HOWTO: Getting E*TRADE Pro to run on Ubuntu 16.04

Discussion in 'Trading Software' started by GouZi, Oct 26, 2016.

  1. GouZi

    GouZi

    E*TRADE Pro has an installer available for Windows and macOS, but none for Linux.

    Linux users need to resort to the java web start application available from etrade.com, but launching Etrade Pro from the website every time can be annoying.
    To work around it, let's make the java web start application a launchable application from Linux.

    I. Install java

    While other java versions might work, I only tried with Oracle's java:
    Code:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer
    II. Get the java web start application

    Assuming you've been granted access to the Etrade Pro tools:
    - Login in on http://www.etrade.com
    - Go to Research > Products > E*TRADE Pro > Launch Pro Using Java
    - Save etpro_launch.jnlp

    III. Tweak the jnlp application to not hardcode the session

    By default the jnlp application harcodes the current website session, which prevents you to reuse it.

    Edit etpro_launch.jnlp and remove the following line:
    Code:
    <property name="jnlp.smsession" value="*****" />
    IV. Get a script to launch the jnlp application

    Code:
    mkdir etpro
    cp ~/Downloads/etpro_launch.jnlp etpro/etpro_launch.jnlp
    touch etpro/etpro
    chmod 755 etpro/etpro
    Edit etpro:
    Code:
    #!/bin/bash
    set -e
    scriptdir="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
    
    /usr/bin/javaws "${scriptdir}/etpro_launch.jnlp"
    You can now either call this script from the command line or add a menu item calling this script.
     
    bitstorm, apdxyk, ET180 and 1 other person like this.
  2. Solo88

    Solo88

    Thank you for this post. How do you edit the jnlp file? Is it done through the terminal? Also, how do you edit etpro? What exactly is etpro are you referring to the jnlp file or something else? Lastly, how do you create a menu file calling the script? Today is my first day learning Linux and I'm in a crash course to full usage. I couldn't seem to find any specific direction on google search. Thank you!
     
  3. pinaar

    pinaar

    Excellent post. I tried it, but it didn't like my password. The terminal shows,

    log4j:WARN Please initialize the log4j system properly, before I entered my credentials which failed as, "Invalid" in the Java applet login panel.
    To Solo88 - I've been using the Unix Vi editor to edit my scripts for the past half of a century, but there are other editors.
     
    stochastix likes this.
  4. Sal433616

    Sal433616

    This is an update (not full install guide) for those who want to run E*Trade Pro on Ubuntu 20.04.

    1) Download jnlp file from Etrade web site (log into your Etrade account, click launch Etrade Pro and on next page click and download from :"Launch E*TRADE Pro using Java?"

    2) Edit (use nano editor) etpro_launch.jnlp file and remove line similar to this one
    <property name="jnlp.smsession" value="*****" />

    3)etpro_launch.jnlp only works on obsolete Java SE 8, you can download jdk-8u202-linux-x64.tar.gz from Oracle archive (registration required to get the license) or directly license-free Java SE 8 from java.com (click Download button on top of the page and select linux.x64 (jre-8u271-linux-x64.tar.gz)

    4)install correctly Java SE (install java from tar file)

    5) check that you have proper java version by executing terminal commands:
    java -version (you should get something like this)
    java version "1.8.0_271"
    Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_271-b09)
    Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.271-b09, mixed mode)

    (note: if you see different versions, than you probably have other java too or installed latest openjava instead, having more java versions is not a problem, you can point to the right version using update-alternatives command, here is the link for help:
    )

    6) check that you have path to java by executing terminal command:
    update-alternatives --list java
    /usr/java/jre1.8.0_271/bin/java (exact path can differ)
    update-alternatives --list javaws

    /usr/java/jre1.8.0_271/bin/java (exact path can differ)

    7) run etrade Pro from the terminal (from directory where you have stored jnpl file, or use exact path in the argument)
    javaws etpro_launch.jnlp


    8)log in using your credentials and enjoy.

    9) this is just hint. You can associate jnlp extension to firefox browser, so once you are loget to Etrade , you can launch EtradePro from the browser, no need to run from terminal
     
    apdxyk likes this.