Jan
9

Transition from NeoTicker 4.20 to 4.30 and Beyond

Windows 7 (and Vista) Compatibility is a Completely Different Ballgame

NeoTicker 4.30 is fully compatible with Windows 7 (and Vista) Compatible. That means, you can install NeoTicker onto a Windows 7 computer without enabling Windows XP compatibility and there is no need to enable administrative rights in general.

The reason why version 4.20 needs the Windows XP compatibility was that NeoTicker was designed like all other applications developed before the arrival of Windows Vista, which uses the directory on your hard disk where NeoTicker was installed for storing configuration information, user data, etc. That is no longer allowed in Windows 7 and Vista, unless you enable the Windows XP compatibility option.

For the administrative right option, it is a bit more complex. Windows 7 and Vista introduced more restrictions (i.e. the famous User Access Control, UAC) on what an application can or cannot do if it is not given the administrative right. It was designed to help users to defend against potential malwares from causing harm to their computers.

From version 4.30, NeoTicker no longer needs administrative right for most of its normal operations. Most users can simply launch NeoTicker as-is without dealing with the admin option at all.

For some power users who needs OLE automations, integrating NeoTicker with other applications, etc. will still need to enable administrative right option for NeoTicker to handle those special tasks for them.

Existing Users Who Wanted to Use NeoTicker Exactly the Same Way as Version 4.20

To accommodate our users facing this transition, we have taken extra measures to make sure users updating from version 4.20 to later releases to have a smooth transition.

For users updating from a working NeoTicker 4.20 installation, no matter which version of Windows is in use, the users can simply launch NeoTicker 4.30 or later releases as-is. Everything will work exactly the same way as before.

If the NeoTicker 4.20 installation was done on Windows 7 (or Vista), then the user had already enabled the 2 Windows settings mentioned in the first section, and they will stay in effect.

New Installation Default Behaviour

For users who are installing NeoTicker 4.30 or later releases from scratch, the user created data including function windows, groups, custom indicators, etc. are all by default stored into the user document directory.

Thus if the user chooses to move their NeoTicker from one computer to another one, all it takes is to copy the files stored in the user document directory to the other computer. This can be done easily with a USB flash drive or hard disk. No more complexities in choosing what files to copy from the NeoTicker folder to your backup device.

Power Users Who Wants to Take Advantage of the Application Independent Data Storage Method

We did not stop there to just support Windows 7’s requirement to separate data storage from the application. We are taking it one step further – the ability to customize and create multiple data locations for power users.

For end-users, you may want to run NeoTicker during market hours with one configuration and then use another configuration for afterhours analysis and experiment with new ideas. You may not want the two configurations to mix together.

For developers and consultants, you may be working on different versions of a custom indicator for a client. You may also be working on multiple projects. Isn’t it better to separate all the projects with their own NeoTicker setting files, etc. so that you can control the development environment?

Command Line Options for Multiple Data Storage Configurations

Launch NeoTicker with the command line parameter –DL directory will tell NeoTicker to use that directory as the location to look for an existing set of NeoTicker setting files, additional indicators/systems, etc. If there is no existing installation, NeoTicker will create the necessary setting files in that directory based on the available configuration files within the NeoTicker application directory.

When NeoTicker detects that the directory was last used with an earlier version of NeoTicker, it will automatically copy the necessary update files to this data location.

There is no limit to the number of custom configurations you can create.

 

I guess I have covered one important aspect of the changes from 4.20 to 4.30.

Will write about the other changes as quickly as I can.

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By ContentRobot