PAT Drawing Toolbar Documentation

PAT Drawing Toolbar Documentation covers installation, licensing, chart setup, the toolbar’s own drawing tools, docking and layout, theming, and common troubleshooting. Use this page as a task-based reference so you can get configured quickly and come back to the exact section you need later.

1. Install and Open PAT Drawing Toolbar

Install

1. In NinjaTrader, go to Tools > Import > NinjaScript Add-On.
2. Select the PAT Drawing Toolbar ZIP package.
3. Complete the import and allow NinjaTrader to compile if prompted.
4. Restart NinjaTrader if required.

Where to Find It

After import, the toolbar appears under Indicators > PriceActionTools > PAT Drawing Toolbar. It’s added to a chart like any other indicator, but it draws itself as a toolbar rather than a study on the price panel.

Licensing Window

The licensing window can be opened from Control Center > New > PAT Drawing Toolbar License.

2. First-Run Checklist

Recommended First-Run Steps

1. Open the licensing window and confirm your Machine ID is visible.
2. Activate your license key if you already have one.
3. Add PAT Drawing Toolbar to a chart — it opens as a floating window by default.
4. Click the toolbar’s X to dock it into the chart’s own menu row, if that’s how you want to work.
5. Open the Settings popup (wrench icon) and turn on only the tools you actually reach for, so the toolbar stays uncluttered.

3. Add PAT Drawing Toolbar to a Chart

1. Right-click a chart and choose Indicators.
2. Select PAT Drawing Toolbar.
3. Review which tools show initially, the ATR period, Note presets, Theme, and which Standard Drawing Tools are enabled.
4. Click OK.

The toolbar opens as a floating, draggable window the first time it’s added. Click a tool to arm it, then click the chart to draw — armed draw-tool buttons show a bordered/highlighted state so you always know what’s active.

4. PAT Drawing Tools

Ten always-visible tools make up the core of the toolbar. Each one can be shown or hidden independently from Properties or the in-toolbar Settings popup.

• Trendline — two-point line with endpoint dots.
• Channel — parallel trendline pair.
• Range — two horizontal lines marking a price band.
• Horizontal / Support Line — single horizontal line.
• Measured Move — two bracket boxes for measuring a projected move.
• Measure — an original tool, rebuilt from the ground up rather than reusing NT8’s native Ruler: a two-point readout with directional fill (green up, red down) plus bar count, time, point, and value deltas.
• Free-form Pen — freehand drawing.
• Flexible Risk/Reward Box — see the dedicated section below.
• Arrow — split-button: click to stamp the last-picked arrow color/direction, click the caret for a 4-color swatch picker.
• Mark Trade — split-button: stamps an up/down arrow trade marker using the PAT setup-quality convention (green for an Aggressive entry, blue for a Good Setup Long, red for a Good Setup Short); the caret opens a picker for all four direction/quality combinations.

5. Flexible Risk/Reward Box

The Risk/Reward Box is the toolbar’s flagship tool — it isn’t a native NT8 drawing type, it’s built from scratch for price-action trade planning.

What It Shows

• Draggable Entry, Stop, and Target anchors, plus independent Left/Right box-width anchors.
• Filled red (risk) and green (reward) zones.
• Three TradingView-style pill labels straddling their own line — a green Target pill (price, % move, dollar amount), a red Stop pill (same), and a red Entry pill with quantity and the risk/reward ratio.

How to Use It

1. Click to place Entry.
2. Drag to set direction and initial risk — a default box is created immediately.
3. Drag any of the 6 corner handles (Target/Entry/Stop × Left/Right) afterward to adjust width or any level’s price independently.

The default box auto-widens on first render if needed, so it’s never narrower than its own pill labels.

Quantity and Dollar Amounts

Quantity source and $/point are configurable from Properties: ChartTrader’s current quantity, a fixed contract count, or NT8’s own instrument point value versus a custom override.

6. Standard Drawing Tools

All 33 of NT8’s own native drawing tools — Andrews Pitchfork, Arc, Fibonacci Retracements/Extensions/Circle/Time Extensions, Gann Fan, Regression Channel, Text, Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Ray, Region Highlight X/Y, Time Cycles, Triangle variants, and the rest — are available unchecked by default.

To Enable One

• Turn it on in Properties, or
• Open the “More Tools” grid-icon popup on the toolbar itself.

Enabling a tool adds it to the toolbar without cluttering the main row. These are passed straight through to NT8’s own tool types, so there’s no custom behavior to differ from stock NT8.

7. Other Toolbar Controls

• Notes — a dropdown of short, reusable text presets (for example “2EL”, “New High”, “Overshoot”) you click to stamp onto the chart. Presets are a comma-separated list, editable in Properties.
• Show / Hide Drawings (eye icon) — toggles visibility of every user-placed drawing on the chart.
• Pan Mode (hand icon) — right-click-drag panning, implemented as a simulated Ctrl+Left-drag so it works without remapping NT8’s own mouse bindings.
• Pin / Always-on-Top — keeps the floating window above other windows.
• Layout switch — horizontal vs. vertical icon arrangement (floating window only; docked mode is always a single horizontal strip, matching NT8’s native menu row).
• Delete All Drawings (trash icon) — clears every user-placed drawing on the chart.
• Settings (wrench icon) — a popup checklist to toggle any PAT tool, standard tool, or other control’s visibility live, without reopening the Properties dialog.
• Status readout (docked mode only) — live ATR value plus date/clock, right-aligned.

8. Docked vs. Floating

• Click the toolbar’s X to dock it into the chart’s own menu row rather than closing it; click the small icon that appears there to undock back to floating. This is also exposed as a Docked Properties checkbox, reconciled live against actual state.
• Docked mode renders with a transparent background that blends into NT8’s own chrome — no separate boxed panel.
• Whichever state you last used (docked or floating) is remembered across NT8 restarts and Tools > Reload NinjaScripts, via a small per-machine preference file. This is a global “last used” preference, not saved per chart template.
• One NT8 window’s menu row is shared across every chart tab in that window; when docked, the toolbar automatically shows or hides itself to match whichever tab is active, so multiple charts with the indicator added don’t pile up duplicate toolbars in the same menu row.

9. Theming

• PAT Drawing Toolbar auto-detects NT8’s own Skin (Dark, Slate Dark, Light, Slate Light, Slate Gray) the first time it’s added to a chart, and matches it — correct contrast on dividers, hover states, and icons in both dark and light chrome. Manually overridable from the Theme property.
• The icon set stays legible at both normal and large icon sizes.

10. Licensing and Activation

What’s Licensed

The 10 PAT Drawing Tools buttons are the toolbar’s paid IP and stay disabled/dimmed until a valid license is active. Standard Drawing Tools, Notes, Pan Mode, Pin, Layout switching, and Settings all stay usable regardless — none of those require a license.

Activation Flow

1. Open Control Center > New > PAT Drawing Toolbar License.
2. Copy the Machine ID if you need to send it to support.
3. Paste your license key into the top field.
4. Click Activate.
5. Use Check anytime to re-validate the current machine.

What the Window Shows

• your license key field
• your Machine ID
• current license status
• expiration information when applicable

The license window itself is theme-aware and matches whichever NT8 skin you’re running.

11. Common Fixes

Delete All Drawings Isn’t Clearing Everything

This control simulates NT8’s own “Remove Drawing Objects” hotkey (default Ctrl+Shift+D). If that hotkey has been remapped or cleared in NT8’s own keyboard settings, the simulated keystroke can send the wrong combo or nothing at all. Restore the default hotkey, or use the ChartObjects fallback the toolbar falls back to automatically.

The PAT Drawing Tools Are Dimmed

• confirm a license is activated for this machine
• open the licensing window and click Check
• remember that Standard Drawing Tools and the other toolbar controls stay usable regardless of license status — only the 10 PAT buttons require one

The Toolbar Opened Docked (or Floating) When I Expected the Opposite

Docked/floating is a per-machine “last used” preference, not saved per chart template — it carries over from whatever state you left it in last, across NT8 restarts and Tools > Reload NinjaScripts. Click the X (docked) or the undock icon (floating) to switch.

A Chart Tab Isn’t Showing the Docked Toolbar

Docked mode automatically shows or hides itself to match whichever chart tab is currently active in that NT8 window, so this is expected — switch to the tab that has the indicator added.

Standard Drawing Tools Aren’t Showing Up

They’re unchecked by default. Enable the ones you want from Properties, or from the “More Tools” grid-icon popup on the toolbar itself.

12. FAQ

Does This Replace NT8’s Native Drawing Tools?

No. All 33 of NT8’s own native drawing tools stay available as an opt-in overflow — nothing is removed or hidden by default.

Do I Need a License to Use the Toolbar at All?

No — only for the 10 PAT Drawing Tools. Standard Drawing Tools, Notes, Pan Mode, Pin, Layout switching, and Settings all stay usable without a license.

Can I Use the Risk/Reward Box on Multiple Instruments With Different Point Values?

Yes. The $/point used for its dollar amounts can come from NT8’s own instrument point value, or you can set a custom override in Properties, independent of quantity source.

Does the Toolbar Work the Same Way on Every Chart Tab?

Within one NT8 window, the docked toolbar is shared across chart tabs and shows or hides itself to match the active tab. Each floating window instance is independent.

13. Support

For support, licensing help, or setup questions, visit https://priceactiontools.com/support/.

Full product page: https://priceactiontools.com/product/ninjatrader-drawing-toolbar/

Official NinjaTrader website: https://ninjatrader.com/