a few graphics suggestions

[kh_model]

for rectangles: please allow the user to right click on any rectangle that has been drawn by a strategy or indicator, and quickly clone it while retaining the same position, color, and style. This is an important feature to add because the results of strategies and indicators may disappear whenever the screen is redrawn. In contrast, manually drawn objects do not disappear under the same circumstances. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time to manually trace boxes and in my opinion there is just no good reason to eliminate the ability to clone an object that is part of a strategy from the list of potential actions that a user may take.

for lines: please allow the user to specify whether a line that is already on the chart should extend or not via a dialogue box.

for fibonacci extensions and retracements: the current functionality in NinjaTrader 6.5 is in my opinion the very best available anywhere. I must sincerely thank the very wise developer who implemented the fib tools in NT 6.5. No other program that I know of offers the same ability to control the display of fibs, and to reduce or add complexity as needed. I beg you, please do not remove ANY of the current functionality!

[NinjaTrader_JoshP]

You should be able to be able to copy draw objects regardless of if it came from a strategy or an indicator. For rectangles try clicking on the edges then just press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V.

Thank you for your suggestions. We will add them to the list of future considerations.

[kh_model]

follow up on existing limitations

Hello Josh,

Thank you for your previous reply. I just wanted to add that I already use "Ctrl + C" and "Ctrl + V" to copy rectangles that I have manually drawn, but the same method does not work with the rectangles that are drawn by proprietary indicators such as MTPredictor. This has proven to be a very time-consuming limitation, as nobody should have to draw what could easily be copied instead. Whether the developer of MTPredictor does or does not prefer users to copy rectangles should not be of concern here. I would like to also add that I briefly studied your api and if I am not mistaken, the copy functionality for rectangles does not appear to be implemented for all types of rectangles, as it seems to differentiate between "chart rectangles" and "strategy rectangles".

[NinjaTrader_JoshP]

If the rectangle is drawn via the DrawRectangle() method it has all of the same characteristics as if it were manually drawn. You will need to consult MTPredictor onto how they programmed to draw their rectangles. I suspect they did not use the DrawRectangle() method.

[kh_model]

Thanks Josh for your advice. You are so right that I though it might be nice to illustrate your point with some examples. Below, I have found two examples of api coded "rectangles" in two different samples, and yet the results of one can be selected by the user after it is drawn on the chart while the results of the other cannot be selected.

From "marketProfile" line 360 (example of selectable rectangle):

DrawRectangle("ValZone" + SessionCount, false, CurrentBar - BarCount, TPOLowZone, CurrentBar - BarCount - TPOHigh, TPOHighZone, Color.Transparent, valzonecolor, ValZoneOpacity);

From "VolumeZones" line 155 (example of unselectable rectangle):

graphics.FillRectangle(barBrushUp, new Rectangle(bounds.X, yUpper, barWidthUp, Math.Abs(yUpper - yLower)));


PS, I found "marketProfile" under the "FileSharing" section of NT Support forum, and "VolumeZones" is included with NT 6.5.

In the future, I'd like to see an api method that would allow me to iterate through all rectangles on a chart, regardless of which method was used to create them, so a user could programmatically draw new graphics based on existing ones and make further modifications as desired. This capability exists in Tradestation already.