Count (Variable Length) [CountVL]

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The Count (Variable Length) function counts the number of times a data series is non-zero over a variable number of bars. Parameters ------------------ Data          The data to use in the calculation. This is typically a field in a data series or a calculated value. Period        The number of bars of data to include in the sample, including the current value.                   For example, a period of 3 includes the current value and the two previous values. Maximum Period   The maximum value that Period can contain.                              Larger values require extra memory to be set aside for this function to be calculated. Note: An end point to the Period parameter can be simulated using the Lag function to obtain a previous value of this function. See the notes for the Lag function for more information. Function Value ------------------------ This function counts the number of times a data series is non-zero over a given period. This is useful for determining the recent frequency of an event. The count at the beginning of a data series is not defined until there are enough values to fill the given period. Data    Period    CountVL(Data,Period,3) --------------------------------------------------------------   0           3   1           2                  1   0           1                  0   1           2                  1   1           3                  2   0           4                                 <-- no value since 4 > maximum period   1           3                  2 The Count function can also be used with the Summation Bars Ago function or the Summation Index function to vary the processing of the elements. See the description of those functions for more information. Variable length functions can be used in association with other calculations, such as "Bars Since" functions, to determine values since an event occurred. For example, the following formula would return the sum of the High field since the highest high in the last ten bars: CountVL ( Data, Add ( BarsSinceHigh ( High, 10 ) , 1 ) , 10)