ZOrder issue NT. 8.0.1.0

[Harry]

I have an indicator which has the ZOrder set to '- 1' and uses Draw.Region() to draw a shaded area on the price panel. The indicator does not use a custom plot.

if (State == State.Historical)
{
    SetZOrder(-1);
}

When I apply that indicator to the price panel, everything works as expected and the indicator plots behind the price bars.

However, when I apply that indicator to a secondary panel, the indicator plots do not show but NinjaTrader throws an error message "Failed to call OnRender for 'indicator'. 'Sequence contains no elements'. Draw.Region shades the price panel as expected, while the secondary panel remains empty.

The problem only occurs, when both ZOrder is set to a negative value and DrawOnPricePanel is set to 'true' (or not set at all). No problem when either ZOrder is zero/positive or DrawOnPricePanel is set to 'false'.

Nota: I have used SetZOrder within State.SetDefaults. The new user manual suggests to use it within State.Historical. Why is that? The bug occurs in both cases.

[-=Edge=-]

However, when I apply that indicator to a secondary panel, the indicator plots do not show but NinjaTrader throws an error message "Failed to call OnRender for 'indicator'. 'Sequence contains no elements'. Draw.Region shades the price panel as expected, while the secondary panel remains empty.

The problem only occurs, when both ZOrder is set to a negative value and DrawOnPricePanel is set to 'true' (or not set at all). No problem when either ZOrder is zero/positive or DrawOnPricePanel is set to 'false'..

I'm using

 this.Zorder = -1;

in State Configure and using

 DrawOnPricePanel = true;

in State.Default and am Not experiencing that same issue..

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

Thanks. We are looking into that scenario further for the next release - #10787

For your question:

The new user manual suggests to use it within State.Historical. Why is that? The bug occurs in both cases.

Set ZOrder() checks the current z-order of all other chart objects in that panel, and then sets the desired value relative to the other objects. Those other chart objects may not exist until at least State.Historical, so it is best to wait to ensure that your desired level is not conflicting with a chart object.

[-=Edge=-]

Set ZOrder() checks the current z-order of all other chart objects in that panel, and then sets the desired value relative to the other objects. Those other chart objects may not exist until at least State.Historical, so it is best to wait to ensure that your desired level is not conflicting with a chart object.

Matthew, with that, are you saying that

SetZorder() is recommended over Zorder =

and that this should not be done before State.Historical?

I think I remember having to play around with this in earlier beta's and what I posted above seemed to work.. at least so far, but if there is now a recommended technique, over what I'm currently using, than I do want to adopt that..

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

Matthew, with that, are you saying that

SetZorder() is recommended over Zorder =

and that this should not be done before State.Historical?

I think I remember having to play around with this in earlier beta's and what I posted above seemed to work.. at least so far, but if there is now a recommended technique, over what I'm currently using, than I do want to adopt that..

You can use the ZOrder property setter, but it can cause conflicts as it's possible then for two chart objects to share the same ZOrder. This can be a problem if a user is e.g., manually modifying the ChartBars ZOrder and it now shares your chart objects ZOrder.

Using SetZOrder() during the initial load protects against this scenario since it doesn't set to a particular ZOrder, but instead a relative ZOrder.

[Harry]

Thanks. We are looking into that scenario further for the next release - #10787.

The observation made by @Edge is correct. The problem only occurs when SetZOrder(-N) is used in conjunction with DrawOnPricePanel = true.

When 'SetZOrder(-N);' is replaced with 'this.ZOrder = -N;',there is no problem.

It seems that SetZOrder() cannot handle negative values, when the indicator is placed on a secondary panel and DrawOnPricePanel is set to 'true'.