In common with the rest of transyt, bold items have associated data fields, and light green items are results as opposed to input data items.

Other Data Entry Screens

Data Grids

Data Grids provide a convenient way of viewing and editing several rows of data at one time. You can display any number of data grid windows at one time, and the data you edit via Data Grids will update and synchronise with all other appropriate screens. Data Grids can also be used to add and delete items from the TRANSYT network.

The data shown in each Data Grid corresponds to the type of the current Active Item, and the columns correspond to the items you would see in the Data Editor for that data item. For example if you click in the Data Outline on any Link (or click on a Link in NetCon, or any other screen), then any Data Grid screens will show all link properties (ID, Name, Description, Saturation Flow, etc.) for ALL links in the file. The Data Grid screen therefore gives you a convenient way to view and edit all items of any particular type in the entire network.

If, on the Data Outline, you click on the Modelling subsection of a Link, then any Data Grid screens will change to show all Modelling properties for all links.

If you click on any Controller Stream (via any appropriate screen), then any Data Grid screens will show all Controller Streams in the file.

The same applies to any other item of data that can be selected. Note however that you can only show one type of data at any one time and you cannot, e.g. show controller streams and links at the same time. You can however customise the columns shown, as explained further below.

By using the padlock system (see section 6.9), you can show several Data Grids at once. This is a convenient way to view both inputs and results simultaneously. The ability to customise the contents of grids means that TRANSYT offers considerable flexibility for both data entry and results viewing.

Click the Full-size-mode button to toggle the top and bottom parts of the Data Grid screen on/off. Turning them off can be useful if you are familiar with the data and want to save space on the screen.

Selecting items

If working with for example a Data Grid showing all Links, you can make any Link the current Active Item by clicking on the row header (the grey section at the far left of the row). Any other windows showing links data will update accordingly.

You can make multiple selections by using the CTRL and/or SHIFT keys. When a row is highlighted, the item is selected, and any other screens such as NetCon will show the same highlighting. E.g. in the screenshot below, some links in the Data Grid have been selected by clicking in their row headers; NetCon shows the same links highlighted in orange. This also works the other way round - click on items in NetCon to see them highlighted in the Data Grid.

Grid orientation

You may prefer to lay grids out vertically rather than horizontally as in the Full-size-mode example below. To do this, toggle the Rotate Grid button.

Locking the grid

Please see section 6.9 for use of the padlock system.

Editing data

Type directly into enabled cells in the grid to edit data and use the arrow keys or TAB/ENTER to move around the grid. For multiple-choice data fields, you can press the first letter of the desired option (e.g. to set the Type of all nodes to be 'Bottleneck', simply press B and press ENTER on each row). Use the spacebar to toggle checkboxes on/off.

Some fields will be greyed out and disabled (and/or may show 'N/A'). In general these will mirror the Data Editor, although the appearance may seem different in Data Grids. E.g. Queue Limit is greyed out if Has Queue Limit is not ticked; several columns including Saturation Flow will be greyed out if a link is a minor shared link.

Not all data can be edited using Data Grids. For example intermediate data such as most of the resultant stages data and link green period data is shown in green to reflect the fact they are, in effect results derived from other editable data, and cannot be changed directly. Other items may be greyed out depending on the state of other data value, or on the mode of operation TRANSYT is in.

As you enter data, the data and whole file are continuously validated and updated, and this can result in other rows/columns in each Data Grid from disabling/enabling or changing, as you enter data. Sometimes this is useful but if you wish to enter a large amount of data without continual validation, press the Edit in Window button. The Data Grid will then switch to an exclusive data-entry mode and validation will be delayed until you press the Done button.

Note that with some items such as checkboxes you may need to move to a different row before the change is updated.

Using an external spreadsheet

You may find it more convenient to edit or obtain data using an external spreadsheet or any other program. Copy data from any Data Grid to the clipboard using the main application Copy button, which you can then paste into a spreadsheet. Once the data has been editing, make a selection in the spreadsheet that covers the same area and then paste this into the Data Grid.

NB you cannot add in new items in this way; the items must exist in TRANSYT before you can paste data.

Sorting and grouping rows

Each data grid show rows in the order specified by the Options>Sorting section of the Data Outline, which allows you to specify whether items should be sorted alphabetically or numerically and also a number of other grouping options, such as grouping all shared links together.

You can also sort by any column by clicking on the column header, which will toggle between ascending and descending order.

Adding/deleting rows

To add/delete rows, right-click on any row header. This will show a sub-menu where you can choose to delete the current row or add a copy of the current row. You can also a new row, which will use default values for all fields as opposed to copying the current row. For example if showing a Data Grid of links, you can use this menu to add new links to the network and to delete existing ones.

Data Grid - Link - Showing 18 of 18 items;							13 column(s)	(C<
; Filters т Column Layouts ■»
iЩ Link —J Showing 18 / 18
		Link	ID	Name	Description		Saturation Flow (PCU/hr)	Le t
		2	2				3600	8C 8t
		1	1				3600
►				^■			1800	10
	Add a copy of Link 3
							3400	10
	rialafa 1 imP Э
							3400
	Add a new Unk						3200	Г10
	1						1600	9!
		14	14 7				3300	9!

In some cases this menu contains an extra option: for example if you click on Sources on the Data Outline and then right-click on a row-header, you can then select Add a New Source. This will add a new source to the chosen link. These extra options are also useful for any situation where none of the chosen item exists for the selected link/traffic stream etc.

Column layouts

You can swap columns by dragging column headers with the mouse.

Right-click on any column header to delete that column or to add any other column from the drop-down menu of available items. Note that the available items include any data fields of the current active data item plus any sub-items; e.g. if the Data Grid is showing Links, then you can add any field from Links, Link Modelling, Link Give Way Data and so on. (You cannot however go the other way round; if the data grid is showing Link Give Way Data then you cannot add fields from Link Modelling).

You can also add fields by clicking Column Layouts>Add Columns From Data Editor; as you click on fields in the Data Editor, they will be added as columns to the Data Grid, until you turn off this mode.

For example to set up a Data Grid to show the ID, Saturation Flow and Length for all traffic streams, follow these steps:

Press the Data Grid button on the main toolbar to show a new Data Grid

Click on any traffic stream in the Data Outline or in NetCon. The Data Grid should show all main fields for all traffic streams

Lock the grid (N.B. single lock only - not double)

In the Data Grid, select Column Layouts/Remove All Columns

In the Data Grid, right-click on a column header and use the drop-down menu to select the fields to add:

The Data Grid should now look like the below:

You can save column layouts by selecting Column Layouts>Store Current Columns Layout. This will prompt you to enter a name, and this layout will then be available in the Column Layouts menu every time you run the program. Note that the layout will only be applicable to the appropriate data type (e.g. Traffic Streams, not Links), and will only be visible in the menu when the data grid is showing this data type. The saved column layout does not store the fact that it applies to Traffic Streams and not Links; you must select a Traffic Streams data grid before selecting a Traffic Streams column layout. Column layouts are saved to your personal preferences; not in the file.

Select Column Layouts>Manage Stored Column Layouts to access a screen where you can see all saved column layouts and rename/delete them. You can store multiple layouts for the same data item (e.g. Traffic Streams). If you tick the IsDefault column then this layout becomes the default layout for that data item and will be chosen automatically every time you show an appropriate Data Grid - in this way you will not have to select it manually each time. Tick the UseInReports checkbox if you would like the layout to be used to generate tables when you generate reports. In this way you can set up your own selection of data which will then be populated every time you run a report.

Mixing input and output data in Data Grids

TRANSYT grids offer the ability to mix both input and output data in a Data Grid. This allows you to create exactly what output tables you want.

When adding columns to Data Grids, you can only add items that are at the same level or at a higher level of hierarchy in the tree as displayed in the Data Outline. You cannot add items that are nested further into the hierarchy. The easiest way to understand this is to experiment with columns, but, it means that if you want to mix inputs and outputs, you must start with a Data Grid of results, and then add the inputs (not the other way round).

As an example, the steps below show how to set up a Data Grid to show a simple selection of inputs and outputs:

Show a Data Grid and click on Results>Summary for any major link in the Data Outline. The Data Grid will show summary results for all links.

In the Data Grid, click the padlock icon once so that the grid will not change when you click elsewhere in the Data Outline or other screens

In the Data Grid, click Column Layouts>Remove All Columns

In the Data Grid, turn on Column Layouts>Add Columns from Data Editor

Show the Data Editor if it's not already shown, and click on Degree of Saturation (click the label, not the text box). The Data Grid should add this column. In the Data Outline click Results>Queues and Blocking and click on Mean Max Queue. ¹

The Data Grid should now look like this:

You can rearrange columns by dragging the headers with the mouse.

The custom grid can be included in reports by using the options to store and manage layouts in the Column Layouts menu. (See Section 16.4)

In the example shown below, the grid shows both input and output versions of saturation flow and total flow. This clearly shows differences between the inputs and outputs, due to e.g. a sensitivity multiplier on link 2.

Viewing results and time segments

You can view Data Grids of results just as with any other data item. There are a couple of special considerations:

To show results for all links, show a Data Grid and then click on the Results section of any link the Data Outline. (The screenshot below shows the Results>Summary section. You can build any combination of columns as explained above.) For these Data Grids, TRANSYT adds a special extra row at the bottom of the grid that shows the total of all results for the links in the data grid. By default, these will therefore be network totals, but, if you have filtered the grid to show e.g. only bus links, then the totals will be for bus links only. In this way the totals row serves as a useful mechanism for totalling any set of results.

You cannot show results for all time segments for all links, but, this information is available in generated reports.

Filtering rows

The Filters menu provides a way to restrict the Data Grid to show only certain rows. A set of built-in filters is provided, and you can also build your own using the Query Builder tool.

The built-in filters available depend on the type of Data Grid. For example if showing a Data Grid of Links, only the Links filters will be available.

We recommend using the padlock system to prevent Data Grids from switching to showing other data as you change screen - see section 6.9.

Some filters are self-explanatory, such as Filters>Links>Bus Links Only. This will restrict the Data Grid so that only bus links are shown in the grid. If you edit a link and make it a bus link, the Data Grid will update to include this new bus link.

Other filters are more advanced and may depend on selections that you make in other Data Grids or in NetCon. The general idea is that screens interact with each other, so that each Data Grid dynamically updates according to what you have clicked on in the Data Outline, or NetCon, or other Data Grids, or what selection you have made in these screens.

To remove any filters, click Filters>No Filter - or simply close down the Data Grid and open a new one.

A few examples are shown below.

In the screenshot below, a Links data grid has its filter set to Filters>Links>Links Controlled By Selected Traffic Streams. Node 2 has been selected in NetCon, and so the Data Grid only shows links 21-25, all of which are controlled by Node 2. Clicking on a different node in NetCon would update the Data Grid to show links controlled by that node - or nothing, if no node is selected. If you don't want the Data Grid to keep changing, use the padlock to lock the rows to the exact rows shown.

In the screenshot below, a Links Data Grid has the Show Only Items in Current Selection mode enabled (this is a special filter that applies to any type of item). A rectangular selection has been made in NetCon to select everything on the west side of the network, so the Data Grid shows only these links. If there is no selection, then the Data Grid will be empty.

Query Builder

Launch the Query Builder screen from any Data Grid or via the main application Tools menu. The Query Builder is intended mainly for use with Data Grids, but, it can also be used to calculate how many items (if any) match a query - for example, to find out if the network contains any signalised links of length <200m where the DOS threshold is exceeded. (Of course you could just scan down the results or a generated report, but, with large networks or more complex queries this may be difficult and/or tedious.)

The Query Builder is a powerful and flexible tool and the example given here is relatively simple.

In common with many other screens in TRANSYT, the data fields of interest are set in the Query Builder by clicking on them in the Data Editor or in any Data Grid screen. In way you build one or more clauses (sections) of the query. In the example above there are three clauses (link must be signalised, length is less than 200m, and DOS threshold exceeded).

The Query Builder after setting up the above example is shown in the screenshot below.

Start off by selecting a data field in the Data Editor (or in a Data Grid - click in any cell); it will be shown at the top left of the Query Builder. Select an operator from the menu (=, <, > etc, depending on the data type), and then enter a value or choose from a drop-down list in the Compare to box. The press Add Query Clause, and it will be added to the Query Clauses list. Use the OR/AND options to control how the clauses should be combined. In this example, the AND option (default) is used, since we want all three conditions to be met.

If there are no errors, then the status bar at the bottom gives a quick indication of how many items in the TRANSYT network meet these conditions. To see the actual links, drag from the Query Clauses box into any Data Grid. I.e., click anywhere inside the Query Clauses box, and then drag the mouse pointer on top of any Data Grid. Releasing the mouse button will then set the Data Grid into Filters>Query Builder mode and will show the results of the query, as shown in this screenshot:

In this example, there are six links that are less than 200m in length AND are signalised AND have their dOs threshold exceeded. Note that what you see in the Data Grid depends on what data item the Data Grid contains: the grid shown above shows Links, and the one below shows Link Results. As explained elsewhere you can usually build your own column layouts in the grids.

Here is another query example where a Data Grid shows all Phases with a minimum green greater than 7 seconds.

Continuing with this same example, using this filter in a Data Grid to show all Phases with a minimum green greater than 7 seconds would show ALL green periods for all phases that meet the conditions - in this case, the green periods for Phase 11 and Phase 13.

Imagine now that you wish to filter further and are only interested in green periods where the above conditions are true and furthermore the green period is one that starts in the first half of the signals cycle (for whatever reason). Adding this further clause to the Query Builder would look like the below:

In this case, there are two possible types of results: you may either want to view all links containing at least one green period whose start time is less than 46s, or, you may only want to view the green periods themselves. TRANSYT won't know which of these possibilities you want, so use the Data Item To Find box and then drag the query into an appropriate Data Grid. If the Data Grid shows Green Periods, then it will either show 2 rows or 1 row depending on which option you select here.

It is not currently possible to save queries, but, you can press the Edit manually button and then save the code that is shown in a text file. Subsequently you could paste this text back in and re­run the query.

Main (Common) Data Screen

Although all main data (data common to the whole network) is available via the Data Outline and Data Editor, this data is also available via a Main Data Screen, which you can access via the button on the main vertical toolbar or the main View menu. The layout has been chosen to ensure that the commonly used data appears on the first visible tab on the screen and the rest split between the remaining three tabs.

The data on this screen works in exactly the same way as the Data Editor.

You can leave this screen visible and it will update and synchronise with other screens, as with any other window in TRANSYT.

The "Generate Extrapolated Fuel Parameters" button is used to populate the fuel parameters data grid with values appropriate for a specified year - extrapolated from WebTag data stored within TRANSYT. Full details on how to use this is available in section 21.14.

NEW!

Signals Data Screen

Although all Controller Stream data is available via the Data Outline and Data Editor, commonly needed data and useful signal related tools are also available via a Signals Data Screen, which you can access via the button on the main vertical toolbar or the main View menu.

The data on this screen works in exactly the same way as the Data Editor.

You can leave this screen visible and it will update and synchronise with other screens, as with any other window in TRANSYT.

Via a series of tabs, the Signals Data Screen provides access to controller streams and its phases, stage library, phase delays and stage sequences. Controller streams and other network objects can be added, deleted and modified via this screen. The list of controller streams is visible from all tabs.

Apart from the Controller Stream Tab, the data within each tab is shown in form of a data grid. These data grids work in exactly the same as any other Data Grid, including the ability to add/delete columns and rows.

Some of the tabs have additional buttons which carry out useful actions such as "Create New Phases..." and "Auto Generate Library Stages".

Details of how this screen fits into the overall data-entry process for traffic signal data is given in section 8.4.7, while a full description of the contents of each tab is given here in the following sections:

Controller Stream

The Controller stream tab shows the basic controller stream data such as its ID, name and description.

The reporting of relative offsets (positive and negative) can be set up from this screen. See section 17.1 on how these appear in the TRANSYT output.

The two additional buttons provided offer advanced optimisation capabilities:

"Generate optimal sequence": Use this option when you wish TRANSYT to provide you with an optimal (isolated) set of timings.

When using this option, there is no need to define stages, stage sequences and phase delays as all of these are calculated for you. Any existing data will be replaced.

Having obtained this solution, a run of TRANSYT will then provide a good solution within the context of the wider network, in terms of optimised green splits and offsets.

"Run Phase Optimiser with current sequence": Use this option if you wish to use your own stage sequence, but wish to optimise the phase lengths associated with this particular sequence. Phase delays will be automatically added or removed in order to optimise the timings. Having obtained a solution, a run of TRANSYT will then provide a good solution within the context of the wider network, in terms of optimised green splits and offsets.