Abbreviations

 

1. After you’ve learned how to create and configure a profiler database you’ll want to begin storing data to it.  After all, EquiSim’s profiler databases are only useful after EquiSim has put some data into one of them.  How much data?  That question gets asked a lot. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, there is no one answer. Some people prefer to look at the various profiler features with as much data as they can find, others care only about the most current data, and others want data from the same time period the year previous.  The point is that there are a lot of ways to use the features that are rely on the profiler database – as many ways as there are to look at data.  There are only a few places where the amount of data available have an impact on how the program must be used. Those will be mentioned when they are relevant to the topic at hand.
2. Before you can store any data to a database you need to make sure that your Data Cards and Results Files that you purchase for use with EquiSim are stored in the proper place on your hard drive. The EquiSim User’s Guide explains how to do this in its “Data Files” chapter.  To verify that your data cards and results files are in the right place do this:
   1. Open a data card that you know you have the results file for
   2. Look at the EquiSim status bar, at the bottom of the EquiSim Window (the gray strip). On the far right side you will see the text “Results Loaded”. If this says “Yes”, congratulations, you have your data cards and exotic results files stored in the correct way. If it says “no”, then there is something wrong and you should go back and review the Data Files chapter of the User’s Guide.
3. Once you have your data files stored in the correct location building and maintaining profiler databases is very easy.  There are a couple of things to bear in mind:
   1. You need to be connected to the database that you want to store data to. This is covered in the Creating and Configuring databases tutorial.
   2. Storing the Profiler Value
   3. Storing data for the same race twice is not a good idea – how to prevent it

 

4. There are essentially two ways to store data to the database. You can mix and match which method you use.

Method 1: Using the “Store Loaded Races ” command

1. Imagine that you have just downloaded race cards for some upcoming races.  You open these data cards in EquiSim and handicap the data cards.  Note that any changes you make to the way the Profiler is set up, and any changes you make to the pace line selections are stored automatically for you when you close the race card.  This is important to know because these are the things that can principally influence the data that EquiSim stores in its Profiler Database. Its important that these changes you might make are stored and re-loaded for you because you will not be storing the data EquiSim produces for the race card until the next day, when the results are in. By that time you have probably closed down EquiSim.
2.  Now imagine that the races have come and gone, and you have shut down EquiSim.  That is, you have closed the race cards that you used for the day.
3. The next day (or later on that day) the results files are ready. You download them and have them stored in the correct location.
4. You then re-open all of the race cards for the day in question here. At this point in time EquiSim automatically loads the results files that you downloaded.  You can now use the “PDB->Store To Database” command.  This command looks at each race currently loaded into EquiSim (each race of each card that you currently have open, in no particular order) and checks:

·        If results have been loaded for the race. If no results are present, the race cannot be stored to the database.

·        If the race has been SIMULATED. If the race has NOT been simulated, then EquiSim will run a simulation for the race silently. This will produce a Sim Chart that is viewable on the Sim Charts screen.  If the race can NOT be simulated, it cannot be stored in the database.  If a race has already been simulated, then the last simulation run is what gets stored intot he database.

·        If the option to “Store Profiler Values” is turned on for the database you are connected to, then EquiSim checks to see if the race has been profiled. If the race has NOT been profiled, then the race is profiled using whatever profiler filters were last assigned to the race.  Note that this can be time consuming to profile every race. The reward for storing Profiler Values is that you get to use the SPAT to do statistical analysis on the profiler values – to find out where they perform well.

            Method 2: Using the “Store By Tracks” command

·        The Store by Track command lets you choose which tracks to store data for and a date range.  EquiSim then opens each card from each track in chronological order. It loads the results for each card opened, simulates the card, and, if the Store Profiler Value option is turned on, EquiSim will Profile each race using the database you are connected to and store the relevant Profiler Value information. Note that EquiSim will use any changes you made in the settings (pace line selections, profiler filters, etc.) the last time that you opened the card.

 

5. Verify that Data was Stored in the Database
   1. After you’ve stored some data in a Profiler Database you can verify that the procedure worked in several ways. You can go to EquiSim’s SPAT and do an analysis. If any races appear for the Simulation winner – you know that data was stored in the database. You can also go to the PDM->DB Utilities->DB Contents dialog to see more specifically what has been stored to your database.
6. Store Some Race Charts
   1. EquiSim also lets you store the “Instant Charts” available, free, from TSN and BRIS.  You can store these in your profiler databases and then use EquiSim to recall the charts either through the PDBM->Chart Viewer tool, or directly from a race index on the Form View (see the User’s Guide – there are a number of places in EquiSim where you can bring up the chart for a race if it is stored in your database).
   2. You can use the File Grabber to download Instant Charts. This is highly recommended since the Instant Charts files must be named in a specific way. The File Grabber performs this naming for you. See the Data Files section of the User’s Guide.
   3. Now go to the PDBM and select “Store Race Charts”. In the dialog that appears click “Select Chart Files to Store by Name and Store Them”.
   4. Use the File Dialog that appears to select your Chart files (you can select more than one at a time). Click “open”, and EquiSim will do the rest.
   5. Verify that the chart was stored by going to the PDBM->Chart Viewer tool and entering in the date and race number for one of the charts you just stored.