#property copyright "iDouble"
#property link "mailto: [email protected]"
extern bool I_AM_TICKED_OFF = true
extern bool I_CANNOT_BELIEVE_THIS = true
extern bool SHOW_FRUSTRATION = true
extern color I_AM_TICKED_OFF = RedHotRed
extern color I_CANNOT_BELIEVE_THIS = RedHotRed
extern color SHOW_FRUSTRATION = RedHotSmoke
Soapbox == SoapBox(Heated, Frustrated, Angered, TimeWasted, Off)
int init(0)
{
I need to vent.
I can't believe some people. I mean, you take the time, energy and effort to build a fairly sensible product for traders and then you toss your middle finger up in the air, when it comes to Technical Support and Bug Fixes. Arrrrg!
I mean, what's the point in developing the next best thing to pure gold, if it does not work as advertised! I purchased iExpertAdvisor's Visual Traders Studio and was floored by all the "potential" I saw right out of the box. But, that's just about as far as I got, to the edge of the darn BOX and no further.
iExpertAdvisor's VTS, is suppose to allow the non-programming trader to build their custom EA using a Visual/Graphic drag-and-drop interface. Each component ("Element") you drag out onto what they call a Drawing Pad, is supposed to be configurable and customizable depending on the type of Element it happens to be. The concept is brilliant, but the execution of the concept is woefully inadequate from an End-Users standpoint and from an overall design consistency standard.
Most hand-written EAs have variables and functions that get wrapped with some kind of trade execution logic. VTS has those same components in graphical forum called, Variable Elements, Logic Elements, Function Elements and End Elements. And, it all makes perfect sense, as long as you don't stray away from their pre-built templates called QsSystems, or Quick Start Systems.
These QsSystems are what you get exposed to first, when you download the *free* demo version of the product. What a joke! The whole idea behind Visual Traders Studio, is that non-programmers are supposed to be able to develop complex trading systems using the Visual drag-and-drop GUI. And, you are given these "Quick Start System" templates to prove that to yourself, when you are evaluating the free demo version of the product.
What they never tell you, is that once you step off the reservation after buying the "Professional" version (which is nothing more than the same demo version with the entire Toolbox unlocked, so you can get at all the function) and start building your custom EAs from the ground-up, that the so-called "Quick Start Systems" become little to absolutely no use to you as a systems designer.
It is not that you can't build your own QsSystem. That's not the problem. The problem is that they do NOT bother to document HOW the components necessary to build your own system are supposed to be used together! So, you end up taking DAYS and WEEKS trying to "learn" how their software is supposed to work - as opposed to simply opening up a darn Users Manual that's worth more than the paper used to contain the useless ink, outlining the equally useless drivel they call "Supporting Documentation."
There is no logical nexus for how you get from Blank Drawing Pad, to your own custom design, using any of the Elements that are supposed to make building your EA "easy."
After tons of trial and error - and I'm talking about two weeks worth of work - I finally got a simple Cross-Over strategy to compile! But, that was just the start of the nightmare, because when I attempting to run the EA inside the Metatrader Tester, it never opened a single trade when the trade logic called for it. When I checked the Journal, I found that the EA was attempting to open an indicator that did not exist!
So, I go back to Visual Traders Studio and compile the EA one more time. I then looked at the MQL file and found that Visual Traders Studio, had taken the liberty of renaming the indicator that was used in the trade logic. So, without that indicator being opened by the EA, there was no trade logic being generated. I proved this to myself, by changing the indicator's name back to what it should have been in the MQL, and then re-compiled the EA in Meta Editor. Sure enough, the EA ran and began opening trades.
Was the nightmare over? Of course, not. Why? Because, not only did the EA open trades, but it opened a torrent of continuous trades until the entire account got margin called! Some 200+ trades were opened in the exact same direction, without any of them ever being closed - which is absolutely contrary to the trade logic contained in the VTS design.
It was a simplistic cross-over strategy that used two bars ([0] and [1]) to set the direction and it was supposed to have been using what VTS called the Trade Manager to control the Maximum Number of same signal trades being opened at one time. The Open Trade Manager was set to MaxTrades = 1 and MaxBuys = 1. So, under no circumstances, should a blizzard of BuyOrders ever have been launched by the EA.
Well, I documented my sorrows, pain and suffering on the iExpertAdvisor's technical support forum, which is tantamount to tossing your support question into galactic black hole. They NEVER answered my question about why Visual Traders Studio was renaming the indicator used in the EA. In fact, they waited DAYS before even replying to the question! When they did, they told me to post some evidence that the file was being renamed!
I referred them to the litany of previous posts that I had made, showing them precisely where the indicator name was being overwritten by their platform during EA compile time. They NEVER responded - they just flat out ignored it, and then came back to the forum two days later, with the statement that their software was not for everybody, and then they arbitrarily told me that they were issuing a refund.
So, apparently, whenever you run into a bug that iExpertAdvisor can't fix, refusing to admit, and completely ignores, you get told that their software is "not for everyone" and that the company will be issuing you a refund. I've never heard of such nonsense coming from a software company and/or vendor before, in all my life.
And, this was JUST the tip of the iceberg that I continually had with Visual Traders Studio. There were too many functions within the platform that either did not work at all, or that were not documented. So, you spent hours and days trying to figure out whether or not you were causing the problem with poor design, only to find out later that the function did not work (flat out), or had a bug that caused it. All because the stuff was not properly documented, or not documented at all! Hidden functionality, is NO functionality at all.
The concept behind Visual Traders Studio is amazing. The idea is genius. However, the execution and delivery of iExperAdvisor's Visual Traders Studio in its present form is absolutely horrid! Technical Support is in name ONLY - it simply does not exist to anywhere near the degree that it should.
Having to wait days, or sometimes more than one week for a reply to a technical question, wastes an enormous amount of the traders time. If you have EA designs that are sitting on the shelf, because iExpertAdvisor has stuck its finger in the air at you, while making you wait for DAYS, or a WEEK for a response - and only then, offering a lame duck, void, empty, shallow level of support in return, you will never end up using the product in production trading, because you will always be placed on eternal hold, when you have a need for tech support.
I switched to another Visual EA builder. Their product performs exactly as advertised and I get a response from technical support on their forum either the same day, or the very next day at the most. I never have to wait days and weeks, for a technical support question to be answered and I always get a reply that is relevant to my question. The product might not have the same "depth" of functionality that Visual Traders Studio purports to have, but what good is technical depth, if it is either bug ridden, invisible to the End-User, or absolutely undocumented!
This is not a commercial for the "other" Visual EA builder that actually works, so they will remain unnamed by me personally inside this particular thread. But, I did want to take this opportunity to finally vent my frustrations about a product and a company that promises WAY more than it actually delivers to the Forex Trader.
return(0);
}
#property link "mailto: [email protected]"
extern bool I_AM_TICKED_OFF = true
extern bool I_CANNOT_BELIEVE_THIS = true
extern bool SHOW_FRUSTRATION = true
extern color I_AM_TICKED_OFF = RedHotRed
extern color I_CANNOT_BELIEVE_THIS = RedHotRed
extern color SHOW_FRUSTRATION = RedHotSmoke
Soapbox == SoapBox(Heated, Frustrated, Angered, TimeWasted, Off)
int init(0)
{
I need to vent.
I can't believe some people. I mean, you take the time, energy and effort to build a fairly sensible product for traders and then you toss your middle finger up in the air, when it comes to Technical Support and Bug Fixes. Arrrrg!
I mean, what's the point in developing the next best thing to pure gold, if it does not work as advertised! I purchased iExpertAdvisor's Visual Traders Studio and was floored by all the "potential" I saw right out of the box. But, that's just about as far as I got, to the edge of the darn BOX and no further.
iExpertAdvisor's VTS, is suppose to allow the non-programming trader to build their custom EA using a Visual/Graphic drag-and-drop interface. Each component ("Element") you drag out onto what they call a Drawing Pad, is supposed to be configurable and customizable depending on the type of Element it happens to be. The concept is brilliant, but the execution of the concept is woefully inadequate from an End-Users standpoint and from an overall design consistency standard.
Most hand-written EAs have variables and functions that get wrapped with some kind of trade execution logic. VTS has those same components in graphical forum called, Variable Elements, Logic Elements, Function Elements and End Elements. And, it all makes perfect sense, as long as you don't stray away from their pre-built templates called QsSystems, or Quick Start Systems.
These QsSystems are what you get exposed to first, when you download the *free* demo version of the product. What a joke! The whole idea behind Visual Traders Studio, is that non-programmers are supposed to be able to develop complex trading systems using the Visual drag-and-drop GUI. And, you are given these "Quick Start System" templates to prove that to yourself, when you are evaluating the free demo version of the product.
What they never tell you, is that once you step off the reservation after buying the "Professional" version (which is nothing more than the same demo version with the entire Toolbox unlocked, so you can get at all the function) and start building your custom EAs from the ground-up, that the so-called "Quick Start Systems" become little to absolutely no use to you as a systems designer.
It is not that you can't build your own QsSystem. That's not the problem. The problem is that they do NOT bother to document HOW the components necessary to build your own system are supposed to be used together! So, you end up taking DAYS and WEEKS trying to "learn" how their software is supposed to work - as opposed to simply opening up a darn Users Manual that's worth more than the paper used to contain the useless ink, outlining the equally useless drivel they call "Supporting Documentation."
There is no logical nexus for how you get from Blank Drawing Pad, to your own custom design, using any of the Elements that are supposed to make building your EA "easy."
After tons of trial and error - and I'm talking about two weeks worth of work - I finally got a simple Cross-Over strategy to compile! But, that was just the start of the nightmare, because when I attempting to run the EA inside the Metatrader Tester, it never opened a single trade when the trade logic called for it. When I checked the Journal, I found that the EA was attempting to open an indicator that did not exist!
So, I go back to Visual Traders Studio and compile the EA one more time. I then looked at the MQL file and found that Visual Traders Studio, had taken the liberty of renaming the indicator that was used in the trade logic. So, without that indicator being opened by the EA, there was no trade logic being generated. I proved this to myself, by changing the indicator's name back to what it should have been in the MQL, and then re-compiled the EA in Meta Editor. Sure enough, the EA ran and began opening trades.
Was the nightmare over? Of course, not. Why? Because, not only did the EA open trades, but it opened a torrent of continuous trades until the entire account got margin called! Some 200+ trades were opened in the exact same direction, without any of them ever being closed - which is absolutely contrary to the trade logic contained in the VTS design.
It was a simplistic cross-over strategy that used two bars ([0] and [1]) to set the direction and it was supposed to have been using what VTS called the Trade Manager to control the Maximum Number of same signal trades being opened at one time. The Open Trade Manager was set to MaxTrades = 1 and MaxBuys = 1. So, under no circumstances, should a blizzard of BuyOrders ever have been launched by the EA.
Well, I documented my sorrows, pain and suffering on the iExpertAdvisor's technical support forum, which is tantamount to tossing your support question into galactic black hole. They NEVER answered my question about why Visual Traders Studio was renaming the indicator used in the EA. In fact, they waited DAYS before even replying to the question! When they did, they told me to post some evidence that the file was being renamed!
I referred them to the litany of previous posts that I had made, showing them precisely where the indicator name was being overwritten by their platform during EA compile time. They NEVER responded - they just flat out ignored it, and then came back to the forum two days later, with the statement that their software was not for everybody, and then they arbitrarily told me that they were issuing a refund.
So, apparently, whenever you run into a bug that iExpertAdvisor can't fix, refusing to admit, and completely ignores, you get told that their software is "not for everyone" and that the company will be issuing you a refund. I've never heard of such nonsense coming from a software company and/or vendor before, in all my life.
And, this was JUST the tip of the iceberg that I continually had with Visual Traders Studio. There were too many functions within the platform that either did not work at all, or that were not documented. So, you spent hours and days trying to figure out whether or not you were causing the problem with poor design, only to find out later that the function did not work (flat out), or had a bug that caused it. All because the stuff was not properly documented, or not documented at all! Hidden functionality, is NO functionality at all.
The concept behind Visual Traders Studio is amazing. The idea is genius. However, the execution and delivery of iExperAdvisor's Visual Traders Studio in its present form is absolutely horrid! Technical Support is in name ONLY - it simply does not exist to anywhere near the degree that it should.
Having to wait days, or sometimes more than one week for a reply to a technical question, wastes an enormous amount of the traders time. If you have EA designs that are sitting on the shelf, because iExpertAdvisor has stuck its finger in the air at you, while making you wait for DAYS, or a WEEK for a response - and only then, offering a lame duck, void, empty, shallow level of support in return, you will never end up using the product in production trading, because you will always be placed on eternal hold, when you have a need for tech support.
I switched to another Visual EA builder. Their product performs exactly as advertised and I get a response from technical support on their forum either the same day, or the very next day at the most. I never have to wait days and weeks, for a technical support question to be answered and I always get a reply that is relevant to my question. The product might not have the same "depth" of functionality that Visual Traders Studio purports to have, but what good is technical depth, if it is either bug ridden, invisible to the End-User, or absolutely undocumented!
This is not a commercial for the "other" Visual EA builder that actually works, so they will remain unnamed by me personally inside this particular thread. But, I did want to take this opportunity to finally vent my frustrations about a product and a company that promises WAY more than it actually delivers to the Forex Trader.
return(0);
}
The Event Horizon