This article applies to the Windows edition of Investor/RT. The following is not applicable to the Mac OS X Edition. By design, Investor/RT for Windows does not have minimize, maximize, restore buttons on the title bar, only the close button. All windows, charts, quote pages, preferences windows, object manager, etc. are floating windows. The benefit of this approach is two-fold: (a) any window is eligible to be positioned on any monitor you wish; windows are not confined to the main Investor/RT window, and (b) all windows are equals; any window can be brought fully to the front and can float above other open windows. Investor/RT will always open charts and any other window type, so they become fully visible over any other open window.
Tips on using Floating Windows
- Double-click in the title bar of any Investor/RT resizable window to maximize the window.
- Double-click in the title bar of any maximized Investor/RT window to "Restore" it to its normal size and location (where it was before it was maximized).
- Right-click in the title bar of any window to access a menu that offers menu choices for Minimize, Maximize, Restore.
- If you minimize a chart or some other window, its icon is docked on your main display above the task bar.
- Double-click in the title bar of any minimized (docked) Investor/RT window to Restore it to its normal size and location.
- Right-click in any minimized (docked) title bar and choose Maximize to go directly from minimized to maximized.
- Use the shortcut Alt- to minimize any selected window (that's the Alt key and a hyphen or dash (-).
Adding Minimize, Maximize, Restore Buttons to Charts
Effective with Version 12.3.3 and higher, multi-pane charts having a button pane will by default have minimize, maximize, and restore buttons at the top right edge of the chart window, beneath the chart's close button. This provides convenient access to these common window sizing features with no user setup required as long as you have a button pane in your charts. This feature may be disabled in File > Preferences... by setting the configuration variable ButtonPaneMinMaxRestoreButns=False. If you elect to disable this feature, you may elect to create new chart windows with these buttons using the Chart Setup Wizard. The wizard has a section for optional button setups in which you can check a box to request that Min/Max/Restore buttons be added to the chart being created.
Creating a Button Manually to Minimize Chart Windows
Double-clicking in title bars to maximize or restore resizable windows is an easy way to deal with the fact that maximize and restore buttons are not present on the title bar. But what about the Minimize function? Here is a solution for chart windows, a way for you to add a minimize chart button using the Button indicator in Investor/RT. Note that this manual setup of the minimize button is unnecessary if configuration variable ButtonPaneMinMaxRestoreButn is set true.
- Optionally, go to File > Preferences / Keyboard Shortcuts and define a Window action shortcut, say F2 for "Window / Minimize".
- Go to any chart and add a Button indicator. Set Button Purpose to "Resize Chart"", and enter the word Minimize below the purpose.
- If you want the Button to be present in all of your charts, set the Scope of the Button to "All Charts, Any Instrument".
Thereafter, all of your charts will have a Minimize chart button with the familiar underline icon, located at the right edge of the button pane at the top of the chart. You may click this button to minimize the chart; double-click the minimized title bar to restore the chart. For those who like to use the keyboard, if you have F2 setup as your minimize shortcut, you also gain the ability to cycle through your charts using the keyboard and minimizing selected charts: Ctrl+Tab will bring each open window in turn to front; then press F2 to minimize it if desired; then continue on with another Ctrl+Tab Similarly if F3 is set to maximize the front window and F4 to restore, you gain the ability to cycle through each open chart with Ctrl+Tab, maximizing then restoring each chart in turn with F3 and F4 without any mouse usage at all.
How to opt out of the All Windows Floating model
If you do not wish to have All Windows Floating, go to Setup > Configuration and in the Find box in the upper right corner, search for FloatAllWindows. Then change this Configuration Variable to False. Operating Investor/RT is this legacy windowing mode is no longer recommended.