NinjaTrader 8 Design Flaws

[spooz2]

I have been using NT 8 since early Beta. Upon release from Beta, I ported a number of custom indicators,.at considerable expense, which committed me to NT. I soon learned of serious design flaws which I suspect were due to programmers not being traders. #1: Charts (different instruments) are interdependent. Corruption of one chart freezes all charts in Workspace It's rudimentary: charts should be independent. #2: Merely changing one indicator parameter causes all indicators on the chart to re recycle even if invisible.This flaw compounds the problelm of interdependency mentioned above. #3 By default, Indicator names and parameters are listed at the top of the chart, usurpiing valuable chart real estate. My work=around: in Chart/Properties, change Text color to transparent.

[NinjaTrader_PatrickG]

1. Charts aren't necessarily interdependent, but could be depending on exactly what you're doing. For example, an ES and a CL chart should have no relation to each other. If the ES chart becomes unresponsive, NinjaTrader 8's multi-threaded design should mean that the CL is on a different 'thread' and is therefore unaffected by the ES issue. Can you go into further detail about what exactly you're experiencing? Do these charts with different instruments have the same custom indicators in common? What are the names of the indicators? Can you reproduce this symptom without the use of any custom indicators?
   
   To get enough specific information to assist you with this issue, it may be best to contact us via email. Please write into PlatformSupport[AT]NinjaTrader[DOT]com with a link to this forum thread, a brief description of the symptoms, and '2043427 ATTN Patrick G' in the message.
2. You're correct to say that all indicators my reload when a NinjaScript change has been made, however, this shouldn't necessarily cause any issues so I suspect if we diagnose/resolve the symptom is point #1 we might also resolve this.
3. A property within the indicator called 'label' is what prints on the chart when an indicator is added. If you want no indicator info to display on your chart, a better solution would be to go into the indicator and erase the contents of the 'label' property. If you want this to be the new default for the indicator when added to charts, you'll want to also click on 'template > save' at the bottom right of the indicator settings window.

[aligator]

1. Charts aren't necessarily interdependent, but could be depending on exactly what you're doing. For example, an ES and a CL chart should have no relation to each other. If the ES chart becomes unresponsive, NinjaTrader 8's multi-threaded design should mean that the CL is on a different 'thread' and is therefore unaffected by the ES issue. Can you go into further detail about what exactly you're experiencing? Do these charts with different instruments have the same custom indicators in common? What are the names of the indicators? Can you reproduce this symptom without the use of any custom indicators?
   
   To get enough specific information to assist you with this issue, it may be best to contact us via email. Please write into PlatformSupport[AT]NinjaTrader[DOT]com with a link to this forum thread, a brief description of the symptoms, and '2043427 ATTN Patrick G' in the message.
2. You're correct to say that all indicators my reload when a NinjaScript change has been made, however, this shouldn't necessarily cause any issues so I suspect if we diagnose/resolve the symptom is point #1 we might also resolve this.
3. A property within the indicator called 'label' is what prints on the chart when an indicator is added. If you want no indicator info to display on your chart, a better solution would be to go into the indicator and erase the contents of the 'label' property. If you want this to be the new default for the indicator when added to charts, you'll want to also click on 'template > save' at the bottom right of the indicator settings window.

Hi Patrick,

I agree with the first two issues raised here by spooz2.

1. spooz2's point is true. Let's say if for any reason one chart in a workspace freezes due to whatever reason (code error in one indicator, out of range, etc.) the entire NT and workspace will freeze regardless of the other charts in the same workspace or other workspaces being related by any means or not.

This is reproducible by searching and looking at a bunch of NT8 freezing issues reported by the members. Unfortunately, most of these freezing issues are resolved by e-mail instead of publicaly in the forum without any benefits to other members and the root cause remains unresolved.

2. It is beyond understanding, unless there is a reasonable programming limitation, that changing or modifying one indicator on a chart would cause reloading of all other indicators on the same chart. If you have a set of complex indicators on the same chart, all of them would needlessly recalculate and are redrawn using computer resources and time.

I do not personally care about item #1 freezing since it is not that frequent for me, although it can be frustrating (dangerous! ) when it happens in the middle of a trading day. However, Item #2 is really a pain since it happens any time one makes a change to an indicator. Is it really that difficult to fix this issue?

Thanks.

[NinjaTrader_PatrickG]

Typically, we find that the root of the full-platform freezing you're describing is unique to the end user's configuration (either NinjaTrader, their PC, or a combination), therefore, there is not a 'fix' we could post on the forums that would work for everyone experiencing those symptoms. If anyone is experiencing any type of freezing behavior, I encourage you to contact our support via email so we may work with you specifically.

When you change a parameter in a NinjaScript object the NinjaScript on the chart must reload and therefore the whole chart must reload. The reason behind this is that the chart is the home of the object it displays and must ensure each is properly loaded upon a change. I have submitted this as a feature request to the Development Team. The internal tracking number for your feature request is SFT-1726. Please reference this internal tracking number if you ever have questions regarding this feature request.

When a feature request is implemented, you'll find it in the release notes:

http://ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt8/en-us/?release_notes.htm

[kevinenergy]

If you add this to your indicator code you can get rid of all the Indicator Prams from the chart, and only print the name of the indicator; Or use String.Empty to display nothing.

        public override string DisplayName
        {
            get { return Name; }
        }