Known Issues and Limitations with Atdl4net Explorer

The following information relates to Atdl4net Explorer beta version 2010.9.0.212 released on September 23, 2010 (you can find the version information in the Help About dialog). If you find issues other than those listed below, please report them via the Feedback page.

As this is a first release, some planned features are not yet available. Atdl4net Explorer currently only provides viewing capabilities for FIXatdl files; future releases will include the ability to validate user input against supplied parameter constraints and StrategyEdits, and support for loading input FIX messages to simulate the amend order process.

In terms of FIXatdl support, the current version of the underlying Atdl4net libraries lack the following features:

  • Support for value setting in StateRules (enabled and visible are supported)
  • Support for tooltips on controls
  • Support for the RepeatingGroup element within Strategy
  • Timezone support


Differences between Atdl4net and atdl4j

There are a number of inconsistencies between Atdl4net and atdl4j. Whilst some of these inconsistencies may be due to bugs in Atdl4net, much of the reason for differences between the two frameworks stems from the difference in implementation approach.

Atdl4j is built around the Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) framework for XML serialisation, with the code for parsing FIXatdl files being generated automatically from the FIXatdl XML schema. Atdl4net on the other hand was implemented from the FIXatdl Word document specification, with occasional recourse to the XML schema for clarification. As there are a number of minor disagreements between the Word document and the XSD files, there are inevitably differences in behaviour between the two implementations.

In due course, these differences should disappear, either through clarifications/corrections to the specification or schema files, or through a set of compatibility options we plan to provide in Atdl4net.

Here are the specific issues that we are aware of at this time:

  • Atdl4j assumes that if a StrategyPanel has a title, then it must have a border. This is not explicit in the specification, so Atdl4net does not draw a border on a panel unless one is explicitly requested through border="Line";
  • Atdl4j assumes that collapsible panels should be expanded unless collapsed="false" (we believe this to be a bug in atdl4j as the specification states that the default value is true);