Customising chart sheet time frame lists for faster access

AmiBroker
1

I would like to streamline changing the time frame of chart sheets for faster access during real time trading.
As far as I can tell, there are two ways of changing the time frame of a chart sheet.

  1. The drop down list

  1. The time frame tool bar

Does anyone know of a way to edit these lists? Perhaps via the registry or a file?

Ideally, I would like to be able to customise the time frame tool bar with my own time frames in my own preferred order.
Also, to standardise the look and order of the buttons eg 1m, 3m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 3h, 1d, 3d, 1w, 1M - so recognition and selection is fast.

Otherwise, re-ordering the drop down list so the time frames are listed in my preferred order. However this is slower to use than the tool bar.

2

Just found a third way to change time frames - via a custom menu.

(See video on customising user interface - http://www.amibroker.com/video/uicustomize.html)

It is a bit quicker than the drop down list because the whole list appears at once and you don't have to scroll down. But the custom entries are limited to the five set in Preferences and only this part of the list can be re-ordered.

I would like to be able to customise all entries in the list and re-order with the shortest time frames at the top and the longest at the bottom.

Perhaps this list is stored in the registry somewhere?

3

Some info on how to customize the user interface and the time frame specifically

http://www.amibroker.com/kb/2014/10/28/how-to-create-toolbar-button-for-custom-interval/

I see a post answering part of the question just as I was typing this
(https://www.amibroker.com/guide/h_customizeui.html)

4 Likes
4

The interval combo box is not just a drop down box but you may select any custom interval quickly!

For example for 10-tick range bar just type 10R or 10r and hit enter.
Or for 2-day bar simply type 2d and hit enter.
Same for tick charts... i.e. for 200-tick chart simply insert 200t and hit enter and so on....

So it's very very quick selection process to select all possible intervals having in mind!

Related topic How to plot two day Bars?

1 Like
5

Thanks, but typing and drop down boxes are too slow for me.
What I'd like to be able to configure is a simple set of buttons eg 1m, 3m, 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h, 3h, 1d, 3d, 1w, 1M - so recognition and selection is fast.
Here's an example from a free charting service

7

Well, I don’t really care if it is too slow for you. I was just correcting you about Interval box not being just a drop down list to choose intervals from. It is a box letting you set any interval possible (for charts).

All links are in this thread! Just re-read the links of this thread carefully.

So your whole Spanish armada of interval buttons is achievable via “Add/Remove buttons” submenu of toolbar as well as Tools - Customize (important words of KB article “drag onto”). Also see Tools - Preferences - Intraday (-> further interval settings for additional custom buttons getting dragged onto toolbar via Tools-Customize).

1 Like
8

Hi
I don’t really like to involve with this post, but I think @fxshrat way “type and hit enter” is one of the fastest.
@portfoliobuilder also saw you another option.

On the other hand Mr Dave he said, I use to like what I use in my other programm. I can say Fare Enough.

In this foto @Dave it is faster than your drop other programm menu :slight_smile:

You have to click the mouse once. What you think?

Please read about MDI (multiple document interface) tabs

If Is is not fast we can show you other way to change the time frame /intervals

1 Like
9

Finally got a handle on how to create custom buttons and they go a reasonable way toward a solution. Only limitation seems to be you are limited to five custom time intervals.

With the darker grey buttons (3m, 30m, 2h) I think the dark grey is indicating a possible error situation which I’ll explain in a moment.

In case anyone is wondering how to do something similar, here is what I did.
Please note, this is not a tutorial – simply a basic account of what I have learnt from experimenting today.

First step is to define your five preferred custom time intervals in Tools > Preferences > Intraday.

Then open the customize window via Tools > Customize

Then pull down the list of timeframes via View > Intraday. Now you can drag n drop each timeframe to the Tool Bar.

Once all the buttons are on the Tool Bar, with the Customize window still open, you can right click on each button to bring down the button editing options.

I just wanted simple buttons so I changed the text to something simple eg 1h for hourly, and enabled Text only.

Now the possible error condition I mentioned earlier is that I tried to create more than five custom timeframes by going back to Tools > Preferences and editing some timeframes. (Restart required to enable them in menus.)

However, this attempt at a workaround was unsuccessful as each button is linked to a Custom Periodicity. If you change the Custom Periodicity in Preferences, the label on the button will refer to the new periodicity and not match the label description on the button.

So in this example, buttons 3m, 30m and 2h all refer to Custom Periodicity 1 which is now set to 30m. So buttons 3m and 2h will give you the wrong chart display. (Mouse over tells you which Custom Periodicity is linked to that button.)

Anyway, it’s a start. Others may have more experience with this and be able to shine more light on the subject.

3 Likes
10

Just realised what the darker grey shading means on the 3 buttons (3m, 30m, 2h) mentioned above. The grey shading doesn’t indicate a possible error condition, it indicates the current selected chart sheet is using that timeframe. Since in the test above, all three buttons were set to the same Custom Periodicity 1, all three buttons are shaded grey.