Once connected with TWS, you now connect in Patterns. Press the Interactive Brokers button, or the menu.
The first item connects Patterns with IB.
If you are already connected, and wish to return to the IB window, press Go to the IB window.
If you wish to change the settings of the connection (normally, there should be no need for this), the IP address and IP port menu items will do this.
There is a delay, normally of one second, after connecting. You can change this by pressing AccountInfoTime.
When collecting data, if you wish to collect during extended hours, press Extended Hours. You can also select certain stocks in the accounting table to always get extended hours data.
If you are a financial advisor, check Financial Advisor before connecting. Once you check this, it will remember the next time you run Patterns. If you open TWS as a financial advisor, but open Patterns with financial advisor not checked, an error will result. Conversely, if you open TWS as a user (not as a financial advisor), but in Patterns connect with IB with Financial Advisor checked, you will not be able to see anything.
Once Patterns is connected, you can open Patterns again to view several charts simultaneously in real time. Each time you open the program again, the IB ClientID is incremented. You will not be able to view orders with a ClientID larger than zero. Normally, when you close Patterns, the records of these ClientID's are decremented. If something went wrong, such as a forced closing (Ctrl Alt Del) of the program, you may find that when you connect, you have a non-zero ClientID. In this case, disconnect, press Empty IB_Client to clear the ClientID database, and then connect again.