ChartEvent Test Example – EA MetaTrader 4

The “Test_ChartEvent.mq4” Expert Advisor is an example demonstrating the various types of ChartEvent: keyboard keys events, mouse click & move events, custom events. You can press the ‘H’ key for help and press the ‘M’ key to enter the MOUSE_MOVE event mode.

The source code works both in MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.

Function Prototype

• bool Obj_Create()
• bool Obj_Delete()
• bool Obj_Move(int hSens,int vSens) – moves an object.
• void Print_Info() – prints information about the objects.
• int MouseMove(int aXX,int aYY,string sState) – handles the mouse move event.

Global Variables

• int gChartNo=0
• int gSubWinNo=0
• string gsObj_Name_selected=”” – the name of currently selected object.

Custom Events

Three types of custom events are defined:

• #define cMyEvent_1 0
• #define cMyEvent_2 1
• #define cMyEvent_3_broadcast 2

OnTimer() Function

This function creates the custom ChartEvent periodically. And the function randomly generates these three custom events (cMyEvent_1, cMyEvent_2 and cMyEvent_3_broadcast). In particular, the cMyEvent_3_broadcast event is generated for all open chart windows.

Example of class

Class “CObjectMan” is created to handle the functionality for objects on a chart. Two instances (variables) of the class are declared: gObjectMan1 and gObjectMan2.

The names of the Graphic Objects linked to these two instances are respectively: “Green Button” and “Yellow Button”.

Event Processing

void OnChartEvent():

The “CHARTEVENT_KEYDOWN” events:

1. 4 directional keys (arrows) or the 4 directional keys on the digital panel to move the selected object.
2. ‘H’: print the Help information (in expert log window).
3. ‘I’: print the positions information of two Objects.
4. ‘M’: active the MOUSE_MOVE event.

Custom Events

Print information about these events. Especially for the MyEvent_3_broadcast event.

Object Events

• CHARTEVENT_OBJECT_CHANGE, CHARTEVENT_OBJECT_DRAG, CHARTEVENT_OBJECT_DELETE – print the corresponding object’s name.
• CHARTEVENT_OBJECT_CLICK – print the name of object being clicked, select its name for moving by the direction keys.

Mouse Events

• CHARTEVENT_CLICK – print the clicked bar’s information: the prices (open, close) and the bar time.
• CHARTEVENT_MOUSE_MOVE (see: CHART_EVENT_MOUSE_MOVE) – print the information of the covered interval: number of bars, price variation.

Demonstration

You can perform the following tests:

• Click on one of the two objects (Buttons) to select and use the arrow keys to move the selected object.
• Click on graphic bar and see the information of the bar in the log tab (message).
• Press the ‘M’ key to enter the MOUSE_MOVE event mode. Press Ctrl+F to show the crosshair, then perform a drag’n’drop operation. If you do not see the log message, please change the input parameter: “iLogLevel”.