This Release contains quite a number of changes, summarised below, but most users will not be affected by it. If your IBController setup is already working to your satisfaction, there's probably not much point in switching to the latest versions of the scripts.

However I would suggest that all users should deploy the latest version of IBController.jar into your IBController folder. You can copy it directly from here, or you can download the .zip file and extract it from there.

The following changes have been made in this Release.

• A bug in the code that ensures jts.ini contains the correct minimum lines has been fixed. This bug has manifested itself in some unexpected ways, so all users are encouraged to use the IBController.jar from this release, even if no other changes are made.

• The code that accesses the TWS/Gateway global configuration dialog has been improved to prevent a potential race condition, and to make it easier to add further code that needs to change the settings in this dialog.

• The exit confirmation dialog that TWS displays when it is shut down automatically is now handled by IBController with no user involvement.

• The macOS scripts have been improved.

• There is a more informative error message when a valid TWS or Gateway installation cannot be found.

• The Windows start scripts IBControllerStart.bat and IBControllerGatewayStart.bat now accept a /INLINE argument that causes the banner display to occur in the current command prompt window rather than creating a new window. Note that when running under Task Scheduler on Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 it is important to include this argument to ensure correct operation. For Windows 10 please see the User Guide for further information on running under Task Scheduler.

• Similarly the Linux and macOS start scripts IBControllerStart.sh, IBControllerGatewayStart.sh, IBControllerStart-OSX.sh, and IBControllerGatewayStart-OSX.sh now accept a -inline argument that causes the banner display to occur in the current terminal window rather than creating a new window.

• A Windows command file, IBControllerStop.bat, that shuts down IBController using telnet is included.

• Two Windows shortcut files, IBC-GW-Start and IBC-TWS-Start, are provided as an alternative means to start IBController. They can be copied to the desktop or the start menu. By editing their properties, aspects of the banner window such as font size and transparency can be modified. They are shortcuts to IBControllerGatewayStart.bat and IBControllerStart.bat respectively. Note that you still have to make sure that IBControllerGatewayStart.bat and IBControllerStart.bat contain the correct settings.

• The User Guide has been brought up to date.

• The Linux and macOS scripts now return the terminal window to its normal colours after IBController exits.

• The IBController command server has improved connection validation logic.

Issues addressed by this Release:

#127
#135
#138
#148

Note added on 6 July 2017: Since this Release was made, a number of changes have been made to IBController, and although these changes have been pushed to the GitHub repository, they have not yet been included in a formal release (they will be included in Release 3.4.0 within the next couple of days). One potentially significant update concerned further corrections to the code that ensures the jts.ini file contains required lines (see Issues #118 and #148): if you hit this problem, you will need to download the latest IBController.jar from here.

This Release has the changes described below. It is considered a beta release because the improved scripts for macOS need proper testing on a real Mac (which I don't have access to), and also because there are some documentation changes to be added which aren't completed at present.

Having said that, Windows and Linux users may treat this release as production-ready.

Changes:

• Windows; Added an option in IBControllerStart.bat and IBControllerGatewayStart.bat that hides the diagnostic window giving details of the running TWS/Gateway and the logfile, by minimizing it to the taskbar.
• Windows: Fixed a problem where logfiles on Windows created on a Sunday were incorrectly named.
• macOS: Improved the scripts for macOS to use the 'private' Java Runtime Environment installed with TWS/Gateway. This means that there is no reason to have a system-level Java installation in order to run TWS and Gateway (though you may still need one for running other Java programs).
• macOS: Fixed the problem where starting the Gateway on macOS would actually run TWS (Issue #101 and PR #128).
• Linux, macOS: Corrected a flawed lowercase to uppercase conversion command in the Linux/macOS scripts (Issue #117).
• All: Fixed various issues arising from the contents of the jts.ini file (Issue #118 and this thread in the IBController Users Group).
• All: Fixed documentation (Issue #127). NB: the updated PDF for the User Guide is not included in this release.

IMPORTANT NOTICES

Note added 19 June 2017: macOS users should not install this release. Use Release 3.3.0-beta.3 or later. New Windows users should also use Release 3.3.0-beta.3 or later. Existing Windows users do not need to upgrade to Release 3.3.0-beta.3 or later if they are not affected by any of the issues addressed by them.

1. This release replaces the 3.2.0-beta.2 release. It should be considered a production release for Windows and Linux. It fixes a number of bugs that were present in the 3.2.0-beta.2 release.
2. If you are using TWS 952 or later, you are encouraged to upgrade to this release.
3. This release will not work with TWS versions earlier than 952.
4. The scripts (ie .bat and .sh files) provided in IBController releases 3.0.0 through 3.2.0-beta.2 should now be replaced with the new scripts in this IBController release. Similarly the IBController.jar file should be replaced with the one in this release.

This release adds support for TWS 955 onwards. Thus it can be used with all TWS versions from TWS 952 onwards.

Here are some other significant changes:

• with TWS 955, the dialog warning that this is a non-brokerage account when logging in to a paper trading or demo account is automatically handled. This action is controlled by a new IBController.ini file setting AcceptNonBrokerageAccountWarning. This setting has a default of yes, so you only need to include it in your IBController.ini file in the unlikely event that you want to set it to no, in which case the user must manually deal with the dialog. Note that if you set AcceptNonBrokerageAccountWarning=no, API connections to TWS/Gateway will not succeed until the user has dismissed the dialog.
• there is a new TradingMode setting in IBController.ini. When using TWS 955 or later, this indicates whether the live or paper trading account is to be used when live account credentials are used. The allowed values are live and paper. Note that if the username and password are for a paper trading account or a demo account, this setting is ignored. The default value is live: this means that you only need to include TradingMode in IBController.ini where you want to set TradingMode=paper.
• the ShowAllTrades setting in IBController.ini is ignored for TWS 955 and later. This is because the Trades window now allows you to specify for which days it should show trades, and this setting is preserved between sessions. IBController is not able to manage this setting for technical reasons. So if you currently have ShowAllTrades=yes in your IBController.ini, you must manually open the Trades window and make the appropriate settings.
• the script files have been extensively revised. Those which may need to be changed by the user have a new layout that makes it clearer what may need to be changed and why.
• the IBController startup sequence now automatically logs diagnostic information to a file. This information should make it much easier to diagnose problems when setting up and running IBController. The log file name is prominently displayed during the startup sequence. A new log file is created the first time IBController is run each day, and any subsequent restarts that day are appended to the same file. The file is preserved until the next time IBController is started on the same day of subsequent weeks.

PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO USE THIS RELEASE OF IBCONTROLLER WITH TWS 955.4g OR LATER. IB have made some significant changes to the installed files for this version, and IBController no longer works with it. This will be corrected as soon as possible, but in the meantime use earlier versions of TWS 955 or TWS 9554, or stick with the stable version (TWS 952).

[This is an emergency fix to Release 3.0.0 to fix a bug that has caused problems for some Windows users.]

This release supports the new TWS installation packaging introduced with TWS 952. It also ensures that TWS runs using the version of Java that is embedded in the TWS installation, against which IB has tested TWS. This means that you no longer need a separately-installed Java on your computer.

Please note that the scripts (ie .bat and .sh files) used with previous versions of TWS must now be replaced with the new scripts in this IBController release, as they are completely different.

See the IBController User Guide for information about the changed setup procedures. Note also that the PDF version of the User Guide has been removed from this release because of problems with the third-party web site used to generate it: it will be restored as soon as the problems are rectified.

It is of course possible to modify the scripts from earlier releases rather than use these new ones, but if you do that and it doesn’t work it probably means that you’ve made a mistake. So please use the ‘official’ scripts.

This release also includes details of the previously undocumented LogComponents configuration file diagnostic setting.

Known issues (these will be addressed in the near future):

1. The scripts provided do not currently work properly with MacOSX (see Issue #66).
2. There is a new facility in TWS 955 which allows you to specify in the logon screen whether you want to use your live account or your paper-trading account. Moreover, if you choose the paper trading account, a dialog will appear after login asking you to confirm that you understand that it is not a live account. At present IBController does not handle this dialog, but an update will be provided shortly to address this. This is a significant inconvenience as it requires manual intervention before any API connections will be accepted. Therefore I suggest you avoid using TWS 955 for API-programs against paper-trading accounts until this has been addressed.

This release supports the new TWS installation packaging introduced with TWS 952.

Please note that the scripts used with previous versions of TWS should now be replaced with the new scripts in this IBController release, as they are quite different.

See the IBController User Guide for information about the changed setup procedures. Note also that the PDF version of the User Guide has been removed from this release because of problems with the third-party web site used to generate it: it will be restored as soon as the problems are rectified.

This release also includes details of the previously undocumented LogComponents configuration file diagnostic setting.

This release introduces the ability for users enrolled in IB's security device program to login automatically to TWS with a read-only session, which doesn't allow orders to be placed or managed. There is a new setting called ReadOnlyLogin in the .ini file - set this to 'yes' for a read-only login. Setting it to 'no' or omitting it will require the user to supply the security code in the usual way. This setting is ignored for users who are not enrolled in IB's security device program.

It also fixes the problem identified in issue #39. Note that issue #39 describes a case where there can still be a problem which it is not possible to work around, but this is unlikely to occur, and only arises as a result of the user ignoring the fact that a primary session is already running.

Finally the Windows command files for starting TWS and the Gateway have been updated to bring them into line with the latest version of TWS, currently 952.

Fixes a problem with the Unix shell scripts (see issue #30).

Windows users do not need to install this update.

This release introduces the ability to save TWS settings on a schedule of your choice. See the notes for the SaveTwsSettingsAt setting in the sample IBController.ini file.

Also, some improvements have been made to the code, but these do not affect functionality.

You do not need to install this version if you already have a working installation and you don't need to automatically save TWS settings.

This release addresses a number of issues that have arisen since 2.12.2.

There are no new features in this release. If you already have a working installation of IBController, you do not need to do anything. However if you are running, or trying to run, IBController on Ubuntu 15.04, you should use the revised IBControllerStart.sh and IBControllerGatewayStart.sh in this release.

Here is a summary of the changes:

1. The scripts for running IBController have been amended to ensure the JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS environment variable is not set. This avoids possible interference from tools that use the JVM Tool Interface which may conflict with the way IBController works. The default user environment for Ubuntu 15.04 sets this variable to enable Java Swing applications to be properly integrated into Ubuntu's global menu and heads-up display features: unfortunately the library responsible for this conflicts with IBController and prevents TWS/Gateway from loading when run under IBController. Unsetting JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS avoids this problem. Fixes #27.
2. When a username contains a space, the previous versions of the scripts caused IBController to fail. The scripts have been amended to enclose directory names that contain a user name in quotes to avoid this problem. Fixes #26.

This release addresses a number of issues that have arisen since 2.12.1.

There are no new features in this release. If you already have a working installation of IBController, you do not need to do anything. However if you wish to use MinimizeMainWindow=yes, or IbDir= (with no value), in your IBController.ini file, then you'll need to download the .zip file and extract the IBController.jar file into your IBController installation folder.

Here is a summary of the changes:

1. The line endings of the Unix/Linux/OS X shell scripts (files with .sh extension) have been adjusted to follow Unix conventions. In the previous release, these files used the Windows line-ending convention, and the user had to convert them to work correctly.
2. The IbDir setting now operates as described in the comments in IBController.ini. Specifically, if this setting is omitted or has no value, the current working directory when IBController is started is used to store TWS's settings. This applies to both Windows and Unix/Linux/OS X.
3. Setting MinimizeMainWindow=yes now works correctly. In the previous release it logged an exception and the main window was left unminimized.