QUESTION:
What is the simplest way to get data into AUTOBOX ?
ANSWER:
(1) DATABASE ORIENTED
New time series data is imported via the ADD option while adding values is done with the APPEND option. Data can be in either TXT format or DBF format.
(1) TEXT FILE (flat ascii file ) [WITHOUT HEADER]
Here we present an example of a plain txt file which can contain a number of time series. This example has two series.
(2) TEXT FILE (flat ascii file ) [WITH HEADER]
Here we present an example of a plain txt file which can contain a number of time series. This example has two series the first being monthly and the second series is annual.
(3) dbf FILE [WITHOUT HEADER]
Here we present an example of a dbf file which contains no header information other than the name of the series. This example has four series whose seasonality has not yet been specified.
The series should be UPPER/LEFT justified in that there can be no columns to the left of the data or any columns above the data. There can be no formatting of the data (i.e. commas).
(4) dbf FILE [WITH HEADER]
Here we present an example of a dbf file which contains header information. This example has one weekly series staring at week 11 in 1989 with header information preceeding it.
The series should be UPPER/LEFT justified in that there can be no columns to the left of the data or any columns above the data. There can be no formatting of the data (i.e. commas).
(5) Access Mdb file (Not able to use Access 2000-MUST BE SAVED IN ACCESS 97 format -see Tools/Database Utilites/Convert Database)
Autobox uses an Access database platform. Autobox requires a table that describes the features of the series in the database. You can see this structure by viewing one of the many mdb files that are installed along with Autobox.
