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Has someone written a 'batch file' application to start all their trading applications?
I like to shutdown my computer everyday, and restart everything from scratch (some applications would get unstable when I was running for days in a row). I run many applications in my trading computer for different purposes, and styles of trading (Market Delta Charts and Trader, NinjaTrader, TradeStation, StreetSmartEdge, TOS, VectorVest, etc.). It takes me 10-15 minutes just to get everything running properly with all the user ids and pws.
I was wondering if there is a software out there that would do that for me (including entering the user id and pw for each app of course, otherwise I can just put each on the start up folder). If not, I was thinking in building a .bat file (which I have not done in over 15 years), so I'm looking for examples. I'm specially having difficulties with how to transfer the id/pw for each application. My goal would be to start my computer first thing in the morning while I do a couple of other things (take son to school, etc.) let it do all the start up procedure. Once I'm back in my office desk everything would be set to go. Also, may allow me an extra 15 min sleep .
Would appreciate any help. You can attach a file or post the .bat code here, and I will adapt for my needs (of course, clean up your id/pws from the file! ). As I said, would be interested in buying an application possibly more powerful to automate all these tasks.
Many thanks!
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
More modern examples would use AutoHotKey to launch on start-up, so you can manage the usernames/passwords of the programs, catch exceptions, etc. A DOS batch file won't work in this scenario if you need something more than simply launching an executable, and AutoHotKey is easier than using VB script in a command file.
I'm still looking for an example of this (maybe using AutoHotkeys or any other application).
Anybody has created something that they could share or have any other ideas? Maybe there is an application out there that can automate this without too much coding.
I started to play with AutoHotKeys, but it seemed quite time consuming. I want a very simple solution to do this. Maybe is just a business opportunity for someone out there to create an app in which you just enter a list of executables, id/pw, and it would do the rest for you.
First of all, they are no longer .bat files. They are now .cmd files, since Windows NT, which all modern windows os'es are based on. Same thing basically.
You can type the path and exe file you want run, one per line. Check the application documentation to see if you can pass command line parameters, like user names and passwords, to them. If you need mouse control, because there is no other way, then AutoHotKey or AutoIT can do that.
Maybe if you tell us what applications you want to open, you will get a more specific response. I would like to help, but all i can do is point in a general direction.
I need to open:
- Tradestation
- Investor R/T
- NinjaTrader
- ThinkorSwim
- StreetSmart Edge (Schwab)
- Vectorvest
- WinTV (no password required - this is just an app to watch TV/CNBC via my tv tuner card). This is optional.
I also need to login into Dough.com inside a browser (which may be complicated), but just being able to do the above would save me a lot of time every morning.
Any example with 3 or 4 of the above would help me to put the remaining together. I'm just looking for some example that works to start...
1. A keystroke/mouse recorder: www.mouserecorder.com This will let you record any number of mouse movements, clicks, and text for later playback. This may be a simpler choice than using AutoHotkey.
2. Instead of shutting down your system at night, leave all your apps running and use Hibernate instead of Shutdown. This saves a copy of everything in memory to disk before shutting down. When you wake up the system, it restores everything back to RAM without rebooting or restarting your apps.
Hibernate is not the same as Sleep, as Sleep keeps the RAM powered up, which if you are on battery, can eventually drain and everything in memory is lost. If continuous power is not an issue, Sleep is also an option. Plus it is faster waking up than Hibernate.
If Hibernate does not appear on your Power menu, you enable it in Control Panel>Power Options. (Laptops usually have it enabled, desktops may not.) Note that you need enough free disk space on your boot disk for the amount of RAM you have.
I suggest doing both: Sleep or Hibernate for every day, and Mouse Recorder for when reboots are needed.
1- This looks good and easy to implement. I will give it a try and report here (probably over the weekend)
2- I don't recommend using Hibernate/Sleep on a trading workstation. I had a misbehaved trade once caused by memory issues with Tradestation few years ago when I used to do that (Sleep). This issue actually cost me money. Tradestation specifically told me to disable Sleep and Hibernate on the trading workstation.
After looking closely over the years on the behavior of some trading applications I believe it's better actually to shutdown all apps and the workstation and recycle everything and have a fresh start every day. For example, I noticed that TOS and Investor RT are known for constantly increasing memory usage.
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