Why can't signals plot?

Questions about MultiCharts and user contributed studies.
bowlesj3
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Why can't signals plot?

Postby bowlesj3 » 09 Sep 2017

Hi,

Just curious. Why can we not put plots in a signal? As a programmer who can often see why something might be too hard to even ask for, I can't see why putting plots in a signal would be that hard to program so it has me really curious. Creating an extra study just to plot creates extra work for the user, probably more memory usage and maybe even slows things down a bit. So unless there is some sort of good reason for it I am not aware of it kind of does not make a lot of sense.

If it is not that hard I will put in a request that signals allow plots just like they allow drawing text. I suspect that this might have been asked for before so I will search to see if it has been asked for.

Thanks,
John
Last edited by bowlesj3 on 10 Sep 2017, edited 3 times in total.

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TJ
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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby TJ » 09 Sep 2017

This is not an answer to your question,
but a work around.

Look up these keywords:

I_getplotvalue
I_setplotvalue

bowlesj3
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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby bowlesj3 » 09 Sep 2017

Thanks TJ, I just read them over in the MC help file. I gave it a try. It works. It is a very simple script but like you say it does not answer the question and it still makes more sense from a user perspective to have the plots directly in the signal.

Code: Select all

if i_getplotvalue(1) > 0 then
begin
Plot1(i_getplotvalue(1), "UpperBand" );
Plot2(i_getplotvalue(2), "MiddleBand" );
Plot3(i_getplotvalue(3), "LowerBand" );
end;
I also noticed than if you put plots in a signal many times the power language editor does not tell you what is wrong (and it drops the cursor in random locations after each compile attempt if you change anything like add a space).
Last edited by bowlesj3 on 10 Sep 2017, edited 4 times in total.

evdl
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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby evdl » 10 Sep 2017

With the keywords

I_getplotvalue
I_setplotvalue

You can plot in signals, but there are some drawbacks. The need for an additional indicator just to plot the signal. Instead of directly plotting the signal on the chart. This can be cumbersome because you have to update an signal and indicator to just plot something.

And the biggest drawback IMO is the lack of using text in these keywords. At the moment you have to use numbers to identify the plot. And therefore keep track of what numbers you already have used. Also in other signals. With the risk that you use a number that is already used and this will plot something different than you would expect. So keep an eye on that.

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TJ
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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby TJ » 10 Sep 2017

Hi,

Just curious. Why can we not put plots in a signal? ...


I suspect it has to do with speed.

It takes time to make a plot on the screen.
In a signal, you want to execute the orders without delay; you don't want a plot to hold you up, even for microseconds.

bowlesj3
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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby bowlesj3 » 10 Sep 2017

I suspect it has to do with speed.
It takes time to make a plot on the screen.
In a signal, you want to execute the orders without delay; you don't want a plot to hold you up, even for microseconds.
That would make sense. If that is the case the better solution is to have a switch to shut the plots off during live trading since running another indicator may also slow things down. How to switch then off is another question. I don't know enough about auto trading yet to answer that. There are things about the portfolio trader I don't understand yet, commands I don't know, questions about autotrading with the scanner, etc. The first question is "how does a signal know it is firing off real orders?".

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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby Mydesign » 12 Sep 2017

Here is another workaround that does not require any indicator:
http://hightick.com/TS/Functi ... index.html

But the initial question remains...
Last edited by Mydesign on 12 Sep 2017, edited 1 time in total.

bowlesj3
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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby bowlesj3 » 12 Sep 2017

Okay thanks. Unfortunately at present this error comes up when I click the link. Hopefully only temp.
404 - File or directory not found.
The resource you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
Last edited by bowlesj3 on 12 Sep 2017, edited 1 time in total.

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TJ
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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby TJ » 12 Sep 2017

Okay thanks. Unfortunately at present this error comes up when I click the link. Hopefully only temp.
404 - File or directory not found.
The resource you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
....

This MC website automatically parses certain word into "TS".
If you replace the abbreviation with the long form, the URL will work.

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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby bowlesj3 » 12 Sep 2017

Thanks TJ. Interesting. I noticed it does the same with NT. Of course most know what these short forms mean.

It worked now.

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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby Xyzzy » 12 Sep 2017

I actually raised the same issue many years ago. Henry from MultiCharts said that it was too difficult for them to make this happen (due to internal MultiCharts issues), so they added the i_... keywords as a compromise. Oh well.

https://www.multicharts.com/pm/public/m ... ues/MC-211

bowlesj3
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Re: Why can't signals plot?

Postby bowlesj3 » 13 Sep 2017

I actually raised the same issue many years ago. Henry from MultiCharts said that it was too difficult for them to make this happen (due to internal MultiCharts issues), so they added the i_... keywords as a compromise. Oh well.

https://www.multicharts.com/pm/public/m ... ues/MC-211
I figured something like that.

If all we want is a visual we could plot an "*" in text at font 1 or whatever so it looks like a dot. That would do it. Not too sure how efficient that would be. Come to think of it I have a use for this idea since I am developing code to adjust the Bollinger Band length automatically to fit different market conditions. Plots create a problem which this text idea would solve completely since you can shut them off and restart them without the annoying connecting lines.


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