The workspace features a main menu bar in which the various functions of RiverWare are organized into menus. The workspace also contains a dockable toolbar featuring shortcut buttons to some key RiverWare operations and utilities. There is also a dockable object list panel of all the objects on the workspace and a dockable run control panel. A screenshot of the workspace is shown in Figure 3.1.

The workspace supports two modes

Typically, Full mode is used when building a model or investigating objects on the workspace. Compact mode is used when you don’t need to see the canvas views and you want to use the toolbar buttons and menus to run a script, execute a run or look at outputs. In this approach, some users will open RiverWare, detach the Object List and Run Controls and then switch to Compact mode to provide a more efficient use of screen space.

To switch between the two modes:

The following sections describe each mode.

When the canvas is shown if Full mode, the canvas views are shown along with the menus, toolbar, dockable windows, and status bar. This is the default and primary view of the simulation space where models are built and modified. In the workspace, a model is graphically represented as a network of objects with links connecting the objects. The workspace allows for exploration of the model through the following viewing options:

Figure 3.3 shows a view of the workspace in Full mode.

“Compact” display mode shows only the title bar, menus, toolbar (if enabled), and status bar. In other words, the Compact display mode hides the canvas/views, Simulation Object List (if shown and docked within the workspace), and Animation controls (if shown and docked within the workspace). Figure 3.4 shows a view of the workspace in Compact mode.

Sometimes the workspace can obscure other dialogs that you may wish to see. When this happens, you can use the Send Workspace to Back operation to force the Workspace window to be displayed behind any other overlapping window. The action is available in the following ways:

Since the Workspace is the main RiverWare interface and the hub for many actions and operations, it is often necessary to open the workspace to access other parts of the RiverWare. To show the workspace from many other dialog boxes in RiverWare, use the Show Workspace operation using one of the following:

The toolbar in RiverWare is dockable, meaning it can be moved from one side of the workspace to the other or exist as an independent dialog. Table 3.1 summarizes the Workspace buttons.

On the workspace, there are four dockable panels that can be shown, hidden and moved to various locations. The following lists the panels and their possible locations:

To change the layout, drag the panel to the new location. Interactive moving is not preserved from one session to the next; instead set up your desired dockable panel appearance in the Settings Manager. See Settings Manager for more information on using the utility.

In the Settings Manager, use the Workspace category and Docked Panels Initial Appearance page:

On the right, for each panel, select whether to show the panel and its position. As noted, this is the startup behavior and does not affect the current display. Also note, these settings are preserved in the settings file, not in the model.

The Run Controls Panel provides quick access to the common buttons used to make a run. It is shown by default in the lower right corner of the workspace, below the Object List, but can be detached or moved to other locations as desired.

The panel contains

Similar to the Object List and Animation Controls panel, the Run Controls panel can be undocked into a floating window and re-docked on either the left or right side of the Workspace window. Its shown/hidden state is saved to window layouts that contain the Workspace window and it will be restored as such when a window layout is applied.

There are three “Viewer” buttons at the bottom of the workspace. The buttons allows for quick access to the appropriate viewer showing previously opened viewer dialogs. The viewer buttons are:

The workspace has buttons on the bottom of the dialog to show the loaded RBS ruleset or optimization goal set . The bar is colored (red for RBS, purple for Opt) when there is a loaded set, grey when there isn’t. In Figure 3.6, there is a loaded RBS ruleset, but no loaded Opt goal set. Select one of the buttons (when loaded) to raise the loaded set to the top.

Also shown are color-coded icons for the following:

Hover over any icon for a tooltip indicating the location or click to open that set. Also, the sets are still available through the Policy menu. See About RPL Sets in RiverWare Policy Language (RPL) for the color code for sets.

The Simulation Workspace right-click context menu (when not selecting a simulation object icon) has the following options.

The moving of Simulation Object icons on the Workspace can be disabled by locking icon positions as follows:

Within the settings manager, you can also specify the behavior of the lock on model load. (See the Settings Manager) Use the Workspace and then Lock Objects page as shown.

This is a model file setting that is applied only during model load.

RiverWare provides the option to show commas as a thousands separator in slot values (slot dialogs, SCT, accounts, and exchanges) and numeric values entered into a RPL expressions. Commas are shown by default but can be turned off from the Settings manager or by selecting the Workspace menu, then Numeric Display.

With the Show Commas in Numbers box checked, it will show commas in all numbers. The only exception is that you can configure custom slots with no units to display Years. In that case, the years do not show the comma or any values to the right of the decimal point. For more information on the Year display type, see Numeric Display Type in User Interface.

The Synchronize Series Slot Scrolling option allows all series slot windows to scroll together. That is, the dates scroll at relatively the same time. There is no guarantee that the exact same dates will be at the top of the window due to different sized windows and content, but in general relatively the same dates will be shown when scrolling is synchronized.

Synchronized Scrolling is enabled/disabled on each slot using the Synchronize Scrolling checkbox in the relevant windows. For more information, see Synchronize Scrolling. Synchronized scrolling and the Global Time Scroll allow you to quickly move through the time range in many RiverWare windows. For more information, see Global Time Scroll

In addition, you can configure whether to have the setting enabled on model load. In the Settings Manager, select the Windows, then Numeric Display. See Figure 3.7 above for a screenshot of the display.

There are two ways to add items to the workspace views to annotate your objects and layout. Following is a brief overview and then more details are in the sections that follow:

To annotate the workspace with text or image files, use the right-click context menu and select Add Workspace Text or Add Image. This opens a window where you specify the text or an image, respectively. The image below left shows the text editor and the resulting text below it.

Figure 3.8 shows the image editor with a small image shown. Also shown is the tooltip for the specified text. This is the text you see when you hover over the image.

These are supported separately on the Simulation and Accounting views, but not the Geospatial view. Images are saved in the model file and will increase the model file size. GIF, PNG, or JPG images are supported.

Create rectangles, ovals, lines and canvas text on the workspace views to annotate or organize the workspace. A sample workspace is shown below.

Create these items using the right-click context menu.

Each item is added to the workspace. Once created, position them on the workspace. Configure the colors, line types, fonts, and so forth using the Output Canvas. Quick access to the Output Canvas configuration is provided by right-click options on the item. For example, to configure a rectangle, right-click on the border and select Configure as shown below:

It then opens the Output Canvas editor. See Configuring an Output Canvas in Output Utilities and Data Visualization for more information. See the following for more information on the supported items:

The Output Canvas allows you to create spatially distributed output visualization diagrams. You can show the following items from an Output Canvas directly on the Simulation and/or Geospatial Views. See Showing Canvas Items on the Workspace in Output Utilities and Data Visualization for details.

When items are shown on workspace views, an additional panel of Animation Controls can be shown below the Simulation Object List, as shown in Figure 3.12. See Animation in Output Utilities and Data Visualization for details on the controls. Like other dockable windows, this panel can be pulled off the workspace to its own dialog, docked on the left side of the workspace or closed. To redisplay the panel, use the Windows, then Show Animation Controls menu.

The Slot Cache provides a temporary copy of series slot values. The cache is created from the Workspace, then Create Slot Cache menu. Within the run range, all visible series slots (except those on Data Objects that are not optimization variables, exchanges, supplies, and those slots with different step size than the run) are copied to the cache when this menu is operated. These values can be accessed using RPL predefined functions SlotCacheValue and SlotCacheValueByCol. They are typically used during an optimization run for certain Seed Method parameters. The cache values are not saved in the model file.

Manually clear the Slot Cache using the Workspace, then Clear Slot Cache option.

All objects can be cleared from the workspace by selecting Workspace, then Clear Workspace. A confirmation dialog appears warning that all objects on workspace will be removed. All rulesets will also be cleared and any unsaved changes will be lost.