MQLArticles/Utils/SetFiles

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Utils/SetFiles

Programmatic generation and editing of MetaTrader .set files (the parameter files used to run/optimize EAs). Main class: TSN::CSetFile.

Main features

• Build: create a .set from scratch with typed parameters: string, number, real, bool, enum, datetime, color (AddParamLine*). Giving start/step/stop makes the parameter optimizable.
• Load: read an existing one from a file (InitByFile) or from a string / #resource (InitBySrc).
• Modify: change values (ModifyParamValue*), optimization ranges (ModifyParamOpt*) and names (ModifyParamName).
• Read: get a parameter back as a typed value (ReadParamValueString/Bool/Datetime/Color) or as a raw SetFileParam (GetParam).
• Insert / remove: add or delete lines at a given position (InsertParamLine*, RemoveLine) and keep free-text lines such as comments (AddNoParamsLine, InsertNoParamLine, ModifyNoParamLine).
• Export: write to a file (Save) or to a string / string array (GetAsString, GetAsStringArray).
• Debug: Imprimir, Summary and the Imprimir*Array helpers.

Basic usage

Create from scratch and save

void OnStart()
 {
  TSN::CSetFile sf;
  sf.Init("BotSimple"); // expert name, writes the .set header

  sf.AddParamLineString("InpName", "Asia");
  sf.AddParamLineNumber("InpMagic", 12345, 10000, 1, 99999);          // value, start, step, stop
  sf.AddParamLineReal("InpRisk", 1.0, 2, 0.1, 0.1, 10.0);             // value, precision, start, step, stop
  sf.AddParamLineBool("InpUseFilter", true);
  sf.AddParamLineDatetime("InpStart", D'2024.01.01', D'2020.01.01', 86400, D'2025.12.31'); // step in seconds
  sf.AddParamLineColor("InpLineColor", clrRed);

  sf.Save("MQLArticles\\BotSimple.set", FILE_COMMON);
 }

Load, modify, save

TSN::CSetFile sf;
sf.InitByFile("MQLArticles\\BotSimple.set", FILE_COMMON, 16); // file, flags, reserve

sf.ModifyParamValueNumber("InpMagic", 999);
sf.ModifyParamValueRealNumber("InpRisk", 5.5, 2);
sf.ModifyParamValueBoolean("InpUseFilter", false);
sf.ModifyParamOptNumberStop("InpMagic", 5000);   // change the optimization range
sf.ModifyParamOptDatetimeStep("InpStart", 3600);

if(sf.ParamExist("InpUseFilter"))
   Print(sf.ReadParamValueBool("InpUseFilter"), " ", sf.GetParam("InpMagic").value); // GetParam returns the raw strings

sf.Save("MQLArticles\\BotSimple_v2.set", FILE_COMMON);

Load from a #resource

#resource "SetFile.set" as const string set_file

TSN::CSetFile sf;
sf.InitBySrc(set_file, '\n', 16); // source text, line separator, reserve
sf.Summary();

Insert and remove lines

sf.InsertParamLineBool(5, "InpDebug", true); // idx = line index in the FILE
sf.AddNoParamsLine("; -------| Risk |-------");
sf.RemoveLine(4);                             // idx also refers to the file line

Good to know

• Line indexes (InsertParamLine*, RemoveLine, GetLine) refer to lines of the file, header lines included. Right after Init the header takes the first 4 lines, so the first parameter is at index 4.
• Parameters are looked up by name through a hash map: ParamExist, GetParamIdx.
• Methods return false on failure. Add sf.AddLogFlags(LOG_ALL) to see why.
• Working examples live in Test/: Init, CustomCreation, LoadSrc, Modify and Remove.

Only the most representative methods are shown here.