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User Guide Overview

The KnitPkg User Guide provides a practical, example-driven walkthrough of the most common workflows when using the KnitPkg ecosystem. It is designed to complement the Concepts section by showing how to apply those ideas in real-world scenarios.

This guide is intended to be read sequentially. Each section builds upon the previous one, gradually introducing new features and use cases. Before proceeding, we recommend that you are already familiar with the core concepts of KnitPkg.

What You Will Learn

This guide covers the following topics:

  • Creating Packages: How to create a new package from scratch.
  • Managing Dependencies: How to add or remove dependencies in a project.
  • Unit Tests: How to write Unit Tests for a package.
  • Local Dependencies: How to use local dependencies during development time.
  • Registry: How to register a project to the KnitPkg registry.
  • Revisions: How to release a new version of a project and update its dependencies.
  • Creating Projects: How to create a new MetaTrader project (e.g., Expert Advisor or Indicator).
  • Configuration: How to configure project-specific and global KnitPkg options.

Hands-on Walkthrough

Throughout this guide, we will build and modify real packages and projects. The walkthrough is structured around a set of practical tasks:

1. Create a Composite Package: barhelper

We will create a new composite package called barhelper, which provides helper functions for the existing bar package. For example, we will implement a Cross function that returns true or false when two TimeSeries values cross.

2. Manage Dependencies

We will demonstrate how to:

  • Add and remove dependencies using the CLI or modifying the manifest directly.
  • Generate the autocomplete.mqh for IntelliSense support and Unit tests compilation.
  • Write @knitpkg:include directives for headers with external dependencies (applicable to packages).
  • Check if a package is ok to be consumed by other projects.

3. Unit tests

We will write Unit Tests for the barhelper package using the built-in testing framework. This will include: - Writing test cases for the Cross function. - Running the tests and interpreting the results.

4. Extend the expertdemo Project

We will update the expertdemo project to implement a real trading strategy. The project will depend on the packages bar and barhelper. Dependency to calc will be replaced with the sma indicator.

We will demonstrate how to use local dependencies during development (that is, add barhelper as a local dependency in expertdemo).

4. Register a Package

We will publish the new barhelper package to the KnitPkg registry using kp register. Going one step further, we'll see how to search for projects in the registry and inspect a project's details.

5. Release New Revisions

We will create new versions of the bar and calc packages. Further, we will demonstrate how to update a project when one of its dependencies releases a new version.

6. Create a New Project

We will create a new indicator project called atr, which uses the ATR function from calc package.

7. Configure KnitPkg

We will show how to:

  • Configure project-specific options (e.g., compiler paths, data folders).
  • Set global options that apply across all projects.

Next Steps

Let’s begin by creating a new package. Continue to Creating Packages.