Use the Manage Areas screen, to create, delete, and organize the data sets ("Areas") on your computer. The Manage Area screen is divided into four panes. The table in the top pane shows the areas installed on your computer, along with various details about each area (planning period, when and by whom it was last changed, directory size, and whether it is currently "zipped"). You may click on the column titles to sort the table according to values in that area. For example, click on "Area" to order the areas alphabetically; click on "Last Changed" to sort chronologically, with the most recent areas at the bottom.
The lower three panes display information for the area currently highlighted in the table: the area's Schematic on the left, an overall description of the area in the upper right (which can be edited), and the list of previous versions of the area in the lower right (more on this below).
The toolbar at the top gives access to a variety of options for managing areas:
Create: Use this option to create a new Area data
set. The new area can either be blank or a copy of an existing Area.
Delete: Use this option to delete the highlighted
area. NB: deleted areas are permanently deleted from your hard disk, and
unless previously backed up, cannot be restored.
Rename: Use this option to change the name of the
highlighted area (and the subdirectory in which it is stored).
Email: Use this option to send the highlighted area
as an email attachment. WEAP will automatically archive the data set into
a single zip file and then attach the file to an email message. Since
the results files can occupy a large amount of space, you will have the
option of including or excluding them from the zip file. Note: this feature
requires that you have a MAPI-compliant email system installed on your
PC, such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. Note:
This will not work for web browser-based email systems, such as Gmail
or Hotmail. If
you are sending the area to the WEAP Technical Support staff for help,
you have two other options. You
can use the WEAP Main Menu option: Help, Send Email to WEAP Support, and
choose to attach the area to the email. This
will work regardless of which email system you use. However,
you will not be able to send the area if the zip file is larger than 5
MB. In
this case, you can send the area using the WEAP Dropbox: https://dropbox.yousendit.com/WEAP
Backup
the area to a zip file using the "Backup to" option (below),
and then select this zip file on the Dropbox web page.
Backup: Use this option to make a backup copy of the
highlighted area. The area will first be archived into a single zip file.
You can backup to any drive or folder on your PC or on a local area network.
Restore: Use
this option to restore a previously backed up data set, or to load an
area sent to you by another person. You will be prompted to select the
name of a zip file. WEAP will check the zip file to ensure that it is
a valid WEAP Area data set. Tip: You can also restore a file from an FTP
site--just enter the FTP site in the "File Name" box to browse
for a WEAP file to restore, e.g., ftp://sei-us.org/WEAP/Data.
Zip: Use this option to compress the highlighted area
in order to save disk space (it will automatically expand to normal size
when next selected from the Main Menu: Area, Open). Typically, you would
only use this for inactive areas.
Unzip: Use this option to uncompress the highlighted
area. Since a compressed area is automatically uncompressed when it is
next selected (Main Menu: Area, Open), you do not normally need to unzip
it here in Manage Areas.
Password:
Use this option to add, change or delete the password for protecting access
to an area. If an area already has a password, you will be prompted to
enter the current password before you can enter a new password. Note:
for password-protected areas, you must first enter the password before
you can copy, rename, delete a version, edit the note, or edit the version
comment. Note:
Do not rely on this password to protect proprietary or sensitive information
-- WEAP does not encrypt the data files, which means that anyone who knows
how to read a Paradox database file can read the information.
Repair: Use this option to check the highlighted area
data set for errors, including corrupted data files and orphaned data.
Where possible, WEAP will attempt to fix these errors. If it cannot it
will report the problem to you. If errors cannot be fixed, contact the
staff of SEI-US for assistance. This option will also "pack"
the data files of your area, removing unused space and compacting the
data files. (this is different from the Zip option).
WEAP saves multiple previous versions of each area, in case you decide you want to go back to an earlier version of your data. (Think of it as a large undo function.) Backup versions of Areas are automatically created every time the area is saved (containing all files in the area directory except for result files). You may also manually create a version from the Main Menu: Area, Save Version, along with a comment describing that version. If results exist, you will be asked if you want to include them in the version. These previous versions are placed in the _backup folder and named with the area name and the backup date and time. For example, a version of Weaping River Basin from 2.30 PM on March 2, 2009 would be named Weaping River Basin_2005_03_02_14_30_00.zip
As versions accumulate, WEAP will selectively and automatically delete some of the previous versions saved, trying to balance the need to keep several previous versions, with the reality of limited hard disk space. WEAP will keep more versions from the recent past, on the theory that you may realize that a recent change you made was a mistake and want to go back to a previous version. Several versions will be preserved from the previous 24 hours, then one per day for the last seven days, then one per week for the last month, then one per month for the last year, then one per year before that. Note: WEAP will never automatically delete a version for which you have given a comment. You may treat these versions as milestones. For example, once you have finished entering and calibrating the Current Accounts for an area, you may create a version with the comment "Current Accounts complete." As another example, suppose you had just finished a study using WEAP and written a paper. You might want to create a milestone version, with the comment "Data set corresponding to March 2009 paper."
Versions for the highlighted area are displayed in the bottom-right pane, along with the disk space they occupy. The panel has its own toolbar containing five options:
Revert: This option lets you revert to the highlighted
version of a data set. Use this option with great care as it will overwrite
the current version of your data set. The Revert option is also available
from the Main Menu: Area, Revert to Version.
Comment: allows you to add or edit a comment for the
highlighted version. For example, you may wish to mark versions made after
important events such as project milestones. Note: any version with a
comment will NOT be automatically removed by WEAP.
Delete: deletes the highlighted version.
Delete All: delete all versions for this area.
Email Use this option to send the highlighted version
as an email attachment. Note: this feature requires that you have a MAPI-compliant
email system installed on your PC, such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla
Thunderbird.
Menu Option: Area: Manage Areas