File Menu
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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.
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Edit Menu
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Favorites - Brings up the Chart
Favorite Dialog from which you can edit the list of saved
chart templates.
Prices - Brings up the Edit
Prices Dialog from which you can change the data points of
a symbol.
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View Menu

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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), large or custom depending on how many
data points should be visible. The candle size of the custom
candle is set in the User Preferences
Dialog.
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.
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Chart Menu
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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.
Slide Show - Cycle through all the symbols in the current
SLF File in the current active chart window.
Show All Sessions - Show the price data for before
and after market hours. If you are using free quote data sources
and you want to keep the extended market data in the files you
must make sure that the Keep Extended Market Hour Data flag is
set in the User Preferences Dialog
since the data cannot be reloaded at a later time unlike a paid
data source.
A partial list of saved favorites is shown at the bottom of
this menu. More... brings up the Chart
Favorites Dialog with the complete list.
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Studies Menu
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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.
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Data Menu

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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.
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Tools Menu
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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.
Draw Lines and Erase Lines - We can draw some basic
lines. Press on Draw Lines to go into line drawing mode.
The cursor changes to a pencils. You can now draw in the price
pane of the chart window. Press Draw Lines again to get
out of drawing mode. This is work in progress
and will be completed in a later release. On intraday charts
the lines are currently only saved if drawn on the 1-min interval.
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).
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SLFMap Menu
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Sort - sort the SLFMap
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.
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Set Mark:
Now - Saves the current price now for all symbols so
that the changes are shown going forward from the marked price
when you set the sort order to sort by change from mark (see
above).
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 changes
to a 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.
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Window Menu
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All menu items perform
the standard Windows functions. |
Help Menu
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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.
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Control Menu
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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. |
Chart Window
Popup Menu
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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.
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SLFMap
Window Popup
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The first item in the popup is the symbol name of the
cell if the mouse was over an SLFMap cell. Exclude Symbol
excludes the symbol from the calculations. This is useful when
a symbol whose values are so far out of range that the color
assignment is meaningless for the other symbols. Hide symbol
temporarily hides the symbol from view. Delete Symbol
deletes the symbol from the SLF file. Show
Stats, Simple Alerts, Complex aAerts, and Show Alerts are not
implemented.{ Rearm Alerts | All } reams the quick
alerts. Delete Alerts deletes the quick alerts. The above
items are symbol specific. The remaining items affect all symbols
in the SLFMap.
Sort - sorts the items. Unhide All - shows all
symbols which were temporarily hidden. Constrain Rows/Columns...
brings up the Constrain Rows/Columns
Dialog where you can change the cell layout configuration
of the SLFMap. Simple Alerts, Complex aAerts,
and Show Alerts are not implemented. Delete
All Alerts deletes all quick
alerts for all symbols in SLFMap. Show Extended Sessions
continues updating the symbol information after the market closes.
Update Daily updates all daily data files for all symbols
in the SLFMap.
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Standard Toolbar
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This toolbar contains a couple of SSChart specific
buttons. These are [ScalePriceOnly] and [ScaleMostRecent].
See the View menu for more information. |
SLFMap
Toolbar
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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. If the se
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] button opens an SLFMap
window with the symbols in the currently selected SLF file.
The [Quotes] button opens a Quotes
window with the symbols in the currently selected SLF file.
The [HorseRace] button creates a horserace window with
the symbols in the currently selected SLF file.
The [Time&Sales] button opens a Time
& Sales window. It is initially empty and a symbol must
be dropped into it to show the time and sales data (Paid data
sources only).
The [OrderBook] button opens an OrderBook
window. It is initially empty and a symbol must be dropped
into it to show the time and sales data (Paid data sources only).
The [Level2] button opens a Level2
window. It is initially empty and a symbol must be dropped
into it to show the time and sales data (Paid data sources only).
The [MarketPulse] button opens a Market
Pulse window. It is initially empty and a symbol must be
dropped into it to show the time and sales data (Paid data sources
only).
The right-most button is [Data Collection On/Off] which
toggles the continuous retrieval of quote data on and off.
Make sure you have an internet connection
for these items to function.
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Status Bar
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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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