Robot has a different colored (greyed out) icon in MetaTrader - why?

[omalljd]

This is my first post on this site. Great site..great information. I have several EA on my metatrader platform and on the pull down list they are all colored. The only one that is different is the RoboMiner EA. It is grayed out. It seems to work though, but I wondered what it means if the EA is grayed out and not colored.

Thanks,
Jeff

[PipCop]

That means wither the EA is not open source (it's compiled) or it IS open source but not compiled. If it's a compiled file, it is a protected version of the code. Therefore, you cannot open the file to edit it, or copy it. If it's not compiled, compiling it may make it perform better.

If the file ends with a .MQ4 extension, you MAY modify it, and compile it, to get it to change to the full-color icon in MetaTrader. Right click the EA, select Modify, the the editor will open. Click the button that says "Compile" at the top and close the editor. Now the EA will be shown in color. However, it doesn't matter to MetaTrader - it can use either version.

I suspect the compiled version will perform faster, however, especially in the case of complex robots.

Otherwise, if the file ends with a .EX4 extention, it's compiled and protected and cannot be changed or re-compiled. Commercial EAs such as RoboMiner depend on selling the EA for revenue. Therefore, they don't give away their secrets, otherwise anyone could copy the EA and give it away. Therefore they will only release the .EX4 version of the file, and not the .MQ4 version.

[omalljd]

Thanks for the info. I was worried it wasn't working correctly. This is a great site and I look forward to learning.

Thanks again,

Jeff

[PipCop]

You're welcome. Since this is a question I hear a lot, I have moved it into the EA review FAQ section so others can more easily find it.

I am glad you like the site, it's great to hear feedback.