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FFcal - Plot News indicator

  • #221
  • Nov 3, 2007 10:50pm Nov 3, 2007 10:50pm
The "Alt-F9" screen

Version 1.21 enhances the functions available on the "Alt-F9" screen (see screenshot below), adding Export (Backup) and Import (Restore) options to the previous existing Delete and Rebuild options. Press Alt-F9 to obtain this screen.

All four options operate on a selected subset of records in the Events History database (which can be viewed by pressing F9).


Delete
Choose this option to delete a subset of records, between the dates that you enter, from the database. CAUTION!: once deleted, records can be restored only by re-downloading them from the FF calendar on a week-by-week basis (press F5) or by restoring from a prior backup (see Export and Import options below).

After you have entered the desired date range, press ENTER or click OK to begin the Deletion process.


Rebuild
This will replace a subset of records, between the dates that you enter, with their event time adjusted forward or backward by the number of hours that you specify. For example, enter 4 to advance their times by 4 hours, or –5 to retreat their times by 5 hours. Records outside the date range are replaced with their event times unchanged.

This option is useful for adjusting history records if your MT4 time zone changes (e.g. daylight saving; switching to a different broker).

After you have entered the desired date range, and the time adjustment, press ENTER or click OK to begin the Rebuild process.


Export (Backup)
This will output a subset of records, between the dates that you enter, to the file that you specify. The actual file is named @[email protected] (where xxxxxx = the name that you enter; maximum of 6 characters; default is ‘BACKUP’) and is created in the same folder where FFcal.EXE exists. The date range defaults to 1/1/2000 thru 12/31/2009, which assumes that you wish to backup ALL news events.

Previously existing backup files can be selected from the dropdown. If you select one of these files, it will be overwritten (CAUTION!). Typing in an unused name ensures that a new backup file is created.

To delete an existing backup file, either type its name or select it from the dropdown, and click the ‘Delete this file’ button.

After you have entered the desired date range, and typed or selected the file name, press ENTER or click OK to begin the Export process.

Since the file is in CSV format, it can also be easily viewed and/or exported into another application, e.g. Word or Excel.

This facility is useful whenever you are loading a new version of the FFcal.EXE software, since unzipping the new file will overwrite your existing Event History with an empty file. Simply backup the existing Event History first, then unzip the new version, and then restore the former Event History.


Import (Restore)
This allows restoration of a previously backed up set of records (see previous section). Only records between the dates that you enter, and from the backup file that you specify (select one from the dropdown) will be restored. The date range defaults to 1/1/2000 thru 12/31/2009, which assumes that you wish to restore ALL news events that were previously backed up to the file. Note that all existing records in the Events History within the date range will first be deleted (CAUTION!), to make room for the restored records.

To delete an existing backup file, either type its name or select it from the dropdown, and click the ‘Delete this file’ button.

After you have entered the desired date range, and typed or selected the file name, press ENTER or click OK to begin the Import process.


Press Esc or click Cancel to exit, leaving the Event History data untouched.

David
  • #222
  • Edited 8:10am Nov 4, 2007 7:52am | Edited 8:10am
Plot_News is great for me because I can't seem to remember when an event is going to occur - no matter where it's written - even when writing down all the events of the day with concensus, last, etc. before starting to trade. Although my indicators usually pick up moves of this kind it's nice to know what event, or non-event, caused them. Having the dot right on the chart will hopefully make it clear, before the fact.

One problem: Would like to be able to display only one week's data at a time on the chart. (This way it's possible to look back on longer timeframes without the dots.) Have attempted to delete data in FFcal by going to File>modify News Events History, but that's one event at a time, and File>Delete/Rebuild New Events History doesn't seem to work either. No matter what, there's still events in the file and Plot_News shows every event ever downloaded from FF.
What am I doing wrong? Recall in earlier post where you say this is possible but can't figure it out.
  • #223
  • Nov 4, 2007 9:22am Nov 4, 2007 9:22am
Quoting brucewhain
One problem: Would like to be able to display only one week's data at a time on the chart....
Hi Bruce

If you refer to the screenshot in post #229, you’ll see 4 green boxes. The leftmost of these highlights date range fields ("Output only events between... and..."). You can use these to control which week’s news events get output to your MT4 chart(s). For example, to have only the upcoming week’s events plotted (November 4th thru 10th), type 11/04/2007 and 11/10/2007 into these fields. These values will remain ‘sticky’ every time you run this process, so you’ll only have to update them once each week, at the start of the week.

If you prefer, click the little button at the right of each date field to bring up a pop-up calendar. You can then simply click on the required day of the month to have it pasted automatically into the date field. Click on the single or double arrows to advance/retreat the calendar by one month, or one year, respectively.

Don’t forget that you will need to refresh the Plot_News indicator to have the changes take effect on your MT4 charts. To do this (when in MT4), press Ctrl-I, then press P enough times to select the Plot_News indicator. Press Alt-E to edit it, and then ENTER twice. (Or of course you can alternatively use the mouse to double click on the Plot_News to edit it, and then click OK.)

Alternatively, if you simply don't want the news event circles plotted on longer timeframes, you can check/uncheck the relevant "Show on" checkboxes (located just below the green box). Then refresh the Plot_News indicator as described in the previous paragraph.

There are other ways of achieving this, but this is the simplest, and it allows you to retain all of the history that you’ve previously downloaded, in case you ever do want to analyze prior news events.

David
  • #224
  • Nov 4, 2007 11:57am Nov 4, 2007 11:57am
Howaboutthat! It never occurred to me you could change settings right on the first page. That makes it easier. And there's certainly an advantage to having the data to compare the same announcement from different months. Used to have a link to such info. somewhere in Forex Factory and maybe it came from your system since format looked the same.

Thanks alot. Surly the numbered dots will improve my state of awareness. B.
  • #225
  • Edited Nov 9, 2007 12:21am Nov 8, 2007 12:20pm | Edited Nov 9, 2007 12:21am
I have posted a new version (1.22) in post #1 of this thread. It addresses:

1. Request by Gifog:
FF calendar stores an internal (hidden) ID code for each news event. Version 1.22 will automatically download this into the Event history database. If you press F9 in FFcal.EXE, you will see an additional column at the right of the list box, showing this ID code. This ID code is also exported (backed up) and imported (restored) in the relevant operations after you press Alt-F9.

When you press F5, if you change the "FF calendar format" field to 2 (see blue box in screenshot below), then any ID codes that have been downloaded will be output to (1) the first description line of the plotted news event, and (2) also exported to any XML, CSV or columnar output (more info in post #229 above).

If you have no use for this, it’s perfectly OK to simply leave "FF calendar format" set to 1.

2. Bug fix:
I noticed that when the week beginning July 15, 2007 was downloaded, the resulting date fields contained garbage. I traced this back to the initial event in this week ("Holiday: Marine day"), where FFcal.EXE was interpreting the "Mar" in "Marine" as meaning the month of "March", and then unable to find the day of the month (1-31) immediately following this, getting horribly confused. Version 1.22 now looks for "Mar<space>" instead of "Mar" for "March" (and likewise for the other months) in the HTML, and hence downloads that week’s news events correctly.

David
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: post 234 screenshot.JPG Size: 122 KB
  • #226
  • Nov 9, 2007 9:43am Nov 9, 2007 9:43am
Quoting hanover
I have posted a new version (1.22) in post #1 of this thread.
David, you are a star for making all these changes and keeping everything in sync with ff. I am still trying to develop an EA to trade at newstime on actuals without putting the ff site into overload - and the internal ID may address this.
  • #227
  • Nov 20, 2007 5:29am Nov 20, 2007 5:29am
Normally news is imported into FFcal.EXE's Event History database, from the FF calendar, on a week by week basis. However, it's possible to import an entire month's history at a time, if you want to go to the following trouble:

1. If the month's history already exists, you will need to first delete it. Press Alt-F9, select the "Delete" option and enter the appropriate date range. (Then press F9 and Page Up/Down to verify that there are no events remaining for the month in question).

2. Go to the forex factory calendar. The URL is:
http://www.forexfactory.com/calendar...07&fullmonth=1
for example, if you want to view all of November, 2007 (month=11, year=2007).
Save this web page in the same folder where FFcal.EXE is located, under the name calendar.php with the "Save as type" parameter set to "Webpage, HTML only".

3. Back in FFcal.EXE, press F5.
UNCHECK the "Automatic calendar load (uses WGET)" option.
Change the "Download data from FF calendar starting at what date" to the first day of the relevant month.
Change any other parameters to suit.
Press ENTER to run the process.

4. Press F9 and check that the relevant month's news events have been downloaded.

Of course much the same can be achieved by downloading multiple weeks simultaneously, but downloading entire months will likely use less internet time.

David
  • #228
  • Nov 20, 2007 6:13am Nov 20, 2007 6:13am
hello, hanover, I used to download entire yrs' data by letting it run 50+ times, had wondered whether or not there was a better way to do it. thank you for sharing this shortcut.
  • #229
  • Dec 10, 2007 12:10am Dec 10, 2007 12:10am
For some strange reason after nov 30 the indicator stopped to graph the events.
any comments on how to fix this issue?
Thank you
  • #230
  • Dec 11, 2007 5:11pm Dec 11, 2007 5:11pm
Quoting hanover
Hi everybody

This is my best attempt to make the installation and use of the Plot_News indicator as user-friendly as possible. For those who are unfamiliar with the indicator, it displays news events as small numbered circles on your MT4 charts (see screenshot below). Hover the mouse cursor over each circle to see details of the news event. Hence it is possible to see both (1) what effect each event had on price, historically; and (2) also be warned of upcoming announcements. All data is obtained from the FF calendar (http://www.forexfactory.com/calendar.php).

The product consists of two components: (1) the FFcal.EXE application, which downloads news events from the FF calendar, creates its own (viewable) Events History database, and also a text file ("News.CSV") of news events; (2) the Plot_News.MQ4 indicator, which you attach to your MT4 charts: it reads News.CSV and plots the little numbered circles. See the "Process Overview" diagram below for more information.

From now onward, the latest version (currently v 1.22) will always be attached to this post (#1). Everything that's needed to make it work will be downloadable from the one ZIP file. (The software has undergone many changes over the months and the next 20 or so posts in this thread can be safely ignored.) The version number is displayed in the blue header of the main program window. Every time the program is updated, I wil increment the version number, and also add a new post to this thread, to bump it up the forum.


INSTALLATION

To install Plot_News, here is what you need to do:

1. Create a new folder and unzip the attached ZIP file into it.
[Existing users: note that this will overwrite your Event history database with an empty database. To avoid this, first press Alt-F9 and and backup your database (instructions here: http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=230), and then exit FFcal.EXE. Then, after unzipping the attached file, run FFcal.EXE, press Alt-F9, and restore your database].

2. Move the files Plot_News.MQ4 and Plot_News.EX4 into the folder c:\program files\<your MT4 broker name>\experts\indicators

3. Return to the folder created in step 1, and (if you wish) create a shortcut or icon to run the application FFcal.EXE

4. Run the application FFcal.EXE and press F5. The parameters you will need to set up are shown in red typeface (see screenshot below).

  1. "Download data from FF calendar starting from what date": to get the news announcements for the current week, change this to last Sunday's date. Click on the icon at the right of the red box to obtain a pop-up calendar, and then click on the desired date.
  2. "No of hours your MT4 is ahead of FF calendar". This allows you to align time zones so that the numbered circles display under the correct MT4 candles. For example, if your MT4 is 3 hours ahead of New York EST, enter 3; if 6 hours behind, enter –6. (To find out what the MT4 time is run MT4 and - assuming the market is currently "open" - press Ctrl-M to obtain the Market Watch window, and then right click to ensure that "Time" is checked on; the time will be shown alongside the bid and ask prices for each currency pair. To find out what the time is in New York, see here: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=179).
  3. "Path\name of output (News.CSV) file....". Change this to c:\Program Files\<your MT4 broker name>\experts\files\news.csv (Note: this folder must exist exactly as typed here, otherwise you will get an error message "Path not found")

5. Then press ENTER (or click OK) to build the News Events History with the news events for the week you specified.

6. Re-start MT4 and attach the Plot_News indicator onto your chart(s). To do this, press Ctrl-N to get the Navigator panel, open the "Custom Indicators" tree, and drag the Plot_News indicator onto the chart.


OPERATIONAL INSTRUCTIONS

Whenever you want to update your MT4 charts with the latest data from the FF calendar, run the FFcal.EXE application, and press F5 and then ENTER. By changing the download date (see step 4 above), you can have any number of weeks' worth of news events displayed.

You also need to refresh the Plot_News indicator on your chart, to have it pick up the changes. The simplest way, if the indicator has been already attached to the chart, is to edit it. (The MT4 shortcut keys are: Ctrl-I, then press P enough times to select Plot_News, Alt-E to edit, then ENTER twice.) Refreshing also re-plots the numbered circles so that they don't obscure any recently formed price candles.

After pressing F5 in FFcal.EXE, you can change the parameters to select exactly which news events you want plotted on your MT4 charts. You can also change the symbols and their colors. Simply make the required changes, and press ENTER. Then refresh the Plot_News indicator as described in the previous paragraph.

In FFcal.EXE, press F9 if you want to see all of the news events that have been downloaded from the FF calendar.

Refer to the attached user manuals for more information.


NEW FEATURES

Version 1.20:
This update modifies FFcal.EXE to make it compatible with the latest format changes to the FF calendar.

Version 1.21:
The Export (Backup) and Import (Restore) facilities have been added. It is now possible to make multiple CSV file backups of the data in your News Events history. Press Alt-F9 and follow the instructions on the screen.

Version 1.22:
1. FF calendar ID code can now be downloaded and used.
2. Fixed bug relating to download of the week beginning July 15,2007.
Full details in post# 234: http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=234


FAQ / "HOW TO...." HINTS

You can study the month-to-month variations in any particular news event.
More information here: http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=228

You can use FFcal.EXE to export the FF calendar to XML, CSV, and columnar formats.
More information here: http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=229

You can press Alt-F9 to modify subsets of news events in FFcal.EXE's History database:

  1. Delete multiple news events from the database
  2. Rebuild multiple news events, changing their times (useful for converting to a different timezone, or adjusting for daylight saving)
  3. Export subsets of news events, or backup the entire database
  4. Import subsets of news events, or restore the entire database from a prior backup

More information here: http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=230

______________________

This software is offered, free of charge, on an "as is" basis, with no guarantee of correct operation, or support. My config allows testing on Win-98 and Win-XP Pro only. While I have firewalls and anti-virus operating on my PC config, by downloading and running the software, you agree to do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. I accept no liability for any losses or damage.

Please feel welcome to post queries and suggestions, and report errors, in this thread.

When I have time, I will update the operations manuals. In the meantime, you can download the most recent versions (the Word docs) that are attached below.

Good luck with your trading!

David

Dear Sir,
I would be very grateful if you could post the already composed Plot News Indicator with all the contents intact so that I could attach it to my chart right away. Because I am finding it very difficult to unzip the zip you posted in this tread and also to run the FFcal.EXE application.
Thanks
Arnold
  • #231
  • Dec 14, 2007 3:51am Dec 14, 2007 3:51am
Quoting daytek
For some strange reason after nov 30 the indicator stopped to graph the events.
any comments on how to fix this issue?
Thank you
Hi Daytek

Run the FFcal.EXE program and press F9.
Are the missing news events showing here? (Press 'End' to go quickly to the bottom of the list).

If YES:
Ensure that the date range you have in the "Output only events between" setting (after you've pressed F5) includes December. Only news events between the entered dates will be plotted.

If NO:
Then you need to download December's events from FF calendar. Ensure that the "Update events history from FF calendar" is checked ON, and then download the data a week at a time by selecting the appropriate Sunday in "Download data from FF calendar starting from what date".

After doing this, don't forget to refresh (reattach or edit) the Plot_News indicator on your MT4 charts.

Does this help?

David
  • #232
  • Dec 14, 2007 4:12am Dec 14, 2007 4:12am
Quoting Arnoldchidi
Dear Sir,
I would be very grateful if you could post the already composed Plot News Indicator with all the contents intact so that I could attach it to my chart right away. Because I am finding it very difficult to unzip the zip you posted in this tread and also to run the FFcal.EXE application.
Thanks
Arnold
Hi Arnold

Sorry about the delay in replying. I just noticed your post now.

The FFcal.EXE application must be zipped, otherwise it exceeds the maximum size allowed on an attachment here.

However, if you PM or e-mail me with your e-mail address, I'll attach the files to one or more e-mails and send them to you.

To run FFcal.EXE: run "My Computer" and find a file called "ffcal" that is size 1,225 KB and Type "Application". (This will be located in whatever folder you unzipped, or copied, the files into). Double clicking on this file will run FFcal.EXE

David
  • #233
  • Dec 17, 2007 8:13am Dec 17, 2007 8:13am
Hi David
Just wondered if you know why this alert comes up when I hit F5 to load FFcal.
It's no problem I just hit 'ignore' and proceed as normal but it would be nice to eliminate it?

Thanks

R
Attached Image (click to enlarge)
Click to Enlarge Name: david.gif Size: 6 KB
  • #234
  • Dec 17, 2007 10:31am Dec 17, 2007 10:31am
is this actually the best platform ?
Money often costs too much...
  • #235
  • Dec 17, 2007 2:10pm Dec 17, 2007 2:10pm
I would like to know if this EA sets pending orders or it just executes the order?

I would also like the EA to be able to remove the pending order after a period of time if the pending order wasn't executed?

This way, it actually works without being checked for a long time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and also makes sure u don't lose......

Does this EA actually fetch actual values and compare it with previous (or revised) from forex factory before entering trades?

This is certainly needed to win constantly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everything is bare Making the best out of pips
  • #236
  • Dec 18, 2007 4:46pm Dec 18, 2007 4:46pm
Quoting hanover
Hi Arnold

Sorry about the delay in replying. I just noticed your post now.

The FFcal.EXE application must be zipped, otherwise it exceeds the maximum size allowed on an attachment here.

However, if you PM or e-mail me with your e-mail address, I'll attach the files to one or more e-mails and send them to you.

To run FFcal.EXE: run "My Computer" and find a file called "ffcal" that is size 1,225 KB and Type "Application". (This will be located in whatever folder you unzipped, or copied, the files into). Double clicking on this file will run FFcal.EXE

David
Thanks Sir,
I would like you to send me the attachments via my email but I do not have your email address.
Could you please post it in this tread as you would want me to attach it so I could download it without much difficulty.
Best regards.
Arnold
  • #237
  • Dec 21, 2007 1:33pm Dec 21, 2007 1:33pm
Quoting rorieu
Hi David
Just wondered if you know why this alert comes up when I hit F5 to load FFcal.
It's no problem I just hit 'ignore' and proceed as normal but it would be nice to eliminate it?

Thanks

R
Rorieu, I have never experienced a problem like this.

I've checked the content of the c:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt file on my computer (since it seems to be the one your error message is referring to) and it has a comment:
"AUTOEXEC.NT is used to initialize the MS-DOS environment unless a different startup file is specified in an application's PIF"

I suspect that there is a statement/command somewhere in your AUTOEXEC.NT file that somehow conflicts with FFcal.EXE, but I have no way of knowing what it is. If you could post the content of this file here (or e-mail or PM me), I could have a look for you. However, I'm not really a specialist when it comes to solving Windows related problems.
________________________________

Quoting indotrader
is this actually the best platform ?
Indotrader, I'm not sure what you're referring to. MT4?
________________________________

Quoting osaze
I would like to know if this EA sets pending orders or it just executes the order?
I would also like the EA to be able to remove the pending order after a period of time if the pending order wasn't executed?

This way, it actually works without being checked for a long time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and also makes sure u don't lose......

Does this EA actually fetch actual values and compare it with previous (or revised) from forex factory before entering trades?

This is certainly needed to win constantly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Osaze, I think you might have posted on the wrong thread. This is not an EA, and it doesn't execute orders. It simply plots little circular objects on your chart with information about past or upcoming news events. Please see the post #1 in this thread for more information.
________________________________

Quoting Arnoldchidi
Thanks Sir,
I would like you to send me the attachments via my email but I do not have your email address.
Could you please post it in this tread as you would want me to attach it so I could download it without much difficulty.
Best regards.
Arnold
Arnold, I'm reluctant to post my e-mail address on a public forum. However, if you click on the "hanover" logo at the top of the post, a screen like the one pictured below should appear. Click on "Send Email" or "Send Private Message" to contact me.

David
Attached Image
  • #238
  • Dec 21, 2007 4:15pm Dec 21, 2007 4:15pm
Hi David,

My post is somewhat premature -- I haven't installed and used your tool but it promises to be very helpful to me. I got burned by being unaware of a news event this week, and instead of getting out at B.E., I took a -44 pip slippage within the first minute of GBP news. I could have exited in profit easily had I been on top of news events.

I'm sorry if the answer to my question is already given, but basically I wonder if there are custom alerts possible, that is, to add my own regular "news" events?

The two I am thinking of are these:
1) Triple Wednesday swap. On Wednesdays, 3 days swap is paid out at 5:00P Eastern, and it so happens, this week for GBPJPY, my broker's charts show an illiquid market (no M1 candles) for 5 minutes until 5:06PM at a significant gap down of around 27 pips! I think it would be good to have an alarm on the chart (basically almost any pair but the ones with higher swap amounts are more significant... all the JPY pairs and ???).

2) I learned my broker does a daily server reset which makes it go down for about 1 minute, every day at 8:47P Eastern. I'm not sure I really would need a daily alarm for EVERY day, but you never know. If I'm in a scalp trade a single minute could be very costly delay. If I'm aware the server bounce is coming I can decide before it happens.

Thanks for making this tool! I look forward to incorporating it on my charts.

Pips4life
  • #239
  • Dec 21, 2007 7:35pm Dec 21, 2007 7:35pm
Quoting pips4life
Hi David,

My post is somewhat premature.....
Hi Pips4life,

Yes, in addition to the news sourced from the FF calendar, you can add your own manually-entered events, for swap, server resets, even doctor’s appointments, if you like.

In its current form, the indicator doesn’t sound an audible alarm, or ring your cellphone. It simply plots a symbol on your chart(s) for each event, which converges from the RHS of the chart, as the time approaches, to meet with price; then after the event has occurred it remains with the price bar as the passage of time moves the latter further toward the LHS (thus you can what effect an event had on price). You can choose whatever Wingding symbols and colors you wish, to highlight different events, and also specify the currency charts (default is all) and timeframes on which you want the symbols to appear. The news events from FF calendar plot one side (above or below) the price bars, and the manually entered events, the other.

In the chart below, the yellow star is there to remind me of impending swap, and the little red up-arrow inside the square the end of the week. I happen to use a yellow star for single swap, and a red one for triple swap. With a previous broker’s MT4 that was plotting undesirable Sunday bars, I used another symbol to highlight these on the D1 charts, so that I could consciously ignore them.

The red, orange and yellow circles represent high, medium and low impact new events (as defined by the FF calendar), respectively. [1=USD; 2=CAD; 3=EUR; 4=GBP; 5=CHF; 6=JPY; 7=AUD; 8=NZD; 0=ALL]. When you hover your mouse cursor over the relevant object, details of the event show in the ‘help bubble’: MT4 time, currency, impact, event description, your local time; ‘actual’, ‘forecast’, ‘previous’, and ‘revised from’ values.

The second screenshot shows the entry screen for manually entered events (run the FFcal.EXE application and press F8 to reach this screen). As you can see, you enter date, time, currency pair, vertical spacing (negative number means plot on the opposite side of the bar from the FF news events), Wingding symbol code, color, timeframe selection, and the text you want to appear (in the ‘help bubble’, when you hover the mouse cursor over the symbol on the chart). You can use the F7 (Duplicate) button to model items on other items, to avoid repetitive typing.

Regarding swap, there is a feature that will automatically advance the swap symbols by one week. The way it is set up, it automatically generates a different swap item for each currency pair, so that the ‘help bubble’ will show the dollar amount of the swap (per lot). This assumes that you want to go to the trouble of importing the latest rates from your broker. Having said all this, you can ignore the automatic feature, and simply enter swap symbols manually, or not at all, if you wish.

From what you’re asking, it looks like I wrote this system especially with you in mind.

Refer to post #1 in this thread for the files and download/operational instructions. Try it, and tell me what you think!!

Please post any queries here, and I will do my best to answer them.

Thanks,
David
Attached Image(s) (click to enlarge)
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  • #240
  • Dec 24, 2007 3:54pm Dec 24, 2007 3:54pm
Quoting hanover
Hi everybody

This is my best attempt to make the installation and use of the Plot_News indicator as user-friendly as possible. For those who are unfamiliar with the indicator, it displays news events as small numbered circles on your MT4 charts (see first screenshot below). Hover the mouse cursor over each circle to see details of the news event (see final screenshot below). Hence it is possible to see both (1) what effect each event had on price, historically; and (2) also be warned of upcoming announcements. All data is obtained from the FF calendar (http://www.forexfactory.com/calendar.php).

The product consists of two components: (1) the FFcal.EXE application, which downloads news events from the FF calendar, creates its own (viewable) Events History database, and also a text file ("News.CSV") of news events; (2) the Plot_News.MQ4 indicator, which you attach to your MT4 charts: it reads News.CSV and plots the little numbered circles. See the "Process Overview" diagram below for detailed information.

From now onward, the latest version (currently v 1.22) will always be attached to this post (#1). Everything that's needed to make it work will be downloadable from the one ZIP file. (The software has undergone many changes over the months and the next 20 or so posts in this thread can be safely ignored.) The version number is displayed in the blue header of the main program window. Every time the program is updated, I wil increment the version number, and also add a new post to this thread, to bump it up the forum.


INSTALLATION

To install Plot_News, here is what you need to do:

1. Create a new folder, then download and unzip the attached ZIP file into it.

[Existing users: note that this will overwrite your Event history database with an empty database. If you want to avoid this, first press Alt-F9 and and backup your database (instructions here: http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=230), and then exit FFcal.EXE. Then, after unzipping the attached file, run FFcal.EXE, press Alt-F9, and restore your database].

2. Move the files Plot_News.MQ4 and Plot_News.EX4 into the folder c:\program files\<your MT4 broker name>\experts\indicators

3. Return to the folder created in step 1, and (if you wish) create a shortcut or icon to run the application FFcal.EXE (i.e. find the file showing as Name = ffcal; Size = 1,225 KB; Type = Application; in Windows Explorer; then right click and select "Create Shortcut", and finally drag the shortcut onto your Windows Desktop).

4. Double click to run the application FFcal.EXE and press F5. The parameters you will need to set up are shown in red typeface (see the second screenshot below):

  1. "Download data from FF calendar starting from what date": to get the news announcements for the current week, change this to last Sunday's date. Click on the icon at the right of the red box to obtain a pop-up calendar, and then click on the desired date.
  2. "No of hours your MT4 is ahead of FF calendar". This allows you to align time zones so that the numbered circles display under the correct MT4 candles. For example, if your MT4 is 3 hours ahead of New York EST, enter 3; if 6 hours behind, enter –6. (To find out what the MT4 time is run MT4 and - assuming the market is currently "open" - press Ctrl-M to obtain the Market Watch window, and then right click to ensure that "Time" is checked on; the time will be shown alongside the bid and ask prices for each currency pair. The current time in New York is here: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=179).
  3. "Path\name of output (News.CSV) file....". Change this to c:\Program Files\<your MT4 broker name>\experts\files\news.csv (Note: this folder must exist exactly as typed here, otherwise you will get an error message "Path not found")

5. Then press ENTER (or click OK) to build the News Events History with the news events for the week that you specified.

6. Re-start MT4 and attach the Plot_News indicator onto your chart(s). To do this, press Ctrl-N to get the Navigator panel, open the "Custom Indicators" tree, and drag the Plot_News indicator onto the chart.


OPERATIONAL INSTRUCTIONS

Whenever you want to update your MT4 charts with the latest data from the FF calendar, run the FFcal.EXE application, and press F5 and then ENTER. By repeatedly changing the download date (see step 4 above), you can have any number of weeks' worth of news events displayed. At the start of each new week, you will need to advance this date by 7 days, to add in the news events for the upcoming week.

You also need to refresh the Plot_News indicator on your chart, to have it pick up the changes. The simplest way, if the indicator has been already attached to the chart, is to edit it. (The MT4 shortcut keys are: Ctrl-I, then press P enough times to select Plot_News, Alt-E to edit, then ENTER twice.) Refreshing also re-plots the numbered circles so that they don't obscure any recently formed price candles.

After pressing F5 in FFcal.EXE, you can change the parameters to select exactly which news events you want plotted on your MT4 charts. You can also change the symbols and their colors. Simply make the required changes, and press ENTER. Then refresh the Plot_News indicator as described in the previous paragraph.

In FFcal.EXE, press F9 if you want to see all of the news events that have been downloaded from the FF calendar.

Refer to the attached user manuals for more information.


NEW FEATURES

Version 1.20:
This update modifies FFcal.EXE to make it compatible with the latest format changes to the FF calendar.

Version 1.21:
The Export (Backup) and Import (Restore) facilities have been added. It is now possible to make multiple CSV file backups of the data in your News Events history. Press Alt-F9 and follow the instructions on the screen.

Version 1.22:
1. FF calendar ID code can now be downloaded and used.
2. Fixed bug relating to download of the week beginning July 15,2007.
Full details in post# 234: http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=234


FAQ / "HOW TO...." HINTS

You can study the month-to-month variations in any particular news event.
More information here: http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=228

You can use FFcal.EXE to export the FF calendar to XML, CSV, and columnar formats.
More information here: http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=229

You can press Alt-F9 to modify subsets of news events in FFcal.EXE's History database:

  1. Delete multiple news events from the database
  2. Rebuild multiple news events, changing their times (useful for converting to a different timezone, or adjusting for daylight saving)
  3. Export subsets of news events, or backup the entire database
  4. Import subsets of news events, or restore the entire database from a prior backup

More information here: http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...&postcount=230

______________________

DISCLAIMER: This software is offered, free of charge, on an "as is" basis, with no guarantee of correct operation, or support. My config allows testing on Win-98 and Win-XP Pro only. While I have firewalls and anti-virus operating on my PC config, by downloading and running the software, you agree to do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. I accept no liability for any losses or damage.

Please feel welcome to post queries and suggestions, and report errors, in this thread.

When I have time, I will update the operations manuals. In the meantime, you can download the most recent versions (the Word docs) that are attached below.

Good luck with your trading!

David

Sir,
In installing the Plot News Indicator what exactly am I sopposed to do as it is showing constantly..Path Not Found..

{1}Am I sopposed to save the whole content of FFcal.EXE inside the c:\Program Files\<your MT4 broker name>\experts\files\news.csv

{2} Also the Plot_News.MQ4 indicator, which you I am to attach to my MT4 charts could not appear as you instructed. I draged it onto the chart but it did not show.

What am I doing wrong in this installation process.. I need your help in this please

Looking forward to learning from you.

Best regards and thanks for sharing.

Arnold
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