After calculating energy, the next logical step is to calculate economics. Up until now it has been possible to enter data into TRACE without any sort of customization. Though the existing library members have been moderately sufficient, calculating economics accurately is impossible without creating a custom rate structure. Please take a look at the standard economic rate structures available in TRACE. These are examples and the prices are very outdated. Chances are if you use these rates for anything other than preliminary runs, or for testing, you are going to get slapped. Therefore, now is a good time to introduce the use of libraries.
Nearly all components in TRACE are kept in a library database. The library database is separate from a TRACE file. It is important to understand the library database is unique to your computer, unless you have a network license, in which case your library database is unique to your network. Library items are not located within a .prc file. They are located within a file called LIB7.DB.
Before we get into editing libraries, let's discuss sharing libraries. A rookie mistake in TRACE happens when users are unaware of the library concept. If a prc file that uses custom libraries is sent to a third party, the third party will find it impossible to calculate the file because it is missing the library information it needs.
The easiest way to share a file is to first archive the file and then send it. The archive process is similar to zipping a file, with a few add ons. The archive process extracts all custom library members used in a file, such as schedules, custom rate structures, or custom equipment. It packages all this information into a .taf file. Another valuable feature of archiving is that it performs a de-bug. Archiving is great for backing up a file at any stage in a project. When a third party gets an archived file, she may open that file in TRACE. Upon opening, TRACE does the unarchive process. It essentially unzips the archive file and creates the .prc file. It also extracts the custom library members from the archive file. It installs them into the third party's LIB7.DB. As a result, the third party can now calculate the file or use any of the custom libraries that were in that file.
If you are in a file and you wish to archive it, you must first go to file and select close. Then, the archive project option is available in the file menu. If we select archive project, we can now select the example file .trc. Be aware that you can only archive files with names less than 15 characters. TRACE will not allow you to archive a file over 15 characters, and I don’t recommend trying it because it is possible to crash TRACE and lose all of your data. With that said, we will select open and archive this file. Upon completion, a window will pop up to say it has finished archiving the file and where it has placed the archived file. The archive file has the same file name but a .taf, or trace archive file extension.