Figure 1. Projects and scenarios
A Source model consists of two parts - a project and one or more scenarios. A project is a collection of one or more scenarios. It identifies the project name (also the file name), description, and any scenarios associated with the project. You can only have one project file open at a time and you should not open the same project file using more than one copy of Source.
A scenario is the representation of a node-link network in Source. An example of the relationship between a project and a scenario is shown in Figure 1.
A scenario describes the major processes in a river system or catchment that are modelled. This includes catchment and sub-catchment definition, rainfall runoff and constituent generation models, data sets and parameters. You can create multiple scenarios to:
Any change to the definition of sub-catchments, node-link network, FUs, or the models within FUs, forms a new scenario. Similarly, a different set of inputs or parameters can be used to set up a new scenario, such as a change in land use or a climate change.
To create a new project, do one of the following:
You can only have one project file open at a time. Do not try to open the same project file using more than one copy of Source because you may lose your work.
In the resulting window (Figure 2), enter the following:
To save an open project, choose . This saves a project file with the extension *.rsproj. If it is the first time you are saving your project, the Save As dialog opens and gives you the opportunity to choose the location and name of your project file. By default, the name of the file is the name of your project. If you wish to save a different version of your file, choose
Note: Despite the *.rsproj file extension, Source project files are *.zip archives. Because of this, you should be careful when sending project files as email attachments, or when downloading project files from web-based sources using the HTTP protocol. Email filters often do not allow *.zip files when they cannot interpret the contents, and both servers and browsers often unpack *.zip archives after downloading them. |
To close an open project, choose . This closes the current project and prompts to save your work (Figure 3). Click the appropriate button.
To open an existing project, either:
This opens the standard Windows™ open dialog (Figure 4). Note that opening a new project prompts you to save any open project.
You can duplicate existing projects by copying them. In your local machine's File Explorer, select the desired project, right-click and choose Copy. In the target location, right-click and choose Paste.
Four scenarios have been described in this guide:
It is important to choose the correct type of scenario before you start building your model. Although a project can contain several scenarios, a scenario type is fixed once it is created and cannot be changed later. Note that scenarios are independent of each other; a change in one scenario does not impact another scenario.
The operations described for a project (above) are also available for scenarios. In addition, you can also import and compare scenarios.
Various menu items allow you to manage scenarios at a high-level.
| Note: You can only create a schematic or catchments scenario using the method outlined below. To create a forecasting scenario, refer to Creating a scenario. |
A project must contain at least one scenario. Whenever you create a new project, you are also prompted to create a scenario. You can create additional scenarios using any of the following methods:
To create an Operations scenario, first create a Schematic scenario. Then, choose Tools » Rivers Operations
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. To view a scenario that is contained within a project, double click the scenario name from the list in the Project Hierarchy. This opens the appropriate editor for the selected scenario, and changes the scenario name to a bold appearance so that you know it is the current, or active scenario.
You can also select a scenario from the list of loaded scenarios on the View menu. Selecting a scenario from the list makes it active.
Source supports backward compatibility for projects created in Source after v3.1.0.
Note: You must upgrade a project if it was created in Source v3.1.0 or earlier. If you open these projects in later versions of Source, an error message (shown in Figure 5) will appear prompting you to save in v3.1.0. Follow the steps outlined in the dialog to automatically upgrade the project to the current version of Source. Figure 5. Opening a project, error
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You can duplicate existing scenarios, provided they are part of the same project. You may want to do this if you wish to experiment with variations without affecting your original scenario.
| Note: To copy only certain network elements, refer to Copying network elements. |
To duplicate a scenario, click Copy Scenario on the Project Explorer toolbar. Source makes a copy of the current scenario and asks you to name the copy (as shown in Figure 6). You can either accept the proposed name or supply one of your own. Keep in mind that scenario names must be unique within a project.
The new (copied) scenario will be a duplicate of the original at the time of the copy.
Source automatically gives new scenarios the default name of "Scenario #n" , where n is a number. To rename a scenario:
Linking scenarios
You can link two scenarios using a Connecting Models. Note that some components of the first scenario may not pass on to the second, linked scenario.
The full version of Source has functionality for determining the difference between scenarios. For more information please see Troubleshooting and Debugging.
When copying a partial scenario, the effect on each network element is different, see Nodes and Links - Copying and pasting.
The audit log keeps track of the changes made to a project over time. This is particularly important for projects that are worked on by multiple people. It contains a combination of software generated information on model changes and provides an opportunity for users to annotate the purpose of those changes with a commit message when the project is saved.
Figure 7. Audit Log Commit Message
Commit messages are used to group software generated logs in a way that makes sense to users working on the project. If the same issue is being worked on in multiple concurrent sessions, you can select Merge with current task to group the logs under the previous commit message.
A large audit log attached to a project can become a processing burden, especially in the case of large projects. Audit logging is on by default, but can be disabled in Edit »Project Options» Audit Log Settings by toggling off Enable Logging.
