How to Use an Advanced Custom Study or a Study Collection

How to Use an Advanced Custom Study Provided To You

To use an Advanced Custom Study developed for Sierra Chart which your Sierra Chart account has been authorized to use, follow the instructions below.

These instructions assume that the developer of the custom study is using the file distribution system provided by Sierra Chart. If not, then you first need to follow the Manually Installing Advanced Custom Study Related Files instructions.

These instructions also include how use Study Collection and Chartbook files you may have been provided as well.

If you have been provided a custom studies/indicators source code file with a CPP file extension, then instead refer to the How to Build an Advanced Custom Study from Source Code (.CPP file) documentation for instructions instead of the instructions below.

1. If Sierra Chart is running in Safe Mode, custom studies cannot be used. For more information and to disable Safe Mode, refer to Safe Mode.
2. You may need to perform a Forced Login to ensure the files provided by the custom study developer have been received and your account authorized to use them. Refer to Forced Login.
3. Go to the Enabled Custom Studies page. You will need to login if you are not already logged in, to access that page. Go to the File Download section near the top of the page. In the Toggle File Download frame, make sure that file downloads are enabled. You can enable them and disable them as needed. In this case they must be enabled.
4. It is recommended at this point to restart Sierra Chart to ensure that the necessary files for the custom studies have been downloaded.
5. To use an Advanced Custom Study, in Sierra Chart select Analysis >> Studies on the menu.
6. Press the Add Custom Study button. Refer to the image below.
   
7. Locate in the list, the name of the Advanced Custom Studies file you wish to use and press the plus sign "+" beside it.
   
   
   
   If you do not not see the custom studies name listed, then refer to Resolving Custom Study File and Access Issues.
8. Select in the displayed list the study you want to use, and press the Add button.
9. In the case of User Contributed Advanced Custom Studies, these are located in the User Contributed Studies list in the Add Study window. We try to keep that list up to date with studies that have been contributed by users if the source code is available from them. So you will not need to download the DLL files from the Support Board.
   
   However, the UserContributeStudies.dll file is not installed with Sierra Chart by default. You need to install it by enabling the Install Optional Components option on the Sierra Chart Installer.
10. Press the Settings button to adjust the settings for the study as required.
11. Press OK .
12. If you were provided Study Collection files (.StdyCollct extension), you can select them directly from the Analysis menu. For more information, refer to Study Collections.
13. If you were provided Chartbook files (.Cht extension), you can open them through File >> Open Chartbook. For more information, refer to Chartbooks.

How to Use a Study Collection

A study collection is a saved set of studies and their settings that can be applied to the chart with one easy step.

1. A Study Collection file you want to use from the Sierra Chart Support Board, on the Additional Files page, or from other sources, will need to be saved to your Sierra Chart Data Files Folder.
   
   Study Collection files have a .stdycollct file extension.
2. The location of your Sierra Chart Data Files Folder can be found by selecting Global Settings >> General Settings >> Paths on the menu in Sierra Chart. The folder is shown in the Data Files Folder box. This is usually C:\SierraChart\Data. Refer to the image below.
   
3. Save the Study Collection you want to use, to your Sierra Chart Data Files Folder. Save any other files that are provided with it and associated with it, to this same folder.
4. To apply the Study Collection, select it directly from the Analysis menu. You will see it directly on the Analysis menu and you can select it directly from there. You will also see other Study Collections listed on the menu. Refer to the image below.
   
5. If you wish to understand or modify the settings of the studies in the study collection, refer to the Modifying Studies section.
6. Optional: Refer to the Study Collections section for more information about Study Collections.
7. Optional: If any of the studies in the study collection have a Simple Alert Condition formula defined on them, refer to the Alert Conditions and Scanning page to learn about Simple Alerts if you wish to make changes and to understand the formulas used.

Advanced Custom Study Errors

Error Loading Custom Studies DLL

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Error loading custom studies DLL: [Path]\CustomStudies.DLL. Windows error code 126: The specified module could not be found. | (date-time)*

The DLL (dynamic link library) file that contains the Advanced Custom Study or Studies that you are using could not be found or loaded. There are two possible reasons for this error message.

DLL File Could Not Be Found

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You will need to obtain the specified DLL file and save it to your Sierra Chart Data Files Folder. Refer to Step #1 above for instructions.

When you save the DLL file to the Sierra Chart Data Files Folder, make certain it has a DLL file extension. Software which blocks malicious software such as antivirus software, can also potentially block the use of a downloaded DLL file and this can also cause this same error message.

DLL File Could Not Be Loaded Because of Missing Dependency File

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In the second case, the problem is that the DLL file is present but it cannot be loaded because it depends upon another file which is not installed on the computer system. The general reason why this occurs is when it links to external libraries which exist in other DLLs. Commonly this occurs when using Visual C++ and the Runtime libraries are not statically linked.

In this particular case you will need to contact the developer of the DLL for help with this. They will need to statically link with the Runtime libraries.

If you are unable to resolve this error, you will need to remove the Advanced Custom Study/Studies from your chart or charts to prevent the error from appearing again.

To do this, go to one of your charts, select Analysis >> Studies to view the Chart Studies window.

In the Studies to Graph section, select Custom DLL Study (see image below) and press Remove to remove the study.

Remove all of the Custom DLL Study studies from the list and press OK to save the settings.

You will need to do this for each chart that has a Custom DLL Study study which is causing the error.

Custom Study Not Listed or Not Displaying on Chart

Sierra Chart now only provides a 64-bit CPU architecture version of the program

Custom studies which are built for the older 32-bit versions will not work on the 64-bit versions of Sierra Chart. In this case, the 32-bit custom studies will not be listed in the the Add Custom Study window, and if they are already added to the chart they will just be blank.

In this particular case, you need to have the source code for the custom study or studies and build the DLL again under 64-bit version of Sierra Chart, preferably the current version, to be able to use the custom studies.

For instructions, refer to How to Build an Advanced Custom Study from Source Code (.CPP file).

A custom studies DLL file name usually will contain the _64 suffix at the end of the file name. However, this is not required.

Also refer to Resolving Custom Study File and Access Issues.

Manually Installing Advanced Custom Study Related Files

Follow the instructions below to manually install Advanced Custom Study files and related files you may have been provided.

1. Advanced Custom Studies are contained in DLL files (they have a .DLL file extension). You need to save the Advanced Custom Studies files, Study Collection files (.StdyCollct extension), and Chartbook Files (.Cht extension) you have been provided to your Sierra Chart Data Files Folder.
2. The location of the Data Files Folder can be found by selecting Global Settings >> General Settings >> Paths on the menu. The folder is displayed in the Data Files Folder box. This is usually C:\SierraChart\Data. Refer to the image below. Make a note of this folder.
   
3. The Advanced Custom Studies files you have been provided have a .DLL file extension. Study Collection files have a .StdyCollct extension and Chartbook files have a .Cht extension.
4. Save all of the files you have been provided to the Data Files Folder which you have made a note of above. The method to save the files just follows standard procedures for working with files.
5. The files may be in a compressed file, such as a Zip file. In this case you will need to first extract the contents of that file and then save the extracted files in the Data Files Folder.

Custom Study Security

This section documents what a custom study is able to do in Sierra Chart that potentially is a security risk or accessing user specific information.

A custom can access the currently selected Trading account identifier for a chart which is set through the Trade Window.

A custom study can access the Sierra Chart username. However, not the password.

A custom study can submit trading orders whether Chart Trade Mode is enabled or not. However, these orders would be simulated if Trade Simulation Mode is enabled.

Changing Ownership of Custom Study Authorization

Some Sierra Chart Advanced Custom Studies you may be using, may require authorization from the developer of that study to be able to use them. In this case you may be using the Sierra Chart Advanced Custom Study access control authorization system. For more information, refer to Redistributing Custom Studies.

In this case, you will have given the developer your Sierra Chart Account Name.

If you begin to use a different Sierra Chart account, refer to Logging in with Different Account Name.

You will also need to give the developer of the Advanced Custom Studies your new Sierra Chart Account Name and have them change the authorization to this new Account Name.