Is it possible to obtain boolean variable states generated from an indicator for use in an EA?

[Conor Mcnamara]

I wanted to evolve one of my indicators into an EA just to see if it would be possible. My indicator makes one bool variable turn true when a certain condition is met in OnCalculate, and makes another bool variable turn true with another condition is met. I wanted to use these boolean values for generation of long signals and short signals. I tried making a custom signal script, but have gotten lost trying to figure out how to get the global variable data from the indicator. I don't think what I want to achieve can be done with iCustom as this is for obtaining data generated by the indicator itself, but not for getting separate boolean vals. There could be a few alternative ways to make this work such as writing out data to a file..but I want to know if you know of any simplified way of achieving this.

[Yashar Seyyedin]

Buffers in custom indicators can be accessed in EAs and scripts. 

You should create a buffer for your boolean variable. Buffers can only be of double type. So you set the buffer to +1 for true and 0 for false.

To access the buffer values you should create the indicator handle in your code use CopyBuffer to access its values.

[Conor Mcnamara]

Yashar Seyyedin #:

Buffers in custom indicators can be accessed in EAs and scripts. 

You should create a buffer for your boolean variable. Buffers can only be of double type. So you set the buffer to +1 for true and 0 for false.

To access the buffer values you should create the indicator handle in your code use CopyBuffer to access its values.

That sounds like the best approach. I will use 1 and 0 instead of true/false for the double buffers. I guess I can use iCustom then in the EA.

[Conor Mcnamara]

After further thinking, I decided not to use iCustom, as this is designed for obtaining data from the indicator buffers. Instead I used "GlobalVariableGet". 

https://www.mql5.com/en/docs/globals/globalvariableget

My indicator is set up like this:

// global variables for signals
double gLongSignal = 0.0;
double gShortSignal = 0.0;

// conditions
if (longSignalCondition){
    gLongSignal = 1.0;
    gShortSignal = 0.0;
} 
else if(shortSignalCondition){
    gLongSignal = 0.0;
    gShortSignal = 1.0;
}

now my EA looks like this:

#include <Trade/Trade.mqh>
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Expert initialization function                                   |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+

CTrade trade;
// Access global variable values

double longSignalValue;
double shortSignalValue;

int OnInit()
  {
  

   
   return(INIT_SUCCEEDED);
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Expert deinitialization function                                 |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
void OnDeinit(const int reason)
  {
//---

   
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Expert tick function                                             |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
void OnTick()
  {
      longSignalValue = GlobalVariableGet("gLongSignal");
      shortSignalValue = GlobalVariableGet("gShortSignal");  

      if(shortSignalValue == 1.0){
      
         for(int i=PositionsTotal()-1; i>=0; i--){
            ulong posTicket = PositionGetTicket(i);
                       
            if(posTicket>0){
               if(PositionGetInteger(POSITION_TYPE) == POSITION_TYPE_BUY){
                  trade.PositionClose(posTicket);  // close position
               }
            }        
         }
         
            if(PositionsTotal() == 0){   
               trade.Sell(0.03); //make one position with selected lot size
            }          
      }
         
         
       if(longSignalValue == 1.0){
       
         for(int i=PositionsTotal()-1; i>=0; i--){
            ulong posTicket = PositionGetTicket(i);
            
            if(posTicket>0){
               if(PositionGetInteger(POSITION_TYPE) == POSITION_TYPE_SELL){
                  trade.PositionClose(posTicket);  // close position
               }
            }        
         }    
     
            if(PositionsTotal() == 0){   
               trade.Buy(0.03); //make one position with selected lot size
            }
       }
  }
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+

However I can't test this in the strategy tester as it doesn't work, perhaps because I need the real-time connection between the indicator and EA on a live chart. I can't test it right now as the markets are closed