Discussion of article "Dealing with Time (Part 2): The Functions"
Hello,
As I understand from the article, the function "setBokerOffset ()" should work in the strategy tester as well, but it doesn't work.
void OnTick()
{
//---
bool isTimeSet = setBokerOffset();
if(!isTimeSet)
{
Alert("setBokerOffset failed");
return;
}
}
array out of range in 'DealingWithTime.mqh' (201,21)
Does the "The Alternative using it via Input Variables" the only way to get correct times in the strategy tester?
Hello,
As I understand from the article, the function "setBokerOffset ()" should work in the strategy tester as well, but it doesn't work.
Does the "The Alternative using it via Input Variables" the only way to get correct times in the strategy tester?
Hi @Carl Schreiber Happy New Year.
I know this article has been up for a while, but I just found it. Thank you for sharing this work. It requires me to do some testing with it to really understand it. But, I have a simple question for now:
I can see that you have a different day of week calculation rather than relying on the MqlDateTime struct .day_of_week. Why are you using this other calculation method, is there an accuracy benefit? Or is it just to avoid the conversion to the struct?
This code calculates the DST automatically for European and US brokers:
https://www.mql5.com/en/code/27860
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+ //| Compute the daylight saving time changes in London, UK | //| Validated to https://www.timeanddate.com/time/change/uk/london | //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ void DST_Europe(int iYear, datetime &dst_start, datetime &dst_end) { datetime dt1,dt2; MqlDateTime st1,st2; /* UK DST begins at 01:00 local time on the last Sunday of March and ends at 02:00 local time on the last Sunday of October */ dt1=StringToTime((string)iYear+".03.31 01:00"); dt2=StringToTime((string)iYear+".10.31 02:00"); TimeToStruct(dt1,st1); TimeToStruct(dt2,st2); dst_start=dt1-(st1.day_of_week*86400); dst_end =dt2-(st2.day_of_week*86400); } //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ //| Compute the daylight saving time changes in New York, USA | //| Validated to https://www.timeanddate.com/time/change/usa/new-york| //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ void DST_USA(int iYear, datetime &dst_start, datetime &dst_end) { datetime dt1,dt2; MqlDateTime st1,st2; /* US DST begins at 02:00 local time on the second Sunday of March and ends at 02:00 local time on the first Sunday of November */ dt1=StringToTime((string)iYear+".03.14 02:00"); dt2=StringToTime((string)iYear+".11.07 02:00"); TimeToStruct(dt1,st1); TimeToStruct(dt2,st2); dst_start=dt1-(st1.day_of_week*86400); dst_end =dt2-(st2.day_of_week*86400); } //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ //| | //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ void OnStart() { datetime dst_start,dst_end; dst_start=dst_end=0; //--- In the European Union, Summer Time begins on the last Sunday in //--- March and ends on the last Sunday in October. | Print("========= European Summer Time (DST) ========="); for(int year=2010; year<=2029; year++) { DST_Europe(year,dst_start,dst_end); Print("DST starts on ",dst_start," and ends on ",dst_end); } //--- In the United States, Summer Time begins on the second Sunday in | //--- March and ends on the first Sunday in November. | Print("========= American Summer Time (DST) ========="); for(int year=2010; year<=2029; year++) { DST_USA(year,dst_start,dst_end); Print("DST starts on ",dst_start," and ends on ",dst_end); } } //+------------------------------------------------------------------+ /* output: ========= European Summer Time (DST) ========= DST starts on 2010.03.28 01:00:00 and ends on 2010.10.31 02:00:00 DST starts on 2011.03.27 01:00:00 and ends on 2011.10.30 02:00:00 DST starts on 2012.03.25 01:00:00 and ends on 2012.10.28 02:00:00 DST starts on 2013.03.31 01:00:00 and ends on 2013.10.27 02:00:00 DST starts on 2014.03.30 01:00:00 and ends on 2014.10.26 02:00:00 DST starts on 2015.03.29 01:00:00 and ends on 2015.10.25 02:00:00 DST starts on 2016.03.27 01:00:00 and ends on 2016.10.30 02:00:00 DST starts on 2017.03.26 01:00:00 and ends on 2017.10.29 02:00:00 DST starts on 2018.03.25 01:00:00 and ends on 2018.10.28 02:00:00 DST starts on 2019.03.31 01:00:00 and ends on 2019.10.27 02:00:00 DST starts on 2020.03.29 01:00:00 and ends on 2020.10.25 02:00:00 DST starts on 2021.03.28 01:00:00 and ends on 2021.10.31 02:00:00 DST starts on 2022.03.27 01:00:00 and ends on 2022.10.30 02:00:00 DST starts on 2023.03.26 01:00:00 and ends on 2023.10.29 02:00:00 DST starts on 2024.03.31 01:00:00 and ends on 2024.10.27 02:00:00 DST starts on 2025.03.30 01:00:00 and ends on 2025.10.26 02:00:00 DST starts on 2026.03.29 01:00:00 and ends on 2026.10.25 02:00:00 DST starts on 2027.03.28 01:00:00 and ends on 2027.10.31 02:00:00 DST starts on 2028.03.26 01:00:00 and ends on 2028.10.29 02:00:00 DST starts on 2029.03.25 01:00:00 and ends on 2029.10.28 02:00:00 ========= American Summer Time (DST) ========= DST starts on 2010.03.14 02:00:00 and ends on 2010.11.07 02:00:00 DST starts on 2011.03.13 02:00:00 and ends on 2011.11.06 02:00:00 DST starts on 2012.03.11 02:00:00 and ends on 2012.11.04 02:00:00 DST starts on 2013.03.10 02:00:00 and ends on 2013.11.03 02:00:00 DST starts on 2014.03.09 02:00:00 and ends on 2014.11.02 02:00:00 DST starts on 2015.03.08 02:00:00 and ends on 2015.11.01 02:00:00 DST starts on 2016.03.13 02:00:00 and ends on 2016.11.06 02:00:00 DST starts on 2017.03.12 02:00:00 and ends on 2017.11.05 02:00:00 DST starts on 2018.03.11 02:00:00 and ends on 2018.11.04 02:00:00 DST starts on 2019.03.10 02:00:00 and ends on 2019.11.03 02:00:00 DST starts on 2020.03.08 02:00:00 and ends on 2020.11.01 02:00:00 DST starts on 2021.03.14 02:00:00 and ends on 2021.11.07 02:00:00 DST starts on 2022.03.13 02:00:00 and ends on 2022.11.06 02:00:00 DST starts on 2023.03.12 02:00:00 and ends on 2023.11.05 02:00:00 DST starts on 2024.03.10 02:00:00 and ends on 2024.11.03 02:00:00 DST starts on 2025.03.09 02:00:00 and ends on 2025.11.02 02:00:00 DST starts on 2026.03.08 02:00:00 and ends on 2026.11.01 02:00:00 DST starts on 2027.03.14 02:00:00 and ends on 2027.11.07 02:00:00 DST starts on 2028.03.12 02:00:00 and ends on 2028.11.05 02:00:00 DST starts on 2029.03.11 02:00:00 and ends on 2029.11.04 02:00:00 */
The above code was used in Forex Market Hours https://www.mql5.com/en/code/27771 to calculate the day-light saving time changes.
Similar functions can be constructed for different areas of the world.
- www.mql5.com
Hi @Carl Schreiber,
Great article you've made, it helps a lot. Just want to tell you what I found after using your code.
I'm using eightcap broker and tried to use a simple script to show what the actual time in the respective country and found that Tokyo time is 1 hour late from the actual time. Here's the script that I use,
void OnStart() { bool isTimeSet = setBokerOffset(); if(!isTimeSet) { Alert("setBokerOffset failed"); return; } Alert("+++++++++++++++"); checkTimeOffset(TimeCurrent()); datetime tGMT = TimeCurrent() + OffsetBroker.actOffset; // GMT datetime tNY = tGMT - (NYShift+DST_USD); // time in New York datetime tLon = tGMT - (LondonShift+DST_EUR); // time in London datetime tSyd = tGMT - (SidneyShift+DST_AUD); // time in Sidney datetime tMosc = tGMT - (MoskwaShift+DST_RUS); // time in Moscow datetime tTok = tGMT - (TokyoShift); // time in Tokyo - no DST Alert("time NY: ", tNY); Alert("time Lon: ", tLon); Alert("time Syd: ", tSyd); Alert("time Tok: ", tTok); }
the code is copy and paste from the article and I just return the value from it. I don't think that the problem from how I used the code because the other session is correct.
Hi @Carl Schreiber,
Great article you've made, it helps a lot. Just want to tell you what I found after using your code.
I'm using eightcap broker and tried to use a simple script to show what the actual time in the respective country and found that Tokyo time is 1 hour late from the actual time. Here's the script that I use,
the code is copy and paste from the article and I just return the value from it. I don't think that the problem from how I used the code because the other session is correct.
From GMT (=UTC) the time diff is 0900 hours (from https://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_JP.aspx?city=Tokyo)
= 9*-3600=32400 seconds:
And this is is set:
#define TokyoShift -32400 // always 9h
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New article Dealing with Time (Part 2): The Functions has been published:
Determing the broker offset and GMT automatically. Instead of asking the support of your broker, from whom you will probably receive an insufficient answer (who would be willing to explain a missing hour), we simply look ourselves how they time their prices in the weeks of the time changes — but not cumbersome by hand, we let a program do it — why do we have a PC after all.
Before the functions in the include file DealingWithTime.mqh (and after the macro substitution) the required variables are declared as global variables:
These variables DST_USD, DST_EUR,.. will have the actual time shift of the USA, the EU,.. They will be updated and set by our functions. In the winter time which is the normal time they are zero: the time is not shifted at that period.
After that we have the variables with the next time the time changeover will take place. They are is mainly needed to know when a new calculation is required in order to save the CPU resources:
We will consider the Russian situation later in this article.
This structure and its global variable is the heart of all. :)
We will assign the broker offsets for the three relevant periods and duration of the forex market is open in these periods, for both the actual value and for an easy check set if the values has been assigned. The global variable is named OffsetBroker, we will meet it several times.
Author: Carl Schreiber