Used for Operations scenarios, the Tabular Editor only contains information after a warm-up or scenario run and is positioned to the first time-step in the forecast period. Refer to Forecasting and Operations for details. It provides a spreadsheet-like representation of data that is otherwise presented in graphical form in the Recording Manager. Figure 1 shows an example of historical and forecast data in the Tabular Editor. The row where the cells have a pale blue background is the first day of the forecast period (ie. normally “today”). Rows prior to this show historical data. At this point, all values in the forecast period are zero because no forecasting has been done. 

 Figure 1. Tabular Editor

Clicking the column title opens the Charting Tool for the node/link’s time series. This is synonymous to right clicking and choosing Time Series Graph from the contextual menu (Figure 1). Choosing Feature Editor opens the node/link’s feature editor that is associated with that column. Note that you can view lagged and storage routing statistics here as well (provided they are recorded when the scenario is run).

Additionally, the contextual menu provides a means of changing the column’s units and access to a formatting editor for the individual column (see Customising the Tabular Editor below).

Clicking a cell shows the relationship between nodes corrected for travel time. Figure 1 shows this relationship using a yellow highlight. When multiple cells are selected:

• The travel-time indicator is only calculated for the last cell that was clicked; and
• The selection statistics are updated to show the sum and mean for all cells in the selection.

The Show Column Editor button expands the window to include an hierarchical list of data sources that are candidates for inclusion in the Tabular Editor. Click Hide Column Editor to return to the original view.

Using the Column Editor

The Show Column Editor tab displays a tree view of all the nodes used in the scenario, which you can expand to show the output parameters for each node. You can change the way results are displayed in the Tabular Editor, making analysis easier. You can:

• Check or uncheck items in the list to show or hide the relevant columns in the table.
• Re-order columns by clicking and dragging an item to the desired location in the list. For example, Figure 2 shows how re-ordering the parameters in the list results in a re-arrangement of table columns. In this case, the Downstream Flow for Storage 2 and Storage 4 appear together in the table after re-ordering them in the column editor.

• Group similar parameters together using the group-related tabs. Click on Add Group and enter an appropriate name for the group. Add the desired parameters, nodes or links by clicking and dragging them into the new group. An additional group (Downstream flow volume for all inflows) has been added to the list in Figure 3, along with the relevant parameters from each inflow node. This group can be renamed (Edit Name) or removed (Del Group).

Figure 2. Show Column Editor (Column re-ordered)

Figure 3. Show Column Editor (Add group)

Customising the Tabular Editor

You can customise the Tabular Editor display 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: 

• To the entire table as a whole - by adjusting a set of user preferences. Refer to Tabular Editor Formatting. Changes made via this method apply to all projects; or
• To individual columns and cells - by right-clicking a column heading and choosing Column Formatting (refer to Customising columns). Changes made via this method only apply to the current project, and will override the Tabular Editor Format settings including templates.

It is also possible to copy and paste single or multiple values across rows and/or columns, including dragging to select multiple cells. Copy and paste are accessed through the right click or with Ctrl C and Ctrl V, respectively.

Customising columns

The Formatting Editor for a column allows you to apply the following conditional formatting to cells in the tabular editor:

• Individual column settings. Here, you can override project-related Tabular Editor Format Settings for the parameters displayed in the Tabular Editor (Figure 4);
• Create a header title (label) and choose the header colour for a column using the Header item (Figure 5); and
• Highlight when thresholds or rules are breached by specifying a function eg. Flow < 500 ML/day (Figure 6).

Figure 4. Column formatting

Figure 5. Column formatting, header

Figure 6.  Column formatting, functions

Override Visualization Assistant

The Override function in Tabular Editor allows to change values for the editable parameters in historical and forecast period for an operation model. The override values will then be used to replace the previous cell value (s) in the modelling running, without overwriting the source data of previous cell value (s).

The developed function about Override Visualization Assistant can help the user to find the editable data in an operation model, enter and edit the comments for changed values and generate a summary table for all overridable values. The functions can be though the editable indicator, comment editor and view override command button.

Note that some parameters such as the modelled outlet release at a reservoir or a weir are not allowed to override.

Override editable indicator

The cell with pen icon on the Tabular Editor (Figure 7) indicates the value in that cell can be changed from the Table Editor. The changed values will be used in the model running, and the source data for that cell will not be replaced.

Click on the cell with any pen icon, the user can enter an override value ( e.g. 965.35 on Figure 7). The new value (e.g., 965.35 to replace previous 0 sourced from a time series in Data Sources) will be used by the model running.

Also, when there are numerous entries Uncheck All (Figure 7) can be used to tick off all the entries and then only the required group can tick on.

Figure 7. Override Visualization Assistant

Override Values in Data Source

The Override function can also be used to fill in missing values of the time series being fed into the model. In Source 5.20, “Data Source” is available in the Tabular Editor to do so (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Override values in Data Source

For instance, time series data assigned to the flow of an inflow node can have missing values that the user can replace them in with new values in the operation Tabular Editor. However, if the time series of this node is used in multiple places in the model, the user can override the missing values through the time series “Data Source” in the Tabular Editor. This way the new values are propagated to all the usage of that Data Source in the model.

Comment Editor

Comment Editor can be accessed by right clicking on an editable cell with Pen icon and it then will display a menu item (Figure 9). Click on Edit Comment (shown in the orange box on Figure 9) will display a text box for the comment continents. The notice icon will be added to the cell (highlighted by the orange box on Figure 7) if the text box is with any contents (e.g., Demo add 200). Enter key can save the contents in the text box.

Figure 9. The menu for the Comment Editor

Other menu items on Figure 9 are described below:

Cut, Copy and Past are self-explained and can be used to edit the values in the selected cells.

Clear Overrides: it will use the previous cell value from the source data in the model running, and the previous source value will be displayed on the Table Editor after the model running.

Add Additional Cutout Line: by configured color in Scenario options, it can highlight one discontinuous line, which shows the water travel time between the selected cell and relevant columns on Tabular Editor table.

Delete Additional Cutout Line: it will remove the highlighted line (by configured color) from the selected cell on Tabular Editor table.

Lock Cutout line: it can lock the Cutout for deletion.

Override Summary table, including exporting and inputting override records 

The Overrides Summary table can manage all override values in the operation model. Its user interface can be accessed from the Tabular Editor using the command button Overrides (highlighted by the green box in Figure 7). Clicking on Overrides will display the Overrides Summary editor (Figure 10) with all existing override values.

The Overrides Summary editor displays six columns:  Recorder Name, Override Date, Override Value, Units, Null Value, and Override Comment. Only the Override Value and Override Comment are editable from the Interface. The Editor interface has six command buttons to manage the override values: `

• Output: This command button allows for exporting all override records into a specified CSV file, which consists of the columns Recorder Name, Override Date, Override Value, Units, Null Value, Override Comment, and Recorder Key. Recorder Key collum is the unique ID.
• Input: The button allows for importing overrides from a specified CSV file to the Overrides Summary table. The inputted overridden data will only exist in the Overrides Summary table if “Apply” is not hit.
• Clear All Overrides: This button allows you to clear all override values in the Override Summary table, then in the Tabular Editor after Apply button is hit. This action is not reversed.
• Clear Historical Overrides: This button will clear override values in the whole historical period and will only display override values in the forecast period (from “tomorrow “only). The action is from values in the Override Summary table, then in the Tabular Editor after Apply button is hit. This action is not reversed
• Apply: The button can save the changes in the Overrides Summary table to the whole Tabular Editor (including changes made by Input/Clear ALL/Historic Overrides buttons and manually from the interface).
• Clear: The button can discard all changes made by Input/Clear ALL/Historic Overrides buttons or manually from the interface in the current Overrides Summary table.

Note that:

• Although the user can edit all contents of export/input CSV files outside of the Source, the user should only edit Override Value and Override Comment and never touch the Recorder Key.
• While importing, if the CSV contains multiple duplicate Recorder Key + Override Date + Override Value/Override Comment rows, that latest row will be considered for overriding.
• Errors occurring during the import/export will be displayed in the error bar at the top, as well as logged to the log reporter if required.
• If the user wants to edit the value of the unit in the CSV file, the user also needs to manually change the relevant Override Value. The input functionality does not automatically convert the relevant Override value between the old unit and the updated unit.

Figure 10. Override Summary

Minimum Flow Requirement nodes in Tabular Editor

Minimum Flow Requirement (MFR) nodes can now be accessed from the Tabular Editor and can be overridden. The recorder of Required Flow Arriving Current Timestep on MFR nodes was added to handle the complex concepts of the water flow due to the travel times.  Required Flow Arriving Current Timestep recorder needs to be added to Tabular Editor as one column for Override if required (Figure 11). The user should override any cells in this column using the required flow that will arrive at the MFR node in the current time step considering the travel time. Another column/recorder of Required Flow is not editable in Tabular Editor and this Required Flow column reflects the default Required Flow, Forecast Required Flow and Overridden Required Flow at a source site (e.g., storage). The travel time in Figure 11 is three days and “today” in the operation model is 10/01/2000.

Figure 11. Override for Minimum Flow Requirement in Tabular Editor

Function Overridden in Tabular Editor

Now, the overridden functionality works for the Source function in Tabular Editor.  This functionality is implemented for normal Source functions and not for custom functions (e.g. the functions from the MDBA plugin). The user can override the result of a function at one or more timesteps, and the override(s) will apply at the same Time of Evaluation as that function’s Time of Evaluation (EOT). This also applies to other functions that are referencing an original overridden function, and those functions will cite the overridden value(s) of the original function at the same EOT if their EOT is the same as that in the original function or after within the timestep.

The steps to set the function for overrides are below:

• Open Tabular Editor and Run a scenario (left screen capture in Figure 12).
• Open Tabular Editor Column Editor (right screen capture in Figure 12) by clicking on the Edit button (green highlighted on left screen).
• Add function(s) to Tabular Editor table for overridden (from right screen capture in Figure 12):

-Click on Functions (1) (top-left panel) to select the type and show it to (2), and click on Functions (2) to show all functions in the model to the top-right panel.

-Tick the functions,  which you want to override such as (3 in Figure 12) $f_t_07_a and $f_t_07_b that is $f_t_07_a +10, in the top-right panel.

-Click on the Add Selected button (4 in Figure 12) to add the selected functions to the bottom panel (5 in Figure 12) and remove them from the top-right panel.

-Click on the OK button to close the interface and return the Tabular Editor table.

• Run a scenario to display the original values of selected functions (left screen capture in Figure 12).
• Override the result/values of the functions (e.g. set 1,2,3 for $f_t_07_a from 10/06/2020 to 12/06/2020 respectively and 4,5,6 for $f_t_07_b from 16/06/2020 to 18/06/2020 respectively).
• Run the scenario.
• Function values were changed in Tabular Editor (left screen capture in Figure 12). The function values of $f_t_07_a from 10/06/2020 to 12/06/2020 were changed to 1,2 and 3 (yellow highlighted in left screen) and $f_t_07_b values in the same period were also changed to 11,12 and 13 (orange highlighted in left screen as $f_t_07_b =$f_t_07_a +10) while $f_t_07_b values from 16/06/2020 to 18/06/2020 were changed 4,5,6 respectively (orange highlighted in left screen) and the function values of $f_t_07_a in the same period are not affected.

Figure 12. Override for Functions in Tabular Editor