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I'm now the proud owner of the full version of Visual Studio 2010, having played with VS Express versions for C# and C++, as well as Eclipse for C++ over the past few months.
I'm starting this thread as I learn from scratch what works and doesn't work when trying to use VS2010 with Ninja from a novice standpoint, as I believe there is benefit to keeping your ideas if not your code... portable.
I'll post as I learn, and if anyone wants to help that would be great. I note at least two posts in the Sticky Section about VS2010/NT, and I'm looking forward to learning and sharing what they are talking about .
This is not supported by Ninja Trader, and can trash your system. Backup up everything including your license key. You may have to completely reinstall Ninja. Do not try this on a production system as you may rip the fabric of space and time and plunge the earth into eternal darkness.
This is what I've done to get started, and if anyone has a better or safer way please post it here. Also, depending on how brave you are you might want to wait a day or two until after I post. If I break my system, I'll post here.
I'm using VS2010 Pro, NT7, Win7 Pro.
On VS, File > Open > Project > Documents > Ninja Trader 7 > bin > Custom > NinjaTrader.Custom
That should open a project called NinjaTrader.Custom.
Remove the references for NinjaTrader.Core and WilsonORMapper.
Add references for NinjaTrader.Core and WilsonORMapper by navigating to the NT7 directory in Program Files.
Build Solution (F6).
You should get no errors, and you should now have VS2010 Solution in the NT7 directory in Documents. This is the one you will now use.
Add the Strategies you want to edit by right clicking on the Strategy folder in Solution Explorer, and Add > Existing Item. Navigate to Documents > Ninja Trader 7 > bin > Custom > Strategy and pick a Strategy and use the "Add as link" option in the Add button.
Build Solution (F6).
NinjaScripts need to be compiled in Ninja itself to operate properly (particularly indicators if I read some previous threads correctly), so before you use Ninja again open and compile something.
Here is where I start learning VS2010 so I'll post any cool tips and tricks as I progress, and am welcome to any and all input!
I'm using VS Pro, which out-of-the-box does not have the profiler and analysis tools mentioned in some previous posts. VS Pro is also available for free if you are a student via the Dreamspark program.
As I'm on VS Pro, I'll be focusing on what can and can't be done in terms of NT script development on that version.
My particular interest is... can I reduce my Stratgey and Indicator development cycle times by using VS in addition to or instead of the default editor in Ninja Trader.
I am far from being ay kind of Power User but the first thing I'm finding is that I really like editing code in the VS IDE. There is a tool for managing code snippets I've installed that make it pretty easy to create your own code snippets... which saves a lot of typing.
The Intellisense running in this also seems to be a bit more feature-rich than the default editor.
I've somehow managed to screw up the installation of the Help files/pointers in VS so I'll be trying to work that out. I'm flying bit blind without either the Help files or a book at the moment, but what is encouraging is that I haven't broken anything yet.
I'm only scratching the surface of this package and there are way more talented people out there than me, so I'm open to any "hey, try this" type suggestions.
As we have here multiple collaborative coding projects (first version of an indicator by mister X, then miss Y add a colored version, then mister Z add some Fibonacci on it, ...), we think that allow a group of people to work together on a unified code …
I've just added the ankh Subversion Source Control Provider for VS to my installation, and I think this is something I am going to like:
I've created a project in the Codex at NinjaTrader/7.0/Indicator to have a play. This is now making a lot more sense!
BTW the project I created is a C# Console Ap that does nothing, but has comments in the code. If anyone wants to have a go at modifying/commit so I get a better idea of how source control works that would be great.