Import internet time data into metatrader4

Question

I found that the TimeGmt() function is not accurate if the server time is set up wrong, especially for getting other timezones with daylight savings.

Is there any way to scrape time data from the internet and into the expert advisor? I found the WebRequest function but I don't really understand the parameters.

The clock on my laptop synchronizes with time.windows.com. Is it also possible to do this in mt4? There are also other websites like time.is.

Thanks

Answer 1

You can use WebRequest function and then parse the output. Quite a lot of silly work though. If your laptop is syncronized, you can ask current local time using TimeLocal() function, and obtain time of your laptop. It does not work in tester (actually, nothing except TimeCurrent() works correctly as specified in the official documentation).

If going to 'time.is' website, you have to find line that looks like '20:42:15' and extract current time (20:42 in my case) from that line. You should use GET request, so use the first WebRequest function. Keep in mind that WebRequest is async so it takes time to go to the website then parse the data etc and your ea waits for the reply before going further, so it probably makes sence to call that function once per week or so.