SharpDevelop - a free alternative to Visual Studio

[dave416]

I just downloaded SharpDevelop which is a free open source IDE alternative to Visual Studio and it's great for debugging NinjaScript.

It's fast/light weight and does the same things as VS, maybe better in some cases.

SharpDevelop is not officially NinjaTrader supported but it works as confirmed in this thread.

These are the steps I took to set it up:

1. Download SharpDevelop and install.

2. Launch NinjaTrader 32bit, then compile in Debug Mode (as per NT help docs)

3. In SharpDevelop, open the .cs file of your strategy, then choose Debug > Attach To Process - choose NinjaTrader.exe in the list.

4. Set some breakpoints, run your strat in NinjaTrader, then it should stop at your next breakpoint - at this point add some variables to your watchlist and do other things normally done in VS.

Hope this helps.

-Dave

[NinjaTrader_Joydeep]

Hello Dave,
Thanks for your post and hope fellow members will find it useful.

To add, you can Attach a process in Visual Studio Express edition 2012 and thus you can use it too as a free alternative.

[echgroup]

I just downloaded SharpDevelop which is a free open source IDE alternative to Visual Studio and it's great for debugging NinjaScript.

It's fast/light weight and does the same things as VS, maybe better in some cases.

SharpDevelop is not officially NinjaTrader supported but it works as confirmed in this thread.

These are the steps I took to set it up:

1. Download SharpDevelop and install.

2. Launch NinjaTrader 32bit, then compile in Debug Mode (as per NT help docs)

3. In SharpDevelop, open the .cs file of your strategy, then choose Debug > Attach To Process - choose NinjaTrader.exe in the list.

4. Set some breakpoints, run your strat in NinjaTrader, then it should stop at your next breakpoint - at this point add some variables to your watchlist and do other things normally done in VS.

Hope this helps.

-Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks for posting this info. It really helps me save a lot of time getting my Ninja project started in SharpDevelop.

Right now I am trying to debug an issue in UniRenko chart I downloaded from the forum. Can I use SharpDevelop to accomplish this task?

Thanks.

[ronb107]

"Attach To Process - choose NinjaTrader.exe in the list"

Problem is that NinjaTrader.exe is NOT in the list. How can I get it on the list so I can select it?

Btw, NinjaTrader is active (using NT7 in Windows 10).

Thanks

[dave416]

"Attach To Process - choose NinjaTrader.exe in the list"

Problem is that NinjaTrader.exe is NOT in the list. How can I get it on the list so I can select it?

Btw, NinjaTrader is active (using NT7 in Windows 10).

Thanks

Try running Ninjatrader 32 bit - to use 64 bit requires SharpDevelop 64 support which I don't believe exists.

[ronb107]

Thanks. That worked. Then, learning how to get SharpDevelop to run through the Indicator code took some trial and error.

Here is what I did....

In SharpDevelop...

1. Start NinjaTrader in 32-bit mode
2. In SharpDevelop: File > Open > File > (open .CS file to debug)
3. In SharpDevelop: Debug > Attach to Process > (select NinjaTrader.exe)


In NinjaTrader...

1. In NinjaTrader: Tools > Edit NinjaScript > Indicator > (select indicator to debug)
2. Compile the indicator with Debug ON (right click in editor and select Debug)
3. On the Chart: right click > Reload NinjaScript

The above gets the code running in SharpDevelop. It's all fun from there.