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Figure 1. User interface for Source 
 

Launching Source

Source can be launched from your Windows™ start menu. The standard location is:

Start » All Programs » eWater Source n.n.n » Source

The folder containing Source also has shortcuts to various documentation, including this user guide.

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On start-up, the Welcome screen (Figure 2) appears, which can be used to start a new project or open an existing one. You can also choose from a list of the most recent projects that were open in Source. Additionally, you can report a bug and provide feedback by clicking on Report Bug/Feedback. Note that you must have a working Internet connection for this to work.

Figure 2. Welcome to Source screen

 

To skip the Welcome screen altogether and go directly to the main screen next time Source is launched, untick the Don’t show this again checkbox at the bottom left of the screen. To re-activate this option, select Help » Welcome to ... from the main interface, which will open the Welcome screen when Source is launched. Use the Don’t show this again checkbox on the bottom left corner to toggle the display of this screen.

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You are reminded to save your project (Figure 3). Click Yes to save your project and then quit, No to quit without saving your project, or Cancel to return to Source.

Figure 3. Exit confirmation

Main screen

This section outlines the functions available from the application’s main screen.

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The Data Sources toolbar allows you to add and manage sources of data (time series or by linking to another scenario). You can edit or view this data once it has been loaded in the Data Sources Explorer.

File toolbar

The File toolbar contains commands for creating a new project, opening an existing project, and saving a project (and all the scenarios within that project).

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You can only create a River Manager or catchments scenario using this method. To create a forecasting scenario, refer to Creating a scenario.

Figure 4. New Project dialog

Closing an open project

To close an open project, choose File » Close project. This closes the current project and prompts to save your work (Figure 5). Click the appropriate button.

Figure 5. Close project

Opening an existing project

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This opens the standard Windows™ open dialog (Figure 6). Note that opening a new project prompts you to save any open project.

Figure 6. Open project

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About scenario types
About scenario types
About scenario types

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To create an Operations scenario, first create a River Manager scenario. Then, choose Tools » River Operations to open the River Operations dialog.

Opening a scenario

When a project only contains one scenario, that scenario is opened automatically when you open the project. However, when a project contains more than one scenario, you must open each scenario individually.

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You can only open a project that was created in an older version of Source if it was originally created in v3.1.0. If it was created in an earlier version, an error message (Figure 7) will appear prompting you to open the project in v3.1.0, save it, then re-open it in the working version. When you re-open it, you will be prompted to save a backup of your project after which your project will be upgraded automatically to the current version of Source.

Figure 7. Opening a project, error

 

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You cannot use an earlier version of Source to open a project that was saved by a later version.

Copying a scenario

You can duplicate existing scenarios. You may want to do this if you wish to experiment with variations without affecting your original scenario.

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The new (copied) scenario will be a duplicate of the original at the time of the copy.

Figure 8. Copy Scenario

Renaming a scenario

Source automatically gives new scenarios the default name of "Scenario #n" , where n is a number. To rename a scenario:

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If you have not saved your project previously, choose File » Save As and you will be prompted to name your project (Figure 9). Source uses the Windows file extension ".rsproj" or ".rsproj.xml" to identify its project files. Saving a project automatically saves all the scenarios stored within the project.

Figure 9. Save project

 

Note

If you save a project in the folder where Source is installed, the project may be removed during any un-install procedure. 

Editors

Source uses editors which are tailored to the needs of the main scenario types. There are three main editors, known as the Geographic, Schematic and Tabular editors, which support the catchments, management and operations scenario types respectively. These editor-scenario type associations are not absolute and you will often use multiple editors within a given project. For example, you can use the Schematic Editor to define the model of a river system for both operations and management scenario types. The next section provides an overview of each of them.

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The Geographic Editor shows a geographic representation of the catchment model, and displays the sub-catchment map and the node-link network of the current scenario.

Figure 10. Geographic Editor contextual menu

 

Several commands are available when you right-click in the Geographic Editor (Figure 10):

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Note
When deleting nodes and links, there is no warning given, and no confirmation is sought. When a node is deleted, all links immediately upstream or downstream of the node are deleted as well. This action cannot be undone.
Figure 11. Geographic editor (Network editing)

 

 

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Catchment runoff is fed into links, so deleting a link that is associated with a catchment effectively stops that catchment runoff from entering the system. When this happens, the catchment boundary is highlighted to indicate that the catchment is disconnected from the network. Follow the steps listed to reconnect the catchment to the network.

You can also set geolocation coordinates and elevations for nodes and reaches using the Location Control window (using View » Location Control, as shown in figure 12). While it is not essential, it is conventional to set elevations with respect to Australian Height Datum (AHD). You can enter negative numbers for components that are below sea level, such as the lower lakes of the Murray. The elevation of a component is the zero point for that component. For example, the zero point for a storage is the lowest point in the storage.

Figure 12. Location control

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Customising views in Schematic Editor
Customising views in Schematic Editor
Customising views in Schematic Editor

You can change the display of a model in the Schematic Editor in several ways using the Schematic Editor options toolbar and Schematic Editor grid toolbar. The former deals primarily with components drawn in the Schematic Editor, whereas the latter involves display elements. The schematic in the centre of Figure 14 represents one without any options enabled, and the surrounding schematics show the effect when the controls on toolbar buttons are turned on. Figure 13 shows the contextual menu when you right click in the Schematic Editor.

Figure 13. Schematic Editor contextual menu

Schematic Editor options toolbar

  • You can work with links and nodes in the Schematic Editor using Allow Link Dragged. This button allows you to disconnect the downstream end of a link from the node to which it is attached, and then reconnect that link to the upstream inlet of another node. You can use this feature to insert new nodes into a schematic without losing the configuration of existing links.
  • Straight Lines controls the representation of links. Source defaults to drawing links using orthogonal (elbow) lines. Click this button to change the default representation to straight lines. The top-left schematic in Figure 13 shows how a model will be represented after you press this button. The representation of any link can be controlled independently using the contextual menu in the Schematic Editor. Right-click the link and choose one of the options in the Link Type sub-menu. Each line has one control point which you can adjust to route the line around obstacles. The control point for an orthogonal line can only be moved in the vertical dimension whereas the control point for a straight line has no restrictions on its movement.
  • Node Labels controls whether the names of nodes are shown in the Schematic Editor. Source defaults to displaying node names. The schematic on the right of Figure 13 shows the behaviour of the Schematic Editor with the Node Labels control turned on.
  • Link Labels controls whether the names of links are shown in the Schematic Editor. Source defaults to displaying link names.
  • Track (Schematic Editor options toolbar) controls whether the Schematic Editor always scrolls to show components as they are selected in the Project Hierarchy. The default state of this button is off. In this mode, Source leaves the Schematic Editor window unchanged, regardless of any selections you may make in the Project Hierarchy. If you turn Track on, the Schematic Editor window will scroll to bring into view any node or link that you select in the Project Hierarchy. You can use this feature to locate components in large models.
  • Overview Panel controls whether the Overview Panel is shown in the Schematic Editor. The default state of this control is off. The schematic on the bottom left of Figure 13 shows the behaviour of the Schematic Editor with the Overview Panel control turned on. You can use this button to obtain a thumbnail view of your entire schematic. You can drag the Overview Panel to any point within the Schematic Editor but you cannot pan the Schematic Editor by dragging within the Overview Panel.
  • Pan - controls movement of the drawing surface. When this button is enabled, clicking and holding on any part of the drawing surface in the Schematic Editor moves the entire drawing surface. This is an alternative to using the scroll bars;
  • Tool tips - controls the view of tool tips containing information about a node’s order in the flow sequence, its elevation and the node type. A storage node contains additional information including its height, capacity and surface area:
    • Tool tips on – when selected, clicking on any node in the Schematic Editor causes a small floating window to appear which contains additional information about that node;

    • Tool tips offwhen selected, the floating windows do not appear; and

    • Tool tips locked – when selected, clicking any node in the Schematic Editor causes a small floating window to appear next to every node.

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At present, only the setting of the Straight Lines button is saved with your project. Any changes you make to individual links or control points are lost when you close your project.

Schematic Editor grid toolbar (refer to Figure 14)

  • Toggle display of the grid using Display Grid. The default state is off but the setting is saved with your project. Figure 13 compares the appearance of the Schematic Editor with the Display Grid control turned off (centre) versus on (grid sizes 10 and 50). Turning this setting on does not affect the alignment of existing nodes. Alignment with the grid is only enforced when you drag a node. The default state is off but the setting is saved with your project. The grid does not need to be visible for alignment to occur.
  • Change the frequency of grid lines using Set Grid Size. The default is 10 pixels but the setting is saved with your project. Figure 13 shows the appearance of the Schematic Editor with a grid setting of 10 pixels (left) and 50 pixels (right). This is synonymous to right clicking on the Schematic Editor and choosing Grid Settings...
  • You can view a sample printed copy of the model displayed in the Schematic Editor using Print (Schematic Editor grid toolbar). At present, the entire schematic is scaled to fit within a single A4 page in portrait mode. An example is shown in Figure 15.
  • You can save a Source model in .JPEG format using Save as Image (in the Schematic Editor grid toolbar).This command opens a standard file dialog box so that you can choose where to save the image. At present, the entire schematic is scaled to fit within a single A4 page in portrait mode.
Figure 14. Schematic editor, toolbar options

Figure 15. Schematic editor, Print preview

Tabular Editor

The Tabular Editor provides a spreadsheet-like representation of data that is otherwise presented in graphical form in the Recording Manager.

Customising the Tabular Editor

You can customise the Tabular Editor to your needs. For each type of node or link, you can select:  

  • A background colour for the cell;  
  • A foreground colour and stylistic variation (eg. bold-face) for values displayed in the cell; and  
  • The number of decimal places to be displayed.

 

There are two ways to apply formatting: 

 

  • By adjusting a set of user preferences. See Tabular Editor Formatting. Changes made via this method apply to all projects; or
  • By right-clicking a column heading and choosing Column Formatting (refer to Column formatting). Changes made via this method only apply to the current project.  

Column formatting

In this window, the Multiple Expressions tab (as shown in Figure 16) allows you to apply conditional formatting to cells in the tabular editor to highlight when thresholds or rules are breached eg. Flow < 500 ML/day. More than one expression can be applied to a cell. Click Add to specify the details of an expression, and Edit to define the expression using an Expression Editor. When more than one condition is satisfied, the cell is formatted as per the left side of the panel. Hover the mouse over the cell with the conditonal format, and the expression name is displayed. Click Remove to delete an expression from the list.

Figure 16. Tabular editor, Formatting, multiple expressions

The Column Settings tab allows you to override project-related Tabular Editor Format Settings for the parameters displayed in the Tabular Editor.

Figure 17. Tabular editor, Formatting, column settings

The Header Settings tab allows you to create a header title (label) and header colour for the Tabular Editor.

Figure 18. Tabular editor, Formatting, header settings

 Project Explorer

The Project Explorer (Figure 19) allows you to manage model components using a combination of the menu bar, the Project Hierarchy, the Model Parameters area, and pop-up menus. For an active scenario, clicking an item in the Schematic or Geographic Editor highlights it in the Project Hierarchy.

Figure 19. Project Explorer

Project Hierarchy

The Project Hierarchy (refer to Figure 19) displays a structural breakdown of the project. The type of display will depend on the view selected within the View Type pop-up menu on the Project Explorer toolbar. All view options will display at least the project and scenarios within the project. The Default View, which is shown on the left side in Figure 20, displays individual elements that make up a model. The Parameter View (right side in Figure 20) displays all the recordable parameters for the model.

Figure 20. View type menu options

Model parameters

The Model Parameters area (refer Figure 20) shows which parameters will be recorded for the scenario element (node, link, catchment etc) that is currently highlighted in the Project Hierarchy. The indicators have the following meanings:

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The Layer Manager (Figure 21) is mainly associated with the Geographic Editor. It is visible by default when you create a new catchments scenario. Choose View » Layer Manager if the Layer Manager is not visible. You can add new layers, and move layers up and down in order of visibility. The checkbox next to a layer’s name indicates that the layer is visible in the Geographic Editor. Note that any layers that are added or removed are not persisted in the scenario.

Figure 21. Layer manager

Recording Manager

The Recording Manager displays a list of all the recorded results from the model run or runs. Each model run has its own tab. You can sort the results by clicking the column headings. The associated with this window gives quick access to common functions.

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The default position of dockable windows is docked. A single click within the borders of any docked window will activate it. An active window can be identified from either its title bar or from an element within it that is highlighted. For example, the Project Explorer is the active docked window in Figure 22.

Figure 22. Identifying active windows

You can undock a window by dragging its title bar to a new location (eg. Figure 23). This can be into another docked position within the main window, or to a position outside the main window. The predicted position of a window is indicated by a transparent outline. When you release the mouse button, the window will be placed in that position. You can also double-click a docked window’s title bar to undock it. The remaining windows will reposition to take up any vacant space within the main window.

Figure 23. Window undocking (highlight)

Undocking plugin windows

The windows of some plugin tools (eg.GWLag) may be docked in the main window. However, once a plugin window has become docked, the window has no title bar which can be dragged or double-clicked to cause it to become undocked. You can undock such a window by:

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You can dock an undocked window within the main Source window by dragging it back into the main window. Source highlights potential target locations with transparent outlines (Figure 24). Choose the desired position and release the mouse. You can also re-dock an undocked window by double-clicking its title bar. The window will become docked in the main window, usually in the position it occupied before it was last undocked. The other docked windows will resize to accommodate the incoming window.

Figure 24. Window docking

Auto-hiding dockable windows

Many of the dockable windows can be hidden temporarily to allow for improved use of screen space. To activate the auto-hide function, click the icon at the top right hand corner of the window you want to auto-hide. The icon turns 90° to indicate that the window is in auto-hide mode and the window reduces to a tab at the side of the main window (Figure 25). You can inspect a hidden window by hovering the mouse pointer over its tab. The hidden window will slide open and will remain open while the mouse pointer remains within its borders. When you move the mouse pointer beyond the window’s confines, it will slide closed. If you click anywhere inside a hidden window, it will remain open until you click beyond the window’s confines.

Figure 25. Window auto-hiding (tab display)

Adjusting window sizes

The overall size of the main window can be adjusted using a combination of the full-screen toggle (Maximize) and Minimize controls, the window Resize control, and/or by dragging the four edges of the window. Within the main window, the amount of space taken by each docked window can be adjusted by dragging the split window controls. All of these controls are shown in Figure 26. The controls to drag internal and external window boundaries only become available when the mouse cursor is placed over the critical regions. Once the cursor changes to an edge-dragging control, click and hold the mouse cursor, then drag the cursor in the appropriate direction to adjust the window edge.

Figure 26. Window size adjustment controls

About feature editors

A feature editor window allows you to define various parameters for nodes and links. It opens when you double click on components in the Schematic Editor. You can also open a feature editor by right-clicking on the node or link and choosing Edit from the contextual menu.

Each node or link type supports different parameters, so the exact structure of feature editors varies according to the type of node or link being manipulated. However, the controls shown in Figure 27 are common to many feature editors.

Figure 27. Feature editor (common controls)

Additionally, many text fields support a contextual menu. You can use that menu to copy and paste text and include Unicode characters (see Figure 28).
Figure 28. Text field contextual menu

Other behaviour which is shared by a number of feature editors includes:

  • Parameters applicable to a node or link may be grouped according to related purposes;
  • Some user interface elements are only enabled if their prerequisites have been met;
  • The ability to search for elements in the hierarchical list, with the result displaying all instances of the query (both parent and child if applicable). Notice that when you enter the search criteria (as shown in Feature Editor 1), the results are displayed in blue. In this case, the term ‘flow’ appears in both the parent and child; and
  • When multiple values can be entered for a single parameter, only one value can be adjusted at a time. A highlight (normally blue) indicates the field being manipulated. To edit a different field in this table, click the mouse pointer in the target field.
Feature editor 1. Inflow node (Search functionality)

Many feature editors support loading parameter information from a file. Where present, the Import... button can be used to load parameters into a feature editor whereas the corresponding Export... button will save the table’s current values to an external file. Additionally, as an alternative to entering or importing discrete parameter settings, the feature editors for many nodes allow for the node’s behaviour to be defined via an arithmetic expression (refer to Expression Editor).

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About piecewise linear editors
About piecewise linear editors
About piecewise linear editors

Piecewise linear editors are used in a number of places within Source. They allow you to arbitrarily define complex relationships in two dimensions. A typical use is a relationship between inflow (on the X-axis, or abscissa) and outflow (on the Y-axis, or ordinate). As the name suggests, piecewise linear editors are formed by concatenating line segments. The number of coordinate-pairs entered into any piecewise linear editor, and the comparative simplicity or complexity of the resulting relationship "curve", is up to you.

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Date-pickers are used in a number of places within Source. They are a combination of an editable text field and a pop-up calendar. Figure 29 shows the relationship between the various components.

Figure 29. Date-picker

You can edit a date directly by selecting either the Day, Month or Year element within the text field (you cannot select the day of the week). Once an element has been selected, you can also change the selection by using the left and right arrow keys. You can adjust an element’s value by using the up and down arrow keys or by entering a new numeric value. Note that you also use numeric values for the Month element. For example, typing "7" changes the Month element to "July".

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