max character length Data sources field?

[kleemax]

I would like to know if there is a limit to the amount of characters that can be entered in the field "Data sources" under the advanced tab of simulation control, what that limit is and whether or not that depends on the Vensim version.
And if there is a character limit, I would like to know if that limit also applies when specifying "Data sources" as a Vensim script or when using the DLL.

[Administrator]

There used to be a limit, but it was removed a couple of years ago.

What version are you using?

[tomfid]

How much space do you need?

A possible way to mitigate the length is to combine data sources into one or a few master vdf files, by using a separate data model.

[kleemax]

There used to be a limit, but it was removed a couple of years ago.

What version are you using?

We are / I am using several different versions e.g. 6.4 (Win), 7.3.4 DSS (Mac DP, SP), and we also have a version 8.0 (Win) on one or two machines I think and maybe some others in the range of 6 and 7 (Win). It would therefore be good to know in which version the limit was removed, so we know which machines would need an update if we start using longer file names (we usually load lots of files).

[kleemax]

How much space do you need?

A possible way to mitigate the length is to combine data sources into one or a few master vdf files, by using a separate data model.

Hi Tom,

we usually load lots of files and in the past reverted to using strongly abbreviated file names to avoid the issue. It would be helpful if we could use normal file names now which are less cryptic but longer. I don't have an exact need, but we typically load lots of files.

I am not familiar with master vdf files and data models. Where can I read more about this?

[Administrator]

we usually load lots of files and in the past reverted to using strongly abbreviated file names to avoid the issue. It would be helpful if we could use normal file names now which are less cryptic but longer. I don't have an exact need, but we typically load lots of files.

There was a limit on the total number of data files, but we removed that (I think approximately a year ago).

I am not familiar with master vdf files and data models. Where can I read more about this?

A data model does nothing more than import the data and perform any calculations on it to generate a VDF file that is then used by a different model. If your data does not change often, it might be an idea to do this as data import (from CSV, DAT, TAB etc) can be expensive in terms of CPU time.

[kleemax]

There was a limit on the total number of data files, but we removed that (I think approximately a year ago).

Can you tell me which is the first vensim version that does not have that limit?