every time I open up NT, it's a roll of the die to see how much time I'll have to waste recreating my workspace.

[claxxical]

I just did an experiment with a brand new workspace. I created a blank one with just one chart window, showing one tab. I saved this workspace and copied the raw xml text into a diff tool. I then added a new tab to the window so now my workspace was one chart window with 2 tabs. I saved this workspace again, got no errors, copied the xml into the diff tool and it didn't even add a new tab. The only difference between the two files was the

<TabControl>
<SelectedIndex>1</SelectedIndex>

The SelectedIndex value went from 0 to 1. I then added a 3rd tab, saved, copy pasted the xml into the diff tool and again, the only difference was the selected tab control index again, updated to 2. NT never even wrote those 2 new tabs to the xml, it just updated the selected tab index. Of course, since the tabs weren't being saved, this explains why they don't load for me. It doesn't do anything but create an index out of range exception when it tries to load the workspace.

After closing NT and reloading the workspace, as expected, those 2 new tabs that I created weren't there because they never made it to the xml file.

I have no idea why this happens randomly and only to certain tabs. I also never get any errors when I save.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hello ,claxxical,

Thank you for the reply.

I have been trying to reproduce this problem but I am unable to. Could you please post your workspace file here or email it to platformsupport[at]ninjatrader[dot]com, referencing ATTN ChrisL in the body of the email. There is no sensitive information in workspace files so it is ok to post here if you wish.

You can find your workspace file in ..\Documents\NinjaTrader 8\workspaces

I look forward to your reply.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hello claxxical,

I wanted to confirm that you saw my previous message above. It seems like many users have seen this so I would like to further research this with the workspace you are using.

I look forward to your response.