Building an Ex4 File Converter

Introduction

MetaTrader 4's EX4 files are compiled MQL4 files. This article explores building a converter to make these files readable.

Technical Implementation

1. File Structure Analysis

def analyze_ex4_header(file_path):
    with open(file_path, 'rb') as f:
        header = f.read(32)  # Read header bytes
        return {
            'version': int.from_bytes(header[0:4], 'little'),
            'copyright': header[4:12],
            'signature': header[12:32]
        }

2. Decompilation Process

1. Header parsing
2. Bytecode analysis
3. Control flow reconstruction

Challenges and Solutions

1. Handling different EX4 versions
2. Reconstructing original code structure
3. Optimizing performance

Conclusion

Building an EX4 converter requires deep understanding of binary file formats and reverse engineering techniques.