Sierra Chart - Advance Custom Study Development - The Learning Curve

I am starting this blog to chronicle my learning curve on programming studies for Sierra Chart.  I have been programming indicators for TradeStation® for around seven years and have several custom indicators that help in my trading.  I have a plan to translate the key indicators to other platforms like Sierra Charts, NinjaTrader, eSignal, Open eCry, etc.

Now I must admit I am not  a programmer.  Showing my age - I had to take Fortran IV when I was in college as part of my degree requirements for my engineering degree.  Other than a few other classes which required programming I have no formal education.  I just "brute force" my way through it all.

So here is what I see will be some of the key challenges:

1. Learning the C ++ language and the "structure" of programming with C ++ in the Sierra Chart
2. Learning how to "display" the indicators as I want to see them
1. Changing plot colors based upon condition
2. Changing plot size based upon condition
3. Only plotting when a condition is satisfied
4. Filling in areas between two plots or shading background
3. Putting text on the screen that stays in the location I placed it and / or dynamically adjusts
4. Placing horizontal lines on the screen that either extend left/right or are fixed length
5. Placing vertical lines on the screen that either extend up/down or are fixed length
6. Calculating indicators/studies based upon time of day - example 1st hour high / 1st hour low, globex session etc.
7. Calculating indicators based on different time frames - weekly, daily, hourly, etc
8. Calculating indicators based on multiple inputs - multiple time frame like 5, 30 min data and several instruments
9. How to color the price bar based upon a condition being met and let the bars be normal when it is not.

I'm sure there is a lot more but that is a start.

I will post "solutions" to this blog as I work through them.