Hiding/Disabling an Indicator  [SOLVED]

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Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 04 Sep 2017

Hi,

When I switch the status of an indicator to OFF, it leaves the huge space on thew screen. WHY???

Please tell me how to temporarily hide or switch off an indicator so that it disappears completely on the screen, along with the area it occupied.
That way I have more space on the screen for whatever it might be I wish to concentrate on.

Also, can it can made easier to enable/disable an indicator please (i.e. a simply addition of a right mouse click menu).
TS have it down perfectly, and I am truly baffled not only why you guys didn't simply replicate that, and why you went instead with leaving a blank space on the screen when switching an indicator to the Status OFF. I'm very confused with the line of thinking involved there.

And even more puzzling, its been like that for years, and end users sit there and put up with it without saying a word. WHY???

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby arnie » 05 Sep 2017


And even more puzzling, its been like that for years, and end users sit there and put up with it without saying a word. WHY???
WHY?
It's very simple really.
-The majority of us rarely if ever hide an indicator
-The majority of us don't use indicators that are plotted in a sub chart
-Many of us don't even use indicators
-The majority of us are programming automatic systems
-The majority of us have more important issues for MC developers to fix than that one

Don't assume that you know what is more important for us.
Each one of us have their own view for Multicharts.

Having said all this, yeah, you're correct, it makes no sense hide the indicator and leave the sub chart opened/visible.
You are not the first one complaining about this.

Go to Project Management page and open an issue for it.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 05 Sep 2017

Hi Arnie,

Thanks for your response.

So IF a majority do the things you say, you have immediately indicated why I asked the question WHY?? A Majority could be 51%, implying up to 49% are applicable to my comments. Let's ignore for the moment that you have never actually done a survey to answer the questions you state as a matter of fact. This is the kind of problem we have in the world with the LEFT where they attack and make statements as though they were true, When in fact they are nothing close to truth.

I would happily wager the vast majority of Multichart owners USE indicators at some point, and in some fashion, even if coding up automated systems. Once testing, design and coding is complete, then of course these people won't need to display the indicator, but in fact I would suggest the vast majority still do. Simply to help them observe and make sure everything is happening as it should.

Arnie, I haven't read your many other posts, but did you ever think that when replying, it would be more beneficial for everyone to contribute in a POSITIVE way? Stating 'facts' which are in reality merely wild guesses by you, just makes you look foolish. Just a suggestion.

So, my question is still open and unanswered. I will add the request as you suggest Arnie.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby arnie » 05 Sep 2017

Arnie, I haven't read your many other posts, but did you ever think that when replying, it would be more beneficial for everyone to contribute in a POSITIVE way? Stating 'facts' which are in reality merely wild guesses by you, just makes you look foolish. Just a suggestion.
In which way is my comment a negative one?

There are 5833 member in this forum.
As far as I remember, only a hand full of people ever complaint about the hidden indicator subchart, you being one of them.
I know that I suck at math but for me, based on that information, the majority of people in this forum did not show any interest in it, which indicates that for them is not really a problem or is not a big problem for them to verbalize their opinion.

I want to believe, if they do, they would have said something about it, someone had already opened an entry for it in the Project Management page so people could vote for it (maybe someone had already opened one, I really can't tell).

Regarding political views... well, I couldn't care less about them.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby JoshM » 05 Sep 2017

I think we're confusing hiding with disabling (and vice versa) here. If an indicator is disabled, it's not necessarily hidden. And a hidden indicator isn't necessarily turned off (the way I understand it).
Also, can it can made easier to enable/disable an indicator please (i.e. a simply addition of a right mouse click menu).
To enable or disable an indicator, simply click on the name of that indicator on the chart. The indicator will then get a grey border around it, showing that it is disabled/turned off.
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That's even a single click as opposed to first opening a right-click menu and then a left click to choose from that menu.
Please tell me how to temporarily hide or switch off an indicator so that it disappears completely on the screen, along with the area it occupied.
To switch off an indicator, see my comment above about the 'left click on indicator name'-feature.

To hide an indicator:

- Right-click on the indicator and select 'Format [indicator name]'.
- Go to the 'Properties' tab.
- There select 'Hide'.
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Having said all this, yeah, you're correct, it makes no sense hide the indicator and leave the sub chart opened/visible.
You are not the first one complaining about this.
I actually like it, because it makes it easy to re-enable the indicator afterwards. Plus, I don't have to resize the subchart (which we otherwise likely have to do when the indicator is completely from the chart).
Arnie, I haven't read your many other posts, but did you ever think that when replying, it would be more beneficial for everyone to contribute in a POSITIVE way?
The way I read it, you (Adrian) started this topic in an unfriendly way, complaining that 'you guys' simply didn't do it better and writing 'WHY???' as if we were in a cartoon where big letters and extra question marks add value.

Arnie said that there are more important issues than how hiding and disabling an indicator works. I really hope that you fully disagree with that. Because if hiding/disabling indicators is your biggest problem/annoyance, then you have it pretty good. :)

Let's keep it in perspective. Also because both hiding and disabling indicators is already possible. Perhaps it doesn't work as smoothly as you wanted. Or perhaps a keyboard shortcut would be helpful. But it still works and is still possible.

For ideas on how to improve this feature, just open a new feature request in the project management site so that hiding/disabling works nicer for all of us.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby arnie » 05 Sep 2017

Having said all this, yeah, you're correct, it makes no sense hide the indicator and leave the sub chart opened/visible.
You are not the first one complaining about this.
I actually like it, because it makes it easy to re-enable the indicator afterwards. Plus, I don't have to resize the subchart (which we otherwise likely have to do when the indicator is completely from the chart).
I can't find the thread but I remember that one of the solutions presented for that would be when we hide the indicator by clicking on the status bar button, the subchart would be closed and the indicator button would move into the main chart.
By clicking on the indicator button again, the subchart would be opened and the button would move back into it.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 05 Sep 2017

Arnie, I haven't read your many other posts, but did you ever think that when replying, it would be more beneficial for everyone to contribute in a POSITIVE way? Stating 'facts' which are in reality merely wild guesses by you, just makes you look foolish. Just a suggestion.
In which way is my comment a negative one?

There are 5833 member in this forum.
As far as I remember, only a hand full of people ever complaint about the hidden indicator subchart, you being one of them.
I know that I suck at math but for me, based on that information, the majority of people in this forum did not show any interest in it, which indicates that for them is not really a problem or is not a big problem for them to verbalize their opinion.

I want to believe, if they do, they would have said something about it, someone had already opened an entry for it in the Project Management page so people could vote for it (maybe someone had already opened one, I really can't tell).

Regarding political views... well, I couldn't care less about them.
Arnie, Unfortunately your insights and conclusions are massively flawed.

You naively assume that every owner of MC is a member forum, and that every forum member will actually take the time to speak up on every issue they don't like or would like to see in the software. I assume you are extremely young, as life will teach you, IF you are observant, that in fact only a minute % of people will ever speak up. Have you never heard the term 'silent majority'?? So the fact no one speaks up does NOT mean there aren't many users out there, also annoyed and/or puzzled by a particular situation.

So its not so much a lack of maths ability on your part, but a complete lack of understanding of human behaviour, which is of course, one of the key aspects required to become a successful trader, as markets are all about human behaviour.

But you highlight a problem that occurs not only here but with other software management. Making changes based on the number of people voting for a particular issue is a really horrible way to make great software. As highlighted above, the vast majority of MC users do not even frequent here. An even tinier minority bother to read all the posts, and a very tiny proportion of those bother to actually vote. So what you end up with is the minority of minorities determining the needs and direction of the software LOL Clearly an absolutely horrendous situation. Plus, there is the valid notion that the vast majority of end users don't actually know what is beneficial to them. For example, someone might put forward a highly beneficial suggestion, but if no one understands it, no one will vote for it, and therefore management will allow it to sit there for years on end. I can speak from absolutely certainty on that situation.

The reason your comment was negative was because it created misdirection for readers, by pretending to believe your opinions were fact, when in fact they are more than likely wrong. but I can't say for certain because I have never interviewed every MC user. The other problem, is that it wastes both our time (and readers) in having this conversation which takes us further away from the original post, To the point that it gets lost completely and goes unresolved. Case closed. Far better to send a private message so as not to distract others. Or say nothing is another option : )

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 05 Sep 2017

Hi Josh,

Thanks for your constructive response.
Unfortunately you make the assumption that I have my status line turned on and therefore have the ability to make the choice you mentioned.
You will also discover that selecting this option leaves me at the exact same point as I made in my first post, which is that the sub-chart remains in place.
So this ISN'T the solution, it is merely another way to do what already exists.

Enabling and hiding to me are identical in the sense I am discussing. If the indicator isn't enable, it isn't plotted, and if there are no other indicators or data in the window, then the window should vanish. I've never encountered another charting program (And I have them all) that leaves a blank sub-chart, and I can't think of a single reason why a person would want to have their screen occupied by an empty space?

To Hide the indicator involves multiple mouse clicks. And it ISN'T what I am talking about. When it is hidden, it is still active, and still being calculated and still taking up CPU usage. A person may of course have a perfectly valid reason for hiding an indicator, although it isn't common. Hiding data streams is very common.

And while you may like things as they are, that is because you are showing me you have limited experience with other programs and ways to do things, and don't realize it can be even simpler than you imagined. Just try TS and you will see. Two mouse clicks and the indicator is hidden/disabled and full use of the screen made available, without any need to 'resize' the subchart, which is just another serious waste of time.

May I also suggest you learn to differentiate a complain from a question. I asked a very simple question. The fact you might have been offended by it, should cause you to look within yourself as to explain why. I ask questions because I like to understand.

Arnie is entitle to his opinions of course, and it doesn't take a genius to know there are more important issues than the one I raised. I never said, suggested, hinted or implied it was the most important issue. I must have missed this comment of his. Truly bizarre one to make fir sure. On the basis of a comment like that, this forum should only ever have one post. THE POST, only ever discussing which issue was the most important LOL Of course we would all have to vote to decide which was the most important before a moderator would allow any post to actually be posted : ) OMG....is it any wonder most people lose in trading when a mind works and thinks this way??

So in summary Josh, thanks for taking the time to provide your input, but hopefully you will now see there are easier, better and faster ways to achieve what CAN'T be done in the current version of MC when it comes to disabling AND hiding an indicator AND its sub-chart, if that was the only indicator in that window. trust me, I know 100% what I am talking about. One does work out a few things after working with almost every package on the market in the past 35 years.

I have made a project management request earlier today.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby arnie » 05 Sep 2017

For sure, somethings are better to be talked directly with support, via private message or email than in here.
For sure, only a minor % of people will speak up and I truly am hopeful that MC management take in consideration what those minor % of people is requesting since those are the ones that truly are interested in helping MC to grow, the ones that take their time to come here or via email and request some feature that they thing it might help them and other in getting a better MC experience.

Instead of calling for people participation, for them to speak out, you prefer to decide for them what is better, since they clearly don't know.
Go figure!

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby arnie » 05 Sep 2017

I have made a project management request earlier today.
Please post the link so people that read this thread can go there directly and vote.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 05 Sep 2017

For sure, somethings are better to be talked directly with support, via private message or email than in here.
For sure, only a minor % of people will speak up and I truly am hopeful that MC management take in consideration what those minor % of people is requesting since those are the ones that truly are interested in helping MC to grow, the ones that take their time to come here or via email and request some feature that they thing it might help them and other in getting a better MC experience.

Instead of calling for people participation, for them to speak out, you prefer to decide for them what is better, since they clearly don't know.
Go figure!
Arnie,

You keep making stuff up.
How am I deciding what is better? If MC support adds a feature, how would that forcing others to use it? I think you are seriously misinterpreting and misunderstanding the words I am saying. I would be ecstatic if there was much higher participation by people, in all forms of life. Progression would happen at a much faster rate. A number of years ago, there was a program called Wealth-Lab, written by a German guy. It was building a huge following, with a project management site that had huge participation, was well organised, but in particular, the owners were active in adding new features that many people votes on. Then it was sold to Fidelity. At that point I stated clearly things would fall apart. And they did. The program still exists, but participation collapsed, and active management of the program ceased to exist. It has barely moved forward since. Heaven help us if one day MC is sold to some big corporate. That will be the day to start looking elsewhere.

And strictly speaking, the majority don't know. That is one of the reasons why most lose money. there are many other reasons of course. and its certainly not my place to decide what is right or wrong for them. No idea where you got that notion. What I was trying to say was that in reality, it is entirely possible a single feature request, that no one else truly understands how to use or why it might be of benefit, may in fact be extremely useful. Just having many people request a new feature, does not mean it would actually be beneficial, even though the end user might on the surface think it is so. You need to thin beyond the 1st dimension if you hope to understand what I am saying. Its not complicated once you have experience and an understanding of market behaviour.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 05 Sep 2017

I have made a project management request earlier today.
Please post the link so people that read this thread can go there directly and vote.
https://www.multicharts.com/pm/public/m ... es/MC-2318

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby sptrader » 05 Sep 2017

I think AdrianP's original request was to be able to "status off" an indicator without leaving the blank box, as MC used to function for many years ...
I think there is an option to remove the blank box when status is off, because on my Trading machine, I can turn the box on and off with the indicator but on my laptop I cannot... I think the "switch" is under layers of menu's, so a little hard to find,.. if I stumble into it again, I'll post it here..

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 05 Sep 2017

I think AdrianP's original request was to be able to "status off" an indicator without leaving the blank box, as MC used to function for many years ...
I think there is an option to remove the blank box when status is off, because on my Trading machine, I can turn the box on and off with the indicator but on my laptop I cannot... I think the "switch" is under layers of menu's, so a little hard to find,.. if I stumble into it again, I'll post it here..
Thanks for your great response. Simple and to the point. So, you are saying that MAC didn't used to have the empty box? It would be great if Henry could respond and explain to us why they have it setup this way. I have looked through the menus, but could easily have missed some box to tick that would eliminate the empty indicator chart. Anyway, if you discover the answer SPTrader, I would love for you to let us know the solution.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 06 Sep 2017

Just to let everyone know, the powers that be have decided there is no desire or plans to correct the design flaw in MC.
In effect, they have officially APPROVED the attached picture as being perfectly acceptable.
For whatever reason they think MC users want to work with this sort of layout, where, unless you actually DELETE the indicator, you CANNOT get rid of the empty space as a result of setting indicator status to OFF.
PURE INSANITY. It feels very much like dealing with TS people.
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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby TJ » 06 Sep 2017

Hi,
...

And even more puzzling, its been like that for years, and end users sit there and put up with it without saying a word. WHY???

My guess is... because nobody needs such a feature?

How many votes have you got on your PM?

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 06 Sep 2017

TJ....6534 posts, and you actually think whether a design flaw gets corrected, should be base don votes? LOL Now that's funny.

So, if for example, you discover in your use of MC, a bug that causes the program to terminate say, each time you try to do a certain task, and you report it on the PM site, but because its a fairly obscure situation, no one really cares or even reads your post, and it gets no votes. So, on that basis you would be perfectly happy, concluding that because it didn't garner a huge number of votes (none in fact) that it therefore can't possibly be important, even though to YOU, its stops you doing your work?

If you think the number of votes on any issue, be it bug related, feature related, or referencing a design flaw, then may I suggest you are completely out of touch with the whole process. You need to step back and learn to think on a much broader and deeper level than you are. I do hope at least some of your other 6534 posts have been more insightful than this one :) It's like you are sitting in a single room, and your whole world is when the sun comes up and shines through the window.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby JoshM » 07 Sep 2017

I still think that disabling and hiding an indicator is possible. It works for me at least.

But this is not a topic I like to spend more time on; it's too negative and attempts to help or think along are met with negativity and personal stabs.

I do hope that someone with authority (a moderator) steps in, because this pissing on MultiCharts, MultiCharts management decisions, other forum members, the project management site, and even dissing a moderator is not behaviour that encourages more posts from other forum members.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby arnie » 07 Sep 2017

So what you're basically saying is that we are all wrong and you're the only one that is right, the only one that can see the light.

But again, when I look to your last screenshot, I agree with you, it's really make an odd visualization, seeing all that empty space without any data in it.
I continue to agree with you, if the study is switched off, it should disappear from the screen.
In part I know what you're feeling, the frustration it is to have something you feel is wrong and seems no one cares.
I'm probably one of the most annoying guys here on the forum that MC management has to deal with. Well, nowadays not so much but a couple of years ago I was constantly exchange emails with them, banging my head on the wall about stuff that they should change.

You need to understand that if MC management thinks that it's something not worth pursing at this moment, they are in their right to do so. For them, there are things more important than that to dealt with.
For the majority of users, that seems to be the case also since no one on the forum is complaining.

I would advise you to have a bit more respect for the users on the forum.
You don't know us, we don't know you.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 07 Sep 2017

Hi Arnie,

I 100% respect those who respect others. Please carefully read the thread and look at the many comments people have made which bare no relaiton to the original topic.

"So what you're basically saying is that we are all wrong" ??? No. There is no right or wrong. I like to work with as much of my screen as possible. Clearly others are happy not to. That's their choice. Even though many might consider it to be a truly bizarre choice. Many other posters never truly understood the problem in the first place. I tried explain, but one can only do so much. If they had responded with questions or showing an attempt to reach a higher understanding, then I am happy to help. But no, most couldn't manage it. LOL So I make absolutely no apologies for a single word in any of my posts, as they contain nothing but appropriate responses. I would stand by everything I said 100% without hesitation.

Happy that you see what I am seeing though Arnie and agreeing :) Yes, frustration is the term. It is so basic. So simple. So obvious. That it defies any explanation in my mind why the powers that be, said this is how we want it. Then to IMMEDIATELY delete the request to correct it, was even more telling and glaring. I typed a long explanation to them, and within seconds got a response they had no plans to change it. So clearly they couldn't possibly have read, consider and discussed my PM response. So yeah, it hugely disappointing. But I see it every day frankly. All around the world, people do the same. They act in a manner that is opposite to their best interests, for any numbers of reasons. Usually driven by ignorance and emotion. a deadly combination.

And yes, MC management have every right to terminate anything and go in a direction they see fit. That is their right, since it is their program. It would just be nice to understand their thinking and reasoning though. You'll notice there has been a total absence on this thread, even though Henry is normally very active in responding to questions etc. Very interesting.

Most MC users do NOT read this forum, nor have even signed up for it. Most forum members do NOT make posts. So to interpret a lack of response as an indication there is no issue, would be a massive mistake. It is a mistake almost everyone I meet in life, in similar situations, just doesn't get. It shows a profound lack of understanding of human behaviour. I said in an earlier post, have you never heard the concept of 'silent majority'? Generally the silent majority don't speak up until their backs are pushed against the wall. Thus allowing the minority to dominate the airwaves and seem like they are in fact the majority.

There is a LOT to learn from this thread that has absolutely nothing to do with the strict topic at hand. The greater your depth of understanding, the better will your trading results become in time.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby sptrader » 07 Sep 2017

AdrianP: I'll try to find the "option" to turn off the empty box this weekend.. It is NOT a bug, as I have it working fine on my desktop but it doesn't work on my laptop... both running current version of MC... I just have to compare ALL of the settings between the two..going to take some time.
It's located under layers of sub menu options somewhere... I remember on my desktop, it drove me nuts, until I found the "option" to turn off the empty box, but that was over a year ago and I don't remember where it is at the moment.. but I will search for it this weekend..
I wish MC had defaulted to no empty box .. as it was in the past.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 07 Sep 2017

Thanks SPtrader. I wait excitedly :) I feel your frustration when 2 identical versions are doing different things. When trying to solve computer problems, I find simply going through a process of elimination generally gets one towards a resolution. If there is an answer, I wonder why even the support staff at MC don't know. Rather concerning, since they could have resolved the thread by the 2nd post if it is solvable.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby sptrader » 07 Sep 2017

Thanks SPtrader. I wait excitedly :) I feel your frustration when 2 identical versions are doing different things. When trying to solve computer problems, I find simply going through a process of elimination generally gets one towards a resolution. If there is an answer, I wonder why even the support staff at MC don't know. Rather concerning, since they could have resolved the thread by the 2nd post if it is solvable.

It's possible that support hasn't looked at this thread yet...
I do remember changing something on the Desktop to remove the window. I just wish I had done it on my laptop too, but I don't use it much for MC stuff, so I didn't think about it at the time.. it's there, I just have to dig...

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 07 Sep 2017

Support definitely responded. I put in a request to the PM site. They responded by showing they didn't understand the problem, and declined the request. I then responded with a more detailed explanation along with the chart I posted above. They responded even quicker the 2nd time, saying they weren't going to do anything. Effectively a COMPLETE DENIAL. Their response was so quick it was obvious they never read my detailed explanation, thought about it, and discussed it. All they had to do was say, "yeah, we messed up, and have added it to our list with a high priority". But like most traders, we don't like to take a loss LOL.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby sptrader » 07 Sep 2017

Support definitely responded. I put in a request to the PM site. They responded by showing they didn't understand the problem, and declined the request. I then responded with a more detailed explanation along with the chart I posted above. They responded even quicker the 2nd time, saying they weren't going to do anything. Effectively a COMPLETE DENIAL. Their response was so quick it was obvious they never read my detailed explanation, thought about it, and discussed it. All they had to do was say, "yeah, we messed up, and have added it to our list with a high priority". But like most traders, we don't like to take a loss LOL.

Sounds like support thinks you are complaining about a BUG, it is NOT a bug, just a hard to find setting..

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 07 Sep 2017

I actually did list it initially as a bug I think, and they altered it to feature request. In reality, it is NEITHER. It's a DESIGN FLAW, but there was no selection box for that : )

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby sptrader » 08 Sep 2017

AdrianP : OK, here is the FIX for removing the indicator box when you status OFF a study ...

Open a chart in MC . with an indicator ...(to test it)..

Go to "File" , "Preferences" , then "Charting" and UNCHECK "Enable indicator status switch" ....

NOW save the chart and shutdown MC.

Restart MC ... now test the "status" button , it should work correctly... (remove indicator and box)..

That's what fixed it in mine.... it ONLY works AFTER you re-start MC ...
Good Luck !

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 08 Sep 2017

@sptrader You're a genius :) Thanks so much for your efforts. IT WORKED!
It seems that when you have the ability to switch off an indicator by clicking on the status line (leaving the empty box), it effectively disables the ability to make the indicator sub-chart disappear as it should.
MC support should have pointed this out to us right from the start. I hope they read this post so they learn a bit more about their program.

Once again, your posts have been positive and constructive all the way. I appreciate very much that you stayed focussed and on track.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator  [SOLVED]

Postby sptrader » 08 Sep 2017

Glad it worked for you !
Good trading...

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby bowlesj3 » 09 Sep 2017

Just to let everyone know, the powers that be have decided there is no desire or plans to correct the design flaw in MC.
In effect, they have officially APPROVED the attached picture as being perfectly acceptable.
For whatever reason they think MC users want to work with this sort of layout, where, unless you actually DELETE the indicator, you CANNOT get rid of the empty space as a result of setting indicator status to OFF.
PURE INSANITY. It feels very much like dealing with TS people.

2017-09-06_23-43-05.jpg
Another solution for you Adrian if you happen to want to hide all indicators except one (I tried to quote your picture but it does not show here). For your specific example (where you show all the lower sub charts blank) right click on the main chart at the top. At the very bottom of the submenu that appears click "maximize subchart". To bring it back repeat the process. Very fast. Very easy.

Another tip. When you hide an indicator I find I have to put it at the bottom when I make it visible again. There is a way to drag it back to the normal place. I was grumbling about this until I found the solution than I thought to myself (grumbling didn't help).

You might also want to click on the thanks button to thank sptrader for his post (the button with the hand and the thumbs up). I thanked sptrader and I also put his post in my reminder system just in case I wish to do this someday. Life is a journey and we can't predict our wants and needs in the future.

What would be nice would be to be able to toggle hidden/unhidden on the list of indicators and have it pop right back where it belongs when visible gain (too tired/busy/whatever to request it at the moment).
Last edited by bowlesj3 on 12 Sep 2017, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 09 Sep 2017

Thanks Bowles, I do actually use the maximise subchart when I want to hide the price data, but I could have perhaps given it more thought when seeking solution with multiple indicator windows. Although, I think that would also mean the PC was still wasting its time calculating stuff that no one is looking at, but certainly a quick and possibly viable solution.

The drag and drop is very a copy of TS. Just watch for the cursor to change when you hit the small space between windows, and you can shift a window up or down. Or even drag an indicator into another window.

I've clicked a thanks for sptrader's taking the time to discover the solution. Good suggestion Bowles.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby bowlesj3 » 09 Sep 2017

I attached some pictures with some ideas they might want to consider to make MC a bit easier/faster. What is there is okay but for some reason the need to drag down the scroll bar I find cumbersome.

Update:
Making the box bigger would probably be the simplest solution. Big enough for (show at top, five subcharts, put at bottom, hide) would probably be enough for most people. So room for 8 rows. That would save the scrolling and be a fairly easy change.
Attachments
StudyStatus.png
(52.21 KiB) Downloaded 2703 times
Last edited by bowlesj3 on 09 Sep 2017, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 09 Sep 2017

Hi Bowles,

I did provide my suggestions, which is basically a replica of how TS does it. Very simple and efficient. Makes much better use of the RMC, which MC sadly lacks in that area on many facets. It is one of the fastest most efficient ways to get things done. Microsoft actually got that tool spot on.

And yes, I wold love the Sub-Chart select box to just default to the size required to show all choices. How hard can that be? Having to scroll is a pain. Especially when using a 4K monitor as I do.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby bowlesj3 » 09 Sep 2017

I think I just figured out why they have it the way they have it. New programmers have a lot of studies abort on them. Even now I have studies bomb for strange reasons that have nothing to do with my program. Either way the current set up with MC makes it a lot easier to switch the study back on and I switch studies on a lot more than I hide them. So it really is a good feature the way it is now. The thing is I didn't realize I could click on the greyed out indicator name to turn it on. So this is an example of what I said before "we can not predict what our needs and wants will be in the future" (mainly because we learn stuff every day and we can't always predict what we will learn). Now I want it the way it is :-) but I had to learn how to use MC a bit better to realize it. Now if this is left the way it is and the other changes I suggested above are put in then the best of both worlds can be had. Just making the box bigger is a help and/or creating a drop down on the list of indicators list (both would be best). Another option would be to put a hide/unhide toggle button next to the status button which is in the list of indicators form. It can just default to putting it at the bottom with a popup box that can be shut off which tells the user they can drag the subchart up to the old location (they will learn that pretty quick and shut the popup box off soon enough).

Of course if you want to get greedy you could ask for a USB ear plug that can read your mind and "just do it" like the Nike people say :-)
I won't request that because I know it is too hard :-)

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby bowlesj3 » 09 Sep 2017

One last speedup. You can assign a shortcut key to hide an object. For example ctrl+h. It took me a while to find the shortcut keys area. It is under the file menu and once in there you choose charting then just scroll down to find it.

I just noticed you can go down the list to find a bunch of ones that are already assigned as default.

So now any ones I assign go into my reminder system to get me in the habit of remembering I have them and using them :-)

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby AdrianP » 09 Sep 2017

@sptrader Sadly, I've just discovered, while your solution corrects one problem, it ultimately creates an even bigger problem. When working on code, if for some reason it doesn't verify, which can easily happen due to a typo or any number of other possibilities, then MC will proceed to HIDE every copy of that indicator in each of the windows present. This is way worse than STATUS OFF. So if you have the same indicator in multiple windows, MC will change it to hidden every time your code happens not to verify. OMG what a nightmare. I then have to manually go into every window and reselect the indicator to appear in the correct sub-chart or price data window.

Therefore, in summary, we are back to square one, with my original solution still needing to be implemented, IF support staff are able to admit there is a serious design flaw. I"m not holding my breath.

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Re: Hiding/Disabling an Indicator

Postby bowlesj3 » 10 Sep 2017

To answer your first post questions directly.
When I switch the status of an indicator to OFF, it leaves the huge space on thew screen. WHY???
It does this so if a study aborts during new testing it is easy to turn the study back on after you fix it (just click the grayed out area). It avoids the nightmare you just just described.

Please tell me how to temporarily hide or switch off an indicator so that it disappears completely on the screen, along with the area it occupied.
That way I have more space on the screen for whatever it might be I wish to concentrate on.
If you want it (hidden and running) create a shortcut key with ctrl+h to quickly hide it.
If you want it (hidden and off) there are more steps but it can be done. My suggestion above with a hide/unhide toggle under the status on/off toggle would speed this up and, since you could have dozens of (hidden inactive indicators) in there, the method of unhiding them which involves dragging them from the bottom up is the best approach to satisfy all since there is no way for the programmers to guess where you want it put when you unhide it. If you have 5 hidden how can they know? (impossible). Even if you have one hidden how can they know if you thought of a better location? (Impossible). I just created a project management request for this improved method at this link.
Faster/Easier way to hide/unhide indicators (both active/inactive)
https://www.multicharts.com/pm/public/m ... es/MC-2321
I think it is the best method since it will be reasonably easy to program and will be handy for all of us (I would probably use it). Everyone might want to vote for it.
Why do the users put up with it?
I think you are referring to "why have they put up with not having my feature mentioned immediately above". Because I never thought of it before... :lol: It could also be because they spend most of their time thinking about how to create a great trading system (higher priorities). Yep! I am sure that is the case.


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