User's Guide

Introduction

QuickFIX Messenger is a front-end messaging application built on-top of the QuickFIX/J engine.

It is a tool designed for technical individuals working on the Financial Information eXchange ("FIX") Protocol. The FIX Protocol is an industry-driven messaging standard for the electronic communication of trade-related messages.

QuickFIX Messenger is ideal for testing different messages and scenarios on FIX infrastructures. It provides a simple graphical user interface (GUI) for constructing and sending FIX messages across a given FIX session.

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Getting Started

Downloading QuickFIX Messenger

QuickFIX Messenger can be downloaded as an executable binary or can be built from source.

Both binary and source distributions are available for download at Google Code.

Executable Binary

Unless planning to make changes to the default distribution, it is recommended to download the executable binary.

The binary distribution file is usually named qfix-messenger-<version>-bin.zip.

Source

The source distribution contains an Eclipse project which can be directly imported to an existing Eclipse workspace.

The source distribution file is usually named qfix-messenger-<version>-src.zip.

Running QuickFIX Messenger

The binary distribution includes executable scripts for an Initiator instance and an Acceptor instance. Both scripts come in 2 flavors: qfix-messenger-<instance>.bat for Windows, qfix-messenger-<instance>.sh for Linux/Unix.

Note that Java 7 (JRE 1.7) or later is required to run QuickFIX Messenger.

Building from Source

The source distribution includes an Ant script (build.xml) which should be used to build QuickFIX Messenger. The default target is clean.deploy which will build the project and copy all files to the deploy directory.

The deploy directory is structured same way as the binary distribution.

Visit our Developer's Guide for more information.

User's Manual

Configuration

QuickFIX Messenger comes with 2 sets of configuration files, one for an Initiator instance (cfg/initiator), and another for an Acceptor instance (cfg/acceptor).

Each instance comes with 3 configuration files:

log4j.properties - Configure logging
messenger.cfg - Configure the messenger application
quickfix.cfg - Configure the QuickFIX engine

Messenger Configuration

messenger.isInitiator - Indicates whether the messenger acts as a connection initiator or not (acceptor)
messenger.parser.threads - Indicates the number of threads to use when parsing a QuickFIX dictionary XML
messenger.license - Indicates the file path to the BSD license
messenger.icons - Indicates the directory path of the icon files
messenger.home.url - Indicates the QuickFIX Messenger website
messenger.help.url - Indicates the QuickFIX Messenger Help website
messenger.fixwiki.url - Indicates the FIXwiki website
messenger.dict.fix<version> - Indicates the file path to the QuickFIX dictionary XML indicated by version

QuickFIX Configuration

Please refer to QuickFIX/J's documentation page for details on how to configure the QuickFIX engine.

User Interface

Creating a Message

Select a session from the list; this will display all messages supported by the session's FIX version.

If a FIXT session is selected, select the desired ApplVerID to use

Select a message from the list; this will display a form containing all fields available to the message.

By default, only the required fields are displayed. To change this, unselect the Required Only check box.
To show the Header fields, select the Modify Header check box.
To show the Trailer fields, select the Modify Trailer check box.

Free Text

Existing FIX message texts (i.e. from a log file) can be used to send a message. Select Free Text from the message list and paste the message to the text area provided.

Note that CheckSum(10) and SendingTime(52) will automatically be populated/updated by QuickFIX/J.

Repeating Groups

For Repeating Group fields, put the desired number of groups and click on Set; this is will update the form to display the desired number of groups.

Data Format Verification

While QuickFIX Messenger does not support message validation, it does support verification of field data formats. This means that if the input data does not match the expected format defined for the field, a warning symbol will appear on the text field.

Because QuickFIX Messenger is designed as a testing tool, fields with incorrect format will not prevent the message from being sent.

Message Actions

Click on the shredder button to destroy the message and all fields stored in the cache.
If an active project is available, click on the tray button to add the message to the project.
Click on the envelope button to send the message across the session.

If the Preview Before Sending check box is selected, a confirmation will popup before the message gets sent.

Sessions List

Active sessions can be managed from the Sessions List.

Selecting the Logon check box, initiates a logon sequence to the receiver.
Clicking Reset will reset the session' sequence numbers to 1/1.
Clicking Status will display the session details.

Message Table

Messages sent or received are all logged to the Message Table.

Each row in the table represents a FIX message. Rows colored orange are received, while rows colored green are sent.

Double-clicking on a row will popup the details of the message.

To clear the table, right-click then select Clear All.

Project View

A separate window is displayed whenever a project is activated (new or open).

All messages added to the project are displayed in the window as a tree. Right-clicking on a selected message brings-up a popup menu.

Load Message - Loads the message to the form
Send Message - Sends the message across the session
Export Message - Exports the message as an XML file
Delete Message - Deletes the message from the project
Send All Messages - Sends all messages in the project
Collapse All - Collapses the entire tree
Expand All - Expands the entire tree

At anytime, the Project View window can be activated via Window > Project Window or CTRL-P

Text values can also be modified from tree. Double-click on a text node to enable editing; press Enter to save, Esc to revert.

Menus

File Menu

New Project - Creates a new project
Save Project - Saves the active project
Open Project - Opens a project
Close Project - Closes the active project
Import Message - Imports an XML message to the form
Export Message - Exports the form message to an XML file
Exit - Exits the application

Session Menu

All Sessions - Logon - Logon all sessions
All Sessions - Logoff - Logoff all sessions
All Sessions - Reset - Reset all sessions

Help Menu

Help - Displays this Wiki page
About - Displays the application information, including license

Window Menu

Project Window - Opens the Project View of the active project

FIXWiki

Double-click on fields in the form or messages in the list to bring-up the corresponding FIXWiki page.

Advanced

Custom Logon

QuickFIX Messenger supports populating selected fields when sending a Logon(A) message.

To do this, modify the QuickFIX/J configuration and add the following attributes under a session configuration:

Username=<String>
Password=<String>
RawData=<String>
RawDataLength=<Integer>
TestMessageIndicator=<Boolean>

For example:

[session]
BeginString=FIX.4.3
SocketAcceptPort=9879
Username=username
Password=password
RawData=test data
RawDataLength=9
TestMessageIndicator=true

Note that the configured fields will be populated regardless of the session's FIX version. This means that despite being unsupported, Username(553), Password(554), and TestMessageIndicator(464) will still get populated for FIX versions below 4.3.

Bug: the application will only apply the custom logon settings if all custom fields are present. As a workaround, include all custom fields in the config and set the unused ones to empty. See Issue #51.

Save Files

QuickFIX Messenger uses XML documents as save files; this allows for a save format that is human-readable and editable from any text editor.

Message

Exported messages are saved in an XML file having a structure similar to the message form.

The schema can be obtained from Subversion.

Sample Message XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<ns2:message xmlns:ns2="http://xml.fix.jramoyo.com" name="NewOrderSingle" msgType="D" isRequiredOnly="true">
    <session>
        <name>FIXT.1.1:INIT&gt;ACCEPT</name>
        <appVersionId>FIX.4.4</appVersionId>
    </session>
    <body>
        <field name="ClOrdID" id="11">12345</field>
        <component name="Instrument">
            <field name="Symbol" id="55">MSFT</field>
        </component>
        <field name="OrdType" id="40">1</field>
        <component name="OrderQtyData">
            <field name="OrderQty" id="38">2400</field>
        </component>
        <field name="Side" id="54">1</field>
        <field name="TransactTime" id="60">20120930-14:20:05.917</field>
    </body>
</ns2:message>

Project

Projects are saved in an XML file enclosing multiple Message XMLs.