What's New

ViewSOL can no  longer read Solution files created by GEMPACK Release 8 [2005] or earlier. [Oct 2018]

Data view rows and column can be sorted by clicking middle mouse button on column or row titles or using items from Edit - Sort Header menu. See Sorting Data View. [Aug 2018]

A new item on the File menu, Open SL4 file in ViewHAR, lets you view a solution instead in ViewHAR. You might wish to do this if if you wanted to examine results for variables with more than 2 dimensions (subscripts), which are inconvenient in ViewSOL. [Jun 2013]

In Time Series Mode with two solution sequences you have a choice of six possible views of the results: {Base, Policy, Difference} X {Cumulative, Year-On-Year}. A label at the right of ViewSol's upper toolbar indicates which choice is active. From May 2013 you can:

•Left-click on this label to switch between Cumulative and Year-On-Year views.

•Right-click on this label to cycle through Base, Policy and Difference views.

ViewSOL has also changed its terminology: the second time-series solution is now called Policy (it was called Perturbed). [May 2013]

When viewing a [non-timeseries] SL4 file in ViewSOL, the Description menu item now shows you which TAB file produced it. [Apr 2013]

A new button on the upper toolbar looking like this: gives access to a Closure Summary [Oct 2012].

In Time Series Mode, the Magic Letter is now appended to the top left cell of any table you copy to the clipboard -- to help you remember whether numbers you paste to Excel are from Base, Policy or Difference results, and whether they are Cumulative or Year-on-year [Feb 2012].

The default output filename used when Converting a sequence of solutions into a HAR File now indicates whether results are Base, Policy or Difference, and whether Cumulative or Year-on-year [Feb 2012].

When viewing multiple solutions, ViewSOL normally puts solution filenames as column headings on its results table. RunDynam, however, uses rather long filenames to identify solutions -- leading to very wide columns in ViewSOL. Usually, all the filenames start the same way -- but end with different year numbers, eg:

basb-br1r-pl1p-2001 | basb-br1r-pl1p-2002 | basb-br1r-pl1p-2003 | and so on.

Since October 2010, ViewSOL shortens these column headings in some cases. If all the filenames end with a 4-digit year, and if the part to the left of the year is the same in all cases, the left part is omitted, so these column headings will appear as:

2001 | 2002 | 2003 | and so on.

You can still see the omitted part in the solution combobox at the top.

Additionally, the message on the top toolbar which tells you whether you are looking at Cumulative or Year-On-Year numbers for Base, Policy or Difference solutions has been made more prominent, and changes colour to remind you which view is shown.[Oct 2010]

A little more information for advanced users of Format files. [July 2010].

The TimeSeries menu item now offers the option of Converting a sequence of solutions into a HAR File which you can immediately see in ViewHAR [June 2010].

You can now have two ViewSOLs at once, via the menu command File...Another ViewSOL. This might be useful in dynamic modelling, for comparing 2 sequences of solutions. See Opening 2 ViewSOLs at once [March 2010].

A menu command for searching has been added. [Dec 2009].

Since Nov 2009, ViewSOL is 'Large-Address-Aware' -- it can use up to 4GB of memory, if run under 64-bit Windows. Under 32-bit Windows, it can still use only 2GB. See http://www.copsmodels.com/gp-laa.htm.

At the bottom right of the ViewSOL window is a button divided into 9 sections, like this:

Click the middle top section of the button to make ViewSOL fill the top half of the screen; click the middle left section to make ViewSOL fill the left half of the screen; and so on. Click corners to move ViewSOL to a quarter of the screen. Clicking the middle section makes ViewSOL fill the middle part of the screen. [Sep 2009]

There have been various improvements to the placement and sizing of windows if you are using huge or multiple monitors. [Sep 2009].

By default, ViewSOL now attaches numbers to set elements that appear as row or column labels of results tables. But you can use the File...Options command to switch off this behaviour. [Feb 2009]

Improvements to ViewSOL in Time Series Mode. There is a more helpful message when Percent Change Variables Changed Sign. And ViewSOL now automatically filters out larger variables to keep total (all-solution) memory needs within 500 MB [July 2008].

A new option, AccFlex, has been added to the Number of Decimal Places choice. The AccFlex (Accurate Flexible) format is similar to Flex, but it shows 7 significant figures and drops down to scientific notation for very tiny numbers [June 2008].

Buttons and other elements now follow the appearance you chose for your Windows XP or Vista "theme" [Mar 2007].

Preparing for Windows Vista: Online help is now in the newer CHM format and there have been a few font and layout changes [December 2006].

New Help..GEMPACK PDF Documentation gives you direct access to the GEMPACK manuals, if you installed them with GEMPACK [August 2005].

An accuracy summary may be available for SL4 (solution) files produced by GEMPACK 9 or later. [Jan 2005]

Two new options, Sci and Flex, added to the Number of Decimal Places choice [Jan 2005].

You can now copy individual rows or columns of numbers from the Results window. To copy a column, control-click (ie, hold down Ctrl key while clicking left mouse button) on the column heading. To copy a row, control-click on the row label (left-most cell). A similar facility has been added to ViewHAR. [Jan 2005]

ViewSOL reads Solution files produced by Release 9 or later of GEMPACK directly. ViewSOL cannot read Solution files created by  Release 8 [2005] or earlier.

When levels results are shown, the fourth column shows ordinary changes for variables which are percent-change in the TAB file and it shows percent changes for variables which are Change variables in the TAB file. In other words, the fourth column shows the opposite (chage/percent-change) of what the first column (the simulation results) shows.

ViewSOL can now show results from Solution files produced by SAGEM from Release 9 (or later) of GEMPACK. These Solution files can contain a cumulative solution, subtotals solutions and/or individual column solutions. [See chapter 10 of GPD-3 for details about Solution files produced by SAGEM.] You can choose to ignore subtotals or individual column solutions. See Options.

In the Results window, you can click on row or column headings to see more information in the bottom panel.

If the column or row heading contains a variable name, you see the dimensions of the variable, whether it is a percent-change or change variable, and the description from the TAB file.

•If the column heading refers to a solution, you see more details about the solution.

•You can right-click on the bottom panel to copy its text to the Clipboard.

The previous Keep SOL and SLI files option is abolished: see SOL and SLI files [September 2004]

ViewSOL now respects Windows conventions whether a period or a comma is used as the decimal separator character. However, an option in ViewHAR lets you force a period to be used. See the ViewHAR online help. [May 2004]

If you Export...Copy macro results to a spreadsheet, an extra column of variable descriptions is pasted into the spreadsheet. The same if filtering is in effect and you copy filtered vector elements. [April 2003]

Programs menu item is slightly updated...you can now launch a DOS box in any directory you choose.

If SL4 file was produced by GEMPACK 8.0 or later, ViewSOL detects and warns about Solutions Obtained from Structurally Singular Models [April 2002]

Improved algorithm for width of table columns [Aug 01].

Format dialog now offers the option Aways list all variables alphabetically; by default this option is selected (ie, by default variables are sorted alphabetically).

Shortcut keys have been fixed up: you can now go Ctrl-C to copy results to clipboard.

ViewSOL issues a warning if it detects percent change results less than -100%. See sign change.

From the DOS command line, you can now type either

"ViewSOL shortrun" or

"ViewSOL shortrun.sl4"

with the same effect.

Advice on a rare problem: DOS Box problem in TABmate and ViewSOL

Quotations appear while a solution is being read: if you need more time to read them, File..Options allows you to adjust this.

Subtotals Results may be available for some models constructed made using GEMPACK Version 7 or later. If so, extra solution files will be present, showing changes due to groups of shocks. You can choose to ignore these. See Options.

ViewSOL now indicates if a variable is of ordinary change type (as opposed to percentage change).

Did you install ViewSOL in the right directory? -- see Where to install ViewSOL.

You can view the verbal description associated with each solution.

ViewSOL now requires a GEMPACK licence in order to read larger solution files.

Charts: You can look at results in graphical form. A number of formats are possible; graphs can be printed or pasted into other applications. See Charting.

Max Size of Variables: In order to save memory when many solution files are to be read in, ViewSOL will discard results for variables above a certain size. You can change the limit -- see Options.

Printing is now more convenient.

ViewSOL now allows you to open several solution files with a single command. See open multiple files.

You can also choose what happens when you attempt to open the same solution twice. See Options.

URL of this topic: www.copsmodels.com/webhelp/viewsol/hc_whatsnew.htm

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