User reports issues with CopyTime function in MT5, including unexpected behavior and performance problems.

Carl Schreiber 2023.05.24 18:32 #81

One simple script for MT5 b.3744 and four questions & problems:

#define DoWi(t) ((int)(((t-259200)%604800)/86400))       // (int)Day of Week Su=0,Mo=1,...
#define _t2s(t) TimeToString(t,TIME_DATE|TIME_MINUTES)
#define  BoW(t) ((t)-((t-172800)%604800 - 86400))        // Begin of Week.. Su 00:00:00: 604800=168h=7*24; 172800=35.5h; 86400=24h

void OnStart()
  {
//---

   datetime arrTme[],tC = D'2022.02.03 00:00:00';//TimeCurrent();
   datetime tB = BoW(tC) + 300;
   int b = CopyTime("EURUSD",PERIOD_H1,BoW(tB),1,arrTme);
   PrintFormat("%-20s %i %s\n%-20s %i %s\n%-20s %i %s\n%-20s %i %s",
               "timeCurrent:",      DoWi(tC),         _t2s(tC),
               "\nBeg of Week:",    DoWi( (BoW(tC)) ),_t2s(BoW(tC)),
               "\nBoW + 300 Sekt:", DoWi(tB),         _t2s(tB),
               "\narrTme[0]:",      DoWi(arrTme[0]),  _t2s(arrTme[0]));
  }

This is printed:

2023.05.24 18:18:33.285 test_CopyTime (EURUSD,H1)       timeCurrent:         4 2022.02.03 00:00
2023.05.24 18:18:33.285 test_CopyTime (EURUSD,H1)       
2023.05.24 18:18:33.285 test_CopyTime (EURUSD,H1)       Beg of Week:        0 2022.01.30 00:00
2023.05.24 18:18:33.285 test_CopyTime (EURUSD,H1)       
2023.05.24 18:18:33.285 test_CopyTime (EURUSD,H1)       BoW + 300 Sekt:     0 2022.01.30 00:05
2023.05.24 18:18:33.285 test_CopyTime (EURUSD,H1)       
2023.05.24 18:18:33.285 test_CopyTime (EURUSD,H1)       arrTme[0]:          5 2022.01.28 23:00

My questions and problems:

Why is there an extra empty line?
Why is there an additional blank after timeCurrent:?
Why - and this is my main problem - does CopyTime return the time of the previous bar which is the theoretical last bar of Friday (theoretical as the last quotes have the time stamp like 22:59:59)
instead of the first bar on Sunday/Monday?
To be save I added 5 minutes but still get something wrong - or am I wrong?
Do we have to check all the other integrated Copy.. functions on a weekend?

Files:

test_CopyTime.mq5 2 kb

Libraries: Dealing with time Errors, bugs, questions Pair Scanner with wrong

Alain Verleyen 2023.05.24 19:08 #82

Carl Schreiber #:

One simple script for MT5 b.3744 and four questions & problems:

This is printed:

My questions and problems:

Why is there an extra empty line?

Because you added it.

PrintFormat("%-20s %i %s\n%-20s %i %s\n%-20s %i %s\n%-20s %i %s",
               "timeCurrent:",      DoWi(tC),         _t2s(tC),
               "\nBeg of Week:",    DoWi( (BoW(tC)) ),_t2s(BoW(tC)),
               "\nBoW + 300 Sekt:", DoWi(tB),         _t2s(tB),
               "\narrTme[0]:",      DoWi(arrTme[0]),  _t2s(arrTme[0]));

Why is there an additional blank after timeCurrent:?

Same as 1. It was not an additional blank after timeCurrent, but a missing blank for the 3 next ones.

Why - and this is my main problem - does CopyTime return the time of the previous bar which is the theoretical last bar of Friday (theoretical as the last quotes have the time stamp like 22:59:59)
instead of the first bar on Sunday/Monday?
To be save I added 5 minutes but still get something wrong - or am I wrong?

Yes you are wrong.

int b = CopyTime("EURUSD",PERIOD_H1,BoW(tB),1,arrTme);

BoW(tB) is D'2022.01.30 00:00:00'. There is no bar at that time, so it returns the time of the previous existing bar. All is good and expected. CopyTime is looking BACK, it will never returns a bar in the future of the start parameter.

As I tried to explain you in your German forum topic, it's important to understand how it works, not how you think it should work.

Any rookie question, so Any questions from newcomers ADX crossing indicator w/

Carl Schreiber 2023.05.24 19:24 #83

add 1: Ok my bad - now I see it, sorry.
Funny feature if I eliminate the "\n" at "\nBeg..", "\nBoW..", ... the additional blank in the first line disappears?
add 2: This part: "%-20s %i %s" is for every 'line' the same so there is 1 and only 1 blank between '...20s' and '%i' - so where is the additional blank, Alain?

There is no SRC Any questions from newcomers [ARCHIVE] Any rookie question,

Carl Schreiber 2023.05.24 19:38 #84

Alain Verleyen #:

Because you added it.

Same as 1. It was not an additional blank after timeCurrent, but a missing blank for the 3 next ones.

Yes you are wrong.

BoW(tB) is D'2022.01.30 00:00:00'. There is no bar at that time, so it returns the time of the previous existing bar. All is good and expected. CopyTime is looking BACK, it will never returns a bar in the future of the start parameter.

As I tried to explain you in your German forum topic, it's important to understand how it works, not how you think it should work.

Am I? D'2022.02.03 00:00:00' is a valid h1 bar, it has quotes:

The next one to the left is (Fr.) 5 2022.01.28 23:00 from above.

Alain Verleyen 2023.05.24 20:01 #85

Carl Schreiber #:

add 1: Ok my bad - now I see it, sorry.
Funny feature if I eliminate the "\n" at "\nBeg..", "\nBoW..", ... the additional blank in the first line disappears?
add 2: This part: "%-20s %i %s" is for every 'line' the same so there is 1 and only 1 blank between '...20s' and '%i' - so where is the additional blank, Alain?

I already answered :

It was not an additional blank after timeCurrent, but a missing blank for the 3 next ones.

The "\n" was "eaten" as a character.

Alain Verleyen 2023.05.24 20:02 #86

Carl Schreiber #:

Am I? D'2022.02.03 00:00:00' is a valid h1 bar, it has quotes:

The next one to the left is (Fr.) 5 2022.01.28 23:00 from above.

Yes you are. You starting date in CopyTime is not D'2022.02.03 00:00:00, it's D'2022.01.30 00:00:00'.

Carl Schreiber 2023.05.24 20:06 #87

Alain Verleyen #:
Yes you are. You starting date in CopyTime is not D'2022.02.03 00:00:00, it's D'2022.01.30 00:00:00'.

Yes, you are right, my bad again, I need to take the cucumber slices off my eyes.
Thank you!

Carl Schreiber 2023.05.29 09:29 #88

It wasn't my bad. MQ must have changed something, as previously CopyTime didn't had a problem with server times of the future e.g. to place objects on the chart for the next day ...

Now this fails and CopyTime returns the last known server time :(

This is quite inconvenient, because CopyTime returns the last opening time of a bar before a price gap such as a weekend, but the first opening time after such a gap can then only be determined by trial and error. This now makes it much more difficult to automatically determine the broker's offset time.

Files:

CopyTime_Test.mq5 3 kb

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fxsaber 2023.06.01 12:56 #90

Sugianto #:

I found something strange in the latest update, now the backtest is slower and the backtest results can only be 32%, even though before I was able to get 100% real tick history. I don't know what was changed, but it seems to concern the history data.

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