Re: [amibroker] Re: Blank Space in AmiBroker 5.21.0 BETA, AmiBroker Email List Archive

On Feb 16, 2009, at 3:50 AM, Tomasz Janeczko wrote:

Hello,

No, it was not #1239 alone, the "blank area" extension was subject to following
suggestions:
#1516, #1500, #1239, #982, #808, #561, #430
They were mostly duplicates.

They all spoke about blank area but each in a different way.
That's the problem - everyone wants it different and you can not please everyone.

Therefore I have to come up with solution that addresses all often contradicting and inconsistent
suggestions in a way that make sense (more or less).
If I were implementing things exactly in a way people suggested them, the program would
be complete mess because of contradictory requirements.

Therefore you can not expect that actually yours gets implemented
in exactly the way you wanted it to be, because there are 10000 other users and everyone has
different (opposite?) opinion.

So, the final choice is mine, and it is me who decides how to implement it that is easy to use
for majority and makes sense for me.

I am keen to hear the feedback and it is appreciated, but you need
to understand that the list opinion is very small portion of all feedback I get
and there are lots of things happening off-list, so making judgements from list activity would
not give you whole or correct picture.

I appreciate the feedback that tells if you like some feature or not or what is bad with current solution,
however it is after all my program, so let me decide what is implemented, when and how
and what I can mark as implemented or not.

Also - please do use the Feedback Center http://www.amibroker.com/feedback/ to comment on any feature.
I asked for that thousands of times and people just ignore that.

About a week ago I added the following line to the FOOTER of every post on this list:

>TO SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS please use FEEDBACK CENTER at
>http://www.amibroker.com/feedback/
>(submissions sent via other channels won't be considered)

Posting on the list creates huge mess as list is disconnected.
If you use feedback center then comments are connected to the issue you are commenting on,
if you use the list - it is just noise.

I consider this as closed subject, it has already been decided what will be implemented.

Best regards,
Tomasz Janeczko
amibroker.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Brown
To: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 3:35 AM
Subject: Re: [amibroker] Re: Blank Space in AmiBroker 5.21.0 BETA

Tomasz,

I am sorry if I did not understand the source of the many requests for this feature. It had looked to me like it was for the advanced users needing more room for their future predictions with custom AFL coding. Going back and re-reading the requests it seems to be a mix between programmer users who wanted more control over the blank space and unknown programmer status users who just wanted a larger maximum number in the preferences setting (like 365 instead of 50). My various follow-on posts could work for both (by increasing the maximum preference setting also).

My objections and further suggestions for the current implementation are justified in that you marked my suggestion #1239 as implimented when in fact it did not provide the minimum functionality I asked for.

However, as I have said before and put in the original suggestion, I would be satisfied with a variety of methods that gave the ability to have a fixed number of pixels of space by AFL setting of number of blank bars, or any other means. I am not stuck on an AFL coders only solution, I just thought it would be easier to do and provide the most flexibility.

In fact, this general idea extrapolated from what sidhartha70 wrote below is another way. Provide a way to manually lock in the maximum blank bars on the chart by adjusting the chart where you want then doing some action to lock the current scroll position. Sidhartha70's method below would require a new drag chart X tool <-> since the pointer tool already has a function for a mouse down click.

Another way would be to allow adding more blank bars only from the right arrow of the scroll bar and not the scroll wheel. Then a right click of the scroll bar would have an option to set the current position as the maximum blank bars -- minimum of zero bars. That way the scroll wheel could be used to navigate around the chart without adding more bars by mistake.

There are many different possible ways to get the minimum of suggestion #1239
However, if you will not provide any of them this time, then it should not be marked as implemented yet.

Best regards,
Dennis

On Feb 15, 2009, at 6:47 PM, sidhartha70 wrote:

How about something like this TJ... and obviously I write this as a
user not a programmer - so I have no idea how difficult this would be
for you to implement...

I use the mouse wheel mainly to navigate charts... or the scroll bar
with the mouse. How about a per previously, a maximum number of bars
to the right margin of chart is set by preferences, and is adhered to
by mouse scroll wheel & scroll bar operations.

Additionally, there is one more way to move along the x-axis of a
chart... a chart dragging operation. When the left hand mouse button
is clicked and held, the cursor changes to a little hand, and the
chart can be dragged left or right... using this operation ONLY the
user could, on the fly, add as much room to the right hand margin of
the chart as they wanted. However, once released, any further
operations with the mouse scroll wheel or scroll bar would cause the
maximum number of bars set in preferences to come back into force.

Obviously there are kinks of operation to be ironed out... but in
principle it would allow users to, on the fly, very quickly change
between enjoying a maximum number of bars operation OR adding bars to
the right hand margin of the chart without changing another parameter.

--- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Tomasz Janeczko" <groups@xxx> wrote:

Hello,

You look only from "advanced" user point of view and you represent
less than 10%
of AB users.
Contrary to your views, majority does not want touch AFL as long as
possible.
They want more space, WITHOUT *any* coding.
And actually the most repeating complain about AmiBroker
is that it is "for programmers" because you need to code.

So, no, another "coders-only" solution is not a solution at all.
It may be add-on for advanced users, but never the mainstream solution.

Best regards,
Tomasz Janeczko
amibroker.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Brown" <see3d@xxx>
To: <amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 11:34 PM
Subject: Re: [amibroker] Re: Blank Space in AmiBroker 5.21.0 BETA

Tomasz,

IMHO, having this as an AFL setting would give a lot more value.
Perhaps something like:

SetChartOptions(mode, Flags, gridFlags, ymin, ymax, maxBlankBars =
BlankBarsPreferencesSetting)

If more than one pane in the chart, then the largest number wins.

I believe something like this would satisfy all the different
comments
I have seen expressed about this and be fully backwards compatible.

A chart would start out as it does now with the default number of
blank bars.
No scrolling would go beyond this number.
If this SetChartOptions() specifies a new number, then one of two
things happen, and I am not sure which would be better for most
users
(option 1 would be best for me):

1. Number of blank bars is set to the new number for this chart
only
(all panes), or
2. Max number of blank bars is increased to this new number, but
must
be scrolled to make it happen.

Please consider this or something similar while you are working on
this feature.

Best regards,
Dennis

On Feb 15, 2009, at 1:25 PM, Tomasz Janeczko wrote:

Hello,

It is "chart" (i.e. window) specific already.

OK, I see that this feature creates some trouble for some of you,
so it will be optional, plus one enhancement will be added making it
easier to revert to "normal" without switching symbol.

Best regards,
Tomasz Janeczko
amibroker.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "sidhartha70" <sidhartha70@xxx>
To: <amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 4:35 PM
Subject: [amibroker] Re: Blank Space in AmiBroker 5.21.0 BETA

Ignore that... of course each pane has a seperate chart ID.

--- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "sidhartha70" <sidhartha70@>
wrote:

Why not make it chart specific...? Under 'Axes & Grid' for
example...?

--- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Tomasz Janeczko" <groups@>
wrote:

Re: [amibroker] Blank Space in AmiBroker 5.21.0 BETAHello,

To restore default - simply change the symbol.

It can not be pane-specific because multiple panes within one
window
share the same scrollbar,
plus same bar within same window need to line up with other panes,
otherwise
vertical selector line would not work any more.
The scrollbar belongs to chart window, so it is window specific.

Best regards,
Tomasz Janeczko
amibroker.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Herman
To: Herman
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 2:07 PM
Subject: Re: [amibroker] Blank Space in AmiBroker 5.21.0 BETA

btw, this seems overly complex... why can't we have a simple
SetOption("BlankBars",n) that is pane-specific? If users want to
control it from the chart they can use a Param().

I think I read some ramblings about this topic before, sorry if i
repeat things. Just too many emails and not enough time...

herman

Sunday, February 15, 2009, 8:02:53 AM, you wrote:

     I have rouble with the blank spaces... it seems i can
increase them, but not decrease them, and cannot click them back to
their default. To get my default I have to change ticker. I
obviously
misunderstand plain English or some critical points are missing.
Could
someone please tell me in simple steps what this means:

      "Blank area past last available quote can be now
enlarged on
the fly by simply using > arrow in the scroll bar (and do what?) or
using mouse wheel (just roll the wheel past the last bar (this
scrolls
the chart...)"

      Is there a way to restore defaults?

      Please tell it to me me as if I were a 3-year old ;-)

      thanks,

      herman

      Friday, February 13, 2009, 3:25:14 PM, you wrote:

           Hello,

            Thank you very much for your detailed and
constructive
feedback. It is appreciated.

            As for +/-10 layers - I would need to check if this
would not degrade performance plus I am not sure if having 20
options

            in the Format->Z-order menu would be pleasing to the
eye, but anyway that will be considered.

            Rectangle/ellipse fill color - yes it is blend of
background and study color at the time of creation of the study.
Subsequent changes

            of background color don't affect already drawn
studies.

            Blank space - yes it gets reset once you switch to
different symbol and yes it is so to enable you actually go back

            to "normal" once large space is no longer needed. I
also was thinking about checkbox to switch this off because

            as history teaches not everyone likes the
changes, but
your suggestion of adding "maximum" setting is

            even better. Anyway I was just thinking that
on-the-fly extension is nice to have because it saves a lot of
mouse
clicks

            (instead of going to Preferences over and over
again).

            As for "pixel" dimension - I am not big fan of
that as
that would generate lot of headache when coding as charts and
scroll
bar logic is based

            on bars everywhere in the program as "pixel" is not
relevant and changes pretty often (zoom, printing, copy image,
metafile output

            - all these have completely different DPI).

            Anyway, something to think over.

            Best regards,

            Tomasz Janeczko

            amibroker.com

            ----- Original Message -----

            From: Dennis Brown

            To: amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

            Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 7:36 PM

            Subject: Re: [amibroker] AmiBroker 5.21.0 BETA
released

            Tomasz,

            Thank you for providing all the new charting
capabilities. I have much praise and also some other feedback
from my
first hour of use and adding the new AFL features to my program
already.

            . X-Y co-ordinate labels on axes implemented. Can be
controlled using View->X-Y labels menu.

            This is great! I can now ditch the one I just
finished writing -- LOL! Yours is much better. I like the shadow
effect to make it stand out better.

            . Plot, PlotForeign and PlotOHLC now have new
parameter zorder which defines the Z-axis position of given plot

            . All drawing tools now can define Z-order (from
-5 to
+5).

            This is great, but it would be even better if it were
-10 to +10 layers, though I could get by with 8. 5 are enough
layers
for groups of plots, but not quite enough for my individual
plots,
so
I still have to break my plotting routines from my modular function
generation code. With 10 layers above and below, I could have
enough
layers to make my functions truly modular.

            I absolutely love that the default study lines are
below the Gfx plots. My studies no longer obscure my on-chart
button
arrays and information tables.

            . new AFL functions ColorBlend

            This is great! A way to select colors by stepping
through values in a way that makes sense to the eye. I will
have to
think of a way to include this in my charts.

            . Rectangle and Ellipse drawing tool now are by
default SOLID, with default fill color being a blend between
background and selected drawing color, they are use ZOrder = -1
(behind regular plots) by default

            This is a great improvement! Though I must not
understand what you mean by blend between the background. I
changed
chart background colors and it did not change the color of the
oval I
was testing... Wait, I just figured it out. It uses the color
of
the
background when you create the object only and does not change it
dynamically after that.

            . Blank area past last available quote can be now
enlarged on the fly by simply using > arrow in the scroll bar or
using
mouse wheel

            This one is causing me some difficulties. I both
love
it and hate it.

            I love that I can increase the space easily.

            I hate that it has no limits and once increased, it
becomes the new default for the position thumb all the way to the
right.

            I hate that if the symbol is switched, it does not
remember what it was last set to, though that seems to be the
only
way
to reset it back to the default.

            If I want to increase the space, it is usually to a
constant PIXELs of blank space so that I can fit objects that are
pixel based to the right of the chart in the blank area. So being
able to increase the blank area if I am zooming out to many bars
is a
good thing.

            However, I very often use the scroll wheel to move
back an forth in the chart during real time trading. I move
left to
see some last support level for setting a study point, then I
give
the
scroll wheel a quick zip to get back to the right default position
again for trading the current bar. With this new mode, I zip right
past all the bars to a blank chart and am lost in white space.

            So this feature is causing me more problems than not
having it at all. I don't really need the ability to add unlimited
white space.

            What I need is one of the following:

            1a A way to turn this feature off, or

            1b A maximum amount of white space preference
that the
scroll wheel can't exceed -- preferably with either bars or pixels
options.

            1a A way to turn this feature off, and

            2b A preferences checkbox that allows pixels rather
than bars of default white space, or

            2c An AFL function to set the amount of future bars
that overrides the default.

            Thank you for being such a great developer that
listens to your customers!

            Best regards,

            Dennis

            On Feb 13, 2009, at 9:52 AM, Tomasz Janeczko wrote:

            Hello,

            AmiBroker 5.21.0 BETA is released now:

http://www.amibroker.com/devlog/2009/02/13/amibroker-5210-beta-released/

            Best regards,

            Tomasz Janeczko

            amibroker.com

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**** IMPORTANT PLEASE READ ****
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This is *NOT* technical support channel.

TO GET TECHNICAL SUPPORT send an e-mail directly to
SUPPORT {at} amibroker.com

TO SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS please use FEEDBACK CENTER at
http://www.amibroker.com/feedback/
(submissions sent via other channels won't be considered)

For NEW RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENTS and other news always check DEVLOG:
http://www.amibroker.com/devlog/

Yahoo! Groups Links

------------------------------------

**** IMPORTANT PLEASE READ ****
This group is for the discussion between users only.
This is *NOT* technical support channel.

TO GET TECHNICAL SUPPORT send an e-mail directly to
SUPPORT {at} amibroker.com

TO SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS please use FEEDBACK CENTER at
http://www.amibroker.com/feedback/
(submissions sent via other channels won't be considered)

For NEW RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENTS and other news always check DEVLOG:
http://www.amibroker.com/devlog/

Yahoo! Groups Links

------------------------------------

**** IMPORTANT PLEASE READ ****
This group is for the discussion between users only.
This is *NOT* technical support channel.

TO GET TECHNICAL SUPPORT send an e-mail directly to
SUPPORT {at} amibroker.com

TO SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS please use FEEDBACK CENTER at
http://www.amibroker.com/feedback/
(submissions sent via other channels won't be considered)

For NEW RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENTS and other news always check DEVLOG:
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