Can I use a "variable" as a list name?

[cre8able]

I have an indicator that uses lists to store historical data so I can use OnRender to draw (I have a lot of rectangles and lines on the chart)

But the lists have identical fields and content except for their status, Bull, Bear, Open, Closed

I have the following named lists:
BullOpenGaps
BearOpenGaps
BullClosedGaps
BearClosedGaps

the reason I separate them into Bull and Bear is because the formula is different for the values I store in the list.

The reason I separate into Open and Closed is that I need to search the Open lists frequently to determine trade status and update fields. If I only have 1 list for Open & Closed, I would have to search a very large list just to find the few Open gaps to evaluate.

But the separate lists work great. It's only a problem with the extra code I need to Render the gaps

When I go to render them, I have to make the same method call 4 times, passing the same information to the render method. This is what the code looks like.

            for (int x = BullGapsOpen.Count - 1; x >= 0 ; x--)
                RenderFVG(BULL,
                    chartControl.GetXByTime(BullGapsOpen[x].startTime),
                    chartScale.GetYByValue(BullGapsOpen[x].top),
                    chartControl.GetXByTime(BullGapsOpen[x].endTime) - chartControl.GetXByTime(BullGapsOpen[x].startTime) + 2 * pad,
                    (int)chartScale.GetPixelsForDistance(BullGapsOpen[x].height),
                    BullGapsOpen[x].border, BullGapsOpen[x].period);​

I loop through the list to render each Gap. But I have the same code for BearGapsOpen, BullGapsClosed and BearGapsClosed.

Is there any way to loop through the list, but substitute the List Name in each of the places where I use it....

like it I could had a variable "listName", I could

listName = BullGapsOpen.
            for (int x = listName.Count - 1; x >= 0 ; x--)
                RenderFVG(BULL,
                    chartControl.GetXByTime(listName[x].startTime),
                    chartScale.GetYByValue(listName[x].top),
                    chartControl.GetXByTime(listName[x].endTime) - chartControl.GetXByTime(listName[x].startTime) + 2 * pad,
                    (int)chartScale.GetPixelsForDistance(listName[x].height),
                    listName[x].border, listName[x].period);​

then I could change the "listName" and use the same method for each of my lists

is there any way to do this?

[bltdavid]

then I could change the "listName" and use the same method for each of my lists

is there any way to do this?

Of course!

Why not just create an extra method that takes an
argument and does the work? The OnRender code
can call any personalized custom methods, there is
no prohibition against this whatsoever.

So, create a new personalized custom method.

Then just call your custom method 4 times, once for
each list, passing the desired list as the argument.

Standard C# programming stuff, right?

Should be piece of cake.

Enjoy!

[cre8able]

thanks bltdavid

I created custom methods to render my different objects. But I was passing individual elements of the list to the method. So one time I would have to send BullGapsOpem[x].startTime, and another time send BearGapsOpen[x].startTime. Very cumbersome when passing 5-8 parameters to multiple methods.

I didn't realize I could pass a list as a parameter.... I will have to research how to do that but it would greatly simplify my problem.... as long as passing a list doesn't required a lot of overhead

[cre8able]

it worked great.... and about 30% faster to load than the way I was doing it.

thank you bltdavid