STAMS SOLVER TOOLSET MANUAL

INSTALLATION

How to install the Windows version of the STAMS SOLVER Toolset

Author: S Tobia, G Watt & H Dobby

1. INTRODUCTION

The files required for installation of the STAMS SOLVER Toolset for Microsoft Windows can be downloaded from the WWW or they may be obtained from STAMS on a set of floppy disks. The installation procedure is a Windows program which must be used to copy the files to your hard disk.

2. PRE-INSTALLATION CHECKS

The Windows version of the STAMS SOLVER Toolset will only work if you are running Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 3.1.
Solver for Windows requires the presence of a Borland Windows Pascal compiler, either Turbo Pascal for Windows 1.5 or Borland Pascal with Objects 7.0.
Solver for Windows requires the font ‘Courier New Bold (True Type)’ to be installed in Windows. The list of installed fonts can be found in the fonts dialog box which is found in ‘Control Panel’ within the ‘Main’ group. This font comes with Windows so it should be present. If the font does not exist consult the Troubleshooting section of this manual.
If installation is from the hard drive, all the installation files should be located in the same directory.
Finally, the directory or floppy disk containing the installation files must allow write access, as some temporary files are created within this space during the installation process.
N.B. It is essential that the host compiler is installed before the Solver for Windows installation is attempted.

3. INSTALLATION

The downloaded version of the Solver for Windows Toolset is supplied as a self-extracting archive file solvarc.exe, while the disks contain the current versions of the STAMS SOLVER Toolset and the installation program, Install.exe.

Installing from downloaded files We assume that the downloaded self-extracting archive file, sfwin31.exe, containing the Solver for Windows 3.1 files and installation program has been saved in directory C:\TEMP. To extract the files contained in this archive run sfwin31.exe by typing C:\TEMP\sfwin31 in the Run.. option of the Start menu or double clicking on the sfwin31.exe program in the C:\TEMP folder. The file sfwin31.exe will automatically unpack to give an installation program, install.exe and a number of archive files containing the Solver for Windows toolset. The installation program can then be run by typing C:\TEMP\install.exe in the Run.. option of the Start menu or by double clicking on install.exe in the C:\TEMP directory.

Installing from supplied disks Start windows and place dsitribution disk #1 in the floppy (C:) drive. Run the program Install.exe located on the installation disk. This can be achieved by typing A:\INSTALL (or B:\SETUP) in the Start menu’s Run... or by invoking Windows Explorer and double clicking on the Install.exe program.

NB. If using Windows 3.1, use the Run.. option of the Program Manager's File menu to run solvarc.exe and install.exe.

After a few moment the install form will appear :

The default setup will assume the Host Compiler to be Turbo Pascal for Windows, but this can be altered by clicking on the Borland Pascal With Objects radio button. Choose your Host Compiler before setting your compiler directory.

The ‘Install To :’ edit box defaults to C:\SFW which is the directory to which the Solver system files will be installed (SOLVER SYSTEM DIRECTORY or SSD). Decide if you wish to change this and enter the path (including drive letter) into the edit box. If the host compiler path is incorrect, enter the correct compiler path in the ‘Compiler Directory :’ edit box. (Note : The standard Turbo Pascal for Windows compiler directory is C:\TPW while the directory containing the Borland Pascal compiler is usually C:\BPW\BIN)

The Install program will then uncompress the SOLVER system into your directory and automatically add the names and icons of the toolset to the Programs list under the Start Menu calling the group of programs Solver 5.06. After installation, the user can customize the Windows 95 setup so that Solver 5.06 appears as a program group on the desk top. Start up Windows Explorer, go to directory C:\WINDOWS\START MENU\PROGRAMS and highlight the Solver 5.06 folder. Choosing the Create Shortcut option from the File menu creates a shortcut to Solver 5.06 in the same directory. When the shortcut is dragged into the Desktop directory, a folder titled ‘Shortcut to Solver 5.06’ appears on the desk top which contains the solver toolset icons. The solver programs can then either be run from the Start Menu or by double clicking on the appropriate icon in the program group.

If you are running Windows 3.1, then the installation procedure will automatically create icons for the toolset in a program group called Solver 5.06.

(Note : During this process, if installation is from the set of floppy disks, the installation program will ask for the second disk to be inserted into the A: drive. If the second disk is not inserted and the installation not allowed to continue, then the installation will be incomplete. If this happens, the target directory and the files already copied to the target directory must be deleted, before the installation can be started again.)

Assuming that your SSD is C:\SFW you should find the following structure on completion of installation :

C:\SFW
Advmods - directory
Bin - directory
Contour - directory
Examples - directory
Iterator - directory
Locker - directory
Mapper - directory
Models - directory
Modules - directory
Output - directory
Solver - directory
UtilSrc - directory

C:\SFW\Advmods Various advanced models for the software

C:\SFW\Bin
Conwin.exe
Convert.exe
Fft.exe
Fftwin.exe
Iterwin.exe
Joinmx.exe
Joinwin.exe
Lockwin.exe
Mapwin.exe
Mkpg.exe
Mxtx.exe
Plotter.exe
Plotwin.exe
Printeps.exe
Psprnwin.exe
Solvwin.exe
Txmx.exe

C:\SFW\Contour
Cont.bat
Cont.pif
Contour.pas
Template.cdf

C:\SFW\EcodynVarious models referred to in the book ‘Ecological Dynamics’

C:\SFW\Examples Various examples

C:\SFW\Iterator
Iterator.bat
Iterator.pas
Itering.inc
Template.icf
Template.idf

C:\SFW\Locker
Lock.bat
Lock.pif
Locker.exc
Locker.pas
Template.exc
Template.map

C:\SFW\Mapper
Map.bat
Map.pif
Mapper.pas
Template.map

C:\SFW\Models Various models for the software

C:\SFW\Modules
Compile.bat
Drivlib.pas
Drivlib.tpu
Matrix.pas
Matrix.tpu
Mswinlib.pas
Mswinlib.tpu
Mxfiler.pas
Mxfiler.tpu
Plotlib.pas
Plotlib.tpu
Psplot.eps
Psplot.pas
Psplot.tpu
Turbop.pas
Turbop.tpu
Winlib.res

C:\SFW\Solver
Ringbuf.slv
Solv.bat
Solv.pif
Solvcom.slv
Solver.asv
Solver.fsv
Solver.swv
Solvint.eul
Solvint.rk2
Solvint.rk4
Template.con
Template.def
Template.swt

C:\SFW\UtilSrc
Fft.pas
Joinmx.pas
Mkpg.pas
Mxtx.pas
Plotter.pas
Txmx.pas

Your SOLVER TOOLSET SYSTEM installation is now complete. You should now position the Solver program group and its icons and set the ‘Save Setting On Exit’ option in the ‘Options’ menu of the Program Manager. The default working directories of each of the Solver Tools can be set by clicking on the particular icon and choosing the ‘Properties..’ option of the Program Managers ‘File’ menu.

N.B. In order for the installation to take effect, it is necessary to close down Windows and re-boot the computer.

4. UNINSTALLING SOLVER

The Solver for Windows Toolset can be un-installed by following these instructions :

Delete the program group for Solver 5.06 and the icons held within the group by clicking with the right mouse button and choosing delete. (In Windows 3.1 use the Program Manager).
Use Windows Explorer (or File Manager) to delete all the directories and files held within the Solver System Directory and also in the case of Windows 95, the Solver 5.06 folder must be deleted from the directory C:\WINDOWS\START MENU\PROGRAMS.
Edit your Autoexec.Bat file to delete the line :
SET SOLVHOME=(Solver System Directory)
After rebooting, your machine should be clear of any Solver files.

5. TROUBLESHOOTING

The text in Solver appears to overlap and is too large
This happens for two reasons, if the font Courier New Bold (True type) is not installed in Windows or True Type Fonts are not enabled. The font information can be found in the fonts dialog box which is found in ‘Control Panel’ within the ‘Main’ group. True Type fonts can be enabled by pressing the button labelled 'TrueType...' and selecting 'Enable TrueType Fonts' from within the dialog box. If the font does not exist carry out the following steps:

Insert the Solver For Windows installation disk.
If you are not already running ‘Fonts’ then Double click on the ‘Fonts’ icon, found in ‘Control Panel’ within the ‘Main’ program group.
Click on the ‘Add’ button.
If the Check box marked ‘Copy Fonts to Windows Directory’ is not checked then check it.
Change the drive to your floppy drive (A:, B:) by selecting the down arrow within the box marked ‘Drives:’ and selecting the appropriate drive.
Double click on the displayed font, ‘Courier New Bold (True type)’.
Click the Cancel button when finished.

‘bad command or filename’ appears in the DOS Window when compiling a problem definition.
This happens if the host compiler has not been installed or the path has not been changed to include it.

PSPrn prints out characters to the printer instead of plotting a graph.
PSPrn generates PostScript plot description only and therefore requires a PostScript printer. This problem suggests that you printer is not PostScript compatible.

Locker appears to fail to generate a map when a screen saver interrupts it.
Locker does in fact generate a map when a screen saver interrupts it, just click on the top Window bar that contains the words ‘LOCKER Rev x.x’ to show the hidden map. This happens because screen savers hold a bitmap of the screen that they have interrupted. If the screen below the screen saver changes whilst it is running, the screen saver will have no knowledge of this, and so when the screen saver finishes, it simply copies the original bitmap of the screen back, regardless of any changes that may have occurred during its execution.