FIX Sessions
Manual FIX sessions allow you to launch and control FIX sessions directly from your web browser. They're useful for one-off testing into non-prod environments, or for any time you want a FIX session where you need precise control over which messages are sent.
Sessions are available under the Tools tab of a FIX spec, by selecting All Sessions on the left-hand sidebar.
Creating sessions requires the Fixdev Agent to be running locally on your desktop.
Initiators
A FIX initiator is used when you already have a FIX acceptor (server) listening elsewhere. The initiator creates the TCP connection, and it's expected that it sends the first Logon (35=A) message to establish a session.
| Initiator configuration property | Description |
|---|---|
| Host | The hostname of the machine to connect to |
| Port | The port of the machine to connect to |
| Heartbeat automatically | Whether to send automatic heartbeats after a successful FIX logon has occurred. Usually there's no reason to disable this, unless you're testing something involving missing heartbeats. Once a session's been created, you can toggle this value on the session's "Settings" tab |
| Logon automatically | Whether to send a Logon message after the TCP connection has been established. If this option is enabled, both Comp IDs and heartbeat interval are required. This message consists of a conventional set of fields. If a specific set of fields are required, then disable this setting and send a logon manually |
| Sender Comp ID | Used in the automatic Logon message |
| Target Comp ID | Used in the automatic Logon message |
| Heartbeat interval | Used in the automatic Logon message. The number of seconds of inactivity after which to send a heartbeat |
Acceptors
An acceptor is a FIX server. Acceptors listen on a given port and can accept one or more FIX connections from initiators.
Unlike a traditional FIX server, Fixdev acceptors will accept FIX sessions using Comp IDs that already have an active session; there is no constraint that a Comp ID can only have one active session.
Active acceptors are listed on the All Sessions page. You can stop an acceptor by clicking it, and selecting Stop on the dropdown menu. Stopping an acceptor prevents it from accepting any more connections, but does not kill any connections that were created from it.
| Acceptor configuration property | Description |
|---|---|
| Port | The port of the local machine to listen on |
| Heartbeat automatically | Whether to send automatic heartbeats after a successful FIX logon has occurred. Usually there's no reason to disable this, unless you're testing something involving missing heartbeats. Once a session's been created, you can toggle this value on the session's "Settings" tab |
| Respond to logon automatically | Whether to send an automatic Logon reply after the connection has been established, and a Logon has been received. This reply consists of a conventional set of fields. If a specific set of fields are required, then disable this setting and send a logon manually |
| Sender Comp ID (optional) | The Comp ID of the local side (this, the accepting side) of the connection. Providing a value sets the expectation that the Target Comp ID of any Logon message received must match this value. If it doesn't match, the connection will automatically killed. If blank, the Comp ID of the local side of the connection will be inferred from whatever value is included in the Target Comp ID of the first Logon message |
| Target Comp ID (optional) | The Comp ID of the remote side (the initiating side) of the connection. Providing a value sets the expectation that the Sender Comp ID of any Logon message received must match this value. If it doesn't match, the connection will automatically killed. If blank, the Comp ID of the remote side of the connection will be inferred from whatever value is included in the Sender Comp ID of the first Logon message |
Managing a Session
When managing a session, the top panel allows you to see details about the session, send messages, and alter session settings.
The bottom-left panel shows a log of the FIX messages that have been sent and received. The bottom-right panel shows the details of the selected FIX message, if any is selected.
Read the docs for the FIX Log to learn more about browsing through messages.
Sending Messages
To send a message, select the Send tab on the top panel. You can read the docs for the message builder for a detailed explanation of how to configure messages.
Settings
| Configuration property | Description |
|---|---|
| Heartbeat automatically | Whether to send automatic heartbeats after a successful FIX logon has occurred. Usually there's no reason to disable this, unless you're testing something involving missing heartbeats. Enabling this option after the session is logged on will cause an immediate heartbeat to be sent |