Versioning Overview

Changes to a model file are tracked by creating model file versions. A version is an internal “snapshot” of your model file at a particular point in time. You must tell GoldSim when to take a “snapshot” by creating a version, and assigning it a title (e.g., “1-12-2002”, “Initial Model”, “Revision A”). Once you have created at least one version, you can then compare the current model (the model as it exists right now) to any previous model version you have created.

GoldSim can report the differences between the current model and any previous version. Note that GoldSim does not actually tell you how a model has changed; in general, it only reports what has changed.

For example, if you change some of the inputs to a Reservoir element between versions, GoldSim will report that the element has been changed, but it does not store or report which inputs changed or what their previous values were. Similarly, if you delete an element from a Container, GoldSim will report that an element with a particular ID was deleted from the Container, but it does not record the type of element (or the manner in which the element was defined). This keeps the size of the model file (where all of the changes are stored) manageable.

Generally, you will want to create a version whenever some project milestone has been met. The milestone might be the end of a particular phase of the project, or after you have made some major modification to the model. In some cases, you may want to create versions on a regular basis (e.g., every Friday).

Immediately after you create a version, it may be useful to archive a copy of the model file. If you do so, you will then be able to determine the details of the changes that were made between versions.

For example, when GoldSim reports that element A was modified between version X and the current version, you can open and compare the file that was archived when version X was created to determine how the element was defined at that point. When you archive a copy of your current model, GoldSim records the name of the archived file (along with the version number) in your current model.