Working with Dates

[Steve R]

I'm having a heck of a time working with dates.

I have a DateTimeSeries and I can pull dates out at will, no problem there. I also have a DateTime 'variable' that I have set to the Expiration of a futures contract. I would have thought I could use "Instruments[0].Expiry, but that seem to only give me the first day of the expiration month as opposed to the actual expiration day, but I guess it doesn't. That's OK though since I have got that part fixed too. So, I've got two dates........

....all I want to do it to find out how many days there are remaining, at any given day from say, myDateTimeSeries[0] to myContractExpiry (in the future)

Both dates are in the proper format as opposed to me trying to use a hack-up like ToDay() method which I first tried but found out why later that we just shouldn't go there :-)

Why can't I just use math operators?!!! Is it to0 tough to just make Date1-Date2 'in days'? I'm sure that would be a hell of a lot of help and make it 99% easier for everyone!

I feel I'm close but so far, nada.

[Radical]

Try the DateTime.Subtract method:

TimeSpan ts = datetime2.Subtract(datetime1);

etc

[Steve R]

Try the DateTime.Subtract method:

TimeSpan ts = datetime2.Subtract(datetime1);

etc

OK I've got the second part - datetime2.Subtract(datetime1);

But I'm not sure what the first part is and I've got a compile error since I don't understand it like I should

TimeSpan ts ????

BTW where in the NT help files did you find this gem? With DateTimeSeries it's seriously slim pickings and next to useless for info like this.

[Steve R]

Try the DateTime.Subtract method:

TimeSpan ts = datetime2.Subtract(datetime1);

etc

What I am saying is that I can Print the difference, so you know you've got that part correct...

Print("The difference between now and Expiration is " + dtContract_Exp.Subtract(myDateTimeSeries[0]).ToString());

Where I'm getting hung up is I want to store that difference in a variable to do some more math with it... I can't figure out how to do that part. I'm assuming that's your TimeSpan ts, but I can't figure it out.

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

Steve,

TimeSpan is not a supported NinjaScript method, so we do not have any documentation on it. However it is a valid .NET method so you do have the ability to use this function in your program.

Please see the MSDN article on this method for more information:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.timespan.aspx

If you can provide me with some of your code to determine how you're coming up with the expiry date, etc, we can help you do the calculations you're looking for.

[Steve R]

Steve,

TimeSpan is not a supported NinjaScript method, so we do not have any documentation on it. However it is a valid .NET method so you do have the ability to use this function in your program.

Please see the MSDN article on this method for more information:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.timespan.aspx

If you can provide me with some of your code to determine how you're coming up with the expiry date, etc, we can help you do the calculations you're looking for.

OK I think this is what you're looking to see.

DateTime dtContract_Exp = new DateTime(iYear, iMonth, iDay,0,0,0);

Where: iYear, iMonth and iDay are user input integers. to allow me to set the contract expiration date.

When I print

dtContract_Exp

the format looks identical to when I print

myDateTimeSeries[0]

so I assume they're in the same format and I haven't buggered it up by doing it this way.

I've seen the MSDN article but ya gotta understand dude, if we could read that crap and understand it, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I only tell you that because 75% of the people tell you the same thing because they have the same issues lol.

[Steve R]

Steve,

TimeSpan is not a supported NinjaScript method, so we do not have any documentation on it. However it is a valid .NET method so you do have the ability to use this function in your program.

Please see the MSDN article on this method for more information:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.timespan.aspx

If you can provide me with some of your code to determine how you're coming up with the expiry date, etc, we can help you do the calculations you're looking for.

Oh yeah, and when I use this statement..

Print("The difference between now and Expiration is " + dtContract_Exp.Subtract(myDateTimeSeries[0]).ToString());

The output for today is

32.00:00:00

since the expiration date is set to Sept 17, 2012

[Radical]

But I'm not sure what the first part is and I've got a compile error since I don't understand it like I should

TimeSpan ts ????

What is the error you're getting on this line?

[Steve R]

What is the error you're getting on this line?

lol what the heck!

I just re-wrote it, and my answer is nothing is wrong!

I can't even recall now what the error was as I've been screwing with it too much to remember since then.

Sooo, how do I now convert the 32.00:00:00 to a nice round integer of 32? Since all I wanted was the number of days (as an integer).

[Radical]

TimeSpan.Days should give you just the days as an integer. So something like

int days = ts.Days;

[Steve R]

TimeSpan.Days should give you just the days as an integer. So something like

int days = ts.Days;

Yeah my man, I just found it myself as it turns out.

int iDaysBetween = ts.Days;

Even a blind dog finds a bone once in a while.

Thx guys