The Chart Button Indicator has been enhanced with three new button types in RT 14. Further, the button right-click menu has been enhanced to facilitate the arrangement and positioning of chart buttons using the keyboard.
- A Macro Button is a push button that executes two or more other push buttons in the same chart.
- A button with purpose Change Right Margin (push button or menu) adjusts the width of the right margin of the chart (the space to the right of the last bar).
- A Divider Button is a push button that serves as a separator or divider between groups of related buttons.
Macro Buttons
Each button in a chart can be assigned an optional text label to identify it. For example, a button that adds or removes a 20 period moving average indicator might be labeled MA20, while another button that adjusts the pixels per bar to 8 might be labeled PPB8. By setting up labels for chart buttons, these buttons become eligible for use within a macro button. A macro button is setup with a list of labels of the buttons that the macro button should execute. For example, a setup of MA20,PPB8 creates a macro button that shows the 20 period moving average and adjusts the pixels per bar to 8 with one click.Macro buttons can execute any sequence of labeled buttons. Further, this series may include other macro buttons. So if you have chart buttons labeled A, B, C, D, and E you can create a macro button, call it X, that executes buttons labeled A, B, C. But the button labeled C can be a macro button that executes buttons D and E. Thus when you click the button X the effect is as if you clicked on A, B, D, and E. Clicking on the button C executes just D and E, while clicking on button X executes A and B and the two components of C in one click.A macro button can thus execute any collection of push buttons, including other macro buttons. Note that menu buttons, ones that pop up a menu of choices for some purpose are not eligible to participate in a macro button sequence.
Change Right Margin
A button with purpose Change Right Margin is setup with an constant integer for the number of pixels to be set for the right margin area of the chart. For added flexibility, the pixels can be specified via a C#or V# user variable instead. For example, you could create a button that changes the Right Margin to C#1. A second button, setup with purpose Set C#1 issues a prompt for a value to set into C#1. These two buttons could be labeled SETRM and SETC1 respectively. You can click button SETC1, enter a value for C#1, then click SETRM button to set the right margin to that value. You could also create a third button, a macro button that executes SETC1,SETRM. A single click on the macro button will prompt for a value and immediately change the right margin to that value.
Divider Buttons
A divider button is a no action button whose purpose is to serve as a visual separator between groups of buttons in the chart. The button purpose is simply Divider. It has a custom title, typically one or more spaces to create blank dividers of various widths. The default custom title is the vertical stroke | to create a thin button with a vertical line in it. Optionally, dividers can be further customized with a color or a marker instead of textual content. To quickly add a divider button, right-click on any existing button and choose Add Divider.
Chart Button Positioning
As the number of buttons in a chart grows it become increasingly difficult to arrange/organize them. Divider buttons help with visual separation of groups of related buttons. RT 14 includes some new methods to facilitate positioning of divider buttons and moving your function buttons where you want them. Once you have a divider button created, you can click on it to select it. There is no action associated with divider buttons other than to select the button so you can then use the left and right arrow keys to move the divider left or right to position it.The use of left/right arrow keys applies now to all buttons, not just dividers. First you right-click on any button and choose Select Button. This identifies the button that will move left or right as you employ the arrow keys. As mentioned earlier, you can easily add a new divider by right-clicking on any button and choosing Add Divider. The preferences for the new divider appears to enable you to customize it if you wish. When you click okay, the newly added divider button becomes the selected button so you can immediately left or right arrow it into the desired position.For many years right-clicking on a button has offered a Move Button menu with choices to move the button leftmost, rightmost, etc. When you use any of these menu items, the button also becomes selected to enable use of the left/right arrow keys to further adjust the position when desired.