AmiBroker 5.05.1 Beta Read Me

February 12, 2008 13:20

THIS IS A BETA VERSION OF THE SOFTWARE. EXPECT BUGS !!!

Backup your data files and entire AmiBroker folder first!

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

IMPORTANT: This archive is update-only. You have to install full version 5.00 first.

Just run the installer and follow the instructions.

Then run AmiBroker. You should see "AmiBroker 5.05.1 beta" written in the About box.

See CHANGE LOG below for detailed list of changes.

CHANGE LOG

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.05.1 (as compared to 5.05.0)

• Walk Forward AA Settings: added error message when start date > end date
• Walk Forward AA Settings: added "preview" list - showing all IS and OOS segments with dates

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.05.0 (as compared to 5.04.2)

• Walk Forward: "Easy" mode in the settings implemented - it sets "out-of-sample" parameters automatically based on in-sample settings
• GetCursorMouseButtons new flag = 8 - means that current chart just received mouse click
  
  /////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Low-level graphic + Interactive GUI control sample
// This example shows:
//  1. how to draw "buttons"
//  2. how to handle mouse clicks
//  3. how to implement event call-backs
///////////////////////////////////////////////////

Version( 5.04 ); // requires 5.04 or higher

////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Part 1: DRAWING TABLE OF BUTTONS
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
GfxSetOverlayMode( 2 );
// formatted text output sample via low-level gfx functions

CellHeight = 20;
CellWidth = 100;
GfxSelectFont( "Tahoma", CellHeight/2 );

GfxSetBkMode( 1 );

function PrintInCell( string, row, Col )
{
GfxDrawText( string, Col * CellWidth, row * CellHeight, (Col + 1 ) * CellWidth, (row + 1 ) * CellHeight, 0 );
}

GfxSelectPen( colorBlue );
for( i = 0; i < 10 && i < BarCount; i++ )
{
for( k = 0; k < 5; k++ )
{
   PrintInCell( "Button " + i + "," + k, i, k );
}
GfxMoveTo( 0, i * CellHeight );
GfxLineTo( 5 * CellWidth, i * CellHeight );
}
GfxMoveTo( 0, i * CellHeight );
GfxLineTo( 5 * CellWidth, i * CellHeight );

for( Col = 1; Col < 6; Col++ )
{
GfxMoveTo( Col * CellWidth, 0);
GfxLineTo( Col * CellWidth, 10 * CellHeight );
}


/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Part 2: MOUSE BUTTON CALL BACKS
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Title="";

function DrawButton( px, py, Clr1, Clr2, text )
{
     Col = floor( px / CellWidth );
     Row = floor( py / CellHeight );

   
   GfxGradientRect( Col * CellWidth, row * CellHeight, (Col + 1 ) * CellWidth, (row + 1 ) * CellHeight,
                   Clr1, Clr2 );

     PrintInCell( text + " " + row + "," + Col, row, Col );

}

function OnLMouseButton(x, y, px, py)
{
   _TRACE("LButton x = " + DateTimeToStr( x ) + " y = " + y );

   DrawButton( px, py, ColorHSB( 50, 255, 255 ), ColorHSB( 90, 255, 255 ), "just clicked" );
}

function OnRMouseButton(x, y, px, py)
{
   _TRACE("RButton x = " + DateTimeToStr( x ) + " y = " + y );
}

function OnMMouseButton(x, y, px, py)
{
   _TRACE("MButton x = " + DateTimeToStr( x ) + " y = " + y );
}

function OnHoverMouse(x, y, px, py)
{
   _TRACE("LButton x = " + DateTimeToStr( x ) + " y = " + y );

     DrawButton( px, py, ColorRGB( 230, 230, 230 ), ColorRGB( 255, 255, 255 ), "mouse over" );
}

function OnLButtonIsDown(x, y, px, py)
{
   _TRACE("LButton x = " + DateTimeToStr( x ) + " y = " + y );

     DrawButton( px, py, ColorHSB( 190, 255, 255 ), ColorHSB( 210, 255, 255 ), "down" );
}

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Part 3: GENERAL PURPOSE EVENT HANDLER (reusable! - may be put into "include" file)
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

function EventHandler()
{
local b, x, y, px, py;
b = GetCursorMouseButtons();

// retrieve co-ordinates in date/value units
x = GetCursorXPosition(0);
y = GetCursorYPosition(0);

// retrieve co-ordinates in pixel units
px = GetCursorXPosition(1);
py = GetCursorYPosition(1);

if( b & 8 ) // flag = 8 is set when window just received mouse click
{
   // not-null means clicked in THIS (current) window
   if( b & 1 ) OnLMouseButton( x, y, px, py );
   if( b & 2 ) OnRMouseButton( x, y, px, py );
   if( b & 4 ) OnMMouseButton( x, y, px, py );
}
else
{
  if( b == 0 ) OnHoverMouse( x, y, px, py ); // no button pressed
  if( b == 1 ) OnLButtonIsDown( x, y, px, py ); // button pressed
}
}

EventHandler();
RequestTimedRefresh( 1 );

  
• GetCursorXPosition/GetCursorYPosition return non-null values when mouse is over the current chart regardless if it was clicked or not
• BUGFIX: trend line sometimes moved to the right edge when drawing/moving them while two charts were opened in different periods
• Selector line is not drawn (does not blink) when GfxOverlayMode is set to 2
• Walk Forward document can now be closed and/or hidden during WF (it is not re-opened constantly)
  

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.04.2 (as compared to 5.04.1)

• New log scale (5.04.1) was not working nicely for small dynamic range charts - chart looked compressed. Fixed now.
• Chart Periodicity on MDI tab is now updated when switching
• Trendlines work fine with thick and dotted styles again (broken in 5.04)
• AFL: GetCursorXPosition/GetCursorYPosition functions changed
  1. The functions now by default return NULL (empty value) if mouse is OUTSIDE the current window

  2. New "mode" parameter controls what values are returned

  GetCursorXPosition( mode = 0 )
  GetCursorYPosition( mode = 0 )

  mode = -1 - (old compatibility mode) - x - value gives X-coordinate in DateTime format. y - value gives PRICE. Values are reported no matter where is the mouse (i.e. may refer to window different than current if mouse is outside current window).
  mode = 0 - (default) x - value gives X-coordinate in DateTime format. y - value gives PRICE. Returns NULL if mouse is outside current window
  mode = 1 - x, y - are mouse coordinates expressed in screen PIXELS. Returns NULL if mouse is outside current window
  

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.04.1 (as compared to 5.04.0)

• WF: Settings "Optimization target" combo box shows all built-in fields now
• WF: now combined in-sample and out-sample equities are available by ~~~ISEQUITY and ~~~OSEQUITY composite tickers
  (consecutive periods of IS and OOS are concatenated and scaled to maintain continuity of equity line - this approach assumes that you generally speaking are compounding profits)
  To display IS and OOS equity you may use for example this:
  PlotForeign("~~~ISEQUITY","In-Sample Equity", colorRed, styleLine);
PlotForeign("~~~OSEQUITY","Out-Of-Sample Equity", colorGreen, styleLine);
Title = "{{NAME}} - {{INTERVAL}} {{DATE}} {{VALUES}}";
  
• WF: in-sample best uses "first best" result consistenly instead of quicksort (that did not prevent original order)
• WF: the output window is re-open when user closes it during Walk Forward optimization
• Log chart scaling enhanced to handle nicely extreme dynamic range
  

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.04.0 (as compared to 5.03.0)

• AFL Formula Editor: Copy-paste does not "eat" last character
• AFL Formula Editor: Edit->Prettify Selection function added
• Calling Activate() method of Window object does not maximize MDI window any more
• Print Preview works fine now with floating windows
• Walk-Forward Optimization implemented (v1)
  

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.03.0 (as compared to 5.02.2)

• Fixed: Pane/Template options do not work on floating window
• Added: Interval linking
• New linking settings are now saved in layouts and restored properly
• (re-)added: Cursor linking - selector line moves together in symbol and/or linked charts
• Removed File->New->Linked chart (new linking replaces this functionality)
• Fixed: Layouts with old-style linked charts are now automatically converted into new scheme when loading layout
  

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.02.2 (as compared to 5.02.1)

• fixed problem with c-like multi-line comments /* */ that appeared in 5.02.1 beta

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.02.1 (as compared to 5.01.1)

• Implemented Unlimited nesting of #include and #include_once
• True multi-monitor support. Chart windows can now be floated (outside main application frame) and moved to different monitors
• Implemented new way of symbol-linking of charts (the button next to scrollbar allows to choose linked group (1-9))
• Fixed crash when attempting to backtest on empty watch list (bug introduced in 5.01)
• AFL: SetBarFillColor( colorarray ) allows to independently control candlestick, bar, cloud, and area chart fill color
• OLE: when Broker.Application reference count drops to zero and AB was not running prior to CreateObject() then the AB is closed
• Implemented workaround to Windows XP list view drawing bug (MS KB813791)
• Floating pane title is synchronized now (5.02.0 fix)
  

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.01.1 (as compared to 5.01.0)

• fixed loading of customized toolbars
• toolbar customizations are now stored in Broker.exe-CommandBars51 (number increased) to isolate new betas and old versions

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.01.0 (as compared to 5.00.0)

• Tweaks in backtester for improved performance
  Portfolio backtester on average 2x faster for both multiple and single-security tests (some trivial, frequently trading systems may observe upto 5x speedup on multiple securities during long analysis periods). Note that AFL engine speed has NOT changed as compared to 5.00. Speed increase comes from backtester tweaks alone, so the longer AFL code is the less speed-up you will see, because backtester processing would account for smaller part of overall execution time.
  
• Tweaks in quote handling for improved performance
• Code profiler - shows code analysis with detailed per-function timing report. Available from AFL Editor: Tools->Code Check & Profile menu
  

If you experience any problem with this beta version please send detailed description of the problem (especially the steps needed to reproduce it) to support at amibroker.com