mt4 strategy tester results only shows a subsection of the actual testing

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Hi,

i am relatviely new to MT4 and have written my first EA.

-when i run it using a demo account using the Strategy Tester i enter the dates to test and click START

- the results in the journal window only show me about 1 day's worth of results

- the dates i entered were for at least 2 weeks

- i simplied the EA to literally have a Start function containing a Print command, and it still doesnt work, so i know its not the code

- also i downloaded a new version of mt4 and reinstalled and got same results

- also i downloaded the complete HISTORY file using Tools-> History Centre and still get same results

- am wondering if i'm doing anything wrong, or if perhaps this is a BUG

- does anyone have any clues please?

thanks,

tariq

 
Yeah locate the tester Log_File in the Tester folder. The on_screen journal shows limited output. All the logs should be withing the Log_file.
 

hi thanks for response.

i have only the followign log directories:

C:\Program Files\MetaTrader 4\tester\logs - empty

C:\Program Files\MetaTrader 4\logs - 1 file containing login information to metatrader

C:\Program Files\MetaTrader 4\experts\logs - log file containing ifnormation about compiling indicators

am i in right place?

could it be anything else?

thanks again

tariq

 

C:\Program Files\MetaTrader 4\tester\logs

That's where it should be after a test. 

 

hi, thanks for the post. it has really helped. from your post, i have figured out the following and sibsenquetly fixed my problem. i am sharing here if others come across similar issues:

1. when testing the EA via strategy tester, couldnt see the results properly in Journal Page i.e. the journal was showing incomplete dates

2. ubzen mentioned that the journals can be sometimes incomplete and that should look at log files instead. the log files should be located in C:\Program Files\MetaTrader 4\tester\logs

3. but looking in there, couldnt see the folder, let alone the logs.

4. turns out that as i am using VISTA, there are some security issues around certain folders. Searched in google to find article about 'unable to see folders in vista' and it came up with an explanation, and basically said that to allow the view of folders go to control panel->folder options and select to view hidden folders

5. so now could look inthe log folder, and log file was there but it was empty.

6. the article i came across in google also said that because vista cannot write to the log directroy it instead writes to a <user>\appdata\program files\.... folder. this path sort of mirrored the metatrader path so i followed it starting from <user> directory and low and behold i found the same <user>\appdata\program files\MetaTrader 4\tester\logs. and this time the log file contained stuff inside it.

7. so i clicked to open the log file and foudn it was taking too long.

8. looked at sixe and saw it was a notepad file with a massive size. then thoght thats why its taking such long time.

9. then realised that my code, althgouh only printing a print message, was probably causing massive amoutn of data to be written per candle bar during testing. so i got rid of all but a few of the debug messages from my code, and then all of a sudden it worked!! the log files could be opened asyou would expect a notepad file to open, and what was in the log file was also in the JOURNAL window and the journal window contents contained the full range of dates that i was testing

10. in conclusion, the problem was mix of vista being stupid with its securty permissions and also me being silly for writing excessive amounts of debug messages in the code.

anyways thanks Ubzen for you help and hope this explantion helps others

tariq

 

Thanks Tariq to give me the hint! Appreciate that you write this given you've already solved it.

For me, using Windows 7, it's located at:

C:\Users\LWC\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\VantageFX Trader\tester\logs

I do a full hard disk search and sort the latest files in order to find this out!

 
lingwuchung:

I do a full hard disk search and sort the latest files in order to find this out!

Or simply do not install in Program Files on Vista or Windows 7 . . . . it's a UAC issue.
 
Do not install in \program files* on Vista/Win7
 

UAC issues have been fixed in the latest builds. If you have installed in Program Files You dont need to navigate to the virtual store folder. If you go to the regular MT4 folders in Program Files you will see there is an icon on the tool bar of the folder, labeled Compatibility Files. When you click that icon the files held in virtual store will all show up.

 
SDC:

UAC issues have been fixed in the latest builds. If you have installed in Program Files You dont need to navigate to the virtual store folder. If you go to the regular MT4 folders in Program Files you will see there is an icon on the tool bar of the folder, labeled Compatibility Files. When you click that icon the files held in virtual store will all show up.

Do you mean I still need to go to the virtual store? Any chance I can simply have them in the normal folder? (note I have installed MT4 already with virtual store already) Thanks.
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