General Settings Window
Accessing the General Settings Window
To display the General Settings window select Global Settings >> General Settings on the menu.
Click OK to save settings or Cancel to exit without saving.
Settings
Data Files Folder
This frame displays the path to the folder where the daily and intraday data files and other files are stored. To change: Press Select. Select a folder in the Browse for Folder window and press OK. Or enter the path to the folder into the text box. The default folder is the Data folder under the folder where Sierra Chart was installed. If you make changes, then be sure to use Windows Explorer and move files from the old folder to the new folder or you will not have access to those files. If you are connected to the data feed, then intraday data will still be written to the files in old folder until the next time you connect to data feed. If you change the data files folder, then you should restart Sierra Chart to ensure data will be written to the new folder.
Daily Data Editor
This frame displays the editor to use when the Edit Data command is selected from the Data menu and source data format is ASCII. To change: Click Select, then select an editor to use. The default is Windows Notepad.exe.
Alert Sound Settings
You can set a sound to play when a Simple Alert condition or a Worksheet System or Alert study condition becomes true. You can set a sound to play when trade orders are Filled or Canceled. Alert sounds may also be played when Advanced Custom Studies generate alerts. Sierra Chart supports 50 alert sound configurations.
These sounds can be wav files located anywhere on your computer. To set up the specific alert sound file to be played and also set up and e-mail alerts for a particular Alert Number, select an Alert Number from the Alert # drop down list in the Alert Sound Settings frame. The settings for each Alert Number (#) correspond to the Alert Sound number set in the Study Settings window for a study and the Alert number in Global Trade Settings for order alerts. The other controls in the Alert Sound Settings frame are the settings for the selected Alert #. Press the Select button to choose your wav sound file.
Playing Alert Sound Multiple Times
In the Number Of Times This Alert Sounds box for the selected Alert Number, enter the number of times you want to have the wav file played when the Alert Number is triggered.
Email Notifications for Alerts
To get an e-mail notification when an alert is triggered, then enable the Send E-mail When This Alert is Triggered option for the selected Alert Number. You can optionally enter your e-mail address in the E-Mail Address box. If you leave this box blank, the e-mail address for your Sierra Chart account will be used instead. If you wish to receive e-mail notifications for alerts to multiple e-mail addresses, then in the E-Mail Address box enter the e-mail addresses separated by either a "," or a ";".
Sampling Sound Files
If you wish to hear what a sound file, wav file, contains, then go to the folder on your computer where it is located and open the file. Typically this will be played in Windows Media Player.
Notes
If a sound file for an Alert Number is not specified, but the Alert Number is used on a study or for a trade condition, the default windows beep will sound. If more than 1 alert becomes true at a time, the alerts will sound one after another.
Clearing the Alert Sound Queue
If there are many sounds in the queue that are waiting to be played, you can clear the current queue by selecting Global Settings >> Clear Alert Sound Queue.
Tabs
Chartbooks and Windows Tabs allows you to easily see all of your Chartbooks and visible Windows and easily select them by clicking on a tab. To access the Tabs settings select Global Settings >> General Settings.
Show Chartbooks' Tabs: When this option is enabled, tabs along the top or bottom of the main Sierra Chart window will display all of the the open chartbooks.
Place Chartbooks Tabs At: This option sets the position of the Chartbooks' Tabs.
Show MDI Windows' Tabs: When this option is enabled, tabs along the top or bottom of the main Sierra Chart window will display all the open chart and workbook windows that are within the main Sierra Chart window. MDI = Multiple Document Interface.
Place MDI Tabs At: This option sets the position of the Chart and Workbook (MDI Windows') Tabs.
Reordering the Tabs
To reorder the tabs, select Window >> Windows and Chartbooks. Use the Move Up and Move Down to change the order of the windows, which affects the order of the tabs for the windows.
Changing Tab Names/Shortening Tab Names
To modify the name (description) you see on a window tab, select Chart >> Chart Settings. Specify a Title Bar Name. Enable the Use Title Bar Name As Tab Label option. You can use a shorter name in the Title Bar Name box to shorten the name (description) of the tab.
Chart Update Interval
Sets how often the chart graphics are updated and studies are calculated when connected to the data feed. When market data, order data or position data is received, it will be displayed within this time interval. If there is no new market, order or position data, then the chart will not be updated. Enter the value in milliseconds. Using a higher value will reduce CPU usage, however, the chart will update slower. Using a lower value will increase CPU usage, however, the chart will update faster. This setting does not affect the speed at which data is stored, it is stored tick by tick without any gaps. All trades received are displayed. The chart update interval provides for very efficient use of the CPU, and prevents lags. Using a very short update interval may require a very fast CPU.
Using too short of an update interval, may have the effect of causing a lag of data received.
Scroll Multiplier
The Scroll Multiplier setting sets the speed of scrolling. When it is set to 1.0 and you click on the Scrollbar arrows or press the left and right arrows on your keyboard, the chart will scroll by 1 bar/column. Also, at this same setting when you scroll the chart page-by-page by clicking withing the Scrollbar area (not on the arrows), you will scroll the chart by one full window of bars/columns. When this setting is set to 0.5 then the scrolling amount becomes reduced by half. When this setting is set to 2 then the scrolling amount is doubled.
Allow Horizontal Scrolling with Scroll Wheel
When this option is enabled, horizontal scrolling of the chart can be performed by using your scroll-wheel on your pointing device, if you have a scroll wheel.
Show Title Bars On Charts
When this option is enabled, by default it is, then a title bar will be displayed on chart windows. If this option is disabled, then the title bar will be removed from the chart windows. In the case when you do not have title bars displayed, it is not possible to drag windows around and change their position. This option only applies to chart windows that are within the main Sierra Chart window.
Display Save All Option on Exit
When this option is enabled and you exit from Sierra Chart, a Save All window will display allowing you to save all of your Chartbooks and your Workbooks. If this option is disabled, this window will not be displayed on exit.
Display Fractions in Short Format
When this option is enabled, fractions such as 110 5/32 will be displayed as 110'5.
Show Alerts Log On Study Alert
What a study alert condition becomes true, it will add a message to the Alerts Log. When this option is enabled, the Alerts Log window will open when this message is added. Otherwise, it will not automatically open. To manually open the alerts log select Window >> Show/Hide Alerts Log.
Show On-Chart Status Messages
The download status for a symbol can be shown on the chart. This lets you instantly and clearly know what the current download status is. The chart will not update in real time until the historical data has been downloaded for it. When this option is enabled, you will see the download status on the chart. Therefore it is advised that you always keep this option enabled so you can clearly see the download status. It is not recommended you disable this option.
Enable Workspace Scrolling
Enables scroll bars on the main window to appear when you move chart and workbook windows beyond the main window's edges. This allows you to widen your workspace. You can then use the scroll bars to move charts in and out of view. You need to restart the program when enabling this option. It has been reported that this option does not work under Windows Vista due to a Windows Bug.
Support Symbol Entry from Chart Window
When this option is enabled, then you are allowed to enter a symbol directly from the chart window by simply typing the symbol into the chart window, to change the symbol of the chart to the entered symbol. For more information see the Changing the Symbol of the Chart page.
Files to Open On Startup
These settings allow you to create a list of files to automatically open when you start Sierra Chart. These files can include Chartbook files and Workbook files. These are the only files you can automatically open. Press the Add button to add a file to the list. The Open File window will display. By default Chartbooks will be listed. If you wish to display Workbooks, select Workbooks in the Files of Type list. Select the file you want to add and press the Open button. To change a file, select the file you want to change in the list and press the Change button. To remove a file, select the file you wish to remove and press the Remove button. You can change the order of the files to control the order in which they are opened, by using the Up Arrow and the Down Arrow buttons.
For information about chartbooks, see the Chartbooks documentation page.
Use Default Study Collection for New Charts
When this option is enabled, then the selected Study Collection file will automatically be applied to new charts that you open. Choose the study collection that you wish to automatically apply to new charts, from the list below.
Language
Use the available languages in this list box to change the language of the menu commands in Sierra Chart. Only the menu commands can be changed to a different language. The changes will go into effect when you restart Sierra Chart. The language files can be found in the Language subfolder where Sierra Chart is installed to on your computer. These are standard INI files that can be customized by you.
Display Login Window on Next Run
When you press this button, next time you run Sierra Chart, the login window will display as usual, but you will not be automatically logged in. This will give you an opportunity to change the login Account Name and password.