ti-layout-swapper

Description

A command line script using Python (req. 3.8.3+) to allow for scheduled (Windows Task Scheduler / etc) swapping of Trade-Ideas Pro layouts. Built for Windows 10 (may or may not work on other versions) and TradeIdeas Pro 4.2.150.0+ as of 8/18/2020.

• Author: Kyle Kimsey
• Date: 8/18/2020
• Version 1.00

Usage

Use Windows Task Scheduler for scheduling the layout shifts at specified time

• Call the file using python with:
         python.exe tilayoutswap.py -path "C:/my_layouts" -layout "my_layout_file.lti"

• Optional Debug Mode can be activated by appending "--debug" parameters:
         python.exe tilayoutswap.py -path "C:/my_layouts" -layout "my_layout_file.lti" --debug
         * This should write to a debug.txt file in the script directory.

• For the EXE version you can use the same arguments, just call 'tilayoutswap.exe' instead of 'python.exe tilayoutswap.py'

Config

• Upon first run of the .exe, a default config.ini file will be created in the .exe's directory, options are:
  • [user] layout_directory :: This is the default directory we should look into for layout files. Defaults to C:\Temp
  • [user] debug_mode :: Turns the extended debug logging on or off. Defaults to False (other option is True)
  • [tradeideas] ti_path :: The location for the TradeIdeas EXE. Default is "C:\Program Files\Trade-Ideas\Trade-Ideas Pro AI"
  • [tradeideas] ti_exe :: The name for the Trade Ideas EXE. Default is "TIPro.exe" -- Change this if you have a different version.
  • [tradeideas] ti_default_user_directory :: The location of where TradeIdeas saves layouts by default. Defaults to: "C:\Users{user}\Documents\TradeIdeasPro"
  • [tradeideas] ti_shellpath :: Parameters for calling TI from the cmd line (shell), you likely don't need to change this. Uses ti_path and ti_exe from above.

Windows Task Scheduler

• To automate the layout swapping process for different times of the day, you should use Windows Task Scheduler. Open Task Scheduler and create a new task, then:
  • General Tab:
    • "Run only when user is logged on" if you don't mind seeing the cmd window briefly, otherwise choose "run whether user is logged on or not" and do the additional password items requested.
  • Triggers Tab:
    • New... → Begin the Task "On a schedule" →
      • Start: current-date, 6:30:00 AM {whatever time you want}
      • Weekly → Recur every 1 week → Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
      • Enabled → checked
      • Hit OK
  • Actions Tab:
    • New... → Action "Start a program"
      • Program/Script: browse to tilayoutswap.exe locaton and selection .exe
      • Add arguments: -layout 'MY_LAYOUT_FILE.LTI'
      • Start in: Populate the folder that the exe is located in.
      • Hit OK.
  • Remaining tabs → Configure as you see fit.

Requirements

• Python 3.8.3+

• pywinauto ( help docs: https://pywinauto.readthedocs.io/en/latest/code/pywinauto.application.html )
  • pyWin32
  • comtypes
  • six
  • Install requirements with "pip install -U pywinauto"

Build EXE Instructions

To build an EXE you need to use PyInstaller. You may want to setup a separate vanilla virtual environment, if you use Anaconda 3 you can do this like:

• conda create --no-default-packages -n 'pybase38tiswap' python=3.8.3

• conda activate pybase38tiswap

• pip install -U pywinauto

• pip install pyinstaller

• pip install argparse

• pip install configparser

Then run the script from the tilayoutswap.py scripts directory with:

• pyinstaller --onefile tilayoutswap.py --icon tilayoutswap.ico

NOTE:

• The above is the recommended method as building directly from a base Anaconda environment can include every module that is installed and the resulting .EXE maybe hundreds of megs big. Doing a bare environment allows you to significantly reduce the size (for me it was reduced from 300mb to 14mb).