GridCategory Suggestion for 6.5

[aslane]

GridCategory is one of the few things that breaks indicators between 6.5 and 7 that can not be worked around, because the XML can not be ifdef-ed.

I would suggest that it would be wise to allow "GridCategory" in addition to "Category" in the next release of 6.5. This would allow many NT7 indicators to run seamlessly between the two versions.

Not asking for new functionality, only that both keywords would be recognized in NT 6.5.

Not understanding the implementation, I may be asking for a lot, but it would be really nice to have.

[NinjaTrader_Ray]

Thanks Aslane. I don't know if this is asking for a lot either, I will ask Dierk since in principle, your suggestion makes sense.

[NinjaTrader_Dierk]

I had been thinking about before but rather not do that, since it would introduce issues in NT6.5 which I definitely did not want to do.

[cassb]

I had been thinking about before but rather not do that, since it would introduce issues in NT6.5 which I definitely did not want to do.

Dierk, I have found that the only code-breaking issue I have in my indicators is this Category vs. GridCategory issue. I would really like to not have to maintain two sets of indicators for v6.5 and v7. It looks like Category will still work in v7, as I have just copied all my indicators directly to the v7 folder and they compile OK and seem to run OK with no modifications.

Will the Category be supported in v7, or is this just a loophole in the code?

Thanks!
Bryan

[NinjaTrader_Dierk]

Please use GridCategory as documented in NT7. Anything else may or may not work.

[cassb]

Please use GridCategory as documented in NT7. Anything else may or may not work.

OK. I take it the answer is "loophole" then.

Oh well, two versions of code it is.

[eDanny]

Dierk, how do we determine what parameters are to be included in the indicator settings needed when calling the indicator from another indicator or strategy. The list is huge now and it seems there is no way to filter out what is not needed now by specifying what is in the Parameters Category like in NT6.5.

[cassb]

Please use GridCategory as documented in NT7. Anything else may or may not work.

Have you run across this issue when changing from [Category... to [GridCategory...?

If the variable for that parameter uses an enum value, I get this error message when trying to compile. For example, my enum is called OnOff:

        public enum OnOff { On, Off };

        [Description("Turn indicator ON of OFF")]
        [GridCategory("     Dashboard")]
        [Gui.Design.DisplayNameAttribute("Indicator Status")]
        public OnOff IndicatorStatus
        {
            get { return indicatorStatus; }
            set { indicatorStatus = value; }
        }

Error: The type or namespace name 'OnOff' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)
Code: CS0246

If I change that back to [Category... again, it compiles fine. Weird.

[NinjaTrader_JoshP]

eDanny,

I believe you can filter it by overriding the ToString() method.

cassb,

Can you provide a quick sample to demonstrate the issue? This way we will be able to see all the relationships of your code. Thank you.

[eDanny]

Josh, I'm not talking about the name and settings displayed on the chart, I'm talking about when calling the indicator from another indicators code. How do we pare down all the extras that were not seen nor required in NT6.5. For example a 6.5 indicator may have only a period setting in Parameters but an Extra Settings category with three bools. We would access with IndicatorName(period)Values[0] for example. In NT7 we see all the extra GridCategory settings. Would I need to access with IndicatorName(period, bool1, bool2, bool3)Values[0] even though the three bools have no effect on the indicator output?

[NinjaTrader_JoshP]

Will take a look and get back to you at a later point in time.

[eDanny]

Ok thanks.

[zweistein]

@cassb

why not add the namespace to the enum? should always work:

public NinjaTrader.Indicator.MyIndicator.OnOff {

}


e.g. be careful that your enum is only defined inside the MyIndicator class.

[NinjaTrader_JoshP]

eDanny,

Development says that GridCategory should be used only for parameters (what will be listed in your indicator method). Should you want something that is not a parameter property you should use Category.

[eDanny]

Ok Josh, is this undocumented until now? Every discussion I saw up till now seemed to imply you would change all the Properties from Category to GridCategory. This is now not true? It's nice if this is the easy fix. Thanks, Dan