ACE : Age Calculation Engine

The Attribute Editor is designed primarily for development purposes, and allows for new sample variables (‘attributes’) to be introduced into ACE when extending the theory of cosmogenic nuclide techniques:

When the Attribute Editor is selected a new window opens listing currently defined attributes, the type of each attribute (number, string etc) and whether or not attributes are saved at the end of a calculation (useful for visualisation and postprocessing).  Changes to attributes can be made using the buttons at the base of the window:

• Add Attribute allows for a new sample attribute to be added.  It can be any string, but if this attribute is a sample input (eg ‘vegetation scaling factor’) the string must match a column header string in the csv file when a dataset is imported.
• Edit Attribute allows for an existing attribute to be modified, but only if it is not already in use by a sample or experiment.
• Remove Attribute allows for an existing attribute to be deleted, but only if it is not already in use by a sample or experiment.

The dialog window for an attribute addition/edit is shown below:

• Attribute is the name of the sample variable.
• Type determines whether the variable is a name (string), a whole number (integer), a real number (float) or a logical proposition (boolean, true/false)
• Output Att determines whether this attribute will be saved after calculations have finished.

When attributes are used in experiments or allocated to nuclides they cannot be deleted.  The Nuclide Editor configures which sample attributes are considered mandatory and which are optional for each nuclide.  To read in attributes from csv files, the attribute name should be:

1. created using the Attribute Editor, and then
2. added as a sample attribute in the Nuclide Editor.

If an unknown sample attribute is imported into ACE, an error message will appear:

Usually this means that there is a mismatch between the attribute defined in the Attribute Editor and in the csv file, and can be fixed by modifying the attribute in the Attribute Editor.