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AmiBroker 6.40.4 Official release

Stability: Rank 5 - STABLE

A new official version (6.40.4) of AmiBroker has been released.

32-bit version:
http://www.amibroker.com/members/download.php?AmiBroker6404.exe
(10 409 344 bytes)

64-bit version:
http://www.amibroker.com/members/download.php?AmiBroker6404x64.exe
(11 023 360 bytes)

If you can not log in into members' area please get your new password by filling the form at: http://www.amibroker.com/login.html

IMPORTANT: Unauthorized copying and/or distribution of materials found on members' only page is STRICTLY PROHIBITED and will result in IMMEDIATE termination of license.

UPGRADE POLICY

This version is a free upgrade only for users who registered AmiBroker after December 30, 2019. Users who registered earlier, would need to purchase license upgrade. To find out the version you currently have use Account Information page at http://www.amibroker.com/members/info.php

What's new in AmiBroker 6.40

HIGHLIGHTS

Version 6.40 brings lots of new functionality especially with regards to the formula language and performance . There are hundreds of new features and changes to existing functionality as compared to version 6.30, listed in detail in "Release Notes" document in AmiBroker directory. Below is just a short list of few of them:

  • QuickGFX - brand new chart rendering engine delivering upto 100x performance boost as compared to GDI rendering. GDI rendering speed also improved upto 2x.
    In-house developed QuickGFX direct rendering technology completely bypasses Windows GDI and offers amazing 10x-100x performance gain as compared to GDI renderingTo enable QuickGFX experimental tech go to Tools->Preferences, "Miscellaneous" tab, click "Experimental: Use QuickGFX render" and press "Apply" or "OK"
    You can see when it is enabled, chart timing footnote (when enabled) will say "QuickGFX render ...ms" instead of "GDI render ...ms" This is PROFESSIONAL edition feature only. Users of Standard version would need to purchase upgrade in order to use this feature.
  • Automatic Analysis improvements
    • Easy Sequencing of multiple Analysis actions via #pragma sequence(scan,explore) and new "Run Sequence" button without need to write batches. Allows for example single click two-step analysis runs creating composites or static variables in first step and using them in second step
    • Backtester - added "Max. position value" option in the settings allowing to specify maximum dollar value of position. Zero (0) means no maximum. Positions larger will be shinked (if shrinking is enabled) or won't be entered at all (if shrinking is disabled)
    • huge speedups in running large explorations, dark theme and 5x speed up for rendering huge list views like (as compared to 6.31)
  • AmiBroker Formula Language new functions / features
    • FindIndex( array, value, start_from = 0, dir = 1 ) - find index of array item matching specified value
    • BarsSinceCompare( past, comparison, current ) - for every bar, compare past array values with current bar value and return the number of bars since last time comparision was true
    • InternetSetHeaders( "headers" ) - set custom HTTP headers for subsequent web requests
    • InternetSetOption( option, value ) - set HTTP option for internet session
    • InternetPostRequest(''http://url_to_your_web_resource'', data, flags = 0) - send HTTP Post request to Internet web resource (URL)
    • MxCopy() - in-place copy of rectangular blocks from one matrix to the other (copy portions of one matrix to the other matrix)
    • _exit() - gracefully ends AFL execution at the point of the call
    • InternetGetStatusCode() - returns HTTP status code of last InternetOpenURL or InternetPostRequest call
    • Chr( code ) returns string representing single character of given ascii code
    • GetObject( path, class ) providing functionality equivalent to JScript GetObject and VBScript GetObject
    • GuiSendKeyEvents("ED") - register given characters to be sent as Gui event when keyboard key is pressed. GuiGetEvent will return code == notifyKeyDown and id of given character, for example id == 'D' for D letter
    • inverf(x) - inverse of erf function
    • erf(x) - computes Error function Error function - Wikipedia 2
    • SafeDivide( x, y, valueifzerodiv )- safe division that handles division by zero using special handling (replace result with user-defined value)
    • new Javascript engine (Chakra) featuring native JSON support (EnableScript("chakra"))
  • AmiBroker Formula Language improvements, enhancements and fixes
    • exponentation operator is made 50-100x faster in cases of small integer exponents of 2, 3, 4 and 5
    • GuiSetText() function avoids sending change notifications to prevent update loops
    • ADX function vectorized (2x faster than before)
    • added extra parameter for Error() function to stop execution
    • internal function signatures changed to allow flexible ordering of arguments regardless of their type and varargs with less overhead
    • GfxDrawImage with PNG images exclusive file lock removed
    • parser warns if empty body is used in 'for' or 'while' statements
    • support for gzip and deflate compression in Internet functions
    • plugin interface backward compatibility with changing function signatures
    • more runtime checks to prevent user errors and other fixes
  • Batch window new features / improvements
    • Clipboard Cut/Copy/Paste implemented in batch editor
    • Edit->Delete (from main menu) and Edit-Delete All implemented for completeness
    • list view uses virtual mode now (owner data)
    • added "add results to watchlist" action / WatchlistAddResults
    • added "clear watchlist" action / WatchlistClear
    • added "comment" action
    • added optional parameter to Data Import ASCII command to allow specify format definition file
    • added optional parameter to Execute and Wait command to specify current working directory for command
    • added optional parameter to Export to File / Export walk-forward to file to specify column separator in CSV files
    • -optional parameter defines the column SEPARATOR used for export. Only single character is used. When it is not supplied, comma is used.
  • AFL editor enhancements
    • call tips (parameter information tooltips) now provide extra description about the function and its parameters (as of v6.39 only 20 functions have this extra info)
    • debugging session is automatically terminated with appropriate notice when user attempts to edit the code during debugging (this saves mouse clicks that were needed to stop debug session in order to edit)
    • previously when no text was selected and Prettify Code was choosen, the message box caused main frame to get focus instead of focus staying in AFL frame. Fixed
    • when an runtime error is detected debugging session the message bar shows now number of detected errors (as it did previously during normal "verify"
    • when dark mode list views are used watch window default text color was black making it hardly visible, changed to white
  • User Interface new features and improvements
    • Dark theme for all owner-draw list views (NOT in dialogs) now feature customizable theme (currently available "system (light) theme" and "black theme") - go to Tools->Customize, "Appearance" tab, "Dark mode for listviews" checkbox
    • 5x speed up for rendering huge list views (bypassing Windows rendering)
    • Preferences: added Text Tool font setting independent from Axis font (Preferences->Miscellaneous page)
    • Charts: improved text tool with per-study selectable font size
    • Parameter names are not truncated in HighDPI screens
  • Database improvements
    • new 8-digit ICB structure implemented: FTSE Russell 6
    • Database Purify is 10x faster
    • OLE: added Stock.Quotations.Adjust function to perform adjustments programmatically OLE: added Stock.Quotations.Adjust() function. long Adjust(BSTR pszFieldList, float fMultiplier, float fOffset, DATE dDateTime, boolean bBefore)

CHANGES FOR VERSION 6.40.4 (as compared to 6.40.3)

  • Charts: on specifically prepared formulas producing sparse array a moire effect with histogram chart can be seen under rare circumstances. Fixed.
  • UI: when Tickerbar was customized in previous versions it could come up as empty in 6.40.2 until it is RESET via customize dialog. Fixed.
  • QuickGFX, simple bar chart, width > 2, end caps are drawn to ensure that open/close ticks are visible in high zoom out levels
  • Toolbar Zoom in/out auto-repeat period decreased to 100ms (from 150ms)
  • QuickGFX: styleGradient wasn't supported in 6.40.2-6.40.3. Now it works again (fallback to GDI)
  • Docs: added GuiSetColors to help file
  • Charts: 3-color gradient charts could be drawn incorrectly if user-defined base line level was outside chart Y axis range. Fixed


CHANGES FOR VERSION 6.40.3 (as compared to 6.40.2)

  • OLE: new Quotations.Adjust could enter infinite loop. Fixed
  • QuickGFX: fixed division by zero on gradient fill when top == bottom
  • QuickGFX: styleDashed implemented
  • UI: on HiDPI screens Tickerbar dropdown item height was too small in 6.40.2. FIxed
  • UI: Ticker bar has been reimplemented to allow quick handling of millions of symbols (done in 6.40.2 but missing in change log)
  • UI: Ticker bar search / auto-complete is re-introduced (it was not working in 6.40.2 because TickerBar no longer uses standard combo box and combo box "built-in" features were absent)
  • UI: when Tickerbar was customized in previous versions it could come up as empty in 6.40.2 until it is RESET via customize dialog. Fixed.


CHANGES FOR VERSION 6.40.2 (as compared to 6.40.0)

  • 32-bit/Charts: x87 assembly code used for faster conversion from float to int. This gives +20% performance improvement in both GDI and QuickGFX rendering modes
  • 64-bit: the size of internal exit signal structure increased to allow backtest with more than 1 million symbols (at the cost of increased RAM usage). 32-bit version still uses smaller structure and 1 million symbol limit
  • AFL Editor: Defunct Print menu option removed from context (right-click) menu. Working Print option is available in File->Print menu
  • AFL: _SECTION_BEGIN() - section name is checked against not allowed control characters
  • AFL: ADX/PDI/MDI protected against division by zero when data are completely flat (H == L == C for long periods of time)
  • AFL: array version of ColorHSB function is 50% faster now
  • AFL: new function BarsSinceCompare( past, comparison, current ) - for every bar, compare past array values with current bar value and return the number of bars since last time comparision was true
  • AFL: New warning 511 for incorrect usage of IIF function: "Assignment within IIF function arguments. Use IIF() return value instead"
  • AFL: Param*() functions check if user passed non-printable/control characters, that are forbidden in parameter names and display appropriate error message
  • AFL: regression new Error 72 was incorrectly generated when amount was zero but mode was set to Disable (like in Equity.afl file). The combination of zero amount and disable is of course valid and error is no longer produced in such case.
  • AFL: Status("baseinterval") - new field "baseinterval" returns database base time interval setting in seconds
  • AFL: Warning 501 (assignment within conditional) is silenced if assignment is made to the variable that wasn't intitialized before (i.e. it is first assignment of given variable ever in code)
  • AFL: Warning 512 added to detect overusage of Foreign/SeForeign calls
  • Analysis report charts: regression: when QuickGFX was enabled, report charts could cause exception. Fixed.
  • ASCII import: combination of $HYBRID 1 without "autoadd" mode produces an error on non-existing symbols now.
  • Charts: 40% speedup in determination of auto-scale min/max (signficantly affects chart rendering performance for very large number of bars >500K)
  • Charts: Bar-to-XPixel coordinate conversions speeded up 3x by using assembly in 32-bit and _div64/__emul intrinsics in 64-bit versions
  • Charts: GDI rendering of cloud style charts is now 2x faster
  • Charts: QuickGFX rendering of cloud style charts is now 100x faster
  • Charts: when QuickGFX was enabled multi-color title text was slightly truncated at the color boundaries. Fixed.
  • DB: when user renames the symbol corresponding Note text file name is renamed accordingly now
  • Fixed regression introduced in 6.39 when the very last value in MA was non-Null even if there was not enough data
  • New Analysis window: #pragma sequence(scan,backtest) - and new "Run Sequence" button to run same formula with same settings several times in sequence using different modes
  • OLE: added Stock.Quotations.Adjust() function. long Adjust(BSTR pszFieldList, float fMultiplier, float fOffset, DATE dDateTime, boolean bBefore)
  • QuickGFX: Line width > 1 implemented
  • QuickGFX: New lines in Title variables caused double spacing. Fixed
  • QuickGFX: styleHistogram was invisible for negative values. Fixed
  • UI: Param window, names of parameters are not tructated on HighDPI screens anymore
  • When worker thread attempted to read string from resources sometimes resource handle was set incorrectly, this caused COleException / unknown error. Fixed by replacing faulty MS CString::LoadString implementation.

For more details, instructions and examples how to use new features see the 6.40.4 BETA READ ME