ChartIndicatorAdd not working with strategy tester ?

[Richard]

Hi, i'm working on custom indicator but when i added ChartIndicatorAdd that doesn't work on strategy tester, but that's work fine on the main MT5 program.

Here is a sample code:

//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//|                                       test-ChartIndicatorAdd.mq5 |
//|                                        Copyright 2016, CPM Corp. |
//|                                                                  |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
#property copyright "Copyright 2016, CPM Corp."
#property version   "1.00"
#property indicator_separate_window
#property indicator_buffers 1
#property indicator_plots   1
//--- plot RSI
#property indicator_label1  "RSI"
#property indicator_type1   DRAW_LINE
#property indicator_color1  clrRed
#property indicator_style1  STYLE_SOLID
#property indicator_width1  1
//--- input parameters
input int      InpMaPeriod=10;
input int      InpRsiPeriod=13;
//--- indicator buffers
double         RsiBuffer[];
double         MaBuffer[];
int            MaHandle;
int            RsiHandle;
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Custom indicator initialization function                         |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int OnInit()
  {
//--- indicator buffers mapping
   SetIndexBuffer(0,RsiBuffer,INDICATOR_DATA);
   SetIndexBuffer(1,MaBuffer,INDICATOR_CALCULATIONS);
  
   RsiHandle=iRSI(_Symbol,_Period,InpRsiPeriod,PRICE_CLOSE);
   if(RsiHandle==INVALID_HANDLE)
   {
      Print("The RSI handle is not created: Error ",GetLastError());
      return(INIT_FAILED);
   }

   MaHandle=iMA(_Symbol,_Period,InpMaPeriod,0,MODE_EMA,PRICE_CLOSE);
   if(MaHandle==INVALID_HANDLE)
   {
      Print("The MA handle is not created: Error ",GetLastError());
      return(INIT_FAILED);
   }
   if(!ChartIndicatorAdd(0,0,MaHandle))
   {
      Print("Failed to add MaHandle indicator to chart window: Error ",GetLastError());
   }

//---
   return(INIT_SUCCEEDED);
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Custom indicator iteration function                              |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int OnCalculate(const int rates_total,
                const int prev_calculated,
                const datetime &time[],
                const double &open[],
                const double &high[],
                const double &low[],
                const double &close[],
                const long &tick_volume[],
                const long &volume[],
                const int &spread[])
  {
//---
   CopyBuffer(RsiHandle,0,0,rates_total,RsiBuffer);
   CopyBuffer(MaHandle,0,0,rates_total,MaBuffer);
//--- return value of prev_calculated for next call
   return(rates_total);
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+

Is there something wrong in this code ?

[Marco vd Heijden]

if you mean you want the indicator to be visually present then you have to load it manually on the chart.

The indicators are not visually present in the tester because it slows down the speed of testing.

[Richard]

Marco vd Heijden:

if you mean you want the indicator to be visually present then you have to load it manually on the chart.

The indicators are not visually present in the tester because it slows down the speed of testing.

Thanks Marco for your answer.

Do you mean that it's possible to load manually an indicator on strategy tester ? How ?

[Marco vd Heijden]

Press pause load indicator then continue testing ?

[Alain Verleyen]

dnrich:

Hi, i'm working on custom indicator but when i added ChartIndicatorAdd that doesn't work on strategy tester, but that's work fine on the main MT5 program.

Is there something wrong in this code ?

What is the error code ?

Indicators are automatically added by the Strategy Tester.

You can't add indicator manually with MT5  but you can use template.

[Richard]

Marco vd Heijden:
Press pause load indicator then continue testing ?

when pause load indicator in strategy tester ... nothing appends. Indicator with ChartIndicatorAdd not displayed.

[Richard]

Alain Verleyen:

What is the error code ?

Indicators are automatically added by the Strategy Tester.

You can't add indicator manually with MT5  but you can use template.

Do you mean that indicator are automatically added by the Strategy Tester by using ChartIndicatorAdd ?

[Longsen Chen]

I have the same problem. Eager to know the solution.

In my opinion, your code has no problem. It seems that Strategy Tester does not support an indicator loads another indicator. Avoid this way.

[Longsen Chen]

I looked into this problem deeply, have got conclusions as below.

1. My scenario is that EA loads indicator A and in turns indicator A loads indicator B. Use ChartIndicatorAdd to show the indicators. It works well but does not work well in the circustance of Strategy Tester. In Strategy Tester, indicator A shows up, but indicator B never shows up.

2. the calls to ChartIndicatorAdd always return success. However,  ChartIndicatorName() can't return the newly added name, ChartIndicatorsTotal() returns 0.

3. My work-around way is that EA load indicator A and indicator B in OnInit() process. Indicator A searches the handle of indicator B in the event of OnCalcute() for the first time. it shouldn't be done in the event of OnInit(). This work-around works well.

[Airton Gomes Finoti]

George Chen:

I looked into this problem deeply, have got conclusions as below.

1. My scenario is that EA loads indicator A and in turns indicator A loads indicator B. Use ChartIndicatorAdd to show the indicators. It works well but does not work well in the circustance of Strategy Tester. In Strategy Tester, indicator A shows up, but indicator B never shows up.

2. the calls to ChartIndicatorAdd always return success. However,  ChartIndicatorName() can't return the newly added name, ChartIndicatorsTotal() returns 0.

3. My work-around way is that EA load indicator A and indicator B in OnInit() process. Indicator A searches the handle of indicator B in the event of OnCalcute() for the first time. it shouldn't be done in the event of OnInit(). This work-around works well.

I'm have similar problem. What happens it that sometimes B finds A, sometimes not. ChartIndicatorAdd always returns true, but I can't visualize it on the chart.

[Airton Gomes Finoti]

Longsen Chen:

I looked into this problem deeply, have got conclusions as below.

1. My scenario is that EA loads indicator A and in turns indicator A loads indicator B. Use ChartIndicatorAdd to show the indicators. It works well but does not work well in the circustance of Strategy Tester. In Strategy Tester, indicator A shows up, but indicator B never shows up.

2. the calls to ChartIndicatorAdd always return success. However,  ChartIndicatorName() can't return the newly added name, ChartIndicatorsTotal() returns 0.

3. My work-around way is that EA load indicator A and indicator B in OnInit() process. Indicator A searches the handle of indicator B in the event of OnCalcute() for the first time. it shouldn't be done in the event of OnInit(). This work-around works well.

I tried your solution and it doesn't work because you may want to test your strategy with no visual ( like testing multiple parameters ) . With no visual indicator A will not find indicator B. 

Reading about threads,  it seems that MT5 process all indicators in the same thread and only once. So, you could inicializa twice ( inside indicator A and EA) and you won't have extra computing or memory costs.