Get ff_calendar_thisweek.xml file by date range???

Hello,

Is it possible to generate an XML file by date range as apposed to just the most current week for the ff_calendar_thisweek.xml file? It would be great to be able to do this to use in backtesting.

Please advise.

Regards,


Forex.Trader

McCollum, the FFcal.EXE software here is capable of generating many different export formats (including XML), using many different filters (including date range). See attached sample.

Hope it's what you're looking for.

David

Hello David aka Hanover,

Thank you for you reply. I am aware of the wonderful Plot News indicator you developed. It certainly represents a tremendous effort and dedication!

I am developing an EA that will manage entries/exits and active positions. As part of our effort during backtesting, I need a process by which I can build and XLM or CSV file of news events by date range. The current ff_calendar_thisweek.xml file provided by Forex Factory will work in forward testing and production use of the EA, but not for backtesting. Your solution can create these files, but its logic is part of the EXE file. Ideally, what I really need is a code block to include as part of my EA.

I really appreciate your response and for taking the time to assist others in their coding projects.

Regards,

David McCollum

From one David to another......

The way I get the data from the calendar, is by using Gnu's WGET freeware (to obtain wget.exe, it is included in the ZIP file attached to post #1, or download from here.)

The syntax to run it is simply:
wget <URL address>
or
wget --help
if you need help.

More info here.

WGET creates an HTML file on my hard disk, which I then parse, i.e. search and extract certain text patterns, which form the news displayed on FF calendar. This is not a trivial task, but it can be done.

You could potentially do something similar from your EA. You'd need to write a DLL function that calls WGET.EXE and does the parsing. Then call the DLL function from your MQL4 code.

That's my approach - no doubt there are others. You might be able to find (Google) a freeware utility that strips out the HTML tokens, and formats the text (i.e. simplifying the parsing process) that you likewise call from within the DLL.

Hope this makes sense. I'm afraid I don't know of any shortcuts, like everything else it's a programming task.

Good luck,
David

Hannover.. is there any other way to convert this http://www.forexfactory.com/ff_calendar_thisweek.xml straight to csv format in an indicator script?

Roxy, simple answer is 'yes', but it would require programming.

Alternatively, you might be able to find a freeware/shareware 'XML to CSV converter' on the net, by using a search engine like Google.

David

thanks hannover, but is there any certain way to do it in the indicator without any converter?

Roxy, the answer is: not unless the indicator is specifically programmed to do it.

If you want a weekly CSV file of news events, the FFcal.EXE ultility (part of the Plot_News system) can output news events from FF calendar in almost any format you wish (including CSV). You will first need to download the Plot_News system from post #1 in the link above, then see the screenshot below, and also post #229 for more info.

Numbered points refer to the screenshot:

1. Set this date to the Sunday at the start of the week's data you want to download (or click the button to the right for a pop-up calendar). Or check Auto-set ON to have the date set automatically to last Sunday's date.

2. Use this setting to convert news times output to your MT4 broker's time zone, if necessary. Or enter 0 for New York time.

3. Select date range for events to be output to CSV (or click the button to the right for a pop-up calendar).

4. Make sure the "Char" radio button in checked ON, i.e. assuming you want CSV format. Select your desired separator and enclosing characters (see post #229 for more info).

5. Adjust the date format for the dates output to the CSV (see post #229 for more info).

6. Select the output file name (default is XLoutput.CSV). File will be created in the folder into which you unzipped Plot_News.

7. Click the 'OK' button to launch the process.

Attached is a ZIP containing a CSV file of all news events from FF calendar, between Jan 1,2006 and Nov 28,2008, obtained using this process.

David

Hi Hanover,

Great job coding these excellent programs.

I have been able to successfully add calls to FFCal inside my Expert Advisors and that is great for forward testing. But for backtesting, is it possible to simply change a line in the FFCal indicator to make it read from an historical news data file rather than the default current-week.xml on FF ?

In other words... first use FFCal.exe utility to create an historical file of news events in XML format, say for the last 3 years. Then FFCal.mq4 could read from that file instead of the weekly one on FF.

If so then backtesting would be possible.

Does the FFCal.exe utility output to the same .xml format that FFCal.mq4 understands?

Many thanks in anticipation,

Pipalot

Pipalot,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I just saw your post now.

Not sure that I understand correctly, but I think you might have confused the software I developed with Derk Wehler's FFcal.MQ4 indicator.

The FFcal.EXE application that I wrote was created using a product called Clarion, and it reads the FF calendar HTML, not ff_calendar_thisweek.xml.

The FFcal.MQ4 is Derk's creation. I'm afraid I don't know much about it.

Hi Hanover,

Thanks for your reply and my apologies for getting the two things confused.

Regards,

Pipalot

Hello,

We could not use the program.
I have an xml file it produces, 01/01/2010 - 2012.09.10ig
Can anyone help?

Hi,

I wrote simple VBS script to get historical events from forexfactory.com/calendar.php . It make CSV file with Year, Month, Day, Time, Impact, EventText.
Before you run this script you must open IE and set correct timezone for your localization. In script you may change currency, impact and start date setting.

Warning! API FF Calendar yesterday not work: https://www.forexfactory.com/ffcal_week_this.xml

Notify support about bug: https://www.forexfactory.com/contact...ject=technical