README

TALib4D

Delphi wrapper for TA-Lib - a widely used technical analysis library for financial market data.

Features

• Wraps the native TA-Lib C dynamic library for use in Delphi applications
• Supports both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows
• Provides access to over 500 TA-Lib technical indicators and functions
• Dynamic DLL loading with error handling (planned/future)
• Easy to extend and integrate with your Delphi projects
• Includes unit tests demonstrating usage and correctness

Requirements

• Delphi (tested with Delphi 10.x and above)
• TA-Lib DLL (ta-lib.dll) for Windows x86 and x64
• Compatible with Windows 32-bit and 64-bit platforms

Installation

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Place the appropriate TA-Lib DLL in the static/windows-x86_32/ or static/windows-x86_64/ folder.
3. Add the src folder to your Delphi project search path.
4. Use the wrapper unit (MWQ.TALibWrapper.pas) in your Delphi project.

Usage Example: Testing SMA (Simple Moving Average)

This example shows how to initialize TA-Lib, calculate the SMA on a sample input array, verify results, and then properly shutdown TA-Lib.

procedure TestTALibWrapper.TestSMA_CalculatesCorrectly;
var
  Input: TArray<TA_Real>;
  Output: array[0..9] of TA_Real;
  I, BegIdx, NbElem: Integer;
  Status: TA_RetCode;
  TempString: string;
begin
  Input := [44.34, 44.09, 44.15, 43.61, 44.33, 44.83, 45.10, 45.42, 45.84, 46.08];

  Status := TA_Initialize;
  Assert.AreEqual(TA_RetCode.TA_SUCCESS, Status, 'TA_Initialize failed');

  Status := TA_SMA(
    0, High(Input), @Input[0], 5,
    @BegIdx, @NbElem, @Output[0]);

  Assert.AreEqual(TA_RetCode.TA_SUCCESS, Status, 'TA_SMA failed');
  Assert.AreEqual(6, NbElem, 'Unexpected number of SMA output values');
  Assert.AreEqual(4, BegIdx, 'Unexpected beginning index');

  // Verify the first SMA value (with tolerance)
  Assert.AreEqual(44.104, Output[0], 0.001, 'Unexpected SMA[0]');

  // Print the SMA results
  for I := 0 to NbElem - 1 do
  begin
    TempString := Format('SMA[%d] = %.3f', [I + BegIdx, Output[I]]);
    Writeln(TempString);
  end;

  SetLength(Input, 0);
  TA_Shutdown;
end;

About the Wrapper Generation

The main wrapper unit, MWQ.TALibWrapper.pas, is automatically generated using Chet, a C header to Delphi translator developed by Neslib.

Currently, the generated wrapper uses static external declarations to link directly to the TA-Lib DLL functions by name. This approach requires the TA-Lib DLL (ta-lib.dll) to be available at runtime but does not perform explicit dynamic loading or function pointer retrieval.

Future Improvements

A dynamic DLL loading mechanism (using LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress) could be implemented to:

• Load the DLL at runtime explicitly
• Handle missing DLLs more gracefully
• Support runtime switching between 32-bit and 64-bit DLLs depending on the application

For more information about Chet, visit the Chet GitHub repository.

Thank you for using TALib4D!