Demo_FileTell – script MetaTrader 5

The script opens the text file, analyzes the positions of the strings’ start points in this file and displays string text with a random number. To receive the array of the start positions for each string in the file the GetStringPositions() function is written. The function searches the strings’ start point considering the type of encoding files that can be specified in the “InpEncodingType” input parameter.

Besides using the FileTell() function, the script also uses the FileGetInteger() function to obtain the type of encoding, the FileIsEnding() function to define the end of the file and the FileSeek() function to move the position of carriage in the file when displaying the string with a random number.

Code:

//--- display the window of input parameters when launching the script
#property script_show_inputs
//--- input parameters
input string InpFileName="file.txt";    // file name
input string InpDirectoryName="Data";   // directory name
input int    InpEncodingType=FILE_ANSI; // ANSI=32 or UNICODE=64
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| Script program start function                                    |
//+------------------------------------------------------------------+
void OnStart()
  {
//--- specify the value of the variable for generating random numbers
   _RandomSeed=GetTickCount();
//--- variables for positions of the strings' start points
   ulong pos[];
   int   size;
//--- reset the error value
   ResetLastError();
//--- open the file
   int file_handle=FileOpen(InpDirectoryName+"//"+InpFileName,FILE_READ|FILE_TXT|InpEncodingType);
   if(file_handle!=INVALID_HANDLE)
     {
      PrintFormat("%s file is available for reading",InpFileName);
      //--- receive start position for each string in the file
      GetStringPositions(file_handle,pos);
      //--- define the number of strings in the file
      size=ArraySize(pos);
      if(!size)
        {
         //--- stop if the file does not have strings
         PrintFormat("%s file is empty!",InpFileName);
         FileClose(file_handle);
         return;
        }
      //--- make a random selection of a string number
      int ind=MathRand()%size;
      //--- shift position to the starting point of the string
      FileSeek(file_handle,pos[ind],SEEK_SET);
      //--- read and print the string with ind number
      PrintFormat("String text with %d number: \"%s\"",ind,FileReadString(file_handle));
      //--- close the file
      FileClose(file_handle);
      PrintFormat("%s file is closed",InpFileName);
     }
   else
      PrintFormat("Failed to open %s file, Error code = %d",InpFileName,GetLastError());
  }
//+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
//| The function defines starting points for each of the strings in the file and  |
//| places them in arr array                                                      |
//+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
void GetStringPositions(const int handle,ulong &arr[])
  {
//--- default array size
   int def_size=127;
//--- allocate memory for the array
   ArrayResize(arr,def_size);
//--- string counter
   int i=0;
//--- if this is not the file's end, then there is at least one string
   if(!FileIsEnding(handle))
     {
      arr[i]=FileTell(handle);
      i++;
     }
   else
      return; // the file is empty, exit
//--- define the shift in bytes depending on encoding
   int shift;
   if(FileGetInteger(handle,FILE_IS_ANSI))
      shift=1;
   else
      shift=2;
//--- go through the strings in the loop
   while(1)
     {
      //--- read the string
      FileReadString(handle);
      //--- check for the file end
      if(!FileIsEnding(handle))
        {
         //--- store the next string's position
         arr[i]=FileTell(handle)+shift;
         i++;
         //--- increase the size of the array if it is overflown
         if(i==def_size)
           {
            def_size+=def_size+1;
            ArrayResize(arr,def_size);
           }
        }
      else
         break; // end of the file, exit
     }
//--- define the actual size of the array
   ArrayResize(arr,i);
  }