Question on MACD

[Antoine]

Hello,

I would like to know if it it possible to change main draw type of the indicator on the chart. I would like to have a line instead of a bar chart.

Somebody could help me please.

Thank you.

Antoine. 

[Jin]

Antoine:

Hello,

I would like to know if it it possible to change main draw type of the indicator on the chart. I would like to have a line instead of a bar chart.

Somebody could help me please.

Thank you.

Antoine. 

In fact you shoud create an Custom Indicator (CI) to do that. Fortunally,  Metatrader comes with lots of examples of CI (including the MACD). You just need to edit one single line.

//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//|                                                         MACD.mq5 |
//|                        Copyright 2009, MetaQuotes Software Corp. |
//|                                              http://www.mql5.com |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
#property copyright   "2009, MetaQuotes Software Corp."
#property link        "http://www.mql5.com"
#property description "Moving Average Convergence/Divergence"
#include <MovingAverages.mqh>
//--- indicator settings
#property indicator_separate_window
#property indicator_buffers 4
#property indicator_plots   2
#property indicator_type1   DRAW_LINE
#property indicator_type2   DRAW_LINE
#property indicator_color1  Silver
#property indicator_color2  Red
#property indicator_width1  2
#property indicator_width2  1
#property indicator_label1  "MACD"
#property indicator_label2  "Signal"
//--- input parameters
input int                InpFastEMA=12;               // Fast EMA period
input int                InpSlowEMA=26;               // Slow EMA period
input int                InpSignalSMA=9;              // Signal SMA period
input ENUM_APPLIED_PRICE InpAppliedPrice=PRICE_CLOSE; // Applied price
//--- indicator buffers
double                   ExtMacdBuffer[];
double                   ExtSignalBuffer[];
double                   ExtFastMaBuffer[];
double                   ExtSlowMaBuffer[];
//--- MA handles
int                      ExtFastMaHandle;
int                      ExtSlowMaHandle;
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Custom indicator initialization function                         |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
void OnInit()
  {
//--- indicator buffers mapping
   SetIndexBuffer(0,ExtMacdBuffer,INDICATOR_DATA);
   SetIndexBuffer(1,ExtSignalBuffer,INDICATOR_DATA);
   SetIndexBuffer(2,ExtFastMaBuffer,INDICATOR_CALCULATIONS);
   SetIndexBuffer(3,ExtSlowMaBuffer,INDICATOR_CALCULATIONS);
//--- sets first bar from what index will be drawn
   PlotIndexSetInteger(1,PLOT_DRAW_BEGIN,InpSignalSMA-1);
//--- name for Dindicator subwindow label
   IndicatorSetString(INDICATOR_SHORTNAME,"MACD("+string(InpFastEMA)+","+string(InpSlowEMA)+","+string(InpSignalSMA)+")");
//--- get MA handles
   ExtFastMaHandle=iMA(NULL,0,InpFastEMA,0,MODE_EMA,InpAppliedPrice);
   ExtSlowMaHandle=iMA(NULL,0,InpSlowEMA,0,MODE_EMA,InpAppliedPrice);
//--- initialization done
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Moving Averages Convergence/Divergence                           |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
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 &TickVolume[],
                const long &Volume[],
                const int &Spread[])
  {
//--- check for data
   if(rates_total<InpSignalSMA)
      return(0);
//--- not all data may be calculated
   int calculated=BarsCalculated(ExtFastMaHandle);
   if(calculated<rates_total)
     {
      Print("Not all data of ExtFastMaHandle is calculated (",calculated,"bars ). Error",GetLastError());
      return(0);
     }
   calculated=BarsCalculated(ExtSlowMaHandle);
   if(calculated<rates_total)
     {
      Print("Not all data of ExtSlowMaHandle is calculated (",calculated,"bars ). Error",GetLastError());
      return(0);
     }
//--- we can copy not all data
   int to_copy;
   if(prev_calculated>rates_total || prev_calculated<0) to_copy=rates_total;
   else
     {
      to_copy=rates_total-prev_calculated;
      if(prev_calculated>0) to_copy++;
     }
//--- get Fast EMA buffer
   if(CopyBuffer(ExtFastMaHandle,0,0,to_copy,ExtFastMaBuffer)<=0)
     {
      Print("Getting fast EMA is failed! Error",GetLastError());
      return(0);
     }
//--- get SlowSMA buffer
   if(CopyBuffer(ExtSlowMaHandle,0,0,to_copy,ExtSlowMaBuffer)<=0)
     {
      Print("Getting slow SMA is failed! Error",GetLastError());
      return(0);
     }
//---
   int limit;
   if(prev_calculated==0)
      limit=0;
   else limit=prev_calculated-1;
//--- calculate MACD
   for(int i=limit;i<rates_total;i++)
      ExtMacdBuffer[i]=ExtFastMaBuffer[i]-ExtSlowMaBuffer[i];
//--- calculate Signal
   SimpleMAOnBuffer(rates_total,prev_calculated,0,InpSignalSMA,ExtMacdBuffer,ExtSignalBuffer);
//--- OnCalculate done. Return new prev_calculated.
   return(rates_total);
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+