MQL5 ReferenceCustom IndicatorsIndicator Styles in ExamplesDRAW_COLOR_BARS

DRAW_COLOR_BARS

The DRAW_COLOR_BARS style draws bars on the values of four indicator buffers, which contain the Open, High, Low and Close prices. This style is an advanced version of DRAW_BARS and allows specifying for each bar an individual color from the predefined set of colors. It used for creating custom indicators as bars, including those in a separate subwindow of a chart and on other financial instruments.

The color of bars can be set using the compiler directives or dynamically using the PlotIndexSetInteger() function. Dynamic changes of the plotting properties allows "to enliven" indicators, so that their appearance changes depending on the current situation.

The indicator is drawn only to those bars, for which non-empty values of all four indicator buffers are set. To specify what value should be considered as "empty", set this value in the PLOT_EMPTY_VALUE property:

//--- The 0 (empty) value will mot participate in drawing
PlotIndexSetDouble(index_of_plot_DRAW_COLOR_BARS,PLOT_EMPTY_VALUE,0);

Always explicitly fill in the values of the indicator buffers, set an empty value in a buffer to skip bars.

The number of buffers required for plotting DRAW_COLOR_BARS is 5:

four buffer to store the values of Open, High, Low and Close;
one buffer to store the color index, which is used to draw a bar (it makes sense to set it only for the bars that will be drawn).

All buffers for the plotting should go one after the other in the given order: Open, High, Low, Close and the color buffer. None of the price buffers can contain only null values, since in this case nothing is plotted.

An example of the indicator that draws bars on a selected financial instrument in a separate window. The color of bars changes randomly every N ticks. The N parameter is set in external parameters of the indicator for the possibility of manual configuration (the Parameters tab in the indicator's Properties window).

An example of the DRAW_COLOR_BARS style

Please note that for plot1 with the DRAW_COLOR_BARS style, 8 colors are set using the compiler directive #property, and then in the OnCalculate() function the color is selected randomly from the 14 colors stored in the colors[] array.

//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//|                                              DRAW_COLOR_BARS.mq5 |
//|                        Copyright 2011, MetaQuotes Software Corp. |
//|                                              https://www.mql5.com |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
#property copyright "Copyright 2000-2024, MetaQuotes Ltd."
#property link      "https://www.mql5.com"
#property version   "1.00"

#property description "An indicator to demonstrate DRAW_COLOR_BARS"
#property description "It draws different-color bars of a selected symbol in a separate window"
#property description "The color and width of bars, as well as the symbol are changed randomly"
#property description "every N ticks"

#property indicator_separate_window
#property indicator_buffers 5
#property indicator_plots   1
//--- plot ColorBars
#property indicator_label1  "ColorBars"
#property indicator_type1   DRAW_COLOR_BARS
//--- Define 8 colors for coloring bars (they are stored in the special array)
#property indicator_color1  clrRed,clrBlue,clrGreen,clrYellow,clrMagenta,clrCyan,clrLime,clrOrange
#property indicator_style1  STYLE_SOLID
#property indicator_width1  1
//--- input parameters
input int      N=5;              // The number of ticks to change the type
input int      bars=500;         // The number of bars to show
input bool     messages=false;   // Show messages in the "Expert Advisors" log
//--- Indicator buffers
double         ColorBarsBuffer1[];
double         ColorBarsBuffer2[];
double         ColorBarsBuffer3[];
double         ColorBarsBuffer4[];
double         ColorBarsColors[];
//--- Symbol name
string symbol;
int    bars_colors;
//--- An array for storing colors contains 14 elements
color colors[]=
  {
   clrRed,clrBlue,clrGreen,clrChocolate,clrMagenta,clrDodgerBlue,clrGoldenrod,
   clrIndigo,clrLightBlue,clrAliceBlue,clrMoccasin,clrMagenta,clrCyan,clrMediumPurple
  };
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Custom indicator initialization function                         |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
int OnInit()
  {
//--- indicator buffers mapping
   SetIndexBuffer(0,ColorBarsBuffer1,INDICATOR_DATA);
   SetIndexBuffer(1,ColorBarsBuffer2,INDICATOR_DATA);
   SetIndexBuffer(2,ColorBarsBuffer3,INDICATOR_DATA);
   SetIndexBuffer(3,ColorBarsBuffer4,INDICATOR_DATA);
   SetIndexBuffer(4,ColorBarsColors,INDICATOR_COLOR_INDEX);
//---- Number of colors for coloring bars
   bars_colors=8;   //  see a comment to the #property indicator_color1 property
//---
   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[])
  {
   static int ticks=0;
//--- Count ticks to change the style, color and width of the bar
   ticks++;
//--- If a sufficient number of ticks has been accumulated
   if(ticks>=N)
     {
      //--- Select a new symbol from the Market watch window
      symbol=GetRandomSymbolName();
      //--- Change the line properties
      ChangeLineAppearance();
      //--- Change the colors used to draw the candlesticks
      ChangeColors(colors,bars_colors);
      int tries=0;
      //--- Make 5 attempts to fill in the buffers with the prices from symbol
      while(!CopyFromSymbolToBuffers(symbol,rates_total,bars_colors) && tries<5)
        {
         //--- A counter of calls of the CopyFromSymbolToBuffers() function
         tries++;
        }
      //--- Reset the counter of ticks to zero
      ticks=0;
     }
//--- return value of prev_calculated for next call
   return(rates_total);
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Fill in the indicator buffers with prices                        |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
bool CopyFromSymbolToBuffers(string name,int total,int bar_colors)
  {
//--- In the rates[] array, we will copy Open, High, Low and Close
   MqlRates rates[];
//--- The counter of attempts
   int attempts=0;
//--- How much has been copied
   int copied=0;
//--- Make 25 attempts to get a timeseries on the desired symbol
   while(attempts<25 && (copied=CopyRates(name,_Period,0,bars,rates))<0)
     {
      Sleep(100);
      attempts++;
      if(messages) PrintFormat("%s CopyRates(%s) attempts=%d",__FUNCTION__,name,attempts);
     }
//--- If failed to copy a sufficient number of bars
   if(copied!=bars)
     {
      //--- Form a message string
      string comm=StringFormat("For the symbol %s, managed to receive only %d bars of %d requested ones",
                               name,
                               copied,
                               bars
                               );
      //--- Show a message in a comment in the main chart window
      Comment(comm);
      //--- Show the message
      if(messages) Print(comm);
      return(false);
     }
   else
     {
      //--- Set the display of the symbol
      PlotIndexSetString(0,PLOT_LABEL,name+" Open;"+name+" High;"+name+" Low;"+name+" Close");
      IndicatorSetString(INDICATOR_SHORTNAME,"DRAW_COLOR_BARS("+name+")");
     }
//--- Initialize buffers with empty values
   ArrayInitialize(ColorBarsBuffer1,0.0);
   ArrayInitialize(ColorBarsBuffer2,0.0);
   ArrayInitialize(ColorBarsBuffer3,0.0);
   ArrayInitialize(ColorBarsBuffer4,0.0);

//--- Copy prices to the buffers
   for(int i=0;i<copied;i++)
     {
      //--- Calculate the appropriate index for the buffers
      int buffer_index=total-copied+i;
      //--- Write the prices to the buffers
      ColorBarsBuffer1[buffer_index]=rates[i].open;
      ColorBarsBuffer2[buffer_index]=rates[i].high;
      ColorBarsBuffer3[buffer_index]=rates[i].low;
      ColorBarsBuffer4[buffer_index]=rates[i].close;
      //---
      ColorBarsColors[buffer_index]=i%bar_colors;
     }
   return(true);
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Randomly returns a symbol from the Market Watch                  |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
string GetRandomSymbolName()
  {
//--- The number of symbols shown in the Market watch window
   int symbols=SymbolsTotal(true);
//--- The position of a symbol in the list - a random number from 0 to symbols
   int number=MathRand()%symbols;
//--- Return the name of a symbol at the specified position
   return SymbolName(number,true);
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Changes the color of the zigzag segments                         |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
void  ChangeColors(color  &cols[],int plot_colors)
  {
//--- The number of colors
   int size=ArraySize(cols);
//---
   string comm=ChartGetString(0,CHART_COMMENT)+"\r\n\r\n";

//--- For each color index define a new color randomly
   for(int plot_color_ind=0;plot_color_ind<plot_colors;plot_color_ind++)
     {
      //--- Get a random value
      int number=MathRand();
      //--- Get an index in the col[] array as a remainder of the integer division
      int i=number%size;
      //--- Set the color for each index as the property PLOT_LINE_COLOR
      PlotIndexSetInteger(0,                    //  The number of a graphical style
                          PLOT_LINE_COLOR,      //  Property identifier
                          plot_color_ind,       //  The index of the color, where we write the color
                          cols[i]);             //  A new color
      //--- Write the colors
      comm=comm+StringFormat("BarColorIndex[%d]=%s \r\n",plot_color_ind,ColorToString(cols[i],true));
      ChartSetString(0,CHART_COMMENT,comm);
     }
//---
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Changes the appearance of bars                                   |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
void ChangeLineAppearance()
  {
//--- A string for the formation of information about the bar properties
   string comm="";

//--- A block for changing the width of bars
   int number=MathRand();
//--- Get the width of the remainder of integer division
   int width=number%5;   // The width is set from 0 to 4
//--- Set the color as the PLOT_LINE_WIDTH property
   PlotIndexSetInteger(0,PLOT_LINE_WIDTH,width);
//--- Write the line width
   comm=comm+"\r\nWidth="+IntegerToString(width);

//--- Write the symbol name
   comm="\r\n"+symbol+comm;

//--- Show the information on the chart using a comment
   Comment(comm);
  }

DRAW_COLOR_ZIGZAG

DRAW_COLOR_CANDLES