...those threads sound promising...Thanks Hanover, I appreciate the reply...
- #105
- Edited 10:22pm Jan 28, 2011 9:51pm | Edited 10:22pm
- Joined Sep 2006 | Status: ... | 8,112 Posts
- #108
- Jan 30, 2011 9:56pm Jan 30, 2011 9:56pm
- Joined Sep 2006 | Status: ... | 8,112 Posts
Is it possible to use his indicator with yours and make them work together? What I mean is connect to FF through his FFCal and get the features of your indicator? Do you know what I'm getting at or are they just both totally different from one another?
However, I've been running some further tests and have discovered something interesting. There's an outside chance that it might fix your problem. Having said that, if it does, I'm amazed that many more of the (supposed) 30,000+ users haven't encountered the same problem you've described, i.e. the failure of FFcal.EXE to download the correct week's news.
Unzip the attached file into your ...../experts/files folder, allowing it to overwrite the existing FFcal.EXE
Then try to download the news again, and let me know if this solves your problem. If it does, I'll explain what I did.
Fingers crossed,
David
WARNING to everybody else: this file is specifically designed to fix FB11's problem, since he has nothing to lose. If you choose to download and run it, and it causes your Plot News to download incorrect data, then you'll probably need to delete all of the Plot News files, re-install them from post #1, and rebuild your news database all over again. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.
- #111
- Feb 1, 2011 10:03pm Feb 1, 2011 10:03pm
- Joined Apr 2007 | Status: Trader | 1,016 Posts
First press Ctrl-O (in MT4) and change your settings exactly as in the second screenshot. Click OK to accept these.
Then drag the Calc Timeshifts script onto any MT4 chart. With the 'Allow DLL imports' now checked on, the script should be able to read the time zone websites needed to gain the right info, ...
David
Hi David,
1. Just updating my machine after installing Windows7(x64)and got the ol' popup from "Calc Timeshifts" that says:
'Allow DLL imports' on the 'Common' tab must be checked ON
Of course I know what it means by now, but the message is a bit misleading because there is no access to the 'Common' tab unless you add this property to your script:
#property show_inputs // This key property for scripts brings up a popup window of the external variables.
I also just ran "Download News" and that one DOES ask me for inputs. You must already have this line there, right? And unless I'm mistaken, it's missing from "Calc Timeshifts", so if I have it correct, my request then is just to add it to the Calc script.
With this property, the script presents a popup with the 'Common' tab, so the user can actually check the box. By the way, this would be much safer for the user to have the DLL choice for each script, and to prevent the possibility of a user accidentally running a malicious .ex4 file that -- if the user allowed DLL's for every script/indicator -- could run DLL's to send private info over the internet to a scammer.
2. Speaking of which, ... since I totally trust you and this code, I knew I was safe, but your application does make some Internet DLL calls that I think you could avoid. There are some other Windows functions to get the timezone info from the local machine. Getting local tz info is trivial. Getting NY tz info isn't so obvious, but entirely possible. If one manually builds the simple NY tz array, the method works fine. It is how I did it in my "P4L Clock.mq4" program. Ask me if you'd like suggestions about incorporating the local DLL calls.
3. Another request: I recommend slightly different default colors, because the ones you use are terrible on white/light backgrounds. I know how to (and did) change my color defaults, but this simple change would be good for all users of both black or white backgrounds:
//OLD: PlotTheseImpacts = "High=Red,Medium=Orange,Low=Yellow";
PlotTheseImpacts = "High=Red,Medium=DarkOrange,Low=Gold";
4. Here's a more trivial suggestion... when I ran "Calc Timeshift" without having made the global "Allow DLL" choice, of course it did give an Alert popup indicating that it must be set but it also displayed the graphic with the bad info. My suggestion is for the script to just exit without doing anything further, because without the DLL's, this attached popup information is just confusing to a brand new user who may have absolutely no expectation what is correct and what is ridiculous (as these numbers are). (BTW, a good error check would be to check if any number is >=24 or <=-24. The program could reasonably flag an error if this were the case even with Allow DLL's set to true).
4. I really like the way you allow "Presets" files to overcome the bothersome limitations of MT4, but I have a suggestion for slight nuances in your usage model.
At present: The indy has "NONE" for the default. The user must change the value to blank or "TXT" to actually read the Presets file.
Once it is reading that file, then if an entry exists in the Presets file, then the regular input is ignored completely, correct?? (I hope I'm not posting false information and if so, permission to slap me ;-) )
The way you supply the Presets file is with every entry active (i.e. without any leading "//" to disable each line).
My suggestion:
Change the indy default to "TXT" so it WILL read the Presets file and since you supply it, it's going to be there.
However, supply the default file with every parameter commented out ("//"). so it will have no effect on the indy, right? But if the user simply edits the Presets file, and uncomments only the desired lines, then every one of his charts with Recent News will be updated, which is probably what the user wants anyway. (If he doesn't, he would create a .XXX presets file and use that filename instead for the single instance).
I think this use model is more clear and user friendly, but what do you think?
This change ties into my next suggestion too.
5. It seems to me also that a more user friendly method to make the necessary time/GMT variable settings would be for the Calc script to actually write the 3 lines to the Presets file! I don't know but my guess is that nearly all the other variable settings are OK defaults for most users, but everyone needs the time variables to be correct. I would also guess that this is one of the most common initial setup difficulty most new users have, and I think this suggestion just makes this great program even easier and simple to use.
As far as custom settings go, I happen to set the Alarm option but only on one indy when I add it to a chart, as I don't want multiple alerts for the same news events. I would never make this a default in the Presets file.
6. I'm using Win7x64 and it's working. That said, some of the little differences are:
The typical MT4 location is C
rogram Files (x86)... The " (x86)" is the only difference, and for the novice, they might appreciate a simple mention of it in your Word doc that mention locations. (Or maybe this is just plain too obvious, so you can ignore this).7. What wasn't so obvious is the following: I copied the "experts" folder into my MT4 folder, and said "Yes" to all the many permission popups that occur with Win7 (or Vista). No problem running it too.
The problem is that when I went to edit the "Presets---Recent News.txt" file, it wouldn't let me *save* the file!! I tried a bunch of things and was frustrated. I knew that I needed Administrator privilege to save the file to that location but didn't see an obvious way to start "Notepad" or whatever text edit with Admin status.
Solution: Right click on the file. Go to the securities tab. Click Edit. Go to the Users settings, and check the "Full access" box. (See picture). Now I can easily save the file with my changes.
8. Not a suggestion for your program, but FYI, I run MT4 in Win7 with Administrator priveleges. I hate the way that Vista and Win7 would otherwise create shadow hierarchies which are virtually combined when MT4 runs. Maybe it's better for security, but it's also more confusing to have files in 2 places. My personal solution, at least for my development MT4 copy is do as an Admin. See picture for the property to set to do so. I have MT4 pinned to my task bar, and if one right clicks twice as indicated below, you get to the properties you can change to run as an Admin.
9. As you don't provide Recent News source anymore, I can't incorporate my "Weekend Reminder" to automatically tell the user to run "Download News" *if* there are no future news events to display AND it is already Sunday. You'll recall I did code this feature in a v1 version. Am wishing you could add it to v3 as it's a really great feature. Perhaps it would be obvious many people with their use models if they display larger TF charts, but I happen to like putting it on an M1 or M5 chart, and it's quite normal to view a chart at this scale and not see ANY news events. That's fine if news is loaded, but it's misleading if it's because I'm out-of-date! It's quite easy to forget, but it was impossible to forget with the auto-warning feature I added.
What say you oh great one? (lol)
Thanks as always,
Kent (pips4life)
- #114
- Feb 2, 2011 11:38am Feb 2, 2011 11:38am
- Joined Apr 2007 | Status: Trader | 1,016 Posts
Hi Kent,
Many thanks for going to the trouble of a detailed critique.
Comments embedded below.
[David] In reply to your numbered points:
1. I understand your comment on #property show_inputs. Calc Timeshifts was a late addition, when a number of users complained that they had to calc the timeshifts manually. The TZs are obtained by reading the timeanddate.com website. I copied the web reader code from another programmer's indicator. It becomes a question as to which is less of a nuisance: having to check on the DLLs elsewhere, or having the inputs window appear when there are no input parameters (on the Inputs tab) to the script.
You have a point about "No inputs". So I suggest to add to the script:
extern string INSTRUCTIONS = "In the Common tab, CHECK: Allow DLL imports";
extern string __continued = "... and UNCHECK: Confirm DLL function calls";
extern string __continued2 = "... then use the reported info in either";
extern string __continued3 = "... Recent News Inputs or its Presets file";
2. Thanks for the offer. The script works correctly, so I'll let sleeping dogs lie, rather than risk introducing bugs. When I have more time, I'll consider streamlining the process in the way you described.
By the way, there are some tricky aspects to resolve, but I am sure that this method can be used to create a "Recent News" version which for most users will never have to require the user set anything about GMT offsets. There wouldn't be a need for Calc Timeshifts nor any need to set the properties. The offsets can be determined automatically and saved by the program in a file that it reads.
The trickiest part, IMO, is to determine whether the broker "TimeCurrent()" function is live or not (i.e. weekend, or broker down). One has to weed that out to know for sure what the GMTvsBroker offset is. A while back I started to look at the problem but set it aside for later.
Question: Suppose I want to display >= 1 year of news events and study the effects on an hourly chart (or less) throughout the year. Are all the news events placed correctly, or only the ones for my current ST/DST status? Does it depend on how my local TZ changes ST/DST times? How does it handle the way different brokers might change their "broker" time? (My brokers follow US ST/DST dates, which because it matches the FF news source, maybe I'm lucky and it always lines up, whereas on another broker following a different ST/DST changeover, it would mess up the display. (AFAIK, there is no easy way to determine how a broker changes ST/DST, but I suppose one could look at a change in candle dates over the weekend threshold, but that's pretty darn tricky to code.
Do you save all FF news events in NY local time, regardless of the time-of-year? Or do you convert it as GMT and then have the program convert it back? Seems to me the former would be a bit easier to display correctly because (maybe I'm being too US centric here) most brokers I know of follow the U.S. ST/DST changeover.
3. No problem, I'll change the default colors in the next release.
4. Good idea, thanks, I'll implement the >=24 or <=–24 check in the next release.
4. Looks like I can't win! Users were confused at having the default of <blank> (the way it originally was) causing the reading of the parm file, i.e. they couldn't understand why their parms entered via the MT4 dialog weren't 'working'. So I changed the default to NONE, to ensure that a conscious choice was required to blank out the NONE, in order to use the parm file. It's true that I could change all of the settings in the parm file to // --- I'll think about it.
I agree that it is very confusing to a new user that changing the MT4 variables has no effect *if* the Presets file is read AND if the variables are uncommented. But it is not confusing at all if that file is read but every variable is commented out, because it changes nothing for the novice user. The user who bothers to read and learn something about the tool will be the one to edit the Presets file, and he/she should know by then what he is doing and why.
To make it crystal clear, I also suggest to add some comments into the Presets file. Things like:
//WARNING: If you uncomment a variable here and give a legal value (not "*")
//then it will OVERRIDE your settings in the Indicator "Inputs" tab!!
//For more info, see: http://.... (some URL with detailed help info)
5. My guess is that less than 20% of users use the parm file. It could be confusing if the parm file settings were updated, but the MT4 dialog settings weren't (there's no way of doing this, as far as I know). Running Calc Timeshifts is a one-off task (or once every 6 months, if one can't work out the necessary change for daylight saving manually!), so I don't see it as a high priority fix.
If you do #4 (use Presets but the initial vars are all commented), then I do suggest doing this one too, because it's a no-brainer for the typical user to just add Recent News to a chart and the GMT settings would be taken care of. Of course you'd have to remove the previous settings. Just thought of another variable for Calc Timeshifts:
extern bool AutoSetPresetsFile = true;
(You get the idea; details up to you)
Points 6 thru 8. I'll need to read these in more detail. I run only Win XP (and will stay with it for as long as I can!), so I can't test any code that's Vista or Win-7 specific. Consequently, I've never had the need to learn how the security/admin rights in Vista and Win-7 operate. How dare Microsoft impose these complications and restrictions on me! Let me say it again publicly: I loathe Microsoft. LOL.
Yes, it's a love/HATE relationship. MT4 doesn't run on Mac though, so... sigh.
I used XP for years and was never tempted to go to Vista, but Win7 is really pretty good. Yes the security changes and virtual file hierarchies can be confusing but perhaps that's what it takes to prevent Win virus/spyware. My biggest gain, however, was that under XP(32) my graphics would mess up if I ran too many MT4's with too many charts, but Win7 has better memory management. Plus with 64-bit, I get my full 4G of RAM instead of what used to be ~2.7Meg under 32-bit.
That said, my hardware was built 3 years ago with high-end graphics cards, quad-CPU, 4G RAM... in short, suitable for Win7. For an older computer or less capable one, never upgrade.. just buy new.
9. I'll add the 'Weekend Reminder' in the next update. How's that for service (given that you're the first user in 31,000 that's requested it)? Not sure when I'll get around to this update, however, as I'm frantically trying to finish a couple of other projects.
Awesome! The other 30,999 are gonna thank me (and you). Thanks.
Thanks,
David
- #115
- Edited 2:47pm Feb 2, 2011 1:23pm | Edited 2:47pm
- Joined Apr 2007 | Status: Trader | 1,016 Posts
David and Kent
I created a means back with MQII to do what the MT .set file currently does, and even though MT now has this option I still use the functions I created years before. I called it a signature file, or Sig for short.
It worked like this, the first time one runs the program the program will not find the sig file as it has not been created yet nor does it have to be supplied with the code. Theres a function in the code that if the file doesnot exist it is created in the file directory and it is set to the defaults that are hard coded...
Hi Keit,
Yes I'd like to see your code and some examples in use.
Do I understand, however, that the user will not SEE what the settings are? All variables will be blank upon attaching to a chart, but the defaults get written, first, to a file, and then if the user changes any var to non-blank, that new setting gets written into the file.
But apart from manually editing the set file, how does the user know his settings (if everything is blank)?
If the above is the use model, then I'm not sure I would use it but I'd like to see and study it anyway.
If you know of a way to use a Presets file AND to see those values in the Inputs section when you add the indicator to a chart, that would be fantastic. (To be clear, I'm fully aware how to Load a .set file, which obviously does show the user what the values are. This Presets is intended to set defaults *without* resorting to a .set file... that's the whole point of this discussion).
I've been kicking around another use model as an expansion on David's ideas. Here's a working draft. I'm just pretending to actually read values from a Presets file, but if David wants to share that bit of code, I'd be very happy!
(I'm pretty sure the answer is no, so... oh well... I can do it eventually. The idea, however, is completely to David's credit. You (Keit) obviously thought of something similar a long time ago, so kudos to you too).Inserted Code
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| 2011/02/02 test presets.mq4 |
//| Copyright © 2011, pips4life of ForexFactory.com |
//| Based on use of Presets files by hanover (David) at FF |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
#property copyright "Copyright © 2011, pips4life of ForexFactory.com"
#property indicator_chart_window
extern int MYVAR = 1;
extern string INFO = "Following is for TESTING, not real code";
extern string INFO2 = "0= no PRESET, >0 IS USED";
extern int PRETEND_PRESET_OF_MYVAR = 2; // THIS WOULD NOT BE IN A REAL VERSION!!
int def_MYVAR= 1; // Programmer MUST set to the same value as MYVAR above
// FYI, you can't say "def_MYVAR=MYVAR;" in this part of the code!
void init()
{
// Note: In Init, MYVAR has either the MYVAR default, or a manual user override
int pre_MYVAR = EMPTY_VALUE; // Could be EMPTY_VALUE, or ??? Any dummy value.
// Read the Presets file
pre_MYVAR = getPresetIntVar("MYVAR", pre_MYVAR);
if (pre_MYVAR != EMPTY_VALUE)
{
// A Preset entry exists and will be used!
if (pre_MYVAR != MYVAR && MYVAR != def_MYVAR)
{
Alert("ERROR. User input of MYVAR ignored because it came from Presets file");
// Possibly use less annoying "Print" in production code.
}
// The MYVAR value comes from a PRESETS file!
MYVAR = pre_MYVAR;
}
}
int getPresetIntVar(string varname, int value)
{
// Write the code to read the Presets file and look for a legal value
// For now, just fake it and use PRETEND_PRESET_OF_MYVAR
// If we have read a legal number for varname, then set "value=" that number.
if (PRETEND_PRESET_OF_MYVAR > 0) value = PRETEND_PRESET_OF_MYVAR;
return(value);
}
void start()
{
// For this test, just alert once-per-bar.
if (Bars - IndicatorCounted() < 2) return(0);
Alert("Using MYVAR = ",MYVAR);
return(0);
} I just threw this together but I'm fairly pleased with it.
a) If MYVAR is left at "1" (the usual default), then if the PRESET = 2, the PRESET value is used, and no ERROR is issued (because the user deliberately created a PRESET and doesn't want to see any ERROR just to use it).
b) Similarly, if MYVAR is changed to "2" and PRESET=2, again there is no ERROR because even though the user changed it, the value is already what the PRESET said it should be.
c) However if MYVAR is set to "3" while PRESET=2, an ERROR is issued, because the MYVAR is neither the usual "1" nor the PRESET "2", but it *will* be ignored, and the user may be confused if not alerted to this fact.
d) If PRESET is <=0, then whatever the user sets MYVAR to be is what it is. In this test code, this pretend PRESET=0 means "there was no PRESET found for MYVAR".
Thanks in advance for any ideas/code/tips...
Kent
- #120
- Feb 3, 2011 2:09am Feb 3, 2011 2:09am
- Joined Sep 2006 | Status: ... | 8,112 Posts
By the way, there are some tricky aspects to resolve, but I am sure that this method can be used to create a "Recent News" version which for most users will never have to require the user set anything about GMT offsets.
.........
Seems to me the former would be a bit easier to display correctly because (maybe I'm being too US centric here) most brokers I know of follow the U.S. ST/DST changeover.
Sorry, I just realized that I didn't answer your questions here. Here is how the system works:
1. All news events in FF calendar are timestamped New York EST time (or New York DST when daylight saving applies), at least as far as I know.
2. FFcal.EXE reads these news events. If you run FFcal.EXE manually you can apply a timeshift (the "Number of hours your MT4 is ahead of FF calendar" setting), that shifts this time value +/- X hours. The shifted date/time is stored in FFcal.EXE's database (files: CALENDAR.DAT/K01/K02/K03), and is also output to the NEWS.CSV file. However, if you call FFcal.EXE via the Download News.MQ4 script, it calls FFcal.EXE in such a way that this timeshift is set to 0, and there's no opportunity for the user to change it (which is how most users are expected to operate the system).
3. Recent News.MQ4 indy reads the NEWS.CSV file. It then applies the timeshifts in the SourceTimeIsGMTplus and MT4TimeIsGMTplus parameters to the date/time value in NEWS.CSV. (Please, please DON'T ask me to combine these two parameters into one - that was how the indy worked originally, and everybody found it too confusing).
In summary, then, you can potentially apply the timeshift at either the FFcal.EXE stage, or the Recent News.MQ4 stage, of the process. The latter is the preferred method. If you leave FFcal.EXE's "Number of hours your MT4 is ahead of FF calendar" setting at 0, and then type the values calculated by Calc Timeshifts.MQ4 into Recent News.MQ4's parameters, then everything should work 100%. This is because Calc Timeshifts simply calculates the difference between New York Time, and MT4 time, and any adjustments for daylight saving are automatically reflected in these times.
Hope the above makes sense.
I'm reluctant to change any of it, as it would mean re-educating 31,000 potential users. Phew!
Again, I would respectfully point out that I really don't want to create extra work for myself. Plot News is freeware, and I owe it to myself to prioritize commercial work, as I have to pay my bills somehow.
David