AmiBroker 5.74.0 BETA Read Me

March 24, 2014 16:57

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 5.70 first.

Just run the installer and follow the instructions.

Then run AmiBroker. You should see "AmiBroker 5.74.0 BETA" written in the About box.

See CHANGE LOG below for detailed list of changes. Note that only changes that affect end-user directly are listed here. Internal code changes/refactoring is usually not mentioned.

CHANGE LOG

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.74.0 (as compared to 5.73.0)

• AFL Editor: Code snippets implemented (phase 1). Code snippet is a small piece of AFL code. It can be inserted by right-clicking in the AFL editor window and choosing "Insert Snippet" menu
  
  This is phase 1 of implemetation of code snippets. There will be other elements added in the future.
  There are two files located in AmiBroker directory that hold snippets:
  CodeSnippets.xml - these are snippets shipped with AmiBroker installation (and can be replaced in subsequent installations, so don't modify it!)
  UserSnippets.xml - these are user-definable snippets. This file is NOT present in the installation and user can create it by him/herself.

  The XML schema for snippets file is simple (as below). Key trigger functionality is NOT yet implemented, however Keytrigger fields should be included in the definition for future use. It will be work like 'autocomplete' so that you type the shortcut it, it will unfold to the formula.

  Suggestions for new snippets are welcome.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<AmiBroker-CodeSnippets CompactMode="0">

  <Snippet>
<Name>First Snippet</Name>
<Description>Description of the snippet</Description>
<Category>User category</Category>
<KeyTrigger>?trigger1</KeyTrigger>
<Formula>
<![CDATA[

  // the formula itself

  ]]>
</Formula>
</Snippet>

  <Snippet>
<Name>Second Snippet</Name>
<Description>Description of the snippet</Description>
<Category>User category</Category>
<KeyTrigger>?trigger2</KeyTrigger>
<Formula>
<![CDATA[

  // the formula itself

  ]]>
</Formula>
</Snippet>
</AmiBroker-CodeSnippets>

• AFL: Low level GFX: Multi-layering (z-order) implemented. AFL: GfxSetZOrder implemented
  
  Plot( C, "Price", colorDefault );
GraphGridZOrder = 1;

GfxSetZOrder(0);
GfxSelectSolidBrush( colorGreen );
GfxCircle( 100, 100, 100 );

GfxSetZOrder(-1);
GfxSelectSolidBrush( colorRed );
GfxCircle( 150, 150, 100 );

GfxSetZOrder(-2);
GfxSelectSolidBrush( colorBlue );
GfxCircle( 180, 180, 100 );
  
• AFL: Low-level GFX: radius in GfxCircle() function is expressed in "X" units (so it actually draws circle instead of ellipse when coords mode is 1). Additionally you can specify radius in pixels even in co-ords mode = 1. To do so pass radius as NEGATIVE number. Also one pixel is now added to the rounding box so circle is centered at "x,y".
  // fractional radius is supported, so 0.5 would mean half of space between bars
Plot ( C, "", colorDefault);
GfxSetCoordsMode( 1 );
GfxSelectSolidBrush( colorViolet );
GfxSelectPen( colorRed );
bi = BarIndex();
start = FirstVisibleValue( bi );
end = LastVisibleValue( bi );

r = Param("radius", 1, -5, 4, 0.1 );
for ( i = start; i <= end; i ++ )
{
    GfxCircle ( i , Close [i] , r);
}
• AFL: Low level GFX: in 5.73.0 the pixel co-ordinates were rounded differently than in 5.72 and earlier. Fixed.
• AFL: Low level GFX: new function GfxGetTextWidth - returns pixel width of specified string. NOTE: it is slow because it has to create temporary DC and font to measure the text. It takes 40us (microseconds), that is about 40 times more than other Gfx functions.
  
  GfxSetZOrder(5 );
GfxSelectFont("Tahoma", 30 );
GfxSetTextColor( colorWhite );
text = "This is a test";
GfxTextOut(text, 0, 50);
GfxSetTextColor( colorRed );
GfxTextOut("second part in red", GfxGetTextWidth(text), 50 );

• AFL: fopen - new parameter: 'sharing' decides whenever file is open in sharing mode or not. When sharing is True a file is prepared for subsequent shared reading and writing.
  
  When sharing parameter is True the following things happen:
  - when mode is "w" (writing) or "a" (appending) then file is open with a sharing flag that denies others to read and/or write at the same time
  - when mode is "r" (reading) then file is open with a sharing flag that denies others to write to the file (shared reads are allowed)
  - when open is unsuccessful due to sharing violation (other processes / threads have that file open and deny reads/writes) then fopen would wait for 250ms and retry automatically 4 times. After 4 unsuccessful retries it fails with file handle == Null.

  When sharing parameter is set to False (default) no such checking occurs and file is open anyway without denying others to read/write. This may cause data corruption if file is written to from multiple threads/external processes at the same time. If you want to use this mode (sharing set to False) in multithreaded environment to write data, you need to care about synchronization yourself for example using critical section.
  

• UI: Added "Name" (full name) column to Real-time quote window
• AFL: Implemented user control over Y-axis cursor and tooltips by means of new option chartDisableYAxisCursor, chartDisableTooltips added to SetChartOptions
  
  SetChartOptions( 1, chartDisableYAxisCursor | chartDisableTooltips ); // don't change cursor shape in Y axis area and tooltips
  

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.73.0 (as compared to 5.72.0)

• AFL: SetOption("StaticVarAutoSave", interval ) - added to allow periodical auto-saving of persistent static variables
  
  The interval is given in seconds.
  For example:
  SetOption("StaticVarAutoSave", 60 ); // auto-save persistent variables every 60 seconds (1-minute)

  It is important to understand that persistent variables are saved ON EXIT automatically, without any user intervention
  so it should be enough for most cases. If you for some reason want auto-saves when AmiBroker is running, then
  you can use this function.

  Please note that writing many static variables into physical disk file takes time and it blocks all static variable access
  so you should AVOID specifying too small auto-save intervals.
  Saving every second is bad idea - it will cause overload. Saving every 60 seconds should be fine.

  Calling function with interval set to zero disables auto-save.

  SetOption("StaticVarAutoSave", 0 );

• AFL: new GfxSetCoordsMode - rewritten Low-Level Gfx to allow fractional coords and bar/price co-ords mode in addition to pixel
  
  // NEW FUNCTION
  GfxSetCoordsMode( mode );
  - allows to switch co-ordinate system for low-level gfx functions from sceen pixel (mode = 0) - the default, to
  bar / price mode (mode = 1 ) where X is expressed in bar index and Y is expressed in price.
  This new mode allows way easier overlays on top of existing charts without need to do conversion between bars/price pixels
  and without any extra refresh normally required in old versions when Y scale changed.

  The function can be called to switch back and forth from pixel -> bar/price mode and vice versa a number of times
  allowing to mix different modes in the same chart.

  When co-ordinate mode 1 is selected (bar/price), co-ordinates can be fractional. For example if x is 2.5 it means half way between bar 2 and 3.

  Example:
  // The sample shows how using GfxSetCoordsMode( 1 )
// results in
// a) easier coding of overlay charts that plot on top of built-in charts (no need to convert from bar/price to pixels)
// b) perfect matching between built-in Plot() and Gfx positioning
Plot( C, "Price", colorDefault, styleLine );
GfxSetOverlayMode( 1 );
GfxSetCoordsMode( 1 ); // bar/price mode (instead of pixel)

GfxSelectSolidBrush( colorRed );
GfxSelectPen( colorRed );

boxheight = 0.01 * ( HighestVisibleValue( C ) - LowestVisibleValue( C ) );

bi = BarIndex();

start = FirstVisibleValue( bi );
end = LastVisibleValue( bi );

for ( i = start; i <= end; i++ )
{
    Cl = Close[ i ];
    Op = Open[ i ];

    Color = IIf( Cl > Op, colorGreen, colorRed );
    GfxSelectPen( Color );
    GfxSelectSolidBrush( Color );

    bodyup = Max( Op, Cl );
    bodydn = Min( Op, Cl );

    GfxEllipse( i - 0.4, bodyup, i + 0.4, bodydn );

    GfxMoveTo( i, H[ i ] );
    GfxLineTo( i, bodyup );
    GfxMoveTo( i, bodydn );
    GfxLineTo( i, L[ i ] );
}
  

• Charts: functions calculating day offset (GetBarsBetweenDates) support years > 2038 and are now much faster (don't count days in loops but use smarter calendar math instead)

• Charts: Cycle Lines tool has drawn lines in weird places when using very long cycles that resulted in lines being positioned beyond 2038. Fixed.

• UI: added View->Price chart style->Bars without ticks

• Change #2534 made in 5.71.0 (allowing Null for Close field in bar chart) created backward compatiblity issue. Reverted. Instead a new styleBarNoTick introduced that allows to plot bar chart without open/close ticks:
  
  Plot( IIf( Month() & 1, C, Null ), "Price", colorDefault, styleBarNoTicks | styleThick ); // bar chart without open/close ticks
  

• New Analysis: when Non-exhaustive Optimize was used on symbol without any quotes, UI displayed error and remained disabled and it was not possible to re-run non-exhaustive opt. Fixed.

• New Analysis: Backtest: Profit figures are color-coded now (negative - red/positive - green)
  

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.72.0 (as compared to 5.71.0)

• AFL: new feature: high-performance Persistent Static variables implemented (StaticVarSet has new parameter 'persist' - if it is set to True then static variable will be stored in PersistVars.bin file when AmiBroker is closing and reloaded automatically on next startup, preventing the values of static variables between application runs)
  
  if( ParamTrigger("Set variable", "Set" ) )
{
  StaticVarSet("varx", Close, True ); // set persistent variable
}

Plot( StaticVarGet("varx"), "Persistent var", colorRed );
  
• 64-bit optimizer plugins: fixed issue in SPSO/Tribes with OptimizeSetOption not working correctly
• UI: Interpretation and Notepad windows do not flicker anymore when they are resized
• ASCII importer: added $USEONLYLOCALDB command
  If data is fed by database plugin, using the ASCII importer to add any symbol causes these newly added symbol to have "Use only local database" flag turned on.
  A new command:
  $USEONLYLOCALDB 0

  allows to turn this off (so newly added symbols have "use only local database" turned off)

  This flag does NOT affect existing symbols.

• Symbol pane full-text search is user-configurable (from options menu) and now supports searching by alias, address, country (in addition to search by symbol and full name).
  

CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.71.0 (as compared to 5.70.2)

• AFL: PlotText() now has additional parameter yoffset: PlotText( "text", x, y, color, bkcolor = colorDefault, yoffset = 0 )
  yoffset allows to specify PIXEL offset to Y coordinate which is expressed in price in PlotText calls. This provides easy method to position precisely the text based on font/letter specific characteristics
  
• AFL: PlotTextSetFont( "text", "fontname", pointsize, x, y, color, bkcolor = colorDefault, yoffset = 0 )
  Example:
  
  Plot(C, "Price", colorDefault );
x = SelectedValue( BarIndex() );
y = Close[ x ];

PlotTextSetFont("E", "Wingdings", 40, x, y, colorGreen, colorDefault, -30 );
PlotText( "C",  BarCount, Close[ BarCount - 1 ], colorRed, colorDefault, -20 ); // will use new font too
  
• ASCII importer: now company address can be imported ($ADDRESS <company address> command and new ADDRESS field in the $FORMAT command)
• ASCII importer: NULL can be specified as date in several date fields such as delisting date, dividend date,etc. This results in date being cleared (unset).
  $FORMAT TICKER,LAST_SPLIT_DATE,ADDRESS
  $AUTOADD 1
  $OVERWRITE 1
  $NOQUOTES 1
  $SEPARATOR ,

  XLNX,NULL,"This is new address"

• Charts: Y-axis grid can now be finer than 0.0001 (#125281) - upto 6 decimal digits (0.000001) are displayed when needed
• Charts: Null values in Open/Close fields now disable drawing of open/close ticks in the bar chart (PlotOHLC function)
  Plot( C, "", colorDefault, styleNoDraw );
PlotOHLC( Null, High, Low, Null, "Price", IIf( H > Ref( H, -1 ), colorGreen, colorRed ), styleBar | styleNoLabel, Null, Null, 0, 0, -100 );
  
• UI: Last pane height does not change on window resizing after pane resize anymore.
• New Analysis: in Windows 7 and 8 the progress of scan/backtest/exploration/optimization is also shown in Windows Taskbar, so it is visible even if AmiBroker window is minimized or covered by other windows
• New Analysis: Backtest report settings: added option NOT to include Formula in the report (for security purposes)
• New Analysis: Horizontal scroll bar is refreshed after HTML import
• Prefs: Currency tab, added option "Trade using FX cash conversion" to handle different ways to calculate profits depending on whenever foreign currency is borrowed or cash actualy exchanged
  
  When you actually exchange the cash when entering a trade on security traded in foreign currency then you should have this option turned ON
  when you use a loan in a foreign currency, turn this option OFF (the pre 5.71-behavior)
  See this for more info:
  https://www.interactivebrokers.com/images/flash/tours/MechanicsOfForeignTransaction/index.html
  

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