Menu Items

File Menu
 

New - Create a new empty chart window with default chart properties.

Open Page - Brings up a dialog to open a saved page layout (see Save Page). You can save several different layouts and reload them.

Save Page - Brings up a dialog to save the current program layout (all charts, and SLF maps, etc.) to a named file that can be reloaded later. The default layout file is "pages.ssc". The last layout you save will be loaded by default the next time you start SSChart. Use "Open Page" to load a different layout.

Open Chart - Brings up the stardard Windows File Open dialog box. The default directory is the Data directory where all saved stock data resides. File names for stock symbols are composed of the stock symbol and a suffix indicating the time period. The current time periods and suffices are .1min for intraday data, .dyd for daily, .wyd for weekly, and .mym for monthly chart data.

Close Chart - Closes the current chart window.

Save and Save As - Save the current window layout of all chart windows so that you can restore a particular set of charts at a later time.

Import - Open the standard Windows File Open dialog box and allows the user to select any file for importing. Additional information about the type of data in the file, etc. will be requested from the Import File Settings dialog box. See the Import File Dialog for more information.

Preferences - Shows the current user preferences which can be changed, including the starting dates for acquiring price data from the internet, the price display format, etc. See the User Preferences Dialog for more information.

The remaining menu items perform the standard Windows functions.


Edit Menu
  Favorites - Brings up the Chart Favorite Dialog from which you can edit the list of saved chart templates.


View Menu
 

Display of Panes - The chart window can display a maximum of 3 panes with different information. The default chart window is set up to show the stock price and studied in the top pane, studies in the second pane, and the volume and studies in the third pane. This layout can be changes from the Chart Properties Dialog. The display of the Top, Middle, and Bottom pane can be toggles from this menu as well as from the context specific popup menu.

CandleSize - Changes the size of each candle to be small , medium (default), or large depending on how many data points should be visible.

TimeSpan - Selects the time units which a single candle represents. 1 day is the default.

Hide Studies - Toggles the display of the current studies in the price pane. This flag is not saved in the registry.

Hide Vertical Scales - Hides both left and right price, volume, and study scales. This is useful to show a chart as small as possible.

Scale Price Only - Toggles the scaling of the price candles without taking the visible price studies into consideration (moving averages for example). This has the effect of enlarging the candles in cases where a study line is far away from the current price.

Scale Most Recent Price - Toggles the scaling of the most recent price data points. In effect it zooms into the number of points specified in the User Preferences Dialog.

The Status Messages menu item opens and closes a dialog which records informative as well as error messages. A check will appear beside the menu item if the Status Messages are visible. See the Status Messages Dialog for more information.

The Toolbar and The Symbol List File (SLF) Toolbar contain selected items from the SSChart menus. A check will appear beside the menu item if the Toolbar is visible. The state of the Toolbar (visible/invisible) will be saved in the Registry and will be preserved across program invocations.

The Status Bar is a standard Windows items and can be toggled on and off. A check will appear beside the menu item if the Status Bar is visible. The state of the Status Bar (visible/invisible) will be saved in the Registry and will be preserved across program invocations.


Chart Menu
 

New - Creates a new empty chart window with default chart properties.

Properties - Enables you to change the stock symbol, time period, chart type, and the window layout. See the Chart Properties Dialog for more information.

Color - Allows you to change the color of the background as well as every chart item, i.e. candlestick colors, chart lables. See the Chart Color Dialog for more information.

Add to Favorites - Adds the current chart to the list of Chart Favorites. See the Save As Favorites Dialog for more information. Once a chart has been added to the Favorites it also gets added as a menu item. There will be a maximum of 4 chart favorites listed in addition to the Default chart. If there are more than 4 chart favorites an button titled More... will be displayed, which when pressed, displays the Chart Favorites Dialog. One of the listed chart favorites has a check next to it. When the { Chart | New } or { File | New } button is pressed a chart will be created of the same type as the checked chart favorite. If you press any of the chart favorites a chart of that type will be created.


Studies Menu
 

Setup - Allows you to create studies from a list of available studies. In addition it enables you to change the color of studies as well as delete unwanted studies (currently studies cannot be reassigned from their predefined overlay assignment). See the Select Studies Dialog for more information.

For detailed information on the available studies and their parameters see the respective dialogs: Moving Average, Bollinger Band, MACD, Stochastics, RSI, VHF, Volume, Accumulation Distribution Line, Chaikin Oscillator, Indicators Lines.

Previous Day's Close - Draws a horizontal line at the previous day's closing price (intraday charts only).

Day's Open - Draws a horizontal line at the day's opening price (intraday charts only).

Day's High - Draws a horizontal line at the day's high price (intraday charts only).

Day's Low - Draws a horizontal line at the day's low price (intraday charts only).

Day's Midpoint - Draws a horizontal line halfway between the day's high and low price (intraday charts only).

All Indicators - Draws all above listed indicator lines.

Delete All - Deletes all above listed indicator lines.

The line type and line width of these lines can be modified. See the Indicators Lines study types for more information.



Data Menu
 

Get Single Quote - Contacts the internet data source and requests a one time quote update for all symbols which are currently open, either in a chart or SLFMap window.

Get Continuous Quotes - Contacts the internet data source and requests continuous quote updates for all symbols which are currently open, either in a chart or SLFMap window.

Slide Show - Cycle through all symbols in the currently selected symbol list file in the current chart window. May be combined with Auto Update On.

Auto Update On - Automatically update all stock price data which is out of date. Note that this flag updates all charts which are currently loaded when they become the active chart.

Update - Get the current price data for the active chart window.

Reload - Get all the data for the stock symbol for the current time period as specified in the Chart Properties Dialog. This function is useful in the event that the data for a stock symbol has been corrupted. Unless you configure SSChart to alway retrieve data from import files, you need an internet connection for any of these items to function.

Purge - Deletes either todays intraday data, all but today's intrayday data or all intraday data for the current symbol. This function is useful in the event that the intraday data for a stock symbol has been corrupted or is incomplete.

Internet Sources - Select the internet data source that data will be retrieved from. Separate source are specified for daily, weekly, monthly, and quote data. The quote data is used to create intraday charts.

Import Settings - Brings up a dialog box which is used to set the list of directories to search for import files, set the import file attributes, and also specify the search order for acquiring data. See the Import Dialog for more information.



Tools Menu
 

Show Quick Alerts - Shows the green and red bell symbols on the bottom right hand corner of each chart. These are used for setting high and low audible alerts on the price. Setting/resetting is done graphically.

Setup Complex Alerts... - Brings up the complex alert dialog. This is an experimental feature still under development.

Initialize All Global Alerts - Initializes all symbols alert conditions setup under the complex alerts dialog (experimental).



SLFMap Menu
 

Show MiniCharts - toggles on/off the display of the mini charts in each cell of the SLFMAP. The minicharts show the latest 30 minutes activity.

Set Sort Order - Allows you to set the sort order of the cells to either a percentage change in price or the actual price change relative to the previous close, open, or mark time that was set.

Symbol Name - Sorts the symbol cells by the symbol name in ascending order.

Last Price - Displays the last price in each cell rather than the percentage or actual change.

You need an internet connection for any of these items to function.

 Set Mark:

Now - Saves the current price now for all symbols so that the changes is show going forward from the marked price.

Candle -

 

 Set Mark:

Now - Saves the current price now for all symbols so that the changes is show going forward from the marked price.

Candle - Sets the mark time to the close of a selected candle on any intraday chart. Make and SLFMap window active (by clicking on it), and select {Set Mark | Candle}, the cursor changed to and hand pointer, click on the candle of the desired time in any intraday chart, to set the mark time. You can then set the sort order, to sort from the mark.



Window Menu
   All menu items perform the standard Windows functions.


Help Menu
 

Install License enables you to request a free trial key, record the trial or permanent key to enable the program. View License shows you the license statement, and Purchase Online points you to the web site where you may purchase a copy of the program.

Uninstall SSChart Software will remove all originally installed files and directories and delete program registry entries. See Uninstall for more information.

About SSChart shows the current version number and license information.


Control Menu
  The control box (the tiny SSChart icon in the extreme upper left corner of the window, at the left end of the title bar) provides access to the control menu, which contains window system commands such as Restore and Move. The control box on each chart window is a small icon located in the upper left corner of the title bar that looks like the icon you click to open that window. The Restore, Minimize, Maximize, and Close commands in the control menu work just like the buttons for those functions. The Move and Size commands require you to use your arrow keys.

Popup Menu
 

The menu items in the popup menu are the same as found on the menu bar and work they same. The popup menu is active when the mouse cursor is over a chart window.

Click the right mouse button and the popup appears under the cursor. Move the cursor down the menu items until you find the one you want to use and click the left mouse button or alternately hold down the right mouse button, drag the cursor to the item you want to use and release the right mouse button.


Standard Toolbar
  This toolbar contains a couple of SSChart specific buttons. These are [ScalePriceOnly] and [ScaleMostRecent]. See the View menu for more information.

SLFMap Toolbar
 

This toolbar contains a selection box which lists all symbol list files in the SLF subdirectory. If no slf file has been selected it shows "--none--" and the buttons are disabled.

The [Update] button (with the U) will do a batch update of all daily historical charts listed the currently selected SLF file.

The [Chart] button opens a Chart window. The symbol showing in the chart window is the first one listed in the slf file.

The [SLFMap] buttons opens an SLFMap window.

The [Horserace] button creates a horserace window with the symbols in the currently selected SLF file.

The right-most button is [Data Collection On/Off] which toggles the continuous retrieval of quote data on and off.

You need an internet connection for the last two of these items to function.


Status Bar
  This statusbar shows status messages about files being loaded, symbol data being fetched and any error messages. These same messages are also visible in the Status Messages Dialog.

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