gray EA's

A simple question....I have more than 1 EA on MT4 but only 1 per chart. One of the EA's is now gray on the navigator page but it appears to still be working. I still have my smiley face on too. What does the gray out mean? thanks

You only have the compiled executable version of the EA in the experts folder. There is no *.mq4 file with the source code.

For the none programmer, what does that mean?
The one that is gray was my original EA that has been working for months and all last night it continued to work. The new one I added yesterday appears normal but has not made a trade yet even though it is not gray...I'm confused and thanks in advance for any help

The method by which a computer can execute a program, (like an EA) is that there is another program called a compiler. In the case of Metatrader, the compiler is a part of the metatrader editer. So, when you receive a program (EA) and it is in the programming language, (in this case, MQ4) This is a text version of the instrustions that the computer is supposed to carry out. Now then, the compiler that is built into the editer of Metatrader will go through the text file (MQ4) and convert it into machine langauge (EX4) that the computer can understand and execute.

When your EA is gray, it means you have only the EX4 copy that is already compiled and not the MQ4 copy which is the text file that can be altered.

Since the computer only understands the EX4 copy, your EA will run fine with only that copy.

If you had the MQ4 copy, when you close Metatrader and open it back up, it automatically compiles all MQ4 files and keeps the EX4 copy in the correct folder. It is ONLY the EX4 compiled file that actually tells the computer what to do...

I hope that clears is up

wow...thanks Scott!!
I appreciate your time in explaining that ....you need to write a "programming for dummies" book which would be a huge success...
thanks again