How is this "config" any different with coding? You are just transforming code from one language to another. If something can raise a syntax error then it is coding. If your clients need to learn an API then it is coding. At the very least "no coding required" means they can config it with dropdowns, radio buttons etc, not writing something like this.
It means that they don't have to understand a lot of basic coding stuff like loops, branch statements, conditional logic, inheritance, classes, not to mention pointers and memory management if we're talking C/C++. It simplifies things quite a lot, but still gives up flexibility that comes from being able to edit code.
I thought a bit more about this problem. How about having a generic GUI which basically displays a tree and the user can add / edit elements to the tree. The elements are your operators and indicator modules. Each indicator module, such as your EMA in your screenshot on the first post, would be linked to a template that specifies the parameters required by the module as well as default values and parameter type for each parameter (basically the JSON schema). Then the GUI could be completely disconnected from the logic that implements each trigger. I suspect that there is already an open-source solution for this.
I think you can even simplify that. How about a UI that's a single text field how much money you want to make today. You put it into the text field and the system auto-generates the profit for you. The learning curve of putting the amount into the text field is pretty simple and the user acceptance would be huge.
How does the "client" feel about you turning around and commercializing something you developed on his dime? Does he get a kick back?
The client has not paid me anything yet for this solution and he knows full well that this is going to be a product that I own and will license to him. He is thrilled because instead of paying me $100 per hour to do tedious work of adding additional conditions to his strategies, he is going to be able to do it himself and I can focus on more complex situations that are not easily handled via the add-on.
Perhaps I should have outlined the problem a bit more before showing the solution. Here is an example strategy OnInitialize event signature with all of the parameters passed into the strategy. Note that I had to make the text as small as possible and it still required two screen shots. There are multiple entry and exit conditions with multiple time frames that can be turned on/off. The solution I am building with a JSON config file is going to be way less confusing than the UI list of parameters that maps to this OnInitialize even parameter list. I should have never let it get this out of control.
That's some antiquated experience. Wealth-Lab's Combination Strategy wizard lets one create a portfolio of multiple systems (each running in its own time frame) applied to multiple markets (portfolios) with individual position sizing for each system. All that in seconds without having to write a single line of code. Talking about a more down-to-earth task like composing a strategy from building blocks using drag and drop, WL can go to greath lengths. Think hundreds of custom rules and indicators, external symbols, neural networks, "fuzzy logic" and so forth. -Eugene