Preferences dialog

Analytica User GuideCreate and edit a modelPreferences dialog

Overview

Use the Preferences dialog to inspect and set a variety of preferences for the operation of Analytica. All preference settings are saved with the model. To open the Preferences dialog, select Preferences from the Edit menu.

You can see a Tooltip that explains each item in this dialog by moving the mouse cursor over it (as in most dialog boxes).

Change identifier

Use the options in this box to control the changing of identifiers. See Creating and editing nodes for a description of how identifiers are initially assigned.

When title changes: Check this box to change a variable’s identifier whenever you change its title. Analytica uses up to the number of specified characters (20 by default, range from 2 to 20), replacing spaces and returns with an underscore character (_), and omitting anything between parentheses. If the box is not checked, the identifier is changed only when you explicitly edit it.

Ask before renaming: Check this box to see a confirmation dialog before automatic changing of a variable’s identifier.

Opens: These radio buttons control where you view the definition of a selected object, when you click in the toolbar, press Control+e, or when you choose to edit a variable from a warning message:

Object window: Open The Object window and select the definition text.

Diagram attribute panel: Open The Attribute panel on the appropriate Diagram window and select the definition text.

Personal Preferences

The checkboxes in this cluster are distinguished from all other preferences in that they are user settings, not stored with the model, and persist across Analytica sessions.

Use Return to enter data: A standard MS Windows keyboard has a Return key located on the alphanumeric section of the keyboard, and a separate Enter key located on the numeric keyboard. When this checkbox is unchecked (the default), the Return key starts a new line in a multi-lined text field (such as a definition) while the Enter key or Alt+Return signal that the data entry is complete. When checked, these are reversed, with Enter or Alt+Return starting a new line and Return completing the entry of data.

Maintain recovery info: When this checkbox is checked (the default), Analytica saves each change to a recovery file, starting from the last point at which the model was saved. If the application terminates unexpectedly due to a software or hardware problem, the next time you start Analytica, it detects the recovery file and displays a dialog offering to resume the model where you left off, including all changes. The only reason to switch off this option is when you are editing huge edit tables, in which case, this feature can slow down editing and consume significant disk space for the recovery file. Even when Maintain Recovery Info is checked, we recommend you save your model at frequent intervals.

Expression assist: When this is checked (the default), pop-ups appear while typing expressions in definition attributes, providing identifier auto-completion and function parameter help. When this is unchecked, pop-ups don’t appear continuously while typing, but you can still access the assist once by typing Ctrl+space, or use Ctrl+? to toggle it on. See Creating or editing a definition.

Help balloons: When checked, a help balloon pops up when the user hovers the mouse over a node for one second. For a balloon to pop up, the node must have a Help or Description attribute. The balloon provides a convenient way for end-users to browse a model. By default, balloons are only active in browse mode. When you uncheck ...only in browse mode, balloons also appear in edit mode.

Large text in attributes & tables: Enlarges the font size used in the attribute panel, object window and table cells. This does not determine the size of fonts used in influence diagrams, for that see Diagram Style dialog and Node Style dialog.

Max open windows: Specifies the maximum number of windows that can be open at one time. When you have this many windows open, it will close the window that has been inactive for the longest when you open a new window.

Default result view

Select the radio button to specify which view you prefer as the default when you first display The Result window for a variable.

Display result as a table.
Display result as a graph.

If you change the view in a result window, it uses that view next time you open that result.

Checkboxes

Check variable class: Display a warning if:

A variable whose class is not Chance contains a probability distribution.
A constant depends on another variable (other than indexes to an edit table).

Check value bounds: Enables out-of-range warnings when:

...against Check attribute: the computed value of a variable falls outside the range specified by the Domain attribute
..against domain bounds: the computed value fails to satisfy the expression specified in the Check attribute.

Show undefined: Nodes without a valid definition display with cross-hatching:

Flag nodes w/descriptions: Show a red triangle in the upper-right corner of nodes that have text in their description attribute:

Show module hierarchy: Show a hierarchy bar at the top of each Diagram window showing its nesting level.

Show result warnings: If checked, it stops evaluation and shows a warning message, when it encounters a warning condition. If unchecked, it continues without displaying a warning.

Auto recompute outgoing OLE links: Analytica automatically recomputes and updates OLE-linked tables whenever model changes affect them. With large models, it is sometimes best to uncheck this box to avoid immediate time-consuming recomputation after each small change.

Use Excel date origin: When this is unchecked, Analytica represents dates as a number indicating the number of days since January 1, 1904. When this is checked, is uses January 1, 1900, the same as Excel for Windows.

Domain acts as self index: In Analytica 4.2 and earlier, when the domain was defined as a list of values, that list also acted as the self-index of the variable. Analytica 4.3 separates the self-index from the domain index of a variable, which enables the two to be distinct and leads to a cleaner semantics for the domain attribute. Checking this preference preserves the pre-4.3 semantics, which ensures backward compatibility when it is required. When you load a legacy model into Analytica 4.3, this preference will be checked initially.

Proactively evaluate indexes: Specifies whether index objects should be evaluated immediately when a model is loaded. Turning this off speeds up the time required to load a model, postponing the evaluation of indexes until they are needed (such as when an edit table is viewed or a result is computed).