Historical state or CurrentBar issue - indicator run amok

[sobertradingpartner]

I'm trying ot create an indicator that looks at the latest 4 bars of a chart and send me and send me an email if a particular condition occurs.I set it to use Calculate.OnBarClose but when I apply it to a chart and switch the IsVisible to on, it sends a flood on email and crashes NT. My guess is it is processing more bars than it should. I've tried changing the value of "CurrentBar", tried using "IsFirstTickOfBar", all to no avail. I'm attaching a snippet of some of the relevant code. I believe the resolution will involve State === historical but I'm not sure where it would go and the how it is worded correctly.

Any help would be appreciated.!

[NinjaTrader_Gaby]

Hello sobertradingpartner,

Thank you for your post.

I also suspect that it is attempting to send a flood of emails when it runs through the historical data upon starting the indicator.

I recommend adding logic to either prevent the indicator from processing in historical (you can add this at the top of OnBarUpdate()):

if (State == State.Historical)
return;

Or adding a check in the condition that would cause the email to be sent that makes sure the indicator is running in real-time.

if (State == State.Realtime)
// send email

https://ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt8/state.htm

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

[bltdavid]

I also suspect that it is attempting to send a flood of emails when it runs through the historical data upon starting the indicator.

Are you sure?

The SendMail documentation says,

"This method can only be called once the State has reached State.Realtime.
Calls to this method in any other State will be silently ignored..."

So, according to the help guide, calls to SendMail in State.Historical should
not be causing the problem.

Just my 2˘.

[sobertradingpartner]

Hello sobertradingpartner,

Thank you for your post.

I also suspect that it is attempting to send a flood of emails when it runs through the historical data upon starting the indicator.

I recommend adding logic to either prevent the indicator from processing in historical (you can add this at the top of OnBarUpdate()):

if (State == State.Historical)
return;

Or adding a check in the condition that would cause the email to be sent that makes sure the indicator is running in real-time.

if (State == State.Realtime)
// send email

https://ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt8/state.htm

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

That worked perfectly, thank you! Incidentally, I ended up using both - added "Historical" just after OnBarUpdate and "Realtime" to the logic that sends the email. Does it matter what the "CurrentBar" settings is?

[bltdavid]

I'm trying ot create an indicator that looks at the latest 4 bars of a chart and send me and send me an email if a particular condition occurs.I set it to use Calculate.OnBarClose but when I apply it to a chart and switch the IsVisible to on, it sends a flood on email and crashes NT. My guess is it is processing more bars than it should. I've tried changing the value of "CurrentBar", tried using "IsFirstTickOfBar", all to no avail. I'm attaching a snippet of some of the relevant code. I believe the resolution will involve State === historical but I'm not sure where it would go and the how it is worded correctly.

Any help would be appreciated.!

First off, let's consider this code,

if (CurrentBar < -2)
    return;

Why the negative number? That's wrong.

I see the highest BarsAgo index used is 3,
so that guard code should actually be,

if (CurrentBar < 3)
    return;

Do you understand why?

-=o=-

Try changing your code to this,

IsSuspendedWhileInactive = false;

See if that makes a difference.

-=o=-

You'll need to debug your code.

Instead of calling SendMail, use Print instead,
then isolate why that Print is being called so
much using other Print statements.

//SendMail(....);
Print("Bar=" + CurrentBar + " Calling SendMail now");

If you need more help than that, we'd probably
need to see more code, esp the code that is
calling SendMail.

[sobertradingpartner]

First off, let's consider this code,

if (CurrentBar < -2)
return;

Why the negative number? That's wrong.

I see the highest BarsAgo index used is 3,
so that guard code should actually be,

if (CurrentBar < 3)
return;

Do you understand why?

-=o=-

Try changing your code to this,

IsSuspendedWhileInactive = false;

See if that makes a difference.

-=o=-

You'll need to debug your code.

Instead of calling SendMail, use Print instead,
then isolate why that Print is being called so
much using other Print statements.

//SendMail(....);
Print("Bar=" + CurrentBar + " Calling SendMail now");

If you need more help than that, we'd probably
need to see more code, esp the code that is
calling SendMail.

Thank you. I've read, but I guess not correctly understood the CurrentBar usage. Some said -1 some said 1. The use case examples weren't very helpful. I appreciate your clarifying that. My point was to make sure all the bars loaded, then run off the last four bars (0-3). As that part of code is working now it was as I suspected, it was running off the historical data.

[bltdavid]

AS that part of code is working now it was as I suspected, it was running off the historical data.

But, SendMail is supposed to do nothing when called during State.Historical.

You should confirm that, with something like this,

SendMail(..., "Testing SendMail",
"Bar=" + CurrentBar + " State=" + State + " Calling SendMail");

Are you using the SendMail API?

[bltdavid]

Thank you. I've read, but I guess not correctly understood the CurrentBar usage. Some said -1 some said 1. The use case examples weren't very helpful. I appreciate your clarifying that.

You're welcome!

More good reading here, here, and here.

[sobertradingpartner]

But, SendMail is supposed to do nothing when called during State.Historical.

You should confirm that, with something like this,

SendMail(..., "Testing SendMail",
"Bar=" + CurrentBar + " State=" + State + " Calling SendMail");

Are you using the SendMail API?

I'm using an added "SendMailChart" function as shown in the attachment.

[bltdavid]

I'm using an added "SendMailChart" function as shown in the attachment.

Ah-hah!

Thanks, that explains it.