How to use my custom EA with this tool?

[NirobNabil]

I have a custom EA written in python in compiled format for mt5. I need to backtest this EA on large amount of data and get back the results. Any idea how i should proceed?
Thank you

[kenorb]

If you've your EA in .ex4 format, then you can use this project.
Check README for syntax and available options.
Here is some demo: https://asciinema.org/a/233268
To get the results, you can export them into the JSON format.
You can also check MQL-Tester-Action project which integrates this EA tester into GitHub Action. So using your self-hosted runners, you can scale up with your testing.
Let me know what you've tried so far.

[kenorb]

When you use -e, it's looking for the file within the Docker container (not on your local directory). To access file outside of your container, you've at least 2 ways: use URL or use -v to mount your local dir into container (e.g. docker run -v "$PWD":/opt/EA). For the example, you can check this docker-compose.yml (which already includes mounting the local directory).

[NirobNabil]

I downloaded a dummy mt4 EA from internet and uploaded the EA to a temporary file hosting service and ran the command
docker run ea31337/ea-tester:EURUSD-2018-DS run_backtest -v -e https://file.io/ftw2luNl71xq

This is the EA i downloaded

It gave the following error. Any idea what i am doing wrong?

Loading /opt/scripts/.aliases.inc.sh... 
Loading /opt/scripts/.funcs.inc.sh...
Loading /opt/scripts/.funcs.cmds.inc.sh... 
Loading /opt/scripts/.funcs.sets.inc.sh...
INFO: Checking platform...
Copying ini files...
INFO: Installed Terminal: 4.0.0.1260
INFO: Installed MetaEditor: 5.0.0.2302
'/opt/conf/mt4-tester.ini' -> '/home/ubuntu/.wine/drive_c/MetaTrader 4/config/mt4-tester.ini'
'/opt/conf/terminal.ini' -> '/home/ubuntu/.wine/drive_c/MetaTrader 4/config/terminal.ini'
INFO: Locating TestExpert file (https://file.io/ftw2luNl71xq)...
--2023-09-30 17:40:38--  https://file.io/ftw2luNl71xq
Resolving file.io (file.io)... 18.205.99.243, 54.86.166.179
Connecting to file.io (file.io)|18.205.99.243|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: '/home/ubuntu/.wine/drive_c/MetaTrader 4/MQL4/Experts/ftw2luNl71xq'

     0K .......... .......... .......... .......... .......    84.5K=0.6s

2023-09-30 17:40:40 (84.5 KB/s) - '/home/ubuntu/.wine/drive_c/MetaTrader 4/MQL4/Experts/ftw2luNl71xq' saved [48264]

INFO: TestExpert file found at: ftw2luNl71xq
INFO: Setting '^TestExpert' to 'ftw2luNl71xq' in mt4-tester.ini
INFO: Configuring start test period (2018.1.01)...
INFO: Setting '^TestFromDate' to '2018.1.01' in mt4-tester.ini
INFO: Configuring end test period (2018.12.31)...
INFO: Setting '^TestToDate' to '2018.12.31' in mt4-tester.ini
INFO: Configuring symbol pair (EURUSD)...
INFO: Setting '^TestSymbol' to 'EURUSD' in mt4-tester.ini
Getting 'TestModel' from mt4-tester.ini: 0
Getting 'TestExpert' from mt4-tester.ini: ftw2luNl71xq
Getting 'Expert' from mt4-tester.ini:
Getting 'Script' from mt4-tester.ini: 
Getting 'Server' from mt4-tester.ini:
'/opt/conf/ea.ini' -> '/home/ubuntu/.wine/drive_c/MetaTrader 4/tester/ftw2luNl71xq.ini'
Getting 'Server' from mt4-tester.ini:
'/home/ubuntu/.wine/drive_c/MetaTrader 4/history/default/symbols.raw' -> '/home/ubuntu/.wine/drive_c/MetaTrader 4/history//symbols.raw'
INFO: Configuring test report (tester/ftw2luNl71xq-Report.htm)...
INFO: Setting '^TestReport' to 'tester/ftw2luNl71xq-Report.htm' in mt4-tester.ini
INFO: Checking destination directory (/opt/results)...
Getting 'TestPeriod' from mt4-tester.ini: M30
INFO: Checking backtest data (DS)...
Getting 'bt_data' from custom.ini: EURUSD-2018-DS
_XSERVTransmkdir: Owner of /tmp/.X11-unix should be set to root

The VNC desktop is:      4fb64aedd80b:0
PORT=5900
INFO: IP: 172.17.0.2  (4fb64aedd80b)
INFO: Cleaning previous test data...
INFO: Starting...
...
0       17:40:58.059    Started with configuration file 'config/mt4-tester.ini'
INFO: Checking logs for warnings and errors...
tester/logs/20230930.log:3      17:41:03.561    cannot open file 'C:\MetaTrader 4\MQL4\Experts\ftw2luNl71xq.ex4' [2]
tester/logs/20230930.log:3      17:41:03.561    Tester: cannot start with configuration file because expert ftw2luNl71xq not loaded
ERROR: RUN failed with errors.
1       17:41:05.870    '12345': connect failed [No connection]
0       17:41:06.818    MetaTrader 4 build 1260 stopped
0       17:40:51.601    Compiling 'TestSymgroupsRaw'
0       17:40:51.601    Compiling 'TestTicksRaw'
0       17:40:51.601    Compiling 'TestTimeframes'
0       17:40:51.602    Compiling 'DLLSampleTester'
0       17:40:51.604    Compiling 'PipeClient'
0       17:40:51.604    Compiling 'PipeClientPure'
0       17:40:51.605    Compiling 'Dummy'
0       17:40:51.605    Compiling 'PrintPaths'
0       17:40:51.605    Compiling 'TestInitFail'
0       17:40:56.193    Compiling 'stdlib'
Xvfb killed (pid 174)
ERROR: Exiting /opt/scripts/run_backtest.sh with 1
415 on_error /opt/scripts/.funcs.inc.sh
34 on_success /opt/scripts/run_backtest.sh
888 main /opt/scripts/run_backtest.sh
XIO:  fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server ":0"
      after 193 requests (193 known processed) with 0 events remaining.
XIO:  fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server ":0"
      after 12 requests (11 known processed) with 0 events remaining.
Exiting /opt/scripts/run_backtest.sh with 1

[kenorb]

file.io site is not ideal, because it takes you to the download page without downloading the file it-self and it needs manual user intervention. Try uploading .ex4/.ex5 into GitHub, but they won't support .ex4/ex5 extensions in issues or discussion. Check code of dl_ea.sh script which is doing the download.
Actually the logic for downloading EA from URL you can find in .funcs.cmds.inc.sh (check ea_find function). If you want to debug scripts, add -x param.

[kenorb]

This EA-Tester project has been now destroyed by MQ legal attacks targeting and destabilizing our infrastructure.
Read more: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2023/11/2023-11-07-metatrader.md
Not sure if this project can recover from it, we'll see.
So the suggested way of backtesting is to use Ansible method now.

[NirobNabil]

Thanks for letting me know. I've already switched to the ansible platform. It has been working great so far.