Chat and Communications Platform

Introduction

The Sierra Chart chat project is part of a larger project to support chat, screen sharing, remote control, voice and video calls. This can be peer to peer, or in groups. And webinar type of functionality where there can be a presenter, providing screen sharing and audio to many users.

The reason we developed the chat, is because what is out there is just simply unacceptable to us. There is nothing good out there for chat that is quality and can be trusted and secure. It is simply nonexistent. Everything out there is all substandard or has problems for one reason or another.

The Chat functionality in Sierra Chart is a way to receive alerts on your mobile device. For instructions, refer to Using Chat for Remote Alert Notifications.

One comment, we have noticed the chat does not work on Linux. It causes the program to freeze. Maybe because the chat window runs on another thread. We will implement an option to not use a separate thread for chat for Linux users.

The remote control and screen sharing functionality is going to be very high quality and high performance. Initially it will support communication through an intermediary server but later support for direct peer to peer communication will be added.

It is the one and only chat in the world, that uses standard operating system windows and edit boxes and menu commands and buttons. Built directly on top of the operating system using C++. All clean and stable. On the server side uses STL, and simple files. Threads for performance. All clean and straightforward good quality.

The voice and video functionality will interface directly with the OS. No libraries involved. Screen sharing also completely written by us. With our own codecs (for screen capture and compression and decompression). All running on a separate thread. Will support an intermediary server, and direct peer to peer connections.

Also we are going to develop end to end encryption for chat messages. Which is not managed on the server but on the client side. So there is 100% security that you are in control of.

There is security that exists already. The connection to the server is encrypted. But the messages still need to be encrypted in a way that they cannot be decrypted other than by the user.

Usage

Follow the instructions below to use the chat.

The chat can be used to chat with another Sierra Chart user. Or multiple users in a Chat Group.

The chat functionality can also be used to create a private chat group with only a single user (yourself) as the member, for the purpose of sending alert messages from Sierra Chart into the chat. These messages are also viewable with our Web-Based/Mobile Chat Application. So you can access alerts on a mobile device in a web browser.

1. Open the Chat Window with File >> Open Chat Window from the main Sierra Chart menu.
2. The chat window will be opened. If it is not visible look for it on your System Taskbar. If you still do not see it, select Window >> Reset Windows. And then open the chat window again with File >> Open Chat Window.
3. The chat window will be opened. If it is not visible look for it on your System Taskbar.
4. Every Sierra Chart user has a unique Chat Username. This can be different from your Sierra Chart username. It is up to you if you want to use the same one or make it different. To set your chat username, go to the Manage Account Information page. Set the username into the Chat Username: field and press the Update Account Information button.
5. To create a chat with another user, select Commands >> New Chat from the Chat Window menu. This is considered a peer to peer chat. Not a group chat.
6. In the Search Text edit box, enter the user's full chat username because by default chat usernames are not searchable unless the user has chosen to make their name searchable.
7. Press the Perform Search button. You should now see the username listed in the Search Results list. Select it in the list and press OK.
8. In the list of chats on the left side of the Chat Window, you will now see the chat you have with the other user.
9. Left click on that chat, and to send a message to the other user type a message into the large edit box at the bottom of the Chat Window.

Using Chat for Remote Alert Notifications

The functionality documented in this section replaces email alerts and SMS alerts which are no longer supported. Email and SMS alerts have been permanently discontinued with the replacement functionality below which is a reliable, unfiltered, and stable method to receive alerts from Sierra Chart.

Follow the instructions below to enable remote alert notifications.

There are many conditions within Sierra Chart which can trigger Alerts (Chart Formula Alerts, Study Formula Alerts, ACSIL Alerts, Trading Events, Connection Status, many other items). Whatever the source of an alert is in Sierra Chart, at the location where the condition is configured, you choose an Alert Number.

This Alert Number can be configured to send the alert message to a Chat Group (with only yourself as the member) which then can be accessed on the Sierra Chart Web-Based/Mobile Chat Application.

1. You need to be running Sierra Chart version 2634 or higher. Update with Help >> Download Current Version.
2. The first step, is to configure a private Chat Group within the Sierra Chart Chat functionality with only yourself, as the member.
   
   Select File >> Open Chat Window. The Chat window runs on another thread, and it may not always become visible when you select this command. You will have to look for it on the System Taskbar on your desktop.
   
   If it is not visible when selecting this command, then select Window >> Reset Windows.
   
   After that select File >> Open Chat Window again. You should then see it but once again you may need to look for it on your System Taskbar.
3. All Sierra Chart users, have a unique username for chat, which can be different from your Sierra Chart username and that can be configured here (Chat Username:)
4. On the Chat window select Commands >> New Group.
5. Enter a Group Name. Must be at least five characters long. Not less. Otherwise, creating the group will fail.
6. Press OK.
7. The Chat Group will be created and listed in the list of chats on the left of the Chat Window. At this point, only you are the member and it is your own private chat. Whatever messages you send, are seen by no one else but yourself.
8. Select this chat in the list of chats on the left of the Chat Window.
9. After selecting the chat on the left, you will see a Chat ID: at the top of the message list. Make a note of this numeric chat ID. This is a unique identifier for the chat.
10. Select Global Settings >> General Settings >> Alerts from the main Sierra Chart menu.
11. Select the particular Alert Number from the drop-down list of alert numbers you want to configure, to send messages to your private Chat Group.
    
    When you send a message to the chat, it will also be received through the Sierra Chart web-based chat.
12. Set the setting Send Alert as Chat Message when this Alert is Triggered to Yes.
13. Set Notification >> Chat Identifier or Chat Name for Alerts to the integer identifier you made a note of above.
    
    Do not enter the name of the chat here! The name is not currently supported.
14. Press OK.
15. Whenever the particular Alert Number, that is configured to send a message to the chat is triggered, then the message that would normally be sent by email or SMS, is given to the specified Chat Group.
    
    When the Chat Interface is being used for Alerts, the Chat Window needs to be kept open. There is no reason to close it. Just simply minimize it and it will be on the System Taskbar. It will be running in the background on its own thread. There is no need to be concerned with it.
16. You can immediately stop Alerts from being sent to the Chat Group by selecting Commands >> Disconnect on the Chat Window (File >> Open Chat Window). Any subsequent alerts being sent will be kept in a temporary queue. This queue of pending alerts will not exceed 10 elements. So no more than 10 will be queued. And that queue is discarded when Sierra Chart is exited.
17. To access the web-based chat, go to Web-based Chat. Use the web-based chat, to receive alerts to your Chat Group. You can open this in a web browser on your mobile device, and keep it open to receive alerts from Sierra Chart.
18. Enter your Sierra Chart Username and Password at the top of that chat webpage and press the Connect button to connect.
19. All of the available Chats / Groups (for alerts) are in a list on the left. When you select a chat on the left, then on the right side all of the messages for that chat are displayed going back a set number of days (controllable).

Integration with Mobile Ntfy Application

This section describes integration with the mobile device ntfy application.

There are many conditions within Sierra Chart which can trigger Alerts (Charts, Studies, Trading Events, Connection Status, many other items). Whatever the source of an alert is in Sierra Chart, at the location where the condition is configured, you choose an Alert Number.

This Alert Number can be configured to send the Alert Message to a Chat Group (with only yourself as the member) which then can be configured to be relayed to ntfy. In this way, you can receive the alert on your mobile device. The advantage of ntfy over the web based chat application that Sierra Chart has, is that ntfy is a true mobile application which will continuously run and does not go to sleep and can put notifications on the lock screen of your mobile phone. And also generate alerts on the mobile phone.

Ntfy is not just for receiving notifications of Alerts within Sierra Chart. If you have established a Chat with another Sierra Chart user, then the text of those chat messages can also be forwarded to ntfy, following the instructions below. So that you receive them on your mobile device. You can then reply, through the Sierra Chart web-based chat on your mobile device.

1. First complete, the Using Chat for Remote Alert Notifications instructions if you have not already done this. You will have completed those instructions, if you previously have been using Telegram for notifications on your mobile device using Telegram.
2. Go to the Chat window by selecting File >> Open Chat Window. If you do not see it check for it on your System Taskbar.
3. In the list of Chats on the left of the Chat Window, select the particular Chat that you want to integrate to ntfy for mobile notifications.
4. On the Chat window, select Commands >> Edit Chat.
5. Set Mobile Chat Notification Options >> Relay to Mobile App to Yes. In older verions: Telegram Options >> Relay to Telegram.
6. Set Mobile Chat Notification Options >> Relay Own Messages to Mobile App to Yes. In older verions: Telegram Options >> Relay Own Messages to Telegram. This must be set to Yes.
7. Note: Only the first 4096 bytes of the chat message are relayed to the mobile application. The remaining bytes are truncated.
8. Press OK.
9. Go to the Sierra Chart Push Notifications page.
10. On that page press the Toggle Push Notifications button if push notifications are not already enabled. If push notifications are already enabled you will see Push notifications are enabled | Username: above the button. In which case, you do not need to change the state of push notifications unless you do not know your password.
    
    If you do not know your password, toggle off push notifications and then toggle on push notifications.
11. When you toggle on push notifications, you will see, a server address, a username and a password. Example is below. You may want to go through this procedure to enable push notifications on a web browser on your mobile device. So you have these three fields of information on your mobile device so they can be copy and pasted into the corresponding ntfy mobile app fields.

    [✔] [username]: Push Notifications Activated.
    [✔] [username]: Push Notifications Server: https://push.sierrachart.com
    [✔] [username]: Push Notifications Username: bid1dc62f6c8d6f972333136e030db06
    [✔] [username]: Push Notifications Password: 4YxeJ54Txj7S1l
    [✔] [username]: Make sure to save your password before leaving this page.
                    

12. The following instructions apply to the Android and iOS versions of nfty. Specific instructions for each are noted with Android or iOS within each step. A step that does not specify an Operating System are common to both.
13. Obtain the nfty app through the appropriate App store for your device. Install that on your mobile device.
14. Open the ntfy app.
15. Android: At the top right of this application, click on the three dots and select Settings. iOS: At the bottom right of this application select Settings.
16. Android: Scroll down to General and click on Manage users. iOS: Skip this step.
17. Android: Click on Add new user. iOS: Click on + Add user.
18. In the Service URL field enter https://push.sierrachart.com.
19. In the Username field, enter the Username you received when enabling push notifications.
20. In the Password field, enter the password you received when enabling push notifications.
21. Android: Click on Add User. iOS: Click on Save.
22. Navigate back to the homepage of the ntfy app. Android: Use the left arrow at the top left of the app. iOS: Select Notifications at the bottom of the app.
23. On the homepage click on the plus (+) button.
24. Enter your Username for the topic name. This is the username you received, above when enabling push notifications. It is a long series of letters and numbers.
25. Enable the Use another server option.
26. In this server (Service URL) field, enter https://push.sierrachart.com.
27. Click on Subscribe.

You are all done with the setup for nfty. You should now see notifications when a new message is added to a particular chat and it has been set to send mobile notifications. You will receive the text of the chat message within this ntfy app and the app will also give you a notification.

You may need to setup specific Notification options for nfty in order to get the kind of notification you want. The settings for this are controlled through your device and are not specific to this application or Sierra Chart.

Preventing Chat Window from Opening

When starting Sierra Chart, the Chat window will automatically open if it was previously open when exiting Sierra Chart. The window size and position and show/display state is remembered. If you do not want the Chat Window to open, when you start Sierra Chart, then close the Chat window before exiting Sierra Chart.

Alert Numbers can also be configured to send the alert text, when triggered, to a private Group Chat. This is so that you can access the alert information remotely. For more information, refer to Using Chat for Remote Alert Notifications.

In this case, the Chat window will open, when an alert is triggered that sends it to a particular chat. Typically a private Group Chat. Just minimize the chat window in this case . It will not maximize when it is used. And it will run in the background on another thread.

It is possible when you start Sierra Chart, that you could have a particular Alert Number that becomes triggered. This Alert Number may be configured to send the alert to a particular chat. If this is the case, the Chat Window will automatically open at that time if it is not already open. To disable sending an alert to the specified chat, for a particular Alert Number, select Global Settings >> General Settings >> Alerts. Select the Alert Number from the drop-down list that is configured to send the alert to a chat. Set the Send Alert as Chat Message when this Alert is Triggered setting to No for that particular Alert Number and press OK.

Web-Based/Mobile Chat Application

There is a Sierra Chart developed web-based chat application to receive chat messages and Sierra Chart Alerts sent to a Chat Group.

For more information about Alerts and receiving them remotely by sending them to a Chat Group (in this case private and with only yourself as a member), refer to Using Chat for Remote Alert Notifications.

To access this web-based chat, go to Web-based Chat.

Enter your Sierra Chart Username and Password at the top of that chat webpage and press the Connect button to connect.

All of the available chats are in the Chat List. When you select a particular chat in this list, the messages will display in the Messages section going back a set number of days.

This web-based Chat supports automatic in-line loading of images. For example, an image link to an image on a website, or an image upload. This is so that you can view the images in-line right within the Chat application instead of a separate image viewer.

An image link could be from a Sierra Chart Alert which captures the state of the chart at the time of an alert. This feature is supported in newer versions of Sierra Chart.

Using Screen Sharing and Remote Control

The Sierra Chart chat and communications supports screen sharing and remote control.

Follow the instructions below to use screen sharing and remote control. A screen sharing session can be screen sharing only or it can also support remote control.

The instructions below need to be followed by each user who will be using screen sharing. So this is if you are sharing your screen with another user or viewing the screen of another user.

1. Open the chat window through File >> Open Chat Window.
2. From the menu of the Chat window select Commands >> Settings.
3. Scroll down to the Screen Sharing and Remote Control section in the list of settings.
4. Set Screen Sharing and Remote Control Enabled to Yes.
5. Set Screen Capture Interval in Milliseconds to the interval that you want for screen capture. Recommend 100 ms. This setting is relevant for the user who is sharing their screen.
6. Set Screen Sharing Display Interval in Milliseconds to the interval to use, for refreshing the screen viewer window. Recommend 100 ms. This setting is relevant for the user who is viewing the screen of another user.
7. Set the Screen Sharing Codec to DirectX screen capture, Better compression, average CPU Time. Use this setting, when using Windows operating systems greater than Windows 7. When using Windows 7, use Best compression with motion detection. Highest CPU Time.
8. Press OK.
9. Follow the Usage instructions to set up a chat with the user that you want to use screen sharing and remote control with.
10. Select that chat in the list of Chats on the left of the Chat window.
11. Select Commands >> Edit Chat.
12. Set Allow View of Remote Screen Shared by Other User to Yes.
13. Set Allow Send Local Screen for Sharing to Remote User/Group to Yes.
14. If you want to support remote control in a screen sharing session, then set Allow Remote Control with Either Above Options to Yes.
15. Press OK.
16. To share your screen with a user. Select that user in the list of Chats on the left of the Chat window.
17. Select Remote >> Share My Screen. Or to support remote control in the session, instead select Remote >> Share My Screen with Remote Control.
18. Click Yes to confirm.
19. Each user will receive a prompt window to confirm to join the screen sharing session. Click Accept to join the screen sharing session or Reject to not.
20. After starting accepting the screen sharing session, it will be started. Each side will see a separate window for the session. For the user viewing the screen, they will see the remote screen in this viewer window. For the user sharing the screen, they will see a message indicating that the screen is being shared. The title bar shows the status of the screen sharing session.
21. To stop screen sharing, either close the screen sharing window or select Commands >> Disconnect from the screen sharing window.
22. If you want to request a user to share their screen, then select that user in the list of Chats on the left of the Chat Window. Select Remote >> Request Share Screen. Or to support remote control in the session, instead select Remote >> Request Share Screen with Remote Control.

Screen Sharing and Remote Control with Sierra Chart Support

Chat Settings Window

• Remote Settings >> Make My Username Searchable:
• Chat Connection >> Number of Days of Chat History to Download:
• Chat Connection >> Server Address and Port (leave blank for default):
• Chat Interface >> Available Chats Width Percentage (5 to 90):
• Chat Interface >> Chat History Height Percentage (30 to 95):
• Chat Interface >> Send Behavior (List):
• Chat Interface >> Load Previous Messages While Scrolling:
• Chat Interface >> Number of Messages to Load for 'Load previous messages'/Scrolling (0 = Default):
• Chat Interface >> Maximum Number of Messages to Load When Reselecting Chat:
• Chat Notifications >> Notify of Unread Messages Every N Minutes (0=disabled):
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Screen Sharing and Remote Control Enabled (RDP):
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Direct Peer to Peer Screen Sharing and Remote Control Enabled:
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Screen Capture Interval in Milliseconds (50 - 10000 ms):
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Screen Sharing Display Interval in Milliseconds (50 - 10000 ms):
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Drop Video Frames if Greater Equal Milliseconds of Data in Send Buffer:
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Full Frame Transmit Interval in Milliseconds:
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Screen Sharing Frame Size Power of Two (List):
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Screen Sharing Codec (List):
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> System Identifier (Recommended to be set):
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Screen Sharing and Remote Control Prompt Timeout in Seconds:
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Automatically Close Sender Screen Sharing After Number Minutes (0 = disabled):
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Allow List for Screen Sharing/Remote Control from My Computer ([ChatUsername]|[RemoteSystemIdentifier];[ChatUsername]|[RemoteSystemIdentifier]:
• Screen Sharing and Remote Control >> Scroll Bar Page Size In Percent, (0-50 %):