programming challenge

Hi:
I've been reading and learning, but I'm new to programming and have spent a couple frustrating days on something that I thought would be pretty simple. I have two working programs, an EA (ma ea 2) and and indicator (HMA1). The indicator has a value, trend[x], in it that I want to use in the EA. There's a Comment line in the indicator and at that point trend[x] is always the correct value that I want to use (value should always be 1 or -1).

I've tried to return the value, use iCustom, merge the two programs, even write the value out to a file and read it back with the other program, but I am not experienced enough at this point to get it to work.

If anyone can help I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
John

hey john.... i rewrote your indicator, changed name to HMA2..... moved the trend[x] array to buffers.... you can now access the value using icustom.......

learning to code can be difficult at times......h

Hi Hayseed:

Just checked in and saw your post. Thanks for the help. I will download it and check it out. I appreciate the time you must have put into it.

I have another question if you don't mind:

I came across a thing about imported functions and started messing with that today. Would this have been another way to do it and "return" the trend[x] value using return(trend[x])? I've been messing with it this evening and get it to compile, but nothing seems to be happening. I moved HMA1.ex4 into the experts folder but even that didn't seem to help.

Thanks again,

John

http://www.metatrader4.com/forum/1476

and from MetaEditor help:

Functions are imported from compiled MQL4 modules (*.ex4 files) and from operating system modules (*.dll files). The module name is specified in the #import directive. For compiler to be able to form the imported function call and pass parameters in a proper way, the full description of functions is needed. Functions descriptions follow the #import "module name" immediately. The new #import command (can be without parameters) completes the imported functions description block.
#import "file_name"
func1 define;
func2 define;
...
funcN define;
#import
Imported functions must have their unique names. Functions having the same names cannot be imported simultaneously from different modules. Imported functions names may not coincide with those of built-in functions.
Since the imported functions are out of the module to be compiled, the compiler cannot check correctness of parameters passed. This is why, to avoid runtime errors, it is necessary to declare the compliance of types and order of parameters precisely. The parameters passed to imported functions (both from EX4 and from DLL modules) cannot have values by default.
Examples:
#import "user32.dll"
int MessageBoxA(int hWnd, string lpText, string lpCaption, int uType);

#import "stdlib.ex4"
string ErrorDescription(int error_code);

int RGB(int red_value, int green_value, int blue_value);
bool CompareDoubles(double number1, double number2);
string DoubleToStrMorePrecision(double number, int precision);
string IntegerToHexString(int integer_number);


#import "ExpertSample.dll"
int GetIntValue(int);
double GetDoubleValue(double);
string GetStringValue(string);
double GetArrayItemValue(double arr[], int, int);
bool SetArrayItemValue(double& arr[], int,int, double);

double GetRatesItemValue(double rates[][6], int, int, int);
int SortStringArray(string& arr[], int);
int ProcessStringArray(string& arr[], int);
#import
For importing of functions during execution of an mql4 program, the so-called late binding is used. This means that until the imported function has not been called, the corresponding module (ex4 or dll) will not be loaded.
It is not recommended to use the fully qualified name of loaded module appearing as DriveirectoryFileName.Ext. MQL4 libraries are loaded from the terminal_direxpertslibraries folder. If the library has not been found, there will be an attempt to load a library from the terminal_direxperts folder.

Hi Hayseed:

As a junior member, it seems I can not send messages directly to you so the best I can do is post here and hope you see it.

Thanks again for making the changes to the HMA indicator. I got a chance to open it up and play with it. I see now you changed 2 lines of code and that fixed something I've been working on for days. That is seriously elegant. I used iCustom and pulled the value into the second program on the first try. I'm in the process now of setting up my entries and exits so I can do some backtesting and turn it loose on a demo.

That really is cool that some of the more experienced members are willing to help point us novices in the right direction. I hope I can do the same for someone else in the future.

Take care,
John