Trade Arrows Don't Get Saved When Saving Chart Bitmap

Author: MichiZH

Creation Date: 5/21/2013 5:09 AM

Wealth Lab » Wealth-Lab Developer/Pro » Trade Arrows Don't Get Saved When Saving Chart Bitmap

MichiZH

5/21/2013 5:09 AM

Hi

I want to run certain strategies and save the chart including all generated buy and sell indicators by the strategy to an Image. This code saves the chart, however without any strategy indicators. What am I doing wrong?

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I want to run certain strategies and save the chart including all generated buy and sell indicators by the strategy to an Image. This code saves the chart, however without any strategy indicators. What am I doing wrong?

[code]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Drawing;
using WealthLab;
using WealthLab.Indicators;

namespace WealthLab.Strategies
{
	public class MyStrategy : WealthScript
	{
		protected override void Execute()
		{
			int barAdj;
			
			for(int bar = 26; bar < Bars.Count; bar++)
			{
				//Signal will be given in the evening, buying happens tomorrow. So we need to check with yesterdays data
				barAdj = bar - 1;
				
				if (IsLastPositionActive){
					Position p = LastPosition;
					if(p.PositionType == PositionType.Long){
						if(SellLongGoShort(barAdj)){
							SellAtMarket(bar,p,"Sell Long");
							ShortAtMarket(bar,"Buy Short");
						}
					} else {
						if(GoLongSellShort(barAdj)){
							CoverAtMarket(bar,p,"Sell Short");
							BuyAtMarket(bar,"Buy Long");
						}
					}
				} else {
					//No active position yet
					if(SellLongGoShort(barAdj)){
						ShortAtMarket(bar,"Buy Short");
					} else if(GoLongSellShort(barAdj)){
						BuyAtMarket(bar,"Buy Long");
					}
				}
			}
			
			// Captures screen image in a PNG file 
			Bitmap bm = GetChartBitmap( 1500, 900 );
			bm.Save(@"C:\Users\mp\Desktop\Graphs\" + "Strat_" + Bars.Symbol + ".png", System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png );
		}
		
		public bool GoLongSellShort(int bar) {
			if(Open[bar-24] < Open[bar] && Low[bar-1] < Open[bar]){
				return true;
			} else {
				return false;
			}
		}
		
		public bool SellLongGoShort(int bar) {
			if(Open[bar-24] > Open[bar] && High[bar-1] > Open[bar]){
				return true;
			} else {
				return false;
			}
		}
	}
}
[/code]

Eugene

5/21/2013 6:33 AM

First of all, the use of bar for AtMarket, let alone bar-1 (!), is bluntly peeking into the future. You should correct the serious mistake by issuing orders for bar+1 if you want a usable strategy.

Aside from that, you're not doing anything wrong. According to the QuickRef, GetChartBitmap() renders an image of the chart, including plotted indicators and manually drawn objects, but that does not include trading signals.

Workaround: plot them manually, akin to what the FAQ suggests:

Is there a way to see the trades on secondary symbols?

Optionally, you can disable the regular arrows with EnableTradeNotes().

MichiZH

5/21/2013 7:07 AM

Hi Eugene

Thanks for your answer.

2 questions:

1. I've tried that with the triangles. Seems to work just perfectly. But how could I display these triangles only for the Bitmap but in the regular Chart window display the normal trade notes?
I mean I want to program a method which disables the trade notes and creates the triangles instead. And after the image is saved it should remove the triangles and display the trade notes again. Is there a short way to do this without looping again through all bars?

2. What do you mean about peeking in the future?
In the beginning I created the int barAdj = bar - 1. So this barAdj is always one day back further in the past. With this variable the program decides if it should go long or short. And if yesterday a signal is created, I enter or exit a trade today. That's at least what I meant the program does...isn't it the same as working with bar+1?

Eugene

5/21/2013 8:34 AM

1. Since there's no way to un-AnnotateBar, a direct way w/o using workarounds isn't coming up to my mind. The simplest would be to use two strategies, one regular and the other for saving bitmaps.

2. Now I see your point, but still you're losing alerts trading that way. Alerts are triggered on bar+1.

MichiZH

5/21/2013 9:34 AM

Ok changed that No. 2. Thanks a lot for your advice.

Is there a possiblity to add some methods to some external class and import it to all strategies that need these methods? Like exporting the bitmap, adding arrows etc.?

I'm new the C#, programmed in a lot of other languages though.