Controls

Note

For a more detailed understanding, we also provide specific API Reference

Introduction¶

Controls allows you to interact with your indicator/cBot user, you can easily create basic to advanced UI controls on a chart.

You can use different controls that is part of controls like button, text block, text box, check box, shapes, or you can build your own custom controls by combining other controls.

Let's see a simple example:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        [Parameter(DefaultValue = "Click Me")]
        public string Text { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = HorizontalAlignment.Center)]
        public HorizontalAlignment HorizontalAlignment { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = VerticalAlignment.Center)]
        public VerticalAlignment VerticalAlignment { get; set; }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var button = new Button
            {
                Text = Text,
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment
            };

            button.Click += Button_Click;

            Chart.AddControl(button);
        }

        private void Button_Click(ButtonClickEventArgs obj)
        {
            obj.Button.Text = "You clicked me, thanks";
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

Build and add the above indicator on a chart, it will show a button on center of your chart.

Try to change the indicator parameter values.

You can use chart controls on both indicators and cBots.

List of available controls:

Button
TextBox
CheckBox
RadioButton
TextBlock
Image
Line
ScrollViewer
ToggleButton

You can find examples for each of them on their API reference page.

We might add more controls if needed, use references as an always update source.

Difference between Controls and Objects¶

The two are very different, controls adds interaction capability to your cBots/Indicators while chart objects/drawings allows you to draw something on the chart.

Chart controls derive from ControlBase class, while Chart objects are derived from ChartObject base class.

The other major difference is in their positioning, for chart controls you can statically position them on chart by using different alignment options, while chart objects uses X (Time) and Y (Price) coordinates for positioning except ChartStaticText which is a chart object but uses alignment options like controls.

Like chart objects/drawings you can add controls on both main chart or it's indicator windows.

To add a control on an indicator window you have to use that indicator area instead of main chart area, example:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = false, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        [Parameter(DefaultValue = "Click Me")]
        public string Text { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = HorizontalAlignment.Center)]
        public HorizontalAlignment HorizontalAlignment { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = VerticalAlignment.Center)]
        public VerticalAlignment VerticalAlignment { get; set; }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var button = new Button
            {
                Text = Text,
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment
            };

            button.Click += Button_Click;

            IndicatorArea.AddControl(button);
        }

        private void Button_Click(ButtonClickEventArgs obj)
        {
            obj.Button.Text = "You clicked me, thanks";
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

Organizing Controls with Panels¶

Usually when you use controls you may want to place several of them on a group and then add them on a chart, to do this you can use Panels.

A panel is a control, but it's content is other controls, they can contain one or more controls, all panels are derived from Panel base class which itself derives from Control class like all other controls.

There are five different types of panels available:

Canvas
DockPanel
Grid
StackPanel
WrapPanel

Each of them uses different types of layout or positioning strategy that you can use based on your need.

Canvas¶

Canvas is a panel that allows you to position your controls based on X and Y coordinates on a chart, these X and Y coordinates are different from the one used by chart objects/drawing.

The X and Y coordinate that is used by Canvas is based on numeric values and starts at 0,0 from top left most of the chart.

Now let's try it with an example:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        [Parameter(DefaultValue = "Click Me")]
        public string Text { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 0)]
        public double Left { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 0)]
        public double Top { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 0)]
        public double Margin { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 10)]
        public double Padding { get; set; }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var button = new Button
            {
                Text = Text,
                Left = Left,
                Top = Top,
                Margin = Margin,
                Padding = Padding
            };

            button.Click += Button_Click;

            var canvas = new Canvas();
            // We add our button control to canvas panel
            //Instead of directly adding it to Chart
            canvas.AddChild(button);
            // And then we add our panel to chart
            // Which contains our button control
            Chart.AddControl(canvas);
        }

        private void Button_Click(ButtonClickEventArgs obj)
        {
            obj.Button.Text = "You clicked me, thanks";
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

Build the above indicator and attach it on chart, then play with Left and Top parameters.

The Top property of a control allows you to set the distance of the control from top of the chart and the Left property of a control allows you to set the distance of control from left of the chart, this way you can position your control vertically and horizontally.

We also used two new properties, Padding and Margin, the former is the distance of a control inner content from it's outer borders and the later is the distance of a control from left, top, right, and bottom of it's parent.

You can use Padding and Margin on all Panels not just Canvas, and they are really helpful when you want to manage the spacing between your controls.

You might thinking that it's very hard to properly position lots of controls with Canvas, you are right, that why we have other Panels.

Canvas is only useful if you are using it for drawing, or positioning something anywhere on the chart.

Dock Panel¶

As It's name says it docks a control on a static location of a chart, there are four dock positions:

Top
Bottom
Left
Right

Each control has a Dock property, when you used DockPanel you use controls Dock property for positioning them inside the DarkPanel.

Here is an example of DockPanel:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        [Parameter(DefaultValue = Dock.Top)]
        public Dock TextBoxDock { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = Dock.Bottom)]
        public Dock ButtonDock { get; set; }

        private TextBox _textBox;

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            _textBox = new TextBox
            {
                Margin = 5,
                Text = "Write here...",
                ForegroundColor = Color.Yellow,
                Dock = TextBoxDock,
                Width = 200
            };

            var button = new Button
            {
                Text = "Tell what I wrote?",
                Dock = ButtonDock,
                Width = 200
            };

            button.Click += Button_Click;

            var dockPanel = new DockPanel
            {
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center,
            };

            dockPanel.AddChild(_textBox);
            dockPanel.AddChild(button);

            Chart.AddControl(dockPanel);
        }

        private void Button_Click(ButtonClickEventArgs obj)
        {
            obj.Button.Text = $"You wrote: {_textBox.Text}";
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

A dock panel can either be horizontally populated or vertically, you can't use both at the same time.

The orientation is set automatically when you add the first control on it, if the first control Dock is set to either Top or Bottom then it will be vertically oriented otherwise horizontally.

Stack Panel¶

This is one of the most used panels, it's very simple and useful.

It aligns it's child controls either horizontally or vertically one by one, you only have to set it's orientation and it will manage the rest.

Here is an example:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        [Parameter(DefaultValue = Orientation.Vertical)]
        public Orientation Orientation { get; set; }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var firstNameTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                Margin = 5,
                Text = "First Name...",
                Width = 200
            };

            var lastNameTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                Margin = 5,
                Text = "Last Name...",
                Width = 200
            };

            var isMarriedCheckBox = new CheckBox
            {
                Text = "Is Married?",
                Margin = 5,
            };

            var submitButton = new Button
            {
                Text = "Submit",
                Margin = 5
            };

            var stackPanel = new StackPanel
            {
                Orientation = Orientation,
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Right,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Bottom,
                BackgroundColor = Color.FromArgb(80, Color.Gold),
                Margin = 20
            };

            stackPanel.AddChild(firstNameTextBox);
            stackPanel.AddChild(lastNameTextBox);
            stackPanel.AddChild(isMarriedCheckBox);
            stackPanel.AddChild(submitButton);

            Chart.AddControl(stackPanel);
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

Wrap Panel¶

It's almost identical to Stack Panel, the only difference is that when there is not enough space it wraps the remaining controls to the next line or to the bottom.

Grid¶

Grid divides it's spaces into rows and columns, then you can add a control on each of it's cells.

When you create an instance of Grid you pass the number of it's rows and columns, after that whenever you add a child or control on it you have to also set the number of child rows and columns.

Here is an example:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        [Parameter("Grid Rows #", DefaultValue = 10)]
        public int GridRowsNumber { get; set; }

        [Parameter("Grid Columns #", DefaultValue = 2)]
        public int GridColumnsNumber { get; set; }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var grid = new Grid(GridRowsNumber, GridColumnsNumber)
            {
                BackgroundColor = Color.Gold,
                Opacity = 0.6,
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center,
                ShowGridLines = true
            };

            for (int iRow = 0; iRow < GridRowsNumber; iRow++)
            {
                for (int iColumn = 0; iColumn < GridColumnsNumber; iColumn++)
                {
                    grid.AddChild(new TextBlock
                    {
                        Text = string.Format("Row {0} and Column {1}", iRow, iColumn),
                        Margin = 5,
                        ForegroundColor = Color.Black,
                        FontWeight = FontWeight.ExtraBold
                    }, iRow, iColumn);
                }
            }

            Chart.AddControl(grid);
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

Padding and Margin¶

Margin is the space between a control sides and it's parent (ex: chart, panel, border, etc).

Padding is the space of a control content from it's own borders,

To set a control padding or margin you can use Margin or Padding property, you can use same value for all sides or different values for each side.

You can set different values for each side of padding or margin, example:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        [Parameter(DefaultValue = "Click Me")]
        public string Text { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 0)]
        public double Left { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 0)]
        public double Top { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 0, Group = "Margin")]
        public double LeftMargin { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 0, Group = "Margin")]
        public double TopMargin { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 0, Group = "Margin")]
        public double RightMargin { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 0, Group = "Margin")]
        public double BottomMargin { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 5, Group = "Padding")]
        public double LeftPadding { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 5, Group = "Padding")]
        public double TopPadding { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 5, Group = "Padding")]
        public double RightPadding { get; set; }

        [Parameter(DefaultValue = 5, Group = "Padding")]
        public double BottomPadding { get; set; }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var button = new Button
            {
                Text = Text,
                Left = Left,
                Top = Top,
                Margin = new Thickness(LeftMargin, TopMargin, RightMargin, BottomMargin),
                Padding = new Thickness(LeftPadding, TopPadding, RightPadding, BottomPadding)
            };

            button.Click += Button_Click;

            var canvas = new Canvas();

            canvas.AddChild(button);

            Chart.AddControl(canvas);
        }

        private void Button_Click(ButtonClickEventArgs obj)
        {
            obj.Button.Text = "You clicked me, thanks";
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

Custom Controls¶

A custom control is a control that is made up of other controls, it's parent of controls that resides inside it as it's content.

You can use custom controls to create a new control that you will be able to reuse like built-in controls.

Here is an example:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        [Parameter("# Of Text Areas", DefaultValue = 4)]
        public int NumberOfTextAreas { get; set; }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var panel = new WrapPanel
            {
                Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal,
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
            };

            for (int i = 0; i < NumberOfTextAreas; i++)
            {
                var textArea = new TextArea
                {
                    HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Right,
                    VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Stretch,
                    Margin = 5,
                };

                panel.AddChild(textArea);
            }

            Chart.AddControl(panel);
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }

    public class TextArea : CustomControl
    {
        private readonly TextBox _textBox;

        public TextArea()
        {
            _textBox = new TextBox
            {
                TextAlignment = TextAlignment.Left,
                TextWrapping = TextWrapping.Wrap,
                AcceptsReturn = true,
                AcceptsTab = true,
                Width = 300,
                Height = 200,
            };

            AddChild(_textBox);
        }
    }
}

Style¶

What if you want to give a similar look to several different types of controls? you can set each control properties separately, it might not a big issue if you are dealing with few controls, but what if you were dealing with tens or even more controls?

Style allows you to set values for different properties of controls like Margin or BackgroundColor once and then reuse it like a template for multiple controls.

Let's try to create three textbox with same text color, font, and background, you can do it without using style like this:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var firstTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                ForegroundColor = Color.Red,
                Margin = 5,
                FontFamily = "Cambria",
                FontSize = 12,
                Text = "Type...",
                Width = 150
            };

            var secondTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                ForegroundColor = Color.Red,
                Margin = 5,
                FontFamily = "Cambria",
                FontSize = 12,
                Text = "Type...",
                Width = 150
            };

            var thirdTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                ForegroundColor = Color.Red,
                Margin = 5,
                FontFamily = "Cambria",
                FontSize = 12,
                Text = "Type...",
                Width = 150
            };

            var panel = new StackPanel
            {
                Orientation = Orientation.Vertical,
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
            };

            panel.AddChild(firstTextBox);
            panel.AddChild(secondTextBox);
            panel.AddChild(thirdTextBox);

            Chart.AddControl(panel);
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

Or by using Style:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var textBoxStyle = new Style();

            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.ForegroundColor, Color.Red);
            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.Margin, 5);
            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.FontFamily, "Cambria");
            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.FontSize, 12);
            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.Width, 150);

            var firstTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                Text = "Type...",
                Style = textBoxStyle
            };

            var secondTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                Text = "Type...",
                Style = textBoxStyle
            };

            var thirdTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                Text = "Type...",
                Style = textBoxStyle
            };

            var panel = new StackPanel
            {
                Orientation = Orientation.Vertical,
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
            };

            panel.AddChild(firstTextBox);
            panel.AddChild(secondTextBox);
            panel.AddChild(thirdTextBox);

            Chart.AddControl(panel);
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

You can also use Style to change the appearance of a control based on it's state:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace ChartControlsTest
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ChartControls : Indicator
    {
        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var textBoxStyle = new Style();

            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.ForegroundColor, Color.Red);
            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.Margin, 5);
            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.FontFamily, "Cambria");
            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.FontSize, 12);
            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.Width, 150);
            // Here we change the foreground color to Yellow if mouse hover over the textbox
            textBoxStyle.Set(ControlProperty.ForegroundColor, Color.Yellow, ControlState.Hover);

            var firstTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                Text = "Type...",
                Style = textBoxStyle
            };

            var secondTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                Text = "Type...",
                Style = textBoxStyle
            };

            var thirdTextBox = new TextBox
            {
                Text = "Type...",
                Style = textBoxStyle
            };

            var panel = new StackPanel
            {
                Orientation = Orientation.Vertical,
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
            };

            panel.AddChild(firstTextBox);
            panel.AddChild(secondTextBox);
            panel.AddChild(thirdTextBox);

            Chart.AddControl(panel);
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

Image¶

Image control allows you to show an image, it's like other controls except the content of it is an image.

It uses .NET Bitmap class, which supports most of the popular image formats like:

PNG
JPG
BMP
GIF
TIFF

Please check the .NET Bitmap class documentation for more detail.

To use Image control you have to set it's source property to an image file data in byte arrary (byte[]).

using cAlgo.API;
using System.IO;

namespace cAlgo
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, TimeZone = TimeZones.UTC, AccessRights = AccessRights.FullAccess)]
    public class ImageSample : Indicator
    {
        [Parameter("Image File Path")]
        public string ImageFilePath { get; set; }

        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            if (File.Exists(ImageFilePath) is false)
            {
                Print($"Image not found: {ImageFilePath}");

                return;
            }

            var imageBytes = File.ReadAllBytes(ImageFilePath);

            var image = new Image
            {
                Source = imageBytes,
                Width = 200,
                Height = 200,
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
            };

            Chart.AddControl(image);
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

You can also use your project resources for storing images and then using them on an Image control.

To add an image to your project resources, open your project "Properties" in Visual Studio and then go to "Resources" tab, there create resources for your project and add an existing image.

After adding an image to your project resources you can use it on an Image control as a source.

To access the added image resource use Project_Name_Space.Properties.Resources._Image_Name.

As an example copy the below image and save it as "image.png" on your system:

Then create a new indicator on cTrader, set it's name to Image Sample, open it with Visual Studio, and add the image to your indicator project as a resource.

Copy the below code to your indicator main source code file:

using cAlgo.API;

namespace cAlgo
{
    [Indicator(IsOverlay = true, TimeZone = TimeZones.UTC, AccessRights = AccessRights.None)]
    public class ImageSample : Indicator
    {
        protected override void Initialize()
        {
            var image = new Image
            {
                Source = Image_Sample.Properties.Resources.image,
                Width = 200,
                Height = 200,
                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
            };

            Chart.AddControl(image);
        }

        public override void Calculate(int index)
        {
        }
    }
}

Build it, and attach it on a chart, you should see this:

Note

If indicator build failed, change your cTrader automate compiler from embedded to SDK.

The maximum size for image file is 10 MB.

Last update: July 1, 2022

Controls

Introduction¶

Difference between Controls and Objects¶

Organizing Controls with Panels¶

Canvas¶

Dock Panel¶

Stack Panel¶

Wrap Panel¶

Grid¶

Padding and Margin¶

Custom Controls¶

Style¶

Image¶

Comments