QUESTION: What settings are available in the PROVAL.INI file that’s in my ProVal directory?

ANSWER: The PROVAL.INI file, found in the ProVal directory located on your hard drive, contains settings for several parameters that are specific to a particular ProVal user, such as user name and initial client. These parameters relate specifically to your user workstation (PC) and may have different values from those in the PROVAL.INI file of another user workstation or of the network PROVAL.INI file (if the ProVal application is stored on a network rather than on your PC’s hard drive).

The PROVAL.INI file has several sections, whose names are enclosed in brackets. The sections and their parameter settings are listed below. Some parameters should not be changed by the user or IT department and thus are not discussed here.

 

[USER]

Name=

This is an optional parameter that defines the user name that appears in various places, such as:

• headers and footers of printed output (i.e., the name specified here becomes the value of #USER);

• an Open Client command warning message (i.e., the name of the user who already has the selected ProVal client open);

• in the batch server (i.e., the name of the user who submitted a batch server job);

• in the license manager and the usage tracking log when the user workstation has obtained a license from the PVLS.

If this parameter is not specified, ProVal uses the user name supplied when logging into Windows.

Company=

This parameter identifies the company that the above-mentioned ProVal user works for.

 

[CONFIG]

ConcurrentSessions=

This parameter is used to permit you to open more than one ProVal session at your PC, for example, to work in two ProVal clients at the same time. Concurrent sessions must be for the same ProVal installation. To open two different installations at the same time (i.e., two different versions, such as 2.29 and 2.30), you must first turn off this feature by entering “ConcurrentSessions=0”.

NewClientDir=

This parameter, applicable to the New Client command of the File menu, indicates where to save (store) a new client, i.e., a client that you create in your ProVal session (unless, of course, you specify a different directory location under this command at the time you create the client).

LicenseDir=

This parameter pertains to licenses obtained by means of a multi-user PVLS key, rather than from a single-user hardware key attached to a port on the hard drive of the user workstation. The parameter value must be set as the path to the directory containing the ProVal license files (PVLIMITS.DAT, PVUSERS.DAT and PVMSG.DAT). This parameter can be left blank if you are not getting a license from a PVLS.

RunLogFile=

This parameter instructs ProVal to log completed runs in a comma-delimited file and defines the path and name of the file (for example, RunLogFile=n:\proval\runlog.csv). For each run that successfully completes, a record is appended to this file. The record identifies the user, client, and job, and includes elapsed time, local processor usage, and grid processor usage where applicable. The processor stats are high water marks, the maximum processors used and available during the run. One potential use of this log is to monitor grid usage to see how much people are using it, how many people, and what kinds of jobs. Here are some sample records: 

The following run types are logged: Valuations, Valuation Sets, Core Projections, Deterministic Forecasts, Stochastic Forecasts, Gain / Loss Analysis, Experience Studies, Administration Factors, U.S. PIA Calculations, U.S. PBGC XRA Calculations, U.S. Nondis. Accrual Rates, and U.S. Coverage and General Tests. 

As long as the RunLogFile parameter is not blank, ProVal will write log entries every time a run is completed. However, if the RunLogFile parameter specifies a folder that is either inaccessible or nonexistent (e.g., user is working offline), the log will be created and saved in the ProVal application folder.

UsageLogFile=

This parameter instructs ProVal to log usage in a comma-delimited file and defines the path and name of the file (for example, UsageLogFile=n:\proval\usagelog.csv). Whenever a client is opened, created or closed, a record is appended to this file. The record contains the Event type (“Open Client” or “Close Client”), the user name, client directory, time stamp and ProVal version. Here are three sample records: 

Open Client,jane user,g:\ProVal\clients\ABC\, 4/14/2008 10:30:01,2.27  3/27/08

Open Client,jane user,g:\ProVal\clients\XYZ\, 4/14/2008 10:50:29,2.27  3/27/08

Close Client,jane user,g:\ProVal\clients\ABC\, 4/14/2008 10:50:29,2.27  3/27/08

In this example, the second “Open Client” record is immediately followed by a “Close Client” record. This is because opening another client in ProVal automatically closes the current client, if any.

As long as the UsageLogFile parameter is not blank, ProVal will write log entries every time a client is opened (either by opening an existing client or creating a new client) or closed. However, if the UsageLogFile parameter specifies a folder that is either inaccessible or nonexistent (e.g., the user is working offline), the log will be created and saved in the ProVal application folder.

UnicodeLD=

This parameter determines whether line drawing characters (if the parameter value is set equal to 1) or +, -, | and – (if set equal to 0) are used to draw boxes in displays under the Print Data command, in output and in fixed pitch messages. If omitted, this parameter defaults to 1. Setting this parameter should not be necessary in practice.

ListviewLD=

This parameter determines whether line drawing characters (if the parameter value is set equal to 1) or +, -, | and – (if set equal to 0) are used to draw the tree outline in, for example, Valuations | View | Inputs…. If omitted, this parameter defaults to 1, unless the “Language for non-unicode programs” (Control Panel | Regional and Language Options) is set equal to “Korean”. Setting this parameter as 0 is common for Korean users.

FFLUSH.LOG=

If FFLUSH.LOG is set to “Y”’, a log file (FFLUSH.LOG) will record issues that ProVal encounters while writing to the network file system. This log file can grow large if the file system is unresponsive for long periods of time. If the log file hasn’t been updated in the last three months, it will be deleted automatically by ProVal.

 

Packing files

When closing a client (or opening another one), ProVal prompts you to pack the library files, and optionally the database files, if unused space in the library files exceeds certain thresholds. These thresholds can be changed using the settings on the Pack tab under the Options command of the File menu. These thresholds are saved in your PROVAL.INI file, using the following parameters:

[Config]

PackPercent=0.2

PackLow=1000000

PackHigh=200000000

PackDatabases=0

BatchMessageLogDelete=1

BatchMessageLogDays=30

In this example, a prompt appears if unused space exceeds 1,000,000 bytes and is more than 20% of the total, or 200,000,000 bytes regardless of the percent of the total. In addition, database files will not be packed regardless of whether the library files exceed these thresholds.

The Batch Message Log Delete and Batch Message Log Days parameters are set by default to 1 and 30, respectively, which means that ProVal will delete batch messages older than 30 days as part of normal maintenance. (See the Options command of the File menu for additional information related to deletion of messages from the Batch Message Log.)

If any of these parameters do not exist in PROVAL.INI, the default parameters would be as shown above.

 

[COMMUTER]

This section is applicable only if ProVal licenses are controlled by a ProVal license server (PVLS).

AutoCheckOut=

This parameter instructs ProVal to check out a commuter license automatically when the value is equal to “Yes” (case insensitive). ProVal will attempt to check out a full license. However, if another type of commuter license is checked out already, ProVal will attempt to extend the expiration date of the existing license; it will not change the type of license to “Full”. If this parameter is blank or is set to anything other than “Yes”, the automatic check out feature is considered to be off.

CheckOutDays=

This is an optional parameter used with AutoCheckOut. It contains the number of days for which the commuter license may be checked out and can be set to any number of days between 1 and 30. The default setting is 30 days.

RenewAtDays=

This is an optional parameter used with AutoCheckOut. Its value can be set to any number of days between 1 and 30; the default setting is 15 days. This parameter tells ProVal when to attempt to renew a commuter license. For example, a value of 10 means that ProVal will first attempt to renew the commuter license when it is 10 days from expiration. If the user’s PC is not connected to a network with a license server running at that time, ProVal will continue to attempt to renew the license until it expires. Once the license expires, the user will not be able to run ProVal until the PC is connected to a network with the license server running, at which time ProVal can check out a new commuter license (if AutoCheckOut=”Yes”).