tabbed user interface for charts

[stocktraderbmp]

May be you could be more specific with the problems you are having and others may be able to help - if you run the diagnostics within windows tabs and send a report to the guy that wrote the software - I think he was called Maurice - he should be able to help. Sorry to hear your having problems with my recommendation - I am still trouble free - I only need one chart to trade from but will often have 3 or 4 open. It has never 'frozen' on me so I doubt I will be able to help with that.
I noted in an earlier thread that someone was asking about functionality and 'grouping different charts on different monitors. This is possible in Windows Tabs - I use 2 monitors and have tabs from the same application open on both.
Admittedly there could be more user functionality built into the tabs - having to rename labels every time is tedious and setting up your monitors with the tabs and charts everyday takes me 2 or 3 minutes - if you could simply open your last session it would be easier and I understand this is being developed - but overall still very happy and would still recommend.

[PeterBrazel]

Thanks for the info. I have followed your instructions.

Thank you also for your original post about your WT experience without which I would not even have a chance of achieving an interim solution to this frustrating problem.

Either the developer of WT or NT themselves will surely address this popular feature request.

Cheers

[PeterBrazel]

Windows Tabs not the problem

I recently posted comments about Windows Tabs causing my computer to freeze and was seeking assistance from anybody who has had experience with this product.

It turns out that my freezing problems were NOT being caused by Windows Tabs but by one of my indicators. It just happened that the freezing issue began at the time that I installed Windows Tabs for the first time.

I trust that this post clears any misunderstanding I may have caused by my prior post.

Thank you

[stocktraderbmp]

I recently posted comments about Windows Tabs causing my computer to freeze and was seeking assistance from anybody who has had experience with this product.

It turns out that my freezing problems were NOT being caused by Windows Tabs but by one of my indicators. It just happened that the freezing issue began at the time that I installed Windows Tabs for the first time.

I trust that this post clears any misunderstanding I may have caused by my prior post.

Thank you

Pleased you got to the bottom of it and very kind of you to have posted your findings - hopefully it will help others.

[Irukandji]

This decides whether I get NT or not

I run 4 monitors in a quad formation.

I have used both IB and OptionsXpress. Both of these happily open windows on any monitor and 'snap' to fill the entire space just as maximising any window would in Windows Explorer, or a tabbed window in say the Firefox browser.

I want to go with either NT or eSignal11 to run my charts. They both do things so much better than IB (TraderWorkstation) or OptionsXpress.

But both lack the ability to have tabbed windows. This is a joke! There is a certain way people expect interfaces to work nowerdays and tabbed windows is firmly a part of that! Stretching a single canvas across 4 monitors?! (in my case) - this is utterly bizarre!

Having floating windows is horrible. Most folk want things to be neat and organized and open in exactly the same configuration every time they start the software.

Now some say they like the floating windows - well fine, that is possible with tabbing just as you can float your un-docked windows in Firefox browser or Windows Explorer. The rest of us (probably the majority) would like to have things well organized.

First, we need to be able to open as many tabs as we want on our main monitor. (as most people probably only use one monitor) - or for when we are on the move and only have a loptop.

Then to be able to drag some of them onto a 2nd, 3rd or maybe 4th monitor or more. To be able to change their order, to re-group them or drag them to other monitors and re-dock them to other tabs there.

With respect to charts, take a look at OptionsXpress. They give you the option to specify how many charts you want in one window (one tab) - you can then move them around as a group of say 4 charts, or 9 or 12. Whatever you want. (as long as the configuration is balanced)

Why is this so hard for NT? It's so blindingly obvious to me! It can't be that hard to program.

You also need to look at what eSignal11 is doing with it's auto-alignment of elements within a window. i.e. every time you open a new element, say, an options chain, it re-positions and re-sizes whatever you already have on screen to fit the new element in. Then , if you don't like where it is, you can grab it and move it where you want it on your screen. The other elements shift around to make room. Automatically. And everything stays neat and tidy. No horrible floating windows all piling up on top of each other. (please watch the free eSignal11 demo video on their site)

Now if you combined this superb innovation with tabbed windows, that still adhered to this auto-alignment system when detached from each other (eSignal11 cannot do this yet) you would have the best charting software on the market.

Those that still want a free-floating mess, hey! Just pull out each element (like it is its own window) and hey presto, it's floating. Or turn off "auto-alignment" - whatever.

Does this make sense? It would be so elegant. I can't conceive of a charting package NOT having this functionality. It's crazy that it doesn't.

Fly me to America and I will explain to your team exactly how this should look, feel and behave. I cannot tell you how to program it though ; )

I did a crappy drawing of my set-up - Have a look. It should be self explanatory!

PLEASE IMPLEMENT THESE CHANGES ASAP - LIKE THIS YEAR! (2012)

[thecompanion]

WindowsTabs still is not properly coded for NinjaTrader. Not only does it not always remember my workspace setup when I try to restore it, but somehow it affects the mouse wheel when I try to scroll in the DOM. I had to just remove the product to get things working properly again. Maybe, some day, Ninja or somebody will develop a good tabbed product for NinjaTrader; and this will be a great enhancement for someone with a single monitor and multiple charts and windows open.

[NinjaTrader_PatrickH]

Hello thecompanion,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the NinjaTrader Support Forum!

This is an item we look to improve upon in the next major release of NinjaTrader. However, nothing is set in stone at this time and we do not have a release date for the next major release of NinjaTrader.

Please let me know if I may be of further assistance.

[condor]

I have recently tested TabMaster and I find it to be extremely useful.

The program has been enhanced massively by its very capable author since my last test early last week.

The new features (that I have not used yet) are said to include:

1. Ability to hide titlebar on windows within TabMaster.

2. A "detach" option to manually detach a tab.

3. Hotkeys to go forward/backwards through the tabs. The hotkeys
are Ctrl-Alt-F11 and Ctrl-Alt-F12.

4. The titlebar for Tabmaster itself can be hidden.

5. The right-click menu includes option to minimize, maximize so that one does not need a titlebar.

5. Ability to grab specified windows.

6. If you run multiple instances of TabMaster, and put, say, 5 minute
charts in one instance, and 15 minute charts in the other instance, it
automatically links these. So, if you display the AUDCAD 5 min
chart, then it will automatically select the AUDCAD 15 min chart in the
other instance. (Assuming of course that you have such a chart grabbed
in the other instance)

7. Automatically restores window positions when it detaches


Some of my personal observations about "TabMaster", based on an older release:

My initial test environment was Win2k Pro, sp3 with NT 6.0, Tradestation, and an early version of TabMaster. Everything worked very well for me.

I also use a freeware program called "DeskPins" to pin windows, and it works well with "TabMaster".

There was some prior discussion in this thread about the loss of a chart window's titlebar functionality after it has been added to TabMaster. I observed that it is easy to RMB-click on any NT chart inside TabMaster in order to access working versions of the same tools that also appear in the title bar. If window linking in NT was applied to a chart before the chart was added to TabMaster then the links apparently continue to work even though other titlebar features seem to be disabled.

Of course, I observed no loss of titlebar functionality on NT windows that were not added to TabMaster, such as Control Panel, Market Analyzer, DOM, etc.

In my opinion, the author of this program has made a stellar contribution to the NT community!

I appreciate you if send me "TabMaster"
Thank you