Help To Build EFS Trendline Break Alert

[SamDolbel]

Hi everyone

I am new to EFS and would like to be able to have an alert when ever a trend line is broken. I trade down on the 5min and would need to draw the trendl ines my self and not have them generated by the computer.

Hi Sam,

I wrote an efs that allows you to manually draw trendlines and receive alerts. While the version is several years old, I believe it still works.

Check this link which has some screen shots showing the efs being used. The instructions are contained in the efs, so you'll have to open it up in a text editor or the efs editor to view them.

The efs is written to track only one alert line per chart. Let me know if you have any problems.

Hope this is helpful.

[dplstocks123]

alert efs

Steve,

i downloaded your "trendline alert 9/18/2005 efs" and it is indeed showing up on my chart. thanks.

question...do i still draw the trendline with the pencil drawing tool esignal provides? and how do i activate the alert?

thanks.

dwayne

[dplstocks123]

Steve,

i just read the instructions....sorry to bother you.

it works fine.

thanks again.

dwayne

Hi Dwayne,

You are most welcome, hope it works well for you.

[pkmurphys]

Hi all, just wondering if anyone is currently using this trendline alert successfully. I installed it and was able to get it working on a chart, but when I went to save the layout it crashed the system. I had to completely delete it to get back up and running. Anyone else with a similar experience? Are there any alternatives?

Thanks for any advice...

Hi pkmurphys,

I downloaded and successfully ran the efs this morning, so I am not sure what the problem could be. If this happens again, opening the formulaoutput.log file in the eSignal folder before re-starting eSignal can provide clues as to the cause of the problem.

Please let me know.

Steve

Originally posted by pkmurphys
Hi all, just wondering if anyone is currently using this trendline alert successfully. I installed it and was able to get it working on a chart, but when I went to save the layout it crashed the system. I had to completely delete it to get back up and running. Anyone else with a similar experience? Are there any alternatives?

Thanks for any advice...

[spyder9000]

Steve,

Do you provide customized EFS?
If so, what are your fees?

I've been trying out some of your work, seems pretty good, but I wanted to make them more focused.

Please let me know.

Thanks.

Hi spyder9000,

Thanks for the nice note. I am not a developer though, and because of that, I don't provide EFS programming services.
If you are in need of custom EFS development you may want to contact one of the EFS Consultants.

If you have any suggestions regarding code I've written, please provide the feedback.

[pkmurphys]

Originally posted by stevehare2003
Hi pkmurphys,

I downloaded and successfully ran the efs this morning, so I am not sure what the problem could be. If this happens again, opening the formulaoutput.log file in the eSignal folder before re-starting eSignal can provide clues as to the cause of the problem.

Please let me know.

Steve

Thanks for your reply Steve. I tried it again but had the same result. I was able to draw a trendline, save the chart and layout, switch layouts, but when I revert back to the layout that has the chart and new trendline alert the system crashes.

It did give me the option of opening up a logfile, or something similar, but when I tried that esignal goes into 'not responding' mode and I have to force quit.

Dunno really....seems like switching back to a layout with one of these alerts is causing issues.

FWIW, running 10.5.1678

Hi pkmurphys,

I tried to reproduce this by loading different layouts while running in tick playback, but I could not. Thanks for letting me know the version, that alone eliminates a number of variables that makes troubleshooting even more difficult. I believe I am running the most recently released version as well, 10.5.1678.1175.

I am sure I am not duplicating the conditions in which you are having problems, that can be very difficult. I suspect that the part of the efs that saves the line data in a file, then reloads it could be at fault. There are a couple things we can try. First try deleting the eSignal\FormulaOutput\Trend Line Alerts Folder prior to starting eSignal. This will remove any corrupted file that may be causing problems. If that does not work, try reloading the efs after you have an alert trendline drawn. Then try changing layouts back and forth. If this is doesn't clear things up, I will try and clean up the efs and make it catch and report errors.

When eSignal locks up on you, I wanted you to look at a file in the eSignal folder that can capture problems within an efs. This file gets overwritten when eSignal starts up. This is different than the file you mentioned that came up on startup (but try the logfile, while I do not have access to these (at least I do not think I do), this may help as well!).

Let me know if this helps.

Thanks

Originally posted by pkmurphys
Thanks for your reply Steve. I tried it again but had the same result. I was able to draw a trendline, save the chart and layout, switch layouts, but when I revert back to the layout that has the chart and new trendline alert the system crashes.

It did give me the option of opening up a logfile, or something similar, but when I tried that esignal goes into 'not responding' mode and I have to force quit.

Dunno really....seems like switching back to a layout with one of these alerts is causing issues.

FWIW, running 10.5.1678

Hi pkmurphys,

I was finally able to recreate where the efs would lock up. I believe the source of the problem was from within the postMain() function and had to do with a variable not being defined. I modified the code and put in some checks to correct this. Please First try deleting the eSignal\FormulaOutput\Trend Line Alerts Folder prior to starting eSignal. Then replace the efs from where you have it saved and replace the file with this revised copy below. After this, reload eSignal, load the offending layout and delete the formula from the layout. Reload the efs and save the layout.

Hope this helps.

[pkmurphys]

Originally posted by stevehare2003
Hi pkmurphys,

I was finally able to recreate where the efs would lock up. I believe the source of the problem was from within the postMain() function and had to do with a variable not being defined. I modified the code and put in some checks to correct this. Please First try deleting the eSignal\FormulaOutput\Trend Line Alerts Folder prior to starting eSignal. Then replace the efs from where you have it saved and replace the file with this revised copy below. After this, reload eSignal, load the offending layout and delete the formula from the layout. Reload the efs and save the layout.

Hope this helps.

OK thanks again for looking into this. Will try it out sometime this weekend.

[cv989]

I have loaded up this EFS, and wondering if there is a way once I goto say one time frame chart, and plot a line, is it possible to go-to another time frame and have the line, still there, and alert ?

Would this be a possible thing to change for this EFS to allow it to work this way?

Hi cv989,

The efs as written was only intended to reproduce a drawn line with alerts on the original timeframe. Since the lines can slope up or down, modifying it for what you are requesting would not be a trivial exercise. I am not sure if the different functionality would be an improvement over saving unique Alert lines for each timeframe.

There are a number of variables that would have to be considered and accounted for to re-code the efs to draw lines that originated from different time frames. For example, would the plotted line based on a price change per day (as defined by the time-template where it had originated) then reproduced in a different time frame where the day is defined differently. Or would the line be based on other characteristics (the open market hours, an hour, or minute, or second number of bars, etc...) of the originating chart. Alternatively, if the originating (or subsequent) chart time template included pre and aftermarket hours, or weekends, etc, that would have to be accounted for as well.

Based on those considerations, coming up with a set of all encompassing rules and coding them would be a challenge.

I'm not sure if a rewrite of this efs will get you what you would like, but the concept is interesting.

Steve

Originally posted by cv989
I have loaded up this EFS, and wondering if there is a way once I goto say one time frame chart, and plot a line, is it possible to go-to another time frame and have the line, still there, and alert ?

Would this be a possible thing to change for this EFS to allow it to work this way?