Analytica 4.0 beta Release Notes

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These Release Notes apply to Build 4.0.0.58, 10 Sept. 2007.

Installation Notes

  • Analytica 4.0 can coexist with Analytica 3.1 on the same computer. Thus, you can install Analytica 4.0 beta while retaining Analytica 3.1. After installing 4.0, a double-click on a x.ANA file will run the model in 4.0. To run a model with 3.1, start Analytica 3.1, and use the Open Model... option from the File menu to select the model.
  • If you uninstall Analytica 3.0 or 3.1 after installing 4.0, it will wipe out the 4.0 registry tree. So, you will need to re-run the 4.0 installer.
  • We are finding that the librares and example models are not updating when you update from a previous version. Many fixes and enhancements are found in these libraries. Until we have fixed this installer problem, we recommend that you get the latest by following these instructions:
    • After you've run the newest installer to upgrade, go to Window's Control Panel → Add or Remove Programs
    • Select Analytica 4.0 and press the Change/Remove button.
    • Select the "Repair" option.

Upward compatibility for Models from Analytica 3.1

Most models created in Analyica 3.1 load and evaluate fine in 4.0. We hope beta testers will check that 4.0 works and gives the same results as 3.1 -- unless there is a good reason why they should be different. There are two areas where you should expect results to be different:

  • Graph settings: Some Graph Setup options will not transfer to 4.0, because 4.0 offers different (and much richer) graphing options. For example, settings for axis ranges in 4.0 may attach to the Index rather than the graph. So, expect to do some tweaking of graphs -- and to enjoy the new options.
  • 0*NaN and 0*INF: Analytica 4.0 supports the IEEE 754 Binary Floating Point Arithmetic standard: Thus 0*NaN or 0*INF return NaN. In 3.1, the result was zero. If your model took advantage of the old behavior to zero out NaNs or INFs, you may find NaN or Null in downstream results that were not there in 3.1. If you check Show result warnings in the Preference dialog, it will warn you if your model relies on the old behavior and help pinpoint where this occurs.

See Changes in 4.0 that could impact 3.x models for a more comprehensive list.

Not working yet

  • Auto recovery does not correctly recover "Add Linked Module" actions. Some problems after "Add Module". OLE links are not re-established. In the latter two cases, saving the model after crash recovery, then reloading should fix the problem. It is best to save after adding a module or library, rather than relying on auto recovery.

Changes in 4.0.0.58

(since 4.0.0.56)

Basic bug fixes are not listed here. There were several in this build.

Graphing

  • Substantial improvements to the layout of very long titles and long categorical labels on graphs. The graphing engine performs additional optimization for the amount of space to allocate to very long titles or labels, preventing overlap, and deciding when to truncate (with ellipses) or word wrap. This fixes many instances in which very long labels extended off the edge of the graph, overlapped with titles, or too many labels were omitted because of neighboring long labels hogging the space (e.g., by word wrapping or truncating neighboring labels, often more labels can now be included).
  • Axis labels, key titles and key labels can inherit font face (e.g., from the face used for Axis titles). While this altered in 4.0.0.56 so that only face, and not style (bold, italics) or size, would be inherited, some inheritance of style was still occurring and has now been fixed.

GUI

  • The red check in the attribute pane did not always cancel the current edit. Fixed.
  • Fixed a bug with tables defined as Table(I,J), with no explicit values yet (so that the default are used), containing choice pulldowns. The first edit in these tables would not store correct -- the pulldowns in cells would interact.

Databases

  • Fixed an inefficiency with reading in very large database tables (e.g., greater than 100,000 rows) using DbQuery.

Built-in Functions

  • The SolverInfo function in Analytica Optimizer was added to the Optimizer library on the Definition menu. (The function existed, but didn't appear on the menu).
  • Removed the deprecated Fractiles distribution function from the menu. The function is still present for legacy, but just doesn't show up any more. You should use CumDist instead -- it supercedes the functionality and array abstracts better.
  • Function Unique(A,I) now correctly handles the case where A has dimensions other than I (finding the unique slices).
  • Fixes to StepInterp, LinearInterp, and other interpolation functions' array abstraction in which blank (undefined) cells were incorrectly returned when the data points (first two parameters) do not include the running index (fourth parameter).

Libraries

  • Note: Discovered that the Updating your installation to a new build, where the installer automatically updates, isn't updating to the newest versions of libraries. Selecting "Repair" from the Add/Remove programs dialog, after you've run the installer, fixes this.
  • The "Discrete Distributions.ana" library has finally been removed from the distribution. All functions defined within have been built into Analytica since Analytica 3.0, so it was here solely for legacy models.
  • A linked library/module now remembers its node size, so if you're fonts are close to standard size, the node should usually not require resizing now after you've done a "Add Library..." or "Add module...". The library files included with Analytica have all been adjusted to reasonable node sizes.
  • Note: If a module's diagram has not been set (via Diagram Style...), it inherits is parent diagram's font. Previously, if the parent diagram font was changed while the module window was opened, the change wasn't visible until the diagram was closed and re-opened. It now updates immediately. Also, when a linked library was read in

File Saving

  • A mechanism has been inserted for suppressing the header comment at the top of an Analytica model file (in standard, non-XML, format). This is the line that looks like:
{ From user Lonnie, Model Portfolio_Analysis at Thu, Sep 06, 2007 2:36 PM}

Apparently this line confuses a certain source control system. To turn off this comment when saving, use regedit to set the registry setting: 

HKCU/Software/Lumina Decision Systems/Analytica : SuppressFileHeaderComment (DWORD) = 1

ADE

  • Remedied a problem with return values from CATable::GetSafeArray( ) when the recently introduced CARenderingStyle::NullValue property was set to a string.

Previous Beta Builds

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