There is some significant loss of functionality (ver 6.5 -> 7.0) in the Strategy Analyzer user interface that affects iterative backtesting of strategies:
In version 6.5 you could select multiple instruments within the instrument lists displayed in the TreeView control on the left side of the Strategy Analyzer window. In version 7.0 you can only select a single node at a time.
The problem for me is that I often run strategies on a subset of instruments in an instrument list rather than the entire list. I expand the node and select a range of individual instruments in the list and run the backtest on just those instruments.
Without the ability to multi-select, it will be necessary to individually select each item to run or else create a special purpose instrument list that just contains those instruments that I want to run together.
In NinjaTrader 6.5 it is very convenient to be able to select a subset of instruments on the fly to backtest without having to create a special-purpose list.
But even in 6.5 there is a certain amount of kluginess in the multi-select process: You can multi-select a range of items using the shift key, but trying to use the control key to select individual nodes in the tree is often dicey. Also, depending on how exactly you perform the selection, the backtest might or might not run on the first item in the range.
But at least you have the ability to multi-select and run multiple tests as a single operation on a subset of an instrument list.
On small instrument lists where there are not many individual items under a node, not having the ability to multi-select would not be such big issue. But if the instrument list is large and you want to select a significant subset of the instruments, it would be necessary to individually backtest each item in turn, instead of issuing a single command to run the selected items as a group. That's a lot of manual work to do! Especially since some strategies take a long time to run, so you would essentially have to baby-sit the process instead of being able to go off to do other things.
The alternative would be to go into Instrument Manager and create a special-purpose list. But really you don't want to go through the process of creating a special-purpose list that you only plan to use once. What you really want is the ability to create a special-purpose list on the fly, and multiple-selection allows you to do just that.
I sincerely hope you will consider including this functionality in the new version.
If you do, I hope you are able to make the functionality in version 7 more robust than it was in version 6.5. Ideally, it would include:
--[1] the ability to use the shift key with the mouse to multi-select a range of contiguous nodes;
--[2] the ability to use the control key with the mouse to multi-select single nodes that are not contiguous with one another;
--[3] the ability to combine these methods so that both a range of contiguous nodes and individual nodes not contiguous with one another can be combined in a single selection.
But even if you only included [1] that would be a huge improvement over not having the ability to multi-select at all!
I see you have put a lot of effort and creative thought into the charting capabilities of NinjaTrader 7. I was really impressed. Strategy Analyzer doesn't need all those bells and whistles, but it ought to be at least as capable as the previous version of the product.
In version 6.5 you could select multiple instruments within the instrument lists displayed in the TreeView control on the left side of the Strategy Analyzer window. In version 7.0 you can only select a single node at a time.
The problem for me is that I often run strategies on a subset of instruments in an instrument list rather than the entire list. I expand the node and select a range of individual instruments in the list and run the backtest on just those instruments.
Without the ability to multi-select, it will be necessary to individually select each item to run or else create a special purpose instrument list that just contains those instruments that I want to run together.
In NinjaTrader 6.5 it is very convenient to be able to select a subset of instruments on the fly to backtest without having to create a special-purpose list.
But even in 6.5 there is a certain amount of kluginess in the multi-select process: You can multi-select a range of items using the shift key, but trying to use the control key to select individual nodes in the tree is often dicey. Also, depending on how exactly you perform the selection, the backtest might or might not run on the first item in the range.
But at least you have the ability to multi-select and run multiple tests as a single operation on a subset of an instrument list.
On small instrument lists where there are not many individual items under a node, not having the ability to multi-select would not be such big issue. But if the instrument list is large and you want to select a significant subset of the instruments, it would be necessary to individually backtest each item in turn, instead of issuing a single command to run the selected items as a group. That's a lot of manual work to do! Especially since some strategies take a long time to run, so you would essentially have to baby-sit the process instead of being able to go off to do other things.
The alternative would be to go into Instrument Manager and create a special-purpose list. But really you don't want to go through the process of creating a special-purpose list that you only plan to use once. What you really want is the ability to create a special-purpose list on the fly, and multiple-selection allows you to do just that.
I sincerely hope you will consider including this functionality in the new version.
If you do, I hope you are able to make the functionality in version 7 more robust than it was in version 6.5. Ideally, it would include:
--[1] the ability to use the shift key with the mouse to multi-select a range of contiguous nodes;
--[2] the ability to use the control key with the mouse to multi-select single nodes that are not contiguous with one another;
--[3] the ability to combine these methods so that both a range of contiguous nodes and individual nodes not contiguous with one another can be combined in a single selection.
But even if you only included [1] that would be a huge improvement over not having the ability to multi-select at all!
I see you have put a lot of effort and creative thought into the charting capabilities of NinjaTrader 7. I was really impressed. Strategy Analyzer doesn't need all those bells and whistles, but it ought to be at least as capable as the previous version of the product.
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