In the “Dates” view you choose the default date settings for model documents. Each time you create a new model document, these settings will be used as defaults.
All the settings for a particular document can of course be changed later if necessary, by using the “Date settings…” command in the “File” menu.
The first group of settings is used to specify the time scale for the document. A time scale is defined by its origin and duration unit. To specify the origin, you must specify the following:
• Year
• Month
• Day
This is done by entering these into their respective fields in the dialog box.
The duration unit is selected by using the “Duration unit” popup menu. The following options are available:
• Years
• Months
• Days
The second group of date settings is used to specify which nodes DynRisk should interpret as “dates”. A DynRisk model typically contains nodes representing many different things, such as cost, time, decisions etc. In most cases DynRisk does not need to know what kind of node it is dealing with in order to compute its values. However, if a node is a “date” node, it is convenient to let DynRisk convert these values into a date format. To accomplish this, DynRisk needs a rule for how to distinguish date nodes from other nodes. You can choose between four different types of criterions:
• Kind is equal to…
• Name begins with…
• Code begins with…
• Unit begins with…
To select one of these, you click the “radio” button to the left of the criterion you want to apply.
If you select “Kind is equal to…”, you must choose a particular “kind” using the popup menu to the right. All nodes whose “kind” property is equal to the chosen one, will then be interpreted as a “date” node.
If you select “Name begins with…”, you must enter a name prefix into the field to the right. All nodes whose “name” property begins with this prefix, will then be interpreted as a “date” node.
If you select “Code begins with…”, you must enter a code prefix into the field to the right. All nodes whose “code” property begins with this prefix, will then be interpreted as a “date” node.
If you select “Unit begins with…”, you must enter a unit prefix into the field to the right. All nodes whose “unit” property begins with this prefix, will then be interpreted as a “date” node.
All dates in the model will be calculated relative to the specified time scale. Thus, if e.g., a date node has an output value of 14.751, and the time scale has January 1., 1996 as origin, and “Days” as duration unit, then the output value will be displayed as January 15., 1996.
