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🔍 Interactive Protobuf Types Inspector

Interactive utility for exploring MT5 gRPC API protobuf types.

📌 Why You Need This Tool

When working with MT5 gRPC API, you constantly face questions like:

  • "What fields does AccountSummaryData have?"
  • "Where can I find the Ticket field?"
  • "What values does the ORDER_TYPE enum contain?"
  • "What types are available for working with orders/positions?"

Yes, all this information is already in the documentation, but without this inspector you would have to:

  • Open multiple documentation files and scroll through pages
  • Remember which doc file contains which type
  • Manually search through text (Ctrl+F) in each file
  • Constantly switch between IDE and documentation browser
  • Interrupt your coding flow to look up references

ProtobufInspector solves all these problems in one command! 🎯

✨ Convenience Features:

  • Instant launch — just dotnet run inspect
  • Smart search — find types by name, field, or keyword
  • Clear output — structured display with emojis and formatting
  • Case insensitive — no need to remember exact casing
  • Interactive — explore API in real-time without recompiling code
  • Time saver — answers in seconds instead of minutes of searching

Real-world benefit: Instead of spending 5-10 minutes searching documentation or proto files, you get the answer in 5 seconds. For daily MT5 API development, this tool becomes indispensable.

🚀 Launch

dotnet run inspect

📖 Available Commands

Command Description Example
list or ls Show all available types list
<TypeName> Inspect specific type OpenedOrdersData
search <text> or find <text> Find types containing text search Order
field <name> Find types with specific field field Balance
enum <name> Show enum values enum BMT5_ENUM_ORDER_TYPE
help or ? Show help help
exit, quit or q Exit inspector exit

💡 Practical Examples

Example 1: Discover AccountSummaryData fields

> AccountSummaryData
Result: 
📋 Properties (15):
  • AccountBalance    : double
  • AccountEquity     : double
  • AccountProfit     : double
  • AccountMargin     : double
  ...

Example 2: Find type with "Ticket" field

> field Ticket
Result: 
✅ Found in 5 type(s):

📦 OpenedOrderInfo:
   └─ Ticket: ulong

📦 PositionInfo:
   └─ Ticket: ulong

📦 OrderCloseRequest:
   └─ Ticket: ulong
...

Example 3: View ORDER_TYPE values

> enum ENUM_ORDER_TYPE
Result: 
════════════════════════════════
    ENUM: ENUM_ORDER_TYPE                      
════════════════════════════════

  ORDER_TYPE_BUY           = 0
  ORDER_TYPE_SELL          = 1
  ORDER_TYPE_BUY_LIMIT     = 2
  ORDER_TYPE_SELL_LIMIT    = 3
  ORDER_TYPE_BUY_STOP      = 4
  ORDER_TYPE_SELL_STOP     = 5
  ...


> search Position
Result: 
✅ Found 8 type(s):

  [Class]  PositionInfo
  [Class]  PositionsTotalData
  [Class]  PositionsHistoryData
  [Enum]   ENUM_POSITION_TYPE
  ...

Example 5: View all available types

> list
Result: 
📦 Found 156 types:

  [Data]    AccountSummaryData
  [Data]    BalanceData
  [Data]    OpenedOrdersData
  [Request] OrderSendRequest
  [Request] OrderCloseRequest
  ...

🎯 Common Use Cases

Scenario 1: "Getting 'field not found' error"

Problem: Writing summary.FreeMargin but getting compilation error.

Solution: 

> field FreeMargin
# or
> AccountSummaryData
Result: Discover the correct field name is AccountBalance or AccountEquity.

Scenario 2: "Don't know what properties a type has"

Problem: Working with OpenedOrdersData but unsure what's inside.

Solution: 

> OpenedOrdersData
Result: 
  📚 OpenedOrders  : List<OpenedOrderInfo>
  📚 PositionInfos : List<PositionInfo>

Scenario 3: "Need enum values for ORDER_TYPE"

Problem: Want to use enum but don't know exact values.

Solution: 

> enum BMT5_ENUM_ORDER_TYPE
Result: All values with numeric codes.

Problem: Need to find all types related to orders.

Solution: 

> search Order
Result: OrderSendRequest, OrderCloseRequest, OpenedOrderInfo, etc.

Scenario 5: "Want to understand what's available in API"

Problem: New to the API, want to see what's available.

Solution: 

> list
Result: Complete list of all types (Data, Request, Reply).

🔧 Code Integration

After finding needed information:

// Found via inspector that correct field is AccountBalance
> AccountSummaryData
  • AccountBalance : double  ← here it is!

// Use in code:
var summary = await service.GetAccountSnapshot();
Console.WriteLine(summary.Summary.AccountBalance);  // ✅ Works!

📝 Notes

  • Case insensitive: can write openeordersdata or OpenedOrdersData
  • Partial search: search Pos finds Position, PositionInfo, etc.
  • Lists marked 📚: List<T> or RepeatedField<T>
  • Classes marked 📦: regular types
  • Enums marked as [Enum]

🚨 Troubleshooting

Q: Command doesn't find type 

> MyType
❌ Type 'MyType' not found
A: Try search: 
> search MyType

Q: Need to find all enums 

> list
# Look for lines with [Enum]

Q: Want to exit inspector 

> exit
# or
> quit
# or
> q
# or just Ctrl+C

🎓 Additional Information

  • File location: Examples/Helpers/ProtobufInspector.cs
  • Invoked from Program.cs: case "inspect" or case "types"
  • Used for: Exploring MT5 gRPC API types from mt5_term_api

💻 Technical Details

What is inspected:

  • All types from namespace mt5_term_api
  • Only public types (public classes/enums)
  • Types with suffixes: Data, Request, Reply
  • All public properties and their types

Supported types:

  • ✅ Classes (protobuf messages)
  • ✅ Enums
  • ✅ Generic types (List, etc.)
  • ✅ Primitive types (int, double, string, etc.)