Tomasz,
I really appreciate your reply to my feedback. I understand your side
of things also.
I assume that with the layers that you had to create 10 buffers for
the plots and just output them in order. If 10 is too much for the
UI, even just 8 would be enough for 95% of needs.
I agree with you that having the ability to just scroll more white
space is preferable to setting preferences values.
As far as the pixel dimensions -- I was just referring to screen
pixels only. If there were an AFL command to set a default number of
bars that would also be just as good, because I already generate a
BarsPerPixel value for the screen for other uses, so: MaximumBlankBars
= round(defaultPixels * BarsPerPixel). It is very simple to make this
calculation on the fly for use in the next AFL pass which will keep
the blank space constant even while zooming charts.
Possibly this MaximumBlankBars value could be used just for a maximum
scroll bars (make it a variable?), so that a scroll would have to take
place to readjust the white space after zooming. I could live with
this also.
I can see the value of this being an AFL setting for others who may be
doing future bar related work (not pixels like I am). Their formula
may look a different amount into the future for predictions depending
on things like cycle frequency. So having this capability could
benefit a more general audience than just Gfx button/table drawing.
Thank you again for making this a "conversation".
Best regards,
Dennis
On Feb 13, 2009, at 3:25 PM, Tomasz Janeczko 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: [email protected]
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
