File Parameter dialogue : Entering values directly

The simplest way to set a file parameter is to type its value straight into the entry box beside its caption in the file parameter dialogue. For single values, this is the only way to enter them initially. The tick button replaces the currently saved value with what has been typed in, while the cross button reverts the entry field to the saved value.

The datatype (e.g., INTEGER or REAL) is displayed by hovering over the caption to the left. This will also display any comment associated with the parameter. If multiple values are required, the dimensions will also be displayed at this point, e.g., 3 x 3 of REAL). If there are multiple values, you get the pencil icon to the right of the entry field, which normally you would use to load them from a file. However, you can choose to type them in.

In Simile v7, arrays and lists are entered in the JSON format. In this format, an array is an ordered list of its members, separated by commas, enclosed in square brackets. Thus a 5-element array of real could be [2.5,3.5,1.5,2.5,3.5], while a 3x3-element array of integer might be: [[5,10,15],[6,7,9],[4,1,8]]. A list is a list of pairs of index and value, with a colon between the index and value, and the pairs separated by commas, enclosed in curly brackets. Thus a time series with integer values applying at times 10, 50 and 100 could be written: {10:33, 50:45, 100:78}. An array can also be written as a list, with the integers from 1 to its size as the indices. The index-value pairs in a list do not need to be in any particular order. The older format described below also works, for the sake of backward compatibility.

In earlier versions, when typing in multiple values, you must alternate between indices and values at each level, and group sub-arrays in curly brackets. So for instance a five-element array of real could be: 1 2.5 2 3.5 3 1.5 4 2.5 5 3.5, while a 3x3-element array of integer might be: 1 {1 5 2 10 3 15} 2 {1 6 2 7 3 9} 3 {1 4 2 1 3 8}.

If redisplaying the file parameter dialogue in an earlier version, the values will be shown with hashes and colons around the indices, to make the data more readable. For instance the five-element array above would look like this: #1: 2.5 #2: 3.5 #3: 1.5 #4: 2.5 #5: 3.5. You must keep these if editing the entry field to change the value, but at this point you can also go to the table data dialogue and edit the values in a version of the table helper. If the values have previously been loaded from a datafile and there are very many of them, the entry field will be greyed out so you cannot type into it, and will also contain an ellipsis rather than listing all the values. In this case they can only be changed via the table entry dialogue.

In: Contents >> Working with external data >> The file parameter dialogue