MQL4 database features

 

Hi all, I am new to the forum and this is my first post.

I am having quite a lot of fun learning mql and I am a 3 month newbie at it.  I am at a point where I am wondering if using the database functionality in MT4 would be of benefit to me... it appears to be in the current version of metatrader 4 (v4 build 1350).  I can choose to make a new db using the app.  But, I cannot find recent articles or documentation with examples.  Most searching results on this forum (ie: "database mql4" and similar) show old articles (some very old) that discuss and show methods, along with more recent articles covering MT5 databases (which I cannot use with my broker).

For instance:

https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/932

https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/7463

But I am not sure if these are applicable to the most recent capabilities in the current app. I have tried walking through the article "Native handling of SQL databases in MQL5" as it is recent, but obviously MT4 is missing some dlls/headers to provide the functionality shown.

I am looking at this in an exploratory fashion at the moment to see if it could be helpful in managing a shared database of tick history.  But , it's a bit confusing, given that the database feature seems to be relatively new and the help documentation that comes with MT4 itself refers to MT5.

Is the database functionality in MT4 ready to use?  I have noticed that some functions appear in MT4 but don't appear to be usable, such as OnTesterInit/Deinit.  Is this a case of non-usable functionality?

If it is usable, are there any links/search terms that will provide insight into the basics creating and using MT4 databases?

Thanks!

How to Access the MySQL Database from MQL5 (MQL4)
How to Access the MySQL Database from MQL5 (MQL4)
  • www.mql5.com
The article describes the development of an interface between MQL and the MySQL database. It discusses existing practical solutions and offers a more convenient way to implement a library for working with databases. The article contains a detailed description of the functions, the interface structure, examples and some of specific features of working with MySQL. As for the software solutions, the article attachments include the files of dynamic libraries, documentation and script examples for the MQL4 and MQL5 languages.