Getting Started
Contents
1. 16 The Edit Menu 18 The Window Menu 19 The Toolbar Operations 20 Interactive Help 23 Section V Using RATS in Batch Mode 24 Running Programs in Batch Mode Windows versions 24 Section VI File Handling and File Names 27 Section VII Technical Support 29 Contacting Estima Technical Support 31 Getting Started Getting Started 3 Section I Introduction Where to Begin If you are new to RATS we recommend that you begin by reading through this guide In particular be sure to read Section IV on using RATS in interactive mode Then work through the tutorial in Chapter 1 of the User s Guide If you are an experienced RATS user we recommend that you look over this guide to see what is new and different about th2. RATS includes an extensive help facility The Windows version uses the standard Windows help system which makes it easy to search for help on a topic jump to related topics move back and forth through previously viewed help topics and so on You can even copy information such as the syntax for a RATS instruction from a help window into a RATS window The help system provides information on using the RATS editor brief descriptions of every RATS instruction and general tips on getting started with RATS Accessing Help You can open the main RATS help screen by hitting lt F1 gt while RATS is active or selecting Contents from the RATS Help menu This provides a brief introduction to the help system and provides a choice of a number of general help categories Just click on any of the links to jump to that topic Menus and toolbar icons at the top of the window allow you to access various special features of the Help system For general instructions on using the help system select Using Help from the RATS Help menu or if you ve already opened the help screen choose How to Use Help from the help screen s Help menu To get help on a particu lar topic select Help Search This allows you to do a keyword search through the available help topics RATS Version 6 24 Getting Started Section V Using RATS in Batch Mode Batch Mode In batch mode RATS automatically reads instructions from a text file and stores the resulting outp
3. to interrupt the execution of these instructions The Run icon returns as soon as the task is complete and RATS is ready to accept more instructions If you want to select all of the text in a window if for instance you want to run a complete program you can choose the Select All operation from the Edit menu or click on the Select All icon The process of selecting text is key to many operations such as printing or saving selected portions cutting and copying text and so on Saving and Opening Programs and Output You can use the Save or Save As operations on the File menu to save your pro grams or output to disk To open a program or output file you ve saved to disk just choose the Open opera tion from the File menu Printing Text You can print your programs and output by selecting the Print operation from the File menu This prints the contents of the active window To print just a portion of the text in a window first select highlight the text with the keyboard or the mouse then select Print RATS will ask if you want to print just the selected text or the entire window contents Working with the RATS Editor The RATS editor allows you to work with multiple windows of information For example you can enter RATS instructions in one text window and send the output to another text window or have several files open at one time In addition to text windows RATS uses graph windows to dis
4. just a portion of a text window select the desired lines before doing Print Directory lets you change the default drive and directory for files Preferences customizes the behavior of the RATS editor See page 14 Batch Mode Windows only puts RATS into batch mode See page 24 Clear Program clears the current RATS program all data series other vari ables CALENDAR and ALLOCATE settings etc from memory Use Clear Program or the icon when you want to enter a new program or re execute a program from the beginning This does not delete any text or close any windows Recent Files Here RATS provides a list of the most recently used files up to a maximum of eight files The list is preserved from one session to the next so you can easily reopen files you were using in a previous session Exit closes all windows and exits the RATS program RATS will give you an opportunity to save any changes before quitting RATS Version 6 18 Getting Started The Edit Menu The Edit menu provides cut and paste and other editing functions See the on line help for further details Undo undoes the recent changes For example if you have Cut a block of text Undo will replace the text Undo also works with data editing windows You can use Undo repeatedly to undo up to the twenty most recent changes in each window Note that Undo never reverses calculations it applies only to editing operations R
5. Finish button This will create the batch job icon on your desktop you can double click on this to run the job RATS Version 6 26 Getting Started Command Line Switches RATS offers several command line switches to control batch mode operation NOSHOWGRAPHS Suppresses display of graphs in batch mode PRINTGRAPHS Prints graphs as they are generated PLOT filename Saves graphs to the specified plot file Equivalent to putting an OPEN PLOT instruction in your program DATA filename Opens the specified file as the DATA unit Equivalent to an OPEN DATA instruction COPY filename Opens the specified file as the COPY unit Equivalent to an OPEN COPY instruction PROC filename Designates filename as a Procedure Library file the com mands in this file will automatically be processed before the specified program file is executed To use a particular switch just add it to the end of the command line you can use more than one switch if you wish For example c winrats 600 rats32s exe run noshowgraphs plot myplot rgf executes the instructions in MYPROG PRG saves the graphs in the file MYPLOT RGF but does not display the graphs to the screen Getting Started Getting Started 27 Section VI File Handling and File Names How RATS Uses Files RATS uses files for several purposes RATS instructions Data input Program output Data export Graphs If you are working
6. Started 9 To go back to Ready mode click on the Local Ready icon or hit lt Ctrl gt L again Use the arrow keys to put the cursor anywhere on the SHOW MEMORY line and hit the lt Enter gt key This time RATS will execute the instruction Important Note RATS allows you to have several windows open at a time but it will only execute instructions from the window designated as the input window See page 12 for details Executing Existing Commands Chapter 1 of the User s Manual includes a step by step example which introduces many of the key RATS instructions Right now we ll show you how to execute some of that example For now don t worry about what these instructions do we explain that in Chapter 1 Put RATS into Local mode and type the following lines calendar 1959 1 12 allocate 1996 2 open data basics xls data format xls org columns table Note that because you are in Local mode RATS doesn t execute the instructions when you hit lt Enter gt Now put RATS back into Ready mode One way to execute these commands is to do it one line at a time Just use the mouse or arrow keys to put the cursor on the first line the CALENDAR line The cursor can be anywhere in the line Now hit the lt Enter gt key RATS will execute the first command which sets the frequency and starting date for this session and the cursor moves to the second line Keep hitting lt Enter gt to execute each line in succession The TABLE
7. The toolbar appears at the top of the screen just below the menu bar The various operations are represented by picture icons as shown below To do an operation just click on the desired icon or text item Text Editing Windows The following icons appear in the toolbar icons when a text window is active Some icons are disabled and appear dimmed under certain conditions Open Shortcut for File Open Opens a text file Save Shortcut for File Save Saves the contents of the active window to disk Print Shortcut for File Print Prints the contents of the active window Functions This opens the Function Wizard See Chapter 1 of the User s Guide for details Input This designates the active front window as the Input window It is equivalent to the Window Use for Input operation Output This designates the active front window as the Output win dow It is equivalent to the Window Use for Output operation These set up split Input and Output windows The first tiles them horizontally the second tiles vertically see page 13 Select All Shortcut for the Edit Select All operation Selects all the text or items in the active window Run Runs the selected instructions or the instruction on the cursor line if any equivalent to hitting lt Enter gt Disabled if the active window is not the input window Stop While RATS is processing instructions the Run icon changes to th
8. command should generate a table of basic statistics for the series read in by the DATA command However when you need to execute a block of instructions it is usually easier and faster to select highlight the whole block of instructions and execute them all with a single keystroke or mouse click You can select text using standard keyboard or mouse techniques With the keyboard you select text by holding down the lt Shift gt key and then pressing lt PgUp gt or lt PgDn gt For this example move the cursor up to the line beginning with CALENDAR using Hold down the lt Shift gt key and press the key five times All five lines should be marked in inverse video or in color With the mouse you can select text in several ways For example you can point the cursor at the CALENDAR line press and hold down the mouse button and drag the cursor until you ve selected all five lines Or you could click on the first line then hold down the lt Shift gt key and click on the last line RATS Version 6 10 Getting Started To try this select all the lines from CALENDAR down to TABLE and either hit the lt Enter gt key or click on the Run icon on the toolbar to run the commands again You may have noticed that the Run icon changes to the Stop icon while RATS is executing the instructions This indicates that RATS is busy executing instructions and that you can click on Stop
9. driven RATSDATA utility program uses the same window format You may find it handy to use RATSDATA for converting data to and from RATS format files or for quickly creating or editing series or generating graphs see the Help system in RATSDATA for details However virtually all of the functionality of RATSDATA has now been incorporated in RATS itself So in most cases you will probably find it easiest to just use the File New RATSData and File Open RATSdata operations in RATS to do this kind of work Series Editing Windows The following icons are available when editing a series either a series in memory or a series on a RATS format file Insert Inserts a new cell at the current cursor position cell value is set to NA Remove Removes the current cell and shifts the remaining data one position to the left to fill its place NA Sets the current cell to the missing value code NA or Not Available Undo undoes the current operation Equivalent to Undo on the Edit menu Max value moves the cursor to the cell containing the largest maximum value in the series Min value moves the cursor to the cell containing the smallest minimum value in the series Graph displays a time series plot for the series Histogram displays a histogram plot for the series Please see the on line help for further details on using data editing windows Getting Started Getting Started 23 Interactive Help
10. exactly how to do it However with type 4 we can only give you a general idea of what you have to do if you decide to press on RATS Version 6 30 Getting Started Statistical Questions RATS has many capabilities which may be unfamiliar to some of you If you decide to explore some new territory we will be happy to steer you to some good references or to explain how RATS does particular computations However while we can help to clear up basic misunderstandings about the use of the RATS instructions we cannot give involved statistics lessons over the phone If you are interested in discovering new techniques watch the newsletter for information regarding workshops Bugs and Potential Bugs In a program as complex as RATS there are undoubtedly some bugs remaining In addition because RATS has many features of a programming language it is quite possible for you to experience problems due to errors in your own code The more complex your program the more likely it is that the latter is true If your program is not running correctly you should do the following Check carefully that you are using the proper syntax on the instruction s causing the problem See the Reference Manual in particular If you are doing extensive operations with loops and COMPUTE instructions put in some debugging statements DISPLAY and PRINT are the most useful for this to see where things go awry Check the list of frequently asked question
11. in interactive mode you open program files with the File Open operation and save output or graphs using the File Save As operation Most other file operations are handled using the OPEN instruction For example opening and reading a data file is handled with an instruction of the form open data mydata rat data format rats In the OPEN command above DATA is the name of the Input Output unit associated with the file name We use it here because DATA is the default unit used by the DATA command COPY is the command most commonly used to write data to a file and as you might expect the default unit name for the COPY command is COPY so we normally use a command of the form open copy export rat copy format rats to write out data See the OPEN command in the Reference Manual for more on I O units and opening files Two other instructions SOURCE and DEDIT are also used for working with files SOURCE temporarily switches the input source to a file This is most commonly used to read in and compile procedures stored on separate files such as the SRC files supplied with RATS DEDIT initiates editing of a RATS format data file RATS Version 6 28 Getting Started Specifying File Names Wherever RATS requires a file name you can use any legal file name as long as the total length is no greater than 255 characters If you give the name of a non existent file for an INPUT DATA or SOURCE file RATS wi
12. it with another string To Lower Case converts the selected lines to all lower case Show Last Error moves the cursor to the line instruction that caused the most recent error Getting Started Getting Started 19 The Window Menu The Window menu offers several operations for working with RATS windows Also a list of all open windows appears at the bottom of the Window menu You can switch to a window by selecting it from this list Tile Horizontal tiles the open windows so they are all visible on the screen using a horizontal orientation windows will be wider than they are tall Tile Vertical tiles the open windows using a vertical orientation windows will generally be taller than they are wide Cascade stacks the open windows so the title bar of each window is visible Close All closes all open windows RATS will give you a chance to save any changes to text windows Close All Graphs closes all graph windows You will not be asked if you want to save changes so if you want to save any of your graphs be sure to do so before selecting this operation Close All Reports closes all spreadsheet windows created using WINDOW options Use for Input makes the active text window the input window Use for Output makes the active text window the output window RATS Version 6 20 Getting Started The Toolbar Operations The RATS and RATSDATA toolbars provide several shortcuts for various operations
13. key to getting updates and technical help After installing RATS you can use the File Preferences operation to enter and save your serial number in the registry You can then view the serial number at any time by selecting the Help About RATS operation You may also want to record this number somewhere you can find it such as in the front of your manual Please fill out your registration form and return it to Estima or use the convenient on line registration form available on our web site This is especially important if you bought the program through a dealer or through your purchasing department as we will be unable to send you newsletters and other notices without an address How RATS Uses Memory RATS performs all of its computations on data stored in memory which allows RATS to run very quickly This means that you will need to have enough memory available for RATS to store your data as well as arrays scalars strings and other variables you define RATS will also need some temporary space for doing calculations such as inverting arrays Each real number series entry array or formula element etc requires 8 bytes of memory storage To estimate the memory requirements of a given program just multiply the total number of series you will be using by the number of observations per series and multiply by 8 For example 200 series of 200 000 observations each for a total of 40 000 000 data points would require approximately 2
14. this new window until you make it the input window You can do that with the Use for Input operation on the Window menu Similarly Window Use for Output makes the active window the output window Getting Started Getting Started 13 Three Window Setups We tend to use the text windows in one of three ways 1 For quick work we simply start up RATS and work with the NONAME window If you aren t really interested in developing a set of RATS instructions to execute later and just want some quick answers this is the simplest setup 2 To test or run existing programs we close NONAME or configure RATS not to open a NONAME window see page 14 open our file and run it as the sole window We save or print whatever segments of the output that we need 3 To develop a new or existing program we designate one window as the input window and a second window as the output window With input and output in separate windows it is much easier to keep a copy of the instruc tions that we decide we like The and icons provide easy ways to get this split window setup they automatically open a second window designate it as the output window and tile the two windows horizontally or vertically respectively Working With Graphs RATS normally associates each graph you create or load from disk with its own graph window This allows you to keep several graphs in memory at a time To print or save a graph you just need to bring the des
15. you double click on this new icon RATS will automatically start up with the Batch Mode switch turned on You will need to click on the minimized icon to open it up into a window You can then drag and drop program files onto the window Command Prompt Method If you are comfortable with using the Command Prompt shells in Windows or are used to using the older DOS version RATS386 in batch mode you may find this method useful You simply need to open the Command Prompt window from within Windows and then type in the name of the RATS executable file RATS32S EXE for WinRATS RATS32SX EXE for WinRATS Professional the name of the input file and the RUN switch separated by spaces For example the command line for WinRATS might look like c winrats 600 rats32s exe c test myprog prg run This will run the job and save the output to myprog lis unless you have used File Preferences in WinRATS to change the default output filename extension You can include commands like this in a DOS batch bat file if desired Short Cut Icon Method There are several ways to create shortcut icons see your Windows on line help or documentation for details One method is to right click on the desktop and select New Shortcut from the pop up menu In the command line enter the command to run the desired program just as shown under Command Prompt Method above Click on the Next button enter a name for the icon and click on the
16. 00x200 000x8 320 000 000 bytes or approximately 320 Mb of memory As you can see most modern personal computers will allow you to handle fairly large data sets For example on a machine with 256 Mb of RAM your operating system and other applications may use as much as half of the available memory or more However you are likely to still have 100 Mb or more available for handling your data which would allow you to handle several million data points Virtual memory can provide additional capacity but will slow down computations significantly Getting Started Getting Started 5 Section II Installing RATS To install RATS on your system 1 Insert the CD in your CD ROM drive 2 In most cases the installation program still start automatically If it does not you can start the installation program by doing either of the following a Select the Run operation from the Start menu and type in d setup where d is the drive containing the CD or diskette Hit lt Enter gt or click on OK to execute the setup program or b From Windows Explorer display the contents of the CD and double click on the SETUP EXE file The Setup software will guide you through the installation step by step Please note that the files on the disks are compressed and must be decompressed by the install program to be useful You cannot simply copy the files to your hard drive Choosing an Installation Directory The instal
17. Estima 1800 Sherman Ave Suite 301 Evanston IL 60201 Orders Sales Inquiries 800 822 8038 General Information 847 864 8772 Technical Support 847 864 1910 Fax 847 864 6221 Web www estima com General E mail estima estima com Sales sales estima com Technical Support support estima com RATS Getting Started VERSION 6 Contents Section I Introduction 3 Section II Installing RATS 5 Section III Using RATS An Overview 7 Interactive Mode vs Batch Mode 7 Section IV Using RATS in Interactive Mode 8 Executing Instructions and Ready Local Mode 8 Saving and Opening Programs and Output 10 Working With Graphs 13 Customizing the RATS Editor 14 The File Menu
18. Mail Estima P O Box 1818 Evanston IL 60204 1818 If you write or FAX us with a question please remember to include your name and a phone or FAX number
19. e RATS interface and then turn to the User s Guide for an overview of the new features and changes in the RATS language What s Included in Your RATS Package In addition to this guide your RATS package should include a CD ROM containing the RATS software as well as the User s Guide and Reference Manual books The User s Guide provides general instructions on using RATS discusses a variety of topics and includes extensive examples The Reference Manual provides a detailed description of each instruction and function in RATS as well as other elements of the RATS language Estima offers two versions of RATS for Windows WinRATS and WinRATS Profes sional The two versions are identical except that the Professional version includes the Census Bureau s X11 seasonal adjustment routine and support for exchanging data with FAME format databases In addition to the RATS software itself your RATS package includes Copies of the User s Guide and Reference Manual in Adobe s PDF format which you can view using Adobe Acrobat Reader If you don t already have a copy of Acrobat Reader you can install one from the Adobe Acrobat Reader folder included on your RATS CD A menu driven data handling utility called RATSDATA This is of less impor tance in Version 6 because most of its functionality has been incorporated into RATS itself However some users may still find the stand alone version useful A large select
20. edo redoes the results of the most recent Undo Cut deletes the selected lines from a text window and copies the deleted text to the Windows Clipboard You can use Edit Paste to paste it back into RATS or into applications Copy copies the selected information in the active window to the clipboard for later pasting but does not delete it from the win dow You can use Copy to copy text graphs or the contents of a spreadsheet display window Any of these can be pasted into other applications Paste copies the contents of the clipboard into a text window This is only available when the clipboard contains text data you cannot paste graphics or other non text objects into RATS Clear deletes the selected text but does not copy the text to the clip board Select All selects every line in the active window The simplest way to execute every instruction in the input window is to use Edit Select All or click on the Select all icon and then hit the lt Enter gt key or click on the Run icon Find searches for a string of text in the active window You can search from the beginning of the file top of the window or forward or backward from the current cursor position Turn on the Case Sensitive check box for a case sensitive search Find Next repeats the most recent Find operation Replace does a find and replace operation locating a specified string in the active window and replacing
21. f you close the input window RATS does a Clear Program operation see below Merge inserts the contents of an existing text file into the active window at the current cursor position Save saves the entire contents of the active window to disk using the current file name which appears at the top of the window Save will prompt you for a file name if necessary Save As saves the contents of the active window to disk using a filename you select If you have text selected in the window Save As will ask if you want to save the selected block or the entire window Export exports the contents of a spreadsheet display window to a file You can choose from a variety of formats Open Graph opens a RATS graph saved in RGF format and displays it in a graph window New RATSData Respectively these open a new or existing RATS format data file Open RATSData and display a Data File window associated with that file Toolbar operations allow you to create new series rename view or edit existing series and display graphs and summary statistics The Open RATSData operation is also the first step in using the RATS format Data Wizard to read data from a RATS data file into memory See Chapter 1 of the User s Guide for details Getting Started Getting Started 17 Print Setup selects a printer and allows you to set printer specific options Print prints the contents of the active text or graph window To print
22. folder on the CD or you can download the software free of charge from www adobe com Examples and This includes a variety of complete example programs and data Procedures sets and a number of RATS procedures pre written callable routines for performing tasks that require a sequence of RATS instructions These are ordinary text files you can open and examine with the RATS Editor We strongly recommend that you install these as they are a very useful resource for using and learning various techniques in RATS Additional procedures and examples are available from our web site www estima com Enders Book The RATS Programming Manual by Walter Enders is in cluded with RATS in Adobe PDF format This is a very useful guide to more advanced programming techniques which Professor Enders has graciously provided free of charge to the RATS community This was written for Version 5 of RATS but most of the information applies equally well to Version 6 Textbook These are complete worked example programs and data sets for several popular econometrics textbooks Help Files The Help files for RATS and RATSDATA These provide quick references to all of the instructions and functions in RATS and general instructions on using RATS and RATSDATA Getting Started Getting Started 7 Section III Using RATS An Overview Introduction RATS is for the most part a command driven application You work in RATS by supplying an instructi
23. have access to the menu driven Wizards for many common tasks In batch mode you supply RATS with a complete RATS program RATS automatically executes all of the instructions in the program in order and saves the resulting output to a file Instructions on using RATS interactively begin on page 8 See page 24 for details on batch mode RATS Version 6 8 Getting Started Section IV Using RATS in Interactive Mode Starting RATS To start RATS in interactive mode click on the Start menu open the WinRATS 6 folder and click on the WinRATS icon This loads the RATS interactive interface which we call the RATS Editor You will see the RATS menu bar the toolbar and an empty worksheet window called NONAME00 PRG Whether or not RATS opens the empty worksheet at start up is something you can control using the Preferences operation on the File menu The RATS Editor The RATS editor is a text editor and interface to RATS which allows you to execute modify and re execute RATS instructions You can execute instruc tions line by line or select a whole set of instructions and then execute them with a single keystroke or mouse click use menu and dialog driven Wizards to perform a variety of tasks See Chapter 1 of the User s Guide for details edit any text file For example you can store RATS instructions on a file for later execution in batch mode examine and edit output files and so on access ex
24. ion of full example programs many of which are discussed in the manuals This includes complete sets of worked examples from several popular econometrics textbooks which are installed in the Textbook Ex amples folder A number of RATS procedures These are routines written in the RATS lan guage that make it easy for you to implement complex tasks such as unit root testing Box Jenkins forecasting and so on with a single call to the proce dure See the RATS Procedures PDF file included with the program for a list of what is included Many other procedure and example programs are avail able for downloading free of charge from our web site at www estima com Many of these have been written by RATS users from around the world RATS Version 6 4 Getting Started System Requirements WinRATS requires A Pentium or Pentium compatible CPU Windows 95 or later RATS has been tested on 98 ME NT 2000 and XP A minimum of 8 Mb of available RAM The amount of memory available to RATS determines the amount of data you can handle See How RATS uses Memory below for more information A hard disk drive with at least 50 Mb of space available Your Serial Number Your serial number is printed on the CD jacket or diskette label It has a form such as WExxxx WXxxxx or NExxxx depending on which version you purchased and whether it is a single user license or a network license The serial number is your
25. ired graph window to the front and select File Print or File Save As or click on the Print or Save icons You can also save graphs using the OPEN PLOT or ENVIRONMENT GSAVE instructions prior to drawing the graphs see Chapter 3 in the User s Guide for details You can configure RATS to use only one graph window In that case the first graph opens a new graph window Any later graphs simply replace the previous graph in the same window See Customizing the RATS Editor on page 14 See the Graphics chapter in the User s Guide for further information The Toolbar RATS includes a Toolbar that allows you to accomplish quickly various operations by simply clicking on icons with the mouse See page 20 for details on the toolbars RATS Version 6 14 Getting Started Customizing the RATS Editor The Preferences operation on the File Menu lets you customize various aspects of the RATS environment Selecting File Preferences brings up this dialog box This dialog box allows you to control the following settings Serial Number You can use this field to store your RATS serial number in the registry This allows you to view the serial number at any time by doing Help About RATS or File Preferences For convenience you can also store serial numbers for other RATS products such as the CATS cointegration procedures just separate each serial number by a semi colon Note in some cases the insta
26. is Stop icon You can click on this to halt the processing of the instructions Ready Local Clicking on this switches RATS from Ready to Local mode The icon will change to Local Ready indicating that RATS is in Local mode Click the icon again to change back to Ready mode You can also hit lt Ctrl gt L to switch between modes This button is disabled if the input window is not active Clear Mem This clears the memory It is equivalent to File Clear Program Getting Started Getting Started 21 Graph Windows When a graph window is active RATS will display the Save and Print icons along with the Fix or Unfix icon Fix Clicking on this icon fixes the graph proportions Resizing the graph window will change the size of the graph but not its proportions or general appearance If you then print or save the graph in any of the available file formats the graph will be printed or saved using these fixed proportions Unfix When you fix the proportions of a graph the Fix icon changes to the Unfix icon If you click on Unfix RATS will be free to change the proportions of the graph whenever you re size the graph window See Chapter 3 of the User s Guide for details Series List Windows The following icons are available when you display a Series List window a list of the series stored in memory by selecting the Wizards Show Series operation Se
27. lation software will ask you where you want the software to be installed you can simply type in the desired directory if you want to use something other than the default choice By default RATS will be installed in the subdirectory C Program Files Estima WinRATS 6 0 This conforms with standard practice for Windows applications However you may find it more convenient to install RATS in a directory that is easier to locate and work with such as C RATS or C WinRATS 600 RATS Version 6 6 Getting Started Installation Options After selecting the drive and directory on which you wish to install RATS you will be given the choice of doing a standard minimum or custom installation The standard installation installs all the items described below The minimum installation installs only the RATS and RATSDATA application files omitting the examples procedures and documentation files The custom installation allows you to select the components you wish to install Program Files This includes the RATS program itself and the RATSDATA data handling utility program Auxiliary Files These are additional support files required by RATS You should install these if you are installing the Program Files Documentation This installs copies of the User s Guide and Reference Manual as Adobe PDF format files You will need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these An installer for Acrobat Reader is included in a separate
28. lect All Shortcut for the Edit Select All operation Selects all the series in the list Graph displays a time series plot for the series Histogram displays a histogram plot for the series Box Plot Displays a box plot for the selected series Statistics Computes and displays descriptive statistics for the selected series including the number of observations mean standard error and maximum and minimum values of each series Data File List Windows When you display a Data File List window a listing of the series stored in a RATS format data file by selecting the File Open RATSData operation the five icons shown above are available plus three additional icons Layout This brings up the List Which Series dialog box which allows you to control which series are listed by on the names or com ments of the series and choose whether or not the list will be sorted by name or the order in which the series are stored on the file RATS Version 6 22 Getting Started New Series Adds a new series to the file RATS will display a dialog box allowing you to specify the structure and frequency for the series and then will open a Series Editing Window to enter values for the series When you are finished entering values close the editing window RATS will prompt you for a name for the series and then will add the series to the file Rename allows you to change the name of the selected series The menu
29. ll print an error message and prompt you for the proper file name If you are writing an instruction that uses a file name or path that includes blank spaces you need to enclose the entire name in quote marks source c myfiles long program name prg If you set a default search path with File Directory RATS will add that path to any file name which does not include either a drive or path specifier While it is not required we would suggest that you use a RAT extension for RATS format data files We also suggest that you use PRG RGF and SRC extensions for program graph and procedure files respectively However RATS does not make any assumptions about the format of a file based on its extension so you can use any extensions you like Getting Started Getting Started 29 Section VII Technical Support Introduction Support is not cheap but we think it is an important part of what you have paid for The next three pages describe the procedures for obtaining support and the level of support which you can expect from us Your Serial Number Your serial number will be printed on a label on the CD jacket This serial number is your key to updates and technical help As described on page 4 you can use the File Preferences operation to store your serial number in the registry for later reference You may also want to write the serial number in your manual or some where else handy where you can find it If you are a new
30. llation program may be able to save the serial number in the registry automatically Open NONAME Window at Start This controls whether or not RATS automatically opens up an empty text window each time you start the program Open Series Window at Start Turn this on if you want RATS to automatically open the Series List window displaying the series in memory when the program starts One Graph Window Only If this is on RATS re uses the same window each time you generate a new graph Otherwise it displays each new graph in its own window Buffer Text Output Turn this off if you want RATS to display each line of output as it is generated or buffer output and only update the screen periodically The latter is usually much faster for programs that generate a great deal of output Getting Started Getting Started 15 Set Edit Font You can change the font and type size used in the RATS editor by clicking on the this button This controls the appearance of text both on the screen and when printed Procedure Library The Procedure Library field allows you to specify a file of procedures that you want RATS to load automatically each time you start the program or clear the memory Default Directory The Default Directory field allows you to change the default startup directory If you select a directory here and answer Yes when RATS asks if you want to make the changes permanent that directory will be the default directory each time
31. nical Support If you have access to e mail this is probably the best way for you to obtain technical support You can provide us with a copy of your program and data set and other very specific information about the nature of your question This makes it much easier for us to resolve the problem or question and to provide detailed answers Most ques tions are answered within just a few hours You can also contact us by calling the technical support number listed below Technical support is available from Monday through Friday 9 am to 5 pm US Central time You can also reach us by fax or regular mail When you contact technical support please be able to provide the following 1 Your serial number found on the label on the CD envelope We do spot checks to make sure that only those who have paid for the product get support 2 The product name and version number also from the original disks 3 As much detail about your question as possible In particular if you are getting an error message you don t understand be sure to include that error message in your e mail or have it handy to read to us over the phone RATS produces fairly specific and detailed error messages so providing the specif ics of any errors you encounter will make it much easier for us to diagnose the problem You can contact technical support at Voice 847 864 1910 E mail support estima com Web site http www estima com FAX 847 864 6221
32. on or set of instructions for RATS to process For example you use the command LINREG to tell RATS to estimate a least squares regression with the dependent and independent variables you ve specified You can type in instructions and execute them as you go or you can create entire programs and save them to disk for later use RATS uses ordinary ASCII text files so you can create and edit your programs and output with RATS itself or any other text editor or word processor that supports ASCII text files Version 6 does offer several menu driven Wizards for many common tasks including reading in data doing transformations estimation regressions and doing hypothesis tests These will be of particular interest to new RATS users who are just learning the RATS language Interactive Mode vs Batch Mode RATS can be used in two modes interactive and batch In interactive mode you work with the RATS Editor This is a special text editor that can interpret and execute RATS instructions We call this interactive mode because it makes doing your analysis an interactive process For example suppose you execute a few instructions to estimate a regression model After viewing the output you decide to change your model slightly With the RATS Editor you can simply modify and re execute the regression instruction itself without having to re run your entire program You can also execute entire programs with just a couple of mouse clicks And you
33. play graphs and series editing windows for editing series stored on RATS format data files In the next few pages we describe the basics of working with windows and then cover each of the menu operations in detail Getting Started Getting Started 11 Definitions RATS uses six different types of windows to display various kinds of information Text window Text windows are used to view and edit text files and execute RATS instructions See the preceding pages for details Graph window Graphs are displayed in graph windows When a graph window is active you can use File Save As to save the graph to disk in any of several formats and File Print to print the graph Series List window The Series List window displays a list of the series cur rently stored in memory You can open this by selecting Show Series from the Wizards menu From this window you can double click on a series to edit it or use the toolbar icons to generate graphs and summary statistics for se lected series Spreadsheet window Many RATS instructions such as FORECAST IMPULSE and REPORT include a WINDOW option that allows you to direct output to a spreadsheet style window You copy and paste information into other applications or use File Export to export the data into a variety of different file formats Series Editing window Series Editing windows are used for editing individual data series You can edit series stored in memory by do
34. purchaser fill out your registration form and return it or fill out the registration address change form available on our website This is especially important if you bought the program through a dealer or through your purchasing department as we will be unable to send you newsletters and other notices without an address When contacting technical support please supply your serial number so we can verify which version of RATS you are using Can RATS Do Many of these questions can be answered by checking the index and the table of contents in the manuals carefully or by visiting our web site www estima com where your question may be addressed by the list of Frequently Asked Questions or by one of the many procedures and example programs available for downloading If you can t find the answer there you can e mail fax or call our technical support department with your question The answers to these sorts of questions generally fall into four categories 1 Yes and you should have known it by looking at the index or table of con tents Please be sure to check these first 2 Yes you can use the instruction 3 Yes but it takes a little work a short sequence of instructions 4 No or at least it would be very difficult and require extensive programming Many of the suggestions made by users have helped to improve our product so we try to be as helpful as we can With types 2 and 3 we will usually tell you
35. s and the list of known bugs available on our web site www estima com If after all this you have a strong suspicion that you have located a bug contact Technical Support If you have done a thorough job on the preceding steps you can often ask a direct question such as Is there a known bug in and we may be able to give you a quick answer If you have not been able to isolate the problem we will almost certainly have to ask you to send us the input file and data and as much other information as you can supply The RATSletter The RATSLetter is a newsletter for registered users We distribute it approximately twice a year It includes new product announcements answers to common questions bug reports tips on the use of the program lists of contributed procedures among others We would appreciate questions of general interest and suggestions If you have a program or part of one which you are proud of send it in and let the rest of the RATS community see it The Estima Web Site and the Internet Mailing List We invite you to visit our Web site at http www estima com The site offers news and information on RATS and other Estima products answers to frequently asked questions and many examples and procedures you can download There is also an internet e mail discussion list devoted to RATS See the Web site or e mail us for details on subscribing Getting Started Getting Started 31 Contacting Estima Tech
36. sion specified in the File Preferences operation in RATS the default extension is LIS The file s will be saved in the same directory as the program file s Details on all three methods follow Drag and Drop Method To run a program as a batch job using the drag and drop method do the following 1 Start RATS by double clicking on the WinRATS icon 2 Switch RATS into batch mode by selecting the Batch Mode operation from the File menu 3 Open Windows Explorer and arrange the screen so that you can see both the WinRATS window and the Explorer window on the screen at the same time 4 Select one or more program files from Explorer drag the file icon s over to the WinRATS window and release the mouse button Getting Started Getting Started 25 You can drag and drop the files one at a time or you can drag and drop several files simultaneously Note that a check mark appears next to the Batch Mode operation on the menu while RATS is in batch mode To switch back to interactive mode just select the Batch Mode operation again If you use batch mode frequently you may want to create a copy of the WinRATS icon that will automatically start RATS in batch mode Here s how 1 Make a copy of the WinRATS program icon see your Windows documentation or help for details 2 Right click on the RATS icon to display the properties dialog for the new icon 3 Set the icon to Run minimized and click on OK Now when
37. tensive on line help information covering the RATS editor and all of the RATS instructions display save load and print RATS graphs You can also export graphs to other common graphics file formats for importing into other applications create or edit data series on RATS format files In the next few pages we ll walk you through some basic features of the RATS Editor and then provide more detailed information Executing Instructions and Ready Local Mode The RATS editor is a standard text editor with a twist if you hit the lt Enter gt key on a line of text that line will be executed as a RATS instruction To try this start RATS and type SHOW MEMORY followed by lt Enter gt You will get output showing some statistics on the amount of memory available to RATS You will find there are times when you want RATS to stop bothering you and just let you edit your text Very simple just click on the Ready Local toolbar icon or type lt Ctrl gt L see page 20 for more on using the toolbar icons This switches you from Ready mode to Local mode note that the Ready Local icon is replaced by the Local Ready icon indicating that you are in local mode In Local mode hitting lt Enter gt simply inserts a carriage return For example if you enter local mode type SHOW MEMORY and then lt Enter gt nothing will happen except that the cursor will move to the next line Getting Started Getting
38. uble clicking on a series in a Series List window or series stored on RATS format data files by using the Open RATSDATA or New RATSDATA operations on the File menu to open the file and then double clicking on a series or by using the DEDIT and EDIT instructions The RATSDATA utility also uses data editing windows for creating or editing series Datafile List window If you open or create a RATS format file using File Open RATSDATA or File New RATSDATA the contents of the file are displayed in a Datafile List window The window shows the names number of observations frequency entry range and comments if any for each series You can double click on a series to view or edit the series while toolbar opera tions allow you create new series rename existing series generate several types of graphs and compute summary statistics RATSDATA also uses Datafile List windows to display series lists RATS Version 6 12 Getting Started Here are some other terms that we will use Active window This is the front or top window the window you are currently working with You can switch windows by clicking on the window you want or by using the Window menu see page 19 You can only edit text in a window when it is active Input window At any given moment one and only one of the open text windows is designated as the input window RATS will only execute instructions from that window To execute instructions this input windo
39. ut in another new file This is very convenient for running long programs because you can start RATS and then leave the computer unattended while it executes the program You can create these programs using the RATS editor or any word processing program that can save files as plain unformatted text Similarly you can view the output with RATS or any other word processor Running Programs in Batch Mode Windows versions There are three ways to run WinRATS in batch mode One method is to start RATS put it into batch mode using the Batch Mode operation on the File menu and then drag and drop your program files from Windows Explorer or File Manager onto the active RATS application This is most useful if you have several programs that you want to run Another method is to run from a command prompt either via the Run operation on the Start menu or by opening the Command Prompt shell You simply type the name of the RATS application itself followed by the name of the program you want to execute and the command line switch RUN Finally you can also execute RATS in batch mode from a short cut icon This method is most useful if you have a particular program that you need to run frequently In any case RATS will automatically run the specified program s and save the output in a new file or files with the name filename ext where filename is the name first 8 characters of the input file and ext is the batch mode exten
40. w must be the active front window To make a different window the input window switch to the desired window make it the active window and select the Use for Input operation from the Window menu or the icon Output window RATS sends any output it generates to the window desig nated as the output window This can be the same window as the input window output is inserted immediately after an instruction or block of instructions or a different one You can use the Use for Output operation on the Window Menu or the icon to make the active window the output window RATS shows which windows are input and output by appending i for input o output or io both input and output to the window title both on the window title bar and on the window list in the Window menu Window Basics When you start RATS in interactive mode the program normally opens an empty window labelled NONAME00 PRG Since it is the only window this window is the active window the input window and the output window RATS will execute any instructions you type in and will insert any output in this window If you want to work with a specific file the simplest procedure is to first close the empty window and then open your file The new window will be active input and output If you open a new window without closing NONAME00 PRG first the new window will be the active window but not the input or output window You cannot execute in structions in
41. you start the program Note Use the File Directory operation if you just want to change the default directory for the current session DRI Basics Directory If you have a copy of the DRI Basics economic database you can use the DRI Basics Directory to tell RATS where these files are located so that you can read data from those files into RATS using the FORMAT DRI option on the DATA instruc tion Batch Output ext This field lets you specify the extension that is appended to output files when running in batch mode See page 24 RATS Version 6 16 Getting Started The RATS Menu Bar The RATS Editor provides four menus File Edit Wizards Window and Help These are very similar to those available in many other Windows applications We describe the menu operations briefly below The on line help provides additional details on many of the menu operations The File Menu The File menu provides standard file handling and related operations New opens a new empty text window Open opens an existing text file and displays its contents in a new window This will only be the input window if there are no other open text windows Use the Open Graph operation to open a graph file Close closes the active window RATS will give you a chance to save any changes before closing the window You can also close a window by clicking on the close box in the upper right corner of the window or hitting lt Ctrl gt lt F4 gt I
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