How to address the previous candle

[laocoon]

Hello

I'm using a few criteria in my strategy that must all be set to true before a trading signal is generated and an arrow is drawn on the chart.

if (Criteria1 == true && Criteria2 == true....)
Draw UpArrow etc.

In order to avoid having two subsequent arrows in a row drawn on the chart, I'd like to address the previous candle by checking if its criteria were already set to true or not. If this is the case (If all criteria of the previous candle were set to true) do not draw another arrow on the chart.

How can I address the previous candle in its entirety (not just the Close or Open of it but the candle as a whole?

I usually use Close [1] or Open [1] to address the previous candle but this obviously won't work here.

Thanks

[NinjaTrader_Brett]

Hello,

Thanks for the forum post.

There are many ways to do this in programming.

What I might suggest is what you set a variable when the condition is true.

lastBarConditionWasTrue = CurrentBar;

Set this to the current bar value.

Then when checking for if you need to draw the triangle again. You can do a check to make sure the CurrentBar > lastConditionWasTrue + 2. This would prevent the condition from being true for the next 2 bars for example.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

[koganam]

You may want to look at this thread:

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?p=228821#post228821

[laocoon]

Thanks Koganam for referring me to...my own thread ;-)
The reason I posted this request again in a different form is that your suggested solution doesn't produce the desired result on my end. (I'm not questioning your suggestion, I'm just saying that for some reason I didn't manage to make it work.)

Thanks

[bukkan]

I think Brett's answer already provides you with the solution. Have you tried that.

the coding will be like this

in variable
int lastBar = -2;


in OnBarUpdate
if (condition1 == true && condition2 == true && CurrentBar > lastBar +2)
{
DrawArrow..(....);
lastBar = CurrentBar; //make sure you assign the value
}

[laocoon]

Thanks for your reply and your help Bukkan, much appreciated. I'm currently implementing Brett's solution and it looks very good so far (Thanks Brett!)

[koganam]

Thanks for your reply and your help Bukkan, much appreciated. I'm currently implementing Brett's solution and it looks very good so far (Thanks Brett!)

Not to quibble, but how is Brett's answer any different from the answer that I gave you using "Deadbars"?

I mean this one: http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/f...37&postcount=3

[laocoon]

My bad, Koganam. I made a mistake while implementing your solution.
Just gave it another shot and it worked like a charm this time...sorry for the confusion.