Signal Begin(Exit Buy)

I've been testing out the "Expert Advisor Builder" website. I'm just learning this programming language, so I'm struggling a bit. The Builder creates two sections in the EA; one called Signal Begin(Exit Buy) and the other called Signal Begin(Exit Sell). Can anyone explain the purpose of these sections within the EA? Are they a requirement? To me an "Exit Buy" is an exit from the trade, either T/P or S/L, no?

Those are just some naming conventions the builder users. It is good to segmentize your code logic so that its easier to reference later and also promotes code reusability. I always have a function call ShouldBuy() and ShouldSell() to manage signal catching. But they are not mandatory, I can code everything in the start() if I want but I never do that due to reasons stated earlier.

the mandatory functions are init, deinit and start.

init() function runs only ONCE right after you load the EA before start() is run. I use this to setup the EA's trading "environment" making sure the user inputs are valid for the code logic that is to come inside start().

start() runs technically each time a tick occurs but it may lapse depending on amount of work to be done, meaning if a new tick comes in while its still processing the previous tick's job, the EA disregard the new tick. and once it finishes that run, it will wait for a new tick to run again.

deinit() runs once when you choose to remove the EA from the chart. usually to free up global variables but I reckon its very seldom used.. (at least I don't use it at all)

hope this helps and good luck in your quest for knowledge. =)

regards,
Zen

Thanks for the reply, Zen.

Can you help to understand why the naming conventions are what they are in the segments? It starts out with Variable Begin/End, that I get.

Then it moves to Signal Begin (Exit Buy)/Signal End (Exit Buy). I understand it's not mandatory, but what exactly would go in this segment? Why would we be starting out by telling the program when to exit? We haven't event told it when to enter. That's why I'm confused.

Then comes Signal Begin (Exit Sell)/Signal End (Exit Sell). Same questions as above.

The final segment is Signal Begin(Entry)/Signal End. I think I get what this is for, but I would have expected it to appear earlier on, before the previous segments.

I suppose I could ignore these segments, but I'm just trying to understand how and why the Builder constructs the EA's as it does. Thanks in advance.