What views and apps can see and change
Every view and app declares what it reads and what it can change before it runs, and Chartnaut holds it to that list. This page explains what those declarations cover, where to read them, and the one question an app can ask you when it opens.
What an app reads
An app reads your own data and nobody else's. When you open an app someone else built, it runs on your trades, your accounts and your journal, and none of it goes back to the person who wrote it. They see their data in it, and you see yours.
An app can read:
your trades, positions, orders and fills
your accounts, backtest sessions, playbooks and tags
notes and custom fields on your trades
market data for the symbols it names
the events of definitions, and the indicators and studies it runs from the library
A read the app has not declared is refused, so an app cannot reach past its list.
What an app can change
Most apps only read. An app that writes can do three things to your trades: set their tags, set their notes, and set their custom fields. It declares which, and nothing else is open to it: it cannot place orders, delete trades or touch your accounts.
An app that can change your data shows Writes in its header while you use it. Hover it to see what it can change. The app makes its writes through its own controls, such as a button that tags a trade, and Chartnaut does not ask you to confirm each one. Check the declarations below before you add an app that writes.
Collecting data before it opens
Some apps need a definition's events gathered around your trades before their numbers mean anything, or a study run over them. When that has not happened yet, the app stops on This app needs data collected first, listing each dataset under Required data with its markets, span and size.
Collect and open gathers the data and then opens the app. Collecting runs once and is included in your plan.
Open without it opens the app straight away, with blanks wherever that data is needed.
The answer is remembered for that page of the app, and you are asked again only when the app starts needing something new. To change your mind, open Data in the app's header: it lists what was collected for the app, with Reset for this page and Reset all to be asked again.
Where to read the declarations
Before adding an app from Community, open it and choose the Data it touches tab. It shows:
Section | What it lists |
|---|---|
Access it declares | Can read and Can change, the data the app is allowed to use |
Data it reads | Each of your datasets it reads, in plain words |
Market data | The symbols and timeframes it uses |
Library scripts it runs | Indicators, definitions and studies it attaches, and whether each is pinned to a version |
What it remembers | Anything it stores for you, which survives a republish and stays if you remove the app |
Writes it can make | Each change it can make to your data |
For an app of your own, the builder's Details tab shows the same facts about what it can change and what it has collected. Community views covers adding someone else's view to your pages.