ReadMe for RSRAP THANKS for your interest in this version of the Resurfacing Safety Resource Allocation Program (RSRAP). RSRAP was developed by Midwest Research Institute (MRI) in Project 3-56 of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). NCHRP is sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration and is managed by the Transportation Research Board. To learn more about RSRAP, visit http://www.rsrap.org. Initial release – June 2003 Version 1.1 – March 2004 CONTENTS 1. System Requirements 2. Installing RSRAP 3. Troubleshooting Issues 4. Release Notes SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Because RSRAP is an Access database that links to Excel during execution, system requirements for the RSRAP software are essentially the same as those for the Microsoft Office Suite; please consult installation requirements for these products for more detailed information. INSTALLING RSRAP Select appropriate version to install ------------------------------------------ RSRAP has been developed for Access and Excel products in Microsoft Office versions 1997, 2000, and XP (2002). The RSRAP application specific to each of these versions will have the year of the version appearing in its installation Zip filename as well as the application filename. To select the appropriate version of RSRAP for installation, users should first determine the version of Microsoft Office that is installed on their system. This is accomplished by clicking About Microsoft Access or About Microsoft Excel on the Help menu in the corresponding application. Version information is then displayed in a dialog box next to the application’s name. Once this information is determined, the following rules should be used to select the appropriate RSRAP version: 1. If both Access and Excel are from the same version of Microsoft Office, then the corresponding RSRAP version files should be used to install the application. 2. If the versions of Access and Excel are different, the RSRAP folder with the lowest version (year) of the two applications should be used. Microsoft Office will automatically convert an installed lower version of RSRAP to the current Microsoft Office version for Excel. However, users will be prompted to convert the Access program to a newer version. An exception to this rule is noted next. 3. If Excel XP (2002) is installed with a lower version of Access, the RSRAP version corresponding to the version of Access should be installed first. Then, the xlsolver2a.xls file from the RSRAP2002 folder should be copied to the installed RSRAP application folder to replace the old xlsolver2a.xls file. Install RSRAP from a file downloaded from the Internet -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following procedure should be used to install the RSRAP software on a computer (after downloading the appropriate RSRAP.zip file). 1. Begin by clicking the RSRAP.zip file to start the WinZip program. (A trial version of WinZip is available at www.winzip.com). 2. Using WinZip to open the RSRAP.zip file, extract the entire set of files to the root of your C: drive by entering C:\ in the 'Extract to:' field. This should create a directory on your hard drive called C:\RSRAP. If you use another drive letter for your applications, you will need to go into the source code and update all references to C: with your applications drive letter. 3. To run RSRAP, follow the procedures in Section 7 of the User's Guide and click on the file named C:\RSRAP\RSRAP.mdb. Install RSRAP from a CD-ROM --------------------------------------- The following procedure should be used to install the RSRAP software from a CD-ROM on a computer (after selecting the appropriate RSRAP version folder): 1. Copy the entire folder entitled RSRAP on the installation CD to the hard drive (usually this drive is called the C drive) so that it becomes a folder known as C:\RSRAP. 2. Clear the “Read Only” file property of every file in C:\RSRAP and C:\RSRAP\Old Projects. This is done by right-clicking on selected files, choosing Properties from the pop-up menu, and clicking the attribute check box labeled “Read Only” on the General tab. 3. To run RSRAP, follow the procedures in Section 7 of the User's Guide and click on the file named C:\RSRAP\RSRAP.mdb Upgrading from a previous version ------------------------------------------ The following procedure should be used to upgrade to a new version of RSRAP: 1. Save off current data in installed version of RSRAP by following the procedures in Section 5 of the User's Guide. (User data will then be stored in the OldProjects folder). 2. Rename installed version’s program folder. (e.g. , C:\RSRAP to become C:\OldRSRAP. 3. Install new version by following one of the above procedures. 4. Swap the OldProjects folder between versions and delete the old version. Additional installation notes ---------------------------------- If you need to install RSRAP on a network drive, follow the alternate installation procedure in Appendix E of NCHRP Report 486. Additionally, Appendix F provides installation and upgrade information for the Solver program. Troubleshooting Receive error message when executing optimization --------------------------------------------------------------- The optimization done in the RSRAP application is performed with an add-in program to Excel called Solver. Solver is not automatically installed in the standard installation of Excel; the user must manually choose it during a custom installation. (Please consult the Excel user’s manual for installation of add-ins). If Solver was not installed on a computer, the user will receive an error message “Cannot find xlsolver.dll” during the optimization process. If the error message still appears after installing Solver, the dynamic-link-library for Solver may not be properly referenced within RSRAP. To check program references, open the Excel spreadsheet xlsolver2a.xls with macros enabled. Then access the Visual Basic Editor by clicking the macro submenu found in the Tools menu in Excel. To open the references dialog box, click the References submenu found in the Tools menu on this screen. The list of references used by RSRAP will appear with a check beside each library. If one of these references has “MISSING” preceding its name, select the reference by clicking its name and then the Browse button to find the file(s). As the Solver, funcres, and/or atpvbaen libraries may be missing, the following paths may be used to find the files: 1. Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Library\Analysis\ATPVbaen.xla 2. Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Library\Analysis\Funcres.xls 3. Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Library\Solver\Solver.xla RSRAP performs optimization but does not return a solution ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Data is transferred from the Access portion of the application to the Excel portion of the application during the optimization process. It is possible that not all of the DAO components of Access were installed or explicitly referenced. To check RSRAP program references for these components, hold down the shift key while starting RSRAP. Once the database is open, click the Modules tab, then select (by clicking) the any class module, and open it in design mode (by clicking the design button). Once the module is open, a Tools menu should appear where the References submenu can be selected to activate the references dialog box. The list of references used by RSRAP will appear with a check beside each library. If the Microsoft DAO 3.6 Object Library reference has “MISSING” preceding its name, the Browse button may be used to find the file. This file may be found with the following path: Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO\dao360.dll If this reference is not listed (and cannot be found by scrolling through the list of references) or a lower version of this reference is listed, a new version of this library may need to be installed from http:\support.microsoft.com. Please consult this website for more information about installing an updated library. RSRAP performs optimization and returns impossible solution --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The version of Solver that is distributed with Excel handles 200 alternatives. This version has been found to be adequate for most RSRAP applications. However, some agencies may find that their problems require a larger version of Solver. (For example, results returned from the optimization process have solutions for some of the sites and no information provided for other sites considered.) Versions of Solver that handle more than 200 alternatives may be purchased from a commercial supplier/vendor. Release Notes 1. Version 1.1 – Corrects error-handling procedure, which terminated the program when incorrect data were entered. Additionally, extended formulas were added to the Excel spreadsheet to handle up to 200 alternatives.