MQL4 History Center DayLightSaving Adjustment

 

I was once again thinking about the data that I collect from the History Center for my specific platform, and I was wondering if daylight savings times were automatically adjusted. 


For example, if the data I get is in GMT, does the summer time data stay in BST, or does it change to what it would be outside of daylight saving (i.e. 20:15 in the summer time would be 21:15).

If it is the former, is there a way to easily convert the BST parts of the data to GMT using MQL?


I found this thread: https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/103514

But I don't understand what the moderator meant by "Time is automatically corrected after download"

Historical Data from MetaTrader... what timezone is it?
Historical Data from MetaTrader... what timezone is it?
  • 2007.05.31
  • www.mql5.com
It also seems to change, has anyone noticed that? Thanks, Matt...
 
GMT and UTC by definition do not have summer time.

If a time is specified by GMT, it is deterministic.
 
TraderTogami:

I was once again thinking about the data that I collect from the History Center for my specific platform, and I was wondering if daylight savings times were automatically adjusted. 


For example, if the data I get is in GMT, does the summer time data stay in BST, or does it change to what it would be outside of daylight saving (i.e. 20:15 in the summer time would be 21:15).

If it is the former, is there a way to easily convert the BST parts of the data to GMT using MQL?


I found this thread: https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/103514

But I don't understand what the moderator meant by "Time is automatically corrected after download"

That's a pretty old thread you are referring to...

It is possible to do a conversion programmatically using MQL, but best if you post some sample data so we can understand what it looks like

 
R4tna C #:

That's a pretty old thread you are referring to...

It is possible to do a conversion programmatically using MQL, but best if you post some sample data so we can understand what it looks like

Sample Data? What would I even be showing you? Does historical data look different for you in the History Center in MT4? Besides potentially having different timezones for the time column I don't see the use of providing this data when what it looks like is relatively well known. 

Dominik Christian Egert #:
GMT and UTC by definition do not have summer time.

If a time is specified by GMT, it is deterministic.

I don't understand the point you are trying to make here. GMT swaps for BST during a certain series of months in the year. Your broker always adjusts for daylight saving (i.e change from GMT to BST during the correct period), I want to know if MQL's History Center does the same?

 
TraderTogami #:

Sample Data? What would I even be showing you? Does historical data look different for you in the History Center in MT4? Besides potentially having different timezones for the time column I don't see the use of providing this data when what it looks like is relatively well known. 


I misunderstood "my specific platform" to be an external system providing a data source, so I was expecting some text lines from a data file, but now you have clarified it is in MT4.

I shall bow out, as I use MQL5 only 

 
TraderTogami #:

Sample Data? What would I even be showing you? Does historical data look different for you in the History Center in MT4? Besides potentially having different timezones for the time column I don't see the use of providing this data when what it looks like is relatively well known. 

I don't understand the point you are trying to make here. GMT swaps for BST during a certain series of months in the year. Your broker always adjusts for daylight saving (i.e change from GMT to BST during the correct period), I want to know if MQL's History Center does the same?

I was referring to GMT. If you give a time, let's say 08.00 GMT, it is a clear definition. And there is no DST at play, as it would be 09.00 BST.

I suppose, the question is, is the time you are referring to given in GMT.

Although, mostly GMT is used like UTC, it would be better to correctly refer to UTC, as they are different. But mostly, nowadays GMT and UTC are used synonymously.



So what I am trying to convey is the fact, that if a time is specified with it's timezones, there is no switching around between times. As a time in BST is defined with it's offset to GMT/UTC by the given Timezone.

The timezones given defines the offset applied.

The question is, what's the Timezone that's applied to entries in the history center in MT.