en-US/about_PSExchangeClock.help.txt

TOPIC
    about_PSExchangeClock
 
SHORT DESCRIPTION
    A real-time WPF dashboard for monitoring global stock exchanges, market
    data, forex, cryptocurrency, commodities, indices, and financial news.
 
LONG DESCRIPTION
    PSExchangeClock started as a simple countdown timer for the London Stock
    Exchange close and has evolved into a comprehensive global financial
    markets monitoring dashboard built entirely in PowerShell and WPF.
 
    The dashboard provides:
 
    * Live countdown timers with color-coded status for 20 major stock
      exchanges worldwide (NYSE, NASDAQ, LSE, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong,
      Frankfurt, Euronext Paris, Toronto, Sydney, and more)
 
    * An interactive world map with clickable exchange markers and flyout
      detail panels (supports NASA Earth at Night satellite imagery or
      vector continent outlines, flat and globe projections, zoom & pan)
 
    * Toggleable map overlays via the toolbar:
        - Day/night terminator, timezone bands, political borders, and
          timezone boundaries
        - Live earthquakes (USGS), volcanoes (Smithsonian GVP), and
          conflict zones (UCDP/PRIO)
        - Submarine cables and power plants colour-coded by fuel type
        - Auto-displayed legend for conflict zones, power plants, and
          volcanoes
 
    * World clocks showing current times across six base time zones plus
      dynamic zones for active exchanges
 
    * A market data sidebar with tabbed content:
        - Breaking financial news (Reuters, BBC, CNBC RSS feeds)
        - Live forex rates (Frankfurter API / ECB XML fallback)
        - Cryptocurrency prices (CoinGecko API, top 10 coins)
        - Stock indices (S&P 500, NASDAQ, DAX, FTSE, Nikkei via ETF proxies)
        - Commodity prices (Gold, Silver, Oil, Natural Gas, Wheat)
        - Individual stock quotes with company profiles and statistics
 
    * Desktop notifications at configurable thresholds (30, 15, 5 minutes)
      before exchange close
 
    * Secure API key management via Windows Credential Manager,
      SecretManagement module, or CliXml encrypted storage
 
    * User preference persistence (active exchanges, notification settings,
      preferred currencies, always-on-top, secrets backend)
 
    * System tray integration with minimize-to-tray and always-on-top toggle
 
    * Professional dark-themed UI with sortable/filterable exchange DataGrid
 
    * Lunch break tracking for Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong exchanges
 
    * Holiday support via holidays.json for market closure overrides
 
REQUIREMENTS
    PowerShell 7+ on Windows (WPF requires Windows)
    .NET Framework 4.5+ (for WPF assemblies)
    Internet connection (for market data APIs — exchange hours work offline)
 
    Optional API keys for extended data:
    * Twelve Data (free tier: 800 req/day) — indices, commodities, stock profiles
    * Alpha Vantage (free tier: 25 req/day) — individual stock quotes
 
GETTING STARTED
    Install from the PowerShell Gallery:
 
        Install-Module PSExchangeClock -AllowPrerelease -Scope CurrentUser
        Start-PSExchangeClock
 
    Or use the full function name:
 
        New-StockExchangeCountdownDashboard
 
    To refresh exchange trading hours from Wikipedia:
 
        Get-StockExchangeData -ForceRefresh
 
CONFIGURATION
    User preferences are stored in:
 
        $env:APPDATA\PSExchangeClock\user-preferences.json
 
    This file is created automatically on first run from the example template
    included with the module. Settings can also be changed via the Settings tab
    in the dashboard UI.
 
    Holiday overrides can be configured by editing the holidays.json file in
    the module's Data directory. Each exchange code (e.g., XNYS, XLON) maps
    to an array of ISO 8601 date strings (YYYY-MM-DD).
 
SEE ALSO
    New-StockExchangeCountdownDashboard
    Get-StockExchangeData
    https://github.com/PowerShellYoungTeam/PSExchangeClock