EA doesn't open in MT4
-
What does it mean when you drag your EA over to a chart and nothing happens? Other EA's work fine, and the EA in question worked fine before making a change, then all of a sudden it doesn't work anymore.
I undid the changes I made and it still won't open. Only by disconnecting 90% of the blocks will it let me attach it to a chart. These are blocks that were all working fine before. What might be the primary cause of this and how could I troubleshoot it?
I know I've ran into instances where the project would no longer save in fxdreema which I fixed by correcting some of the Global settings, but I'm not sure where to look here.
-
Hello,
You can try to open\edit the file with the Meta editor and to compile it there.
Look at the errors list you get and try to fix them from the editor than compile again and you are ready to go
-
So I found the problem but it leads to another problem. Keep in mind I'm working with the desktop version, but I always save projects as .mq4 so that they can be imported and edited later. This turned out to be the problem. I haven't used fxdreema in a couple months so something must have changed or a bug appeared, but now saving in .mq4 gives you an EA icon in MT4 that's greyed out, like it's a .ex4 file and can't be edited.
Furthermore, this file wouldn't even open at all and couldn't be placed on a chart. Then I tried saving the project as a .ex4 file and I get an EA icon in MT4 that's yellow, like a .mq4 file used to be and it opens fine. I would just keep using it like this, however when I try to import this same file saved as .ex4 onto another computer running fxdreema it won't work, just like in the past how .ex4 files cannot be imported into the program.
So what does this all mean? Am I missing something here?
-
your issue is not issue itself ... it is how it works ... it was explained many times, just read about difference here:
https://book.mql4.com/metaeditor/files
https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/113982
in few words:
ex files are executable files, that means ex file is not source code but compiled program and this file can not be imported into fxdreema, but these files can be placed into chart as expert advisors (or indicators if it is indicator)
mq files are source files and they can be imported into fxdreema if they were created with fxdreema (from other sources they can not be imported as project), but mq file is not executable program and can not be placed into chart .... when you are updating new EA update both files ... mq and ex ... or you can update only mq file but after this you need run metaeditor, open this new mq file and click on Compile button (it compile new ex file) -
Yes I understand that, but as I mentioned, prior to a couple months ago, I've only exported and ran .mq4 files from fxdreema onto MT4 and they worked fine. The reason I only used these was because you are constantly testing and revising EA's so there was no point in exporting the .ex4 file, particularly if the .mq4 file would run on MT4. They've been running on my MT4 platform for the last 2 years that I've been using dreema with no problems. Now all of a sudden they don't work, and in addition they seem to be flipped with the .ex4 files on the MT4 itself. I mean that exported .mq4 files now show up with a grey dot in their icon (like normal .ex4 files do) when they used to be yellow, and when I export .ex4 files they show up yellow, meaning you could access the code, even though it seems you still can't.
-
@imagine2021 said in EA doesn't open in MT4:
Yes I understand that, but as I mentioned, prior to a couple months ago, I've only exported and ran .mq4 files from fxdreema onto MT4 and they worked fine. The reason I only used these was because you are constantly testing and revising EA's so there was no point in exporting the .ex4 file, particularly if the .mq4 file would run on MT4. They've been running on my MT4 platform for the last 2 years that I've been using dreema with no problems. Now all of a sudden they don't work, and in addition they seem to be flipped with the .ex4 files on the MT4 itself. I mean that exported .mq4 files now show up with a grey dot in their icon (like normal .ex4 files do) when they used to be yellow, and when I export .ex4 files they show up yellow, meaning you could access the code, even though it seems you still can't.
Could it be that for some reason my computer or MT4 platform is not automatically creating a sister .ex4 file after I export the .mq4 file which is causing these issues? I'm not seeing this happen now and it always used to.
-
If you were working in MT for 2 and more years, then I guess you understand it. Yes, if you only export .mq4 file, then .ex4 is not automatically created, so in this case you should see the same results every time you run the same EA. But I don't understand these words - "doesn't", "won't" - they only show that there is some problem, but there can be many problems. The first thing is of course to look at the error messages, is there something interesting?
-
Ok I'll try to clarify the situation, it is very strange. This is on desktop version.
When I export from fxdreema as .mp4, the new EA icon in MT4 is greyed out, as only a .ex4 file should be. When I export a .ex4 file, it shows up as yellow, which it shouldn't be, it should be grey.
In addition, this .mq4 file wouldn't even attach to a chart and cannot be imported back into fxdreema, as if it's a .ex4 file. I don't know why it wouldn't attach to a chart though. Of course I always close and reopen MT4 after exporting a project. Now, if I export the project as .ex4, it CAN be imported back into fxdreema as if it were a .mq4 file.
I've also just noticed in my Experts folder that all my EA's that are MQL4 Source Files have the notebook page with a red 4 on them as an icon, and the EX4 files all have the blue guy with a black graduation cap. I believe this should be reversed! The blue guy is supposed to be the icon for the MQL4 Source Files and the white page with a 4 is the icon for the EX4 files is it not?
At least this is how I always remembered it, and the reversal of these might explain the problems I'm seeing with the exported project in MT4. If I export as .mq4 but the file is in fact exporting as .ex4, then the icon in my experts folder would be correct, even though for "Type" it still says MQL4.
And also, when I used to export the .mq4 file, the .ex4 file would be automatically created in my experts folder within a couple minutes. Of course it doesn't do this anymore. Am I the only one experiencing this issue? Maybe it's a problem with my PC? I've built and exported literally hundreds of EA's and their variations with fxdreema over the last 2+ years so I'm not experiencing a newbie issue. I probably spend more time on fxdreema than I do at my full time job. In fact many times I use fxdreema even when I'm at my job!
I took a break from working on EA's in mid October and just restarted, so if changes have been made on fxdreema or MT4 I wouldn't know about them. I also haven't touched the PC in this same time period. I bought a brand new laptop 1 year ago and I ONLY use it for building/testing EA's to keep it clean and running fast, so I haven't made any software changes on my end. Have any changes been made to the desktop software that might have resulted in a glitch or am I just going crazy? Maybe I should have taken a longer break?
