need help with indicator

hey guys,

ill give u a short description on what the indicator is about: i do have an indicator that displays drawdown (in dollars, or in %balance). the calculation to do so is simple, just a loop that collects all the profit and swap of all orders(or all orders that have certain magicnumber). its displayed in a seperate window. values are stored in ExtMapBuffer1[], like always

the problem is: when i restart the platform, ExtMapBuffer1[] is emptied, and i can not recalculate the drawdown afterwards.

so, and here is what im trying to do: find a way to save the values bar by bar, so that i can load them whenever the indicator runs init(). my idea was to write them into a file, but this might not be perfect since i dont know how to load them again. i would have to do a conversion from datetime to the number of the bar... and its somehow confusing me right now...

do u have any idea how to accomplish that?

maybe what im trying to do is not the best solution... maybe u have a brilliant idea, pls let me know.

use global variables.. read up on GlobalVariableSet() for example.

hi piccolo,

thanks for ur reply...

actually ive been thinking about global variables... and if remember correctly they do not get saved forever... apart from that im not sure if the value in the variable would get saved in case of mt4 crash...
correct me if im wrong, or if there is a decent way how to do it... i just dont see any at the current moment...

what im doing rite now(last few hours, haha) is writing the drawdown as well as the bar open time (itime) into 2 bin files...
so from there im trying to import the saved values when initializing the indicator... im not there yet, but quite close...
from there i will try to get the number of the bar by NumberOfBar = (iTime(Symbol(),0)-TimeFromFile)/PeriodOfChartInSeconds... and then to doublecheck compare if (iTime(Symbol(),NumberOfBar) == TimeFromFile) and if not i would have to adjust the NumberOfBar, that might happen f.e. if a bar is missing due to no new tick in nighttime...

still could use some help on the file read stuff...

or if u do have an overall better idea, just shoot

okay, solved it...

can read string from file, trim and convert to int or double... now that i know how it works id say its easy...

alright,

same indicator, new problem... help most appreciated

i changed a few things: all the values(BarOpenTime and DrawDown) now go into one file... it works to save them... i can load them in init, as in i can display them using print(), but they do not draw on chart, although i assign the value like this ExtMapBuffer1[NumberOfBar] = IndiValue; but it does not draw on chart if i remove the indicator from the chart and attach it again...

pls help, what to do...? it cant be difficult, im sure about that... im just not good with writing indicators
btw, if i recompile the mq4 file the indicator values get loaded to the chart...

It's hard to help you debug when there's no codes shown for debugging.

yes, ur right... ill post some code... im just afraid i have to get it in shape first so that its better readable than now (one of my bad habits not to use proper names for variables and comments...)

okay... enough trying arround... i was close, but then i fu**ed it all up again... i mean, i learned quite a lot on the way, but im almost out of ideas how to fix it...

even took a look at global variables, but i dont see no way how to define an array[] as global variable, thats why im trying this workarround with the *.bin file... but actually, this gives me the chance to import the data to f.e. for analysis purposes...

heres the code(sorry for the mess...) of my latest version, that more or less works...
what works is:
1)BarOpenTime and Drawdown are written to file...
2)they can be read in init() and displayed using print()...
3)on the fly drawing of Drawdown works
btw, pls apply to m1 chart, since it gives more bars in shorter time and currently is hardcoded to "divide by 60" somewhere, think there even might be a comment...

what doesnt work and needs a fix:
primary target: putting the data from the file not only into print(), but into ExtMapBuffer[] so that it will paint the past Drawdown on the chart when the indicator is attached or mt4 is started...

secondary target: find out why sometimes the indicator doesnt react on the first tick, doesnt recognize the new bar and doesnt write values to the file, and fix it... i might be able to do that myself by using a better definition of what identifies a new bar...

really could need some help on primary target...

code:

//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Drawdown1.28.mq4 |
//| G. Cash |
//| |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
#property copyright "G. Cash "
#property link ""

#property indicator_separate_window
#property indicator_buffers 1
#property indicator_color1 Purple
#property indicator_width1 1
#property indicator_minimum 0

//#define TIME 1
//#define DD_VALUE 2



int barstoprocess=1;
double array1[1000];
//int RefillArray[][];
int c=0;
string filename;


bool onceonly = true;
bool newstarted = true;


//---- buffers
double ExtMapBuffer1[];


//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Custom indicator initialization function |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int init()
{
//---- indicators
filename = "binfile2";


SetIndexStyle(0,DRAW_LINE);
SetIndexBuffer(0,ExtMapBuffer1);


int handle = FileOpen(filename,FILE_BIN|FILE_READ);

FileSeek(handle,0,SEEK_SET);
//int i = -1;
//----

while(onceonly)
{
//i++;

if (FileIsEnding(handle))
{
FileClose(handle);
onceonly = false;
return(0);
}

string BarOpenTimeStr = FileReadString(handle,11);
// BarOpenTimeStr = StringTrimRight(BarOpenTimeStr);
int BarOpenTime = StrToInteger(BarOpenTimeStr);
//Print(BarOpenTime);

int NumberOfBar = (iTime(Symbol(),0,0) - BarOpenTime)/60; //m1 chart


string IndiValueStr = FileReadString(handle,6);
// IndiValueStr = StringTrimRight(IndiValueStr);
double IndiValue = StrToDouble(IndiValueStr);
IndiValue = IndiValue/100;
//Print(IndiValue);



//if (iTime(Symbol(),0,NumberOfBar) == BarOpenTime)
// {
// ExtMapBuffer1[NumberOfBar] = IndiValue;
// }
}



//----
return(0);
}
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Custom indicator deinitialization function |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int deinit()
{
//----



//----
return(0);
}
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Custom indicator iteration function |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int start()
{

IndicatorShortName("Drawdown");
int counted_bars=IndicatorCounted();
if (counted_bars > 0)
counted_bars--;
int limit = Bars -counted_bars;
if(limit>barstoprocess)
limit=barstoprocess;

int a = 0;


for (a=OrdersTotal()-1;a>=0;a--)
{
if (OrderSelect(a,SELECT_BY_POS))
{
double profitloss = profitloss + OrderProfit()+OrderSwap();
}
}

if (iVolume(Symbol(),0,0)<=1) //new bar if not working check which expression is used in ea
{
//write precious bar data into file
datetime itime1 = iTime(Symbol(),0,1);

int handle = FileOpen(filename,FILE_BIN|FILE_WRITE|FILE_READ);
int max = ArrayMaximum(array1,WHOLE_ARRAY,0);
FileSeek(handle,0,SEEK_END);

if (FileWrite(handle,itime1)<0)
{
Print("error writing file");
}
else
{
Print("filewrite time successful @ ", itime1);
}
FileClose(handle);



int Value = array1[max]*100;
string ValueStr = Value;
if (Value < 10000)
{
ValueStr = StringConcatenate("0",ValueStr);
}
if (Value < 1000)
{
ValueStr = StringConcatenate("0",ValueStr);
}
if (Value < 100)
{
ValueStr = StringConcatenate("0",ValueStr);
}
if (Value < 10)
{
ValueStr = StringConcatenate("0",ValueStr);
}


handle = FileOpen(filename,FILE_BIN|FILE_WRITE|FILE_READ);
FileSeek(handle,0,SEEK_END);

if (FileWrite(handle, ValueStr)<0)
{
Print("error writing file");
}
else
{
Print("filewrite value successful @ ",array1[max]*100);
}

FileClose(handle);



c=0;
ArrayInitialize(array1,0);
}

//else
// {
c++;
array1[c] = NormalizeDouble(-profitloss,2);
// }


//if (profitloss >0)
// {
// profitloss =0;
// }

for (a=0;a<limit;a++)
{
max = ArrayMaximum(array1,WHOLE_ARRAY,0);
ExtMapBuffer1[a] = array1[max];
}


// draw levels as objects

int window = WindowFind("Drawdown");

if (newstarted)
{
int cnt;
string name;
for (cnt = 1;cnt<=20;cnt++)
{
name = StringConcatenate("level" , DoubleToStr(cnt,0));
if (!ObjectCreate(name,OBJ_HLINE,window,0,cnt*10))
{
//Print("ERR ",GetLastError());
}
else
{
ObjectSet(name,OBJPROP_COLOR,PowderBlue);
ObjectSet(name,OBJPROP_STYLE,STYLE_DOT);
}
}
newstarted = false;
}





return(0);
}
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+