Analytica 4.0 beta Release Notes

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The following Release Notes apply to Build 4.0.0.40.

Installation Notes

  • You can install Analytica 4.0 beta while retaining an existing Analytica 3.1. Both can co-exist. After installing 4.0, the .ana file extension and OLE linking will use Analytica 4.0. So, a double-click on a model will run it in 4.0. If you want to run a model with 3.1, start up Analytica 3.1, and use the Open Model.. option from the File menu to select the model.
  • After installing 4.0, if you uninstall Analytica 3.0 or 3.1 it will wipe out the 4.0 registry tree. So, you will need to re-run the 4.0 installer.

Using Models from Analytica 3.1

Most models created in Analyica 3.1 should 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:

  • Graphing: Some Graph Setup settings 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 newoptions.
  • Multiplication of 0*NaN and 0*INF: Analytica 4.0 supports the IEEE 754 Binary Floating Point Arithmetic standard, so that 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 many NaNs or Nulls in downstream results that were not there in 3.1. If you check Show result warnings in the Preference dialog, it will give a warning if your model relies on the old behavior, and help pinpoint where this occurrs.

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

Not Working

  • Printing and Print Preview are not working well. We advise not printing for now, and we do not need you to report bugs related to printing or previewing at this time.
  • There may be some problems saving models in XML format, especially related to system variable settings. For important stuff, it is safest to stick with the default Analytica file format for now.
  • Crash-recovery does not correctly recover "Add Linked Module" actions. Some problems after "Add Module". OLE links are not re-established. In the later two cases, saving the model after crash recovery, then reloading should fix. It is best to save after adding module or adding library, rather than relying on crash recovery.

Changes in 4.0.0.40

This section is in-progress. Build 4.0.0.40 is currently undergoing internal QA testing, and has not yet been released to beta testers. Refer to the links at the bottom for notes on previously released beta builds.

Various minor bug fixes are not listed here.

General User-Interface

  • The Domain attribute is not shown on the object window by default. If you want it to show, check it in the Object->Attributes... dialog.
  • Standard attributes should now always show in the attribute panel dropdown at the bottom of a diagram, regardless of whether they are checked in the Attributes.. dialog. As before, User-defined attributes are there only if checked in the attributes dialog.
  • A couple menu items have been renamed.
    • Window->Tile Horizontally is now "Tile Top to Bottom"
    • Window->Tile Vertically is now "Tile Left to Right"
    • Diagram->Align->Horiz. Centers is now "Centers Left and Right"
    • Diagram->Align->Vert. Centers is now "Centers Up and Down"
  • Some new shortcut keys have been introduced.
    • Function keys, F2-F9, correspond to the toolbar buttons (left-to-right). e.g., F2=parent diagram, F3=outliner, .., F9=arrow edit mode. F10 remains a key to access the main menu. F11 toggles between edit/arrow modes (formerly F2). And F12 or CTRL F12 provides access to the typescript window (same as CTRL-', but the latter is not available on some non-English keyboards).
  • Find... will find exact matches first. For example, when searching for a title, if you have a node titled "Revenue" and another titled "Net Revenue", a title search on Revenue will find both (as before), but will find the exact match first. As before, CTRL-G finds the remaining matches.
  • When you enter expressions into the text boxes in the object finder for an operator, the function finder is now aware of operator precedence and will insert parentheses when necessary. For example, if you enter "1+2" and "3+4" into the boxes for the * operator, the expression (1+2)*(3+4) is pasted into the definition.
  • Some layout changes were made to the Number Format dialog.

Diagram

  • New alignment option: Align->Left and Right Edges
  • Make Same Size->Width (or Both), when applied to input nodes, now resizes the input control, as well as the node boundaries.
  • Align->Horiz. Center (Centers Left to Right), when applied to an input/output control, now uses the left edge of the control as the point of alignment.
  • Make Same Size, when applied to an input/output control, always leaves the left edge position fixed (rather than leaving the center fixed as with variable nodes).

Tables

  • Choice pulldowns in edit tables have been shortened and widened for asthetic reasons, to reduce unnecessary row height and to fill out the cell.

Graphing

  • Two pre-defined graph templates have been added. Beta testers should not rely on these, they are subject to change. But we do hope to assemble several pre-defined templates before release, so these have been included so we can work out the kink with pre-defined templates.
  • When there is more than one key on a graph, the key background (when outlined or filled) is now a single rectangular area that covers all keys. Previously each key was outlined separately.
  • Pivot controls are positioned in two columns, if the window is sufficiently wide to allow this without overlap. They are also lined up more systematically.

Expressions/Engine/Functions

  • The maximum number of user-defined attributes (UDAs) is now more than 100. Previously only 5 UDAs could be defined. However, the limitation of showing only the first 5 on the object window remains. If you need to view/change UDA values for the 6th or greater UDA, use the attribute pane or typescript.
  • Analytica 4.0 has been moving away from expressions that return the special value Undefined. Result with no result in 4.0 will all return Null consistently. A few additional updates towards this goal have occurred in this build. If-Then without Else, MdTable's default for missing values.
  • We are moving away from the term "VarTerm" for Meta-Inference, in favor of the term Handle. Function Handle( ) was introduced to replace Function VarTerm (which remains, but is not exposed). Also, HandleFromIdentifier now replaces GetVariableByName (the latter is still there, but again, not exposed).
  • The constraintsOnly parameter has been removed from LpFindIIS and LpWriteIIS. This had been added in 4.0, but we decided it was unnecessary.
  • The CumDist distribution function was extended to support named parameters, to be usable within Random, and to support the Over parameter. In addition, a new optional parameter, smooth, has been added, which controls the interpolation method.
  • ProbDist was extended to support named parameters, to be usable with Random, and to support the Over parameter.

Example Models

  • New example added: "Disease Establishment.ana". (not related to new 4.0 features)

Previous Beta Builds

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