CBC/HB v5 Dev Blog

Farewell & Thanks

2009-08-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

With the final released and the beta survey concluded, our beta program comes to a close and thus this blog. We hope to utilize similar technology in the future to include you in our development process.

If you ever have a question or suggestion, don't hesitate to send us an email.

The wait is over!

2009-08-24T15:26:00.001-07:00

The final version of CBC/HB v5 is available at http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com. Go get it now!

The beta will continue to operate until the expiration date, and you're welcome to use it until that time. I have removed all but Beta 9 from the server, and it too will be removed once the expiration passes.

Thanks again for your help. In the next 2-3 days I will be sending out a survey to beta users regarding the beta program experience. Your comments will be greatly appreciated.

Well, we're waiting...

2009-08-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

I know you're anxious about when the final will appear! The good news is that the code is done and we have a 'Gold' build in escrow, which means if nothing is found it will be the release.

After discussing it with Bryan, Gary (our programming manager) and the support staff we decided to push the release to Monday the 24th. The reason has nothing to do with the quality of the software. Rather we will have some support staff (and myself) gone tomorrow and we don't want poor Brian McEwan trying to answer a bunch of questions on how to use covariates, etc.

So please be patient. I'm anxious too. I've got an A&W in the fridge with my name on it for Monday.

PS: 500 brownie points to the first person who correctly guesses the film quote the title is taken from. (Brownie points are not redeemable for software)

Jots and tittles

2009-08-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

We are preparing to release the final version of CBC/HB v5 this week. We are currently dotting the i's and crossing the t's. For the most part we are making internal changes so our support staff can generate your licenses, etc.

We've still had a couple of very small UI issues come up but those shouldn't affect the release schedule.

Stay tuned!

Beta 9 Released!

2009-08-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

A download to Beta 9 is now available:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHB_v5_0_0_Beta_9.exe

Resolved issues:
* Incorrectly running 32-bit mode on 64-bit windows (introduced in Beta 7) [Thanks to Tom Eagle].
* Covariate demographic scanner misidentified zero-centered variables [Thanks to Tom Eagle].

The severity of the bugs has forced another beta release. We are still on track for release the week of the 17th.

Registration Server Maintenance

2009-08-04T10:04:00.001-07:00

For the next few days the registration server will be undergoing maintenance. This is really a minor point as most of you have probably already gone through the registration process or just click 'No' when it asks to register.

If registration reports an error, don't worry about it.

Beta 8 Released!

2009-08-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

A download to Beta 8 is now available:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHB_v5_0_0_Beta_8.exe

Resolved issues:
* Help for project wizard and some tools were not displayed when F1 is pressed.

Changes/New Features:
* The constraints view is now 100% of the project window. [Suggestion from Jane Tang]
* A new option exists to convert .cho files to a single .csv file (not available for dual-response none). This feature allows users to more easily modify their data file. For example, if two attributes need to be combined because of excessive prohibitions, this is easily done in a .csv using Excel but very difficult in the .cho layout.
* The .cho file reader now reports the line number of an error instead of the offset.

It's August and we are very close to final release. I expect this to be the last beta release and following will be release candidates. If all goes well, I expect RC1 to release next week and final on about the 17th.

Beta 7 Released!

2009-07-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

A download to Beta 7 is now available:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHB_v5_0_0_Beta_7.exe

Resolved issues:
* Bug in .cho reader

Changes/New Features:
* The maximum number of saved draws has been increased to 1,000,000 (from 100,000). [Suggestion from John Wurst]
* When the total number of iterations exceeds 100,000, a warning will appear alerting users that increasing the graphing skip factor can increase performance. This threshold is arbitrary, as it depends largely on the number of parameters and available memory. Suggestions are welcome.

Bug: The Fuzz

2009-07-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Leonhard Kehl has reported a new bug which results in what we call, "The Fuzz":

It is caused by an error in the .cho file reader and does not affect CSV input files. The parameters end up wandering all over the place leading to The Fuzz. This bug was inadvertently added into Beta 6. It is not present in any previous beta or version of the software. It will be obvious to anyone who runs a dataset, but it is serious enough for me to ask you to stop your runs for a few hours till I can get a new build out. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Beta 6 Released!

2009-07-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

A download to Beta 6 is now available:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHB_v5_0_0_Beta_6.exe

Resolved issues:
* Tie draws routine fails when using interactions (Thanks again to Stuart Drucker)
* CreateProject fails in the command interpreter (Thanks to Mick McWilliams)

Changes/New Features:
* New commands in command interpreter

The new shirts for Stuart and Mick:

A slightly different v5 release

2009-07-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of people who have sent issues, and I will be back later this week to fix those.

However, in the mean time I'm happy to shamelessly announce the birth of Aaron Lee Williams today at 5:11pm. He is our fifth child (yes, five and yes, we're crazy) and fourth son. He and mother are doing well.

Beta 5 Released!

2009-07-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

A download to Beta 5 is now available:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHB_v5_0_0_Beta_5.exe

Resolved issues:
* Tie draws routine fails to read .hbu correctly when using user-specified attributes
* When opening existing project, browse button opens to current folder instead of default

Changes/New Features:
* Build report now reports how many constraints are in use
* Log file lists constraints used
* A new setting has been added to allow user control of the target acceptance rate.

The new target acceptance setting was an idea given by Leonhard Kehl. It tells the engine how much to perturb betas in order to achieve an average acceptance rate. We have always kept that constant at 0.3 (30%), but some advanced users may want to experiment with that number. We recommend for most purposes to leave it at 0.3.

Enjoy and have a nice weekend.

Bug: Tie Draws

2009-07-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

Stuart Drucker seems to be angling for a new bug shirt [image]. He's reported a problem with tying draws, where tying with a User-Specified attribute will cause a crash. It's a problem in the utility file reader. We'll get it fixed for Beta 5.

Thanks again Stuart. Here's your new shirt (in one of three new Star Trek designer colors):

WWHT: Help icons

2009-07-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

With everything at the top level (no subwindows), the tabs became overcrowded, so I included the ability to collapse and expand panels on the tab. The most common are expanded by default.

I came to think the same thing would happen when a user pressed F1 for help. There's obviously only one area the user needs help with, but the help file would have to show a page with everything and the user would have to find the appropriate item, etc.

While we can't divine what specific thing the user wants help with, we can narrow it down. Each panel with specific help has a dedicated help icon (shown in the picture). When clicked, the help for that topic is displayed, hopefully getting users the help they desire sooner.

Call for feedback on Command Interpreter

2009-07-14T10:51:00.001-07:00

One of the new unprecedented features of CBC/HB v5 is the Command Interpreter, which allows you to script and estimate projects from a command interface or text-based script files.

A few of our testers have expressed their interest in this feature. I would hope that any of you that wanted it have had a chance to try it out.

If you have used the feature, especially as part of a larger process (i.e. running it from SPSS or Excel), I would like to hear from you about how you're using it and what your feelings are on it. If you approve, I'd even like to mention your experiences on the blog.

Beta 4 Released!

2009-07-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

A download to Beta 4 is now available:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHB_v5_0_0_Beta_4.exe

Resolved issues:
* .hbu header is missing User-Specified attribute labels and effects
* Saved draws are the unconstrained betas when using constraints
* .val file creator writes a blank file when attributes are User-Specify

Other changes:
* Installer works on Windows XP Professional x64

There are a few constants in the universe: Death, Taxes, A-Team plotlines and Software Bugs. It actually pleases me that these bugs are coming in. First, each bug found in beta is one that won't be in the final. Second, most of the bugs are minor in that they relate to the UI or an output file, but the actual estimation results appear to be correct. Finally, it shows that people are actually using the product.

Thank you for your effort and keep up the good work!

Bug: Constrained utilities not written in draw file

2009-07-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

Beta user Tom Eagle found a bug while using constraints and saving draws.

When we did ACBC/HB, we modified the constraints algorithm. It all looked to be good, but when we made the same changes to CBC/HB v5, it didn't work. The reason was that in ACBC there is so much more individual level information that the problem didn't show up. So we had to revert to the old school, but I forgot one piece involving the draws. As it turns out, we'll be reverting ACBC to the old method too for some datasets that exhibited the problem.

Constraints are a tricky problem, which is why we advise not to use them if possible.

Bug: HBU header when using User-specified coding

2009-07-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

Chris Diener has found a bug in the HBU header when attributes are coded User-Specify. The labels and effects are not written to the file correctly. However, the betas located in the file are correct.

The subsequent import into SMRT fails.

A new build for this will be posted tomorrow morning.

Windows XP and 64-bit

2009-07-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

Deciding which operating systems to support can sometimes feel more like art than science. At some point, you've got to stop supporting Windows 9x, which we did a few years ago except for SSI Web's CAPI module. At some point we'll stop supporting Windows 2000. Usually that topic starts coming up when the particular OS reaches 5% or less of the market. People like the W3C actually track this stuff: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp.

Some OS releases never achieve a significant market share, such as Windows XP 64-bit. It was a troubled release. There are two distinct products: Windows XP 64-bit (no longer available) and Windows XP Professional x64. The two names are so similar you can't even know which one you have without knowing something about the machine it's being used on. It was also hard to get, never had driver support, etc. It never reached 5% share.

We don't even have a copy in the office to test with (which is being remedied). It has architectural differences with Vista x64, so I wasn't comfortable supporting an OS I had no way to test and had no significant share of the market. So I made a conscious decision not to support it. Then Murphy's Law kicked in.

One of our beta users was frustrated by not being able to install on XP, since it was the 64-bit version. I have to apologize. I want to support our beta users as much as possible. I've asked that we acquire a XP64 to test with, but I've also posted a new download that will install on XP64.

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHB_v5_0_0_Beta_3a.exe

Release dates

2009-07-08T15:38:00.000-07:00

I know most of you have sawtoothsoftware.com as your homepage, so you've probably already seen Bryan's announcement about CBC/HB v5:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/news.shtml

Bryan is a good friend and boss, but a particular Dilbert cartoon always comes to mind when he starts anticipating release dates:

However in this case, I agree with him. Based on what's been found by the Beta users, I am confident we will ship in August.

Beta 3 Released!

2009-07-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

I have posted a download to Beta 3:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHB_v5_0_0_Beta_3.exe

Resolved issues:
* Importing constraints via a .con file
* Comparing .val file against default .att file values
* RLH's end up as 0 or 1 when saving draws

Other changes:
* Engine performance enhancements
* New installer to accommodate 64-bit installations

Since the poll didn't seem to get any responses beyond Jenn Howell, the pseudonym of our own John Howell. Given the lack of input, I made an executive decision ~~involving the flip of a coin~~ that one installer would be the way to go.

If you are using Vista64, when you update to Beta 3 you will be using to the 64-bit version. Enjoy!

Poll: One installer or two?

2009-07-07T15:45:00.001-07:00

I'd like your input via some comments. I had to start using a new installer package since the old version of InstallShield won't work with the 64-bit version, the new one doesn't either, and it just costs too much to upgrade to their "super-overbloated" version.

It will require testing to make sure it works, but it looks like there is the option of making one installer for both 32-bit and 64-bit installations, rather than one for each.

Pros for one installer:
* One installer would be less hassle for download links, etc.
* Users wouldn't have to decide or understand the difference
* Would automatically install 64-bit on Win64 and 32-bit on Win32

Cons of one installer:
* Users don't get a choice to use 32-bit on Win64 (not sure this matters)
* The installer would be roughly 2MB larger

Please let me know what you would prefer.

64 bit version near completion

2009-07-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

We've been working on the 64-bit version for a long time. Since v2.0 I've made changes that would allow us the ability to someday do 64-bit. Last year I did an experiment in 64-bit performance gains, which you can read in the Sawtooth Solutions section of our website. We measured gains in performance near 20%.

This week we will release the first 64-bit beta verison of CBC/HB. To take advantage of this, you must be running a 64-bit version of Windows Vista or Server 2008. I'm sorry if you are one of the few with Windows XP 64-bit, but there are too many differences to bother with. At any rate the installer will not allow you to install the 64-bit version on anything else. You also cannot have the 32-bit and 64-bit versions on the same machine. Why would you want to anyway?

The 32-bit and 64-bit versions look identical on the surface. You will be able to see which one by clicking the About window in the help menu, and looking at the window title, as shown:

Bug: RLHs are 0's and 1's when saving draws

2009-07-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Beta user Stuart Drucker has found an issue relating to saving draws. When doing so, the RLH values in the utilities files (csv and hbu) end up being 0 or 1. The problem is that they were not being multiplied by 1000 before rounding to a whole number.

Currently there is no workaround besides not saving draws, but will be fixed in the next release.

Some positive experiences with covariates

2009-07-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

Some good news to end with before the holiday weekend (in the US).

We've had some users report back to us on their use of covariates, and so far the results look good. That boosts my confidence, so keep up the good work.

In one test by Jon Godin, nearly 8000 respondents participated in a MaxDiff study with 11 items. The data were estimated using 3 covariates involving gender, country and a quota group variable. Jon carefully reviewed Bryan's riveting whitepaper on involving covariates, and believed that his covariates were well chosen. While Jon is continuing to analyze the data to support the results from HB, he reports that the groups looked good.

But we're not done yet. Please keep up the testing so we have as robust an engine as possible.

Bug: Comparing .att and .val

2009-07-02T14:22:00.001-07:00

The .att file exported by SSI Web and SMRT is... well there's no other way to put it: It's the bane of my existence. It's a terrible format with more ifs, ands or buts than I care for. A lot of the old file formats are like that. We're working across the company to moving to better file formats like CSV.

Ranting aside, the .att file has optional sections for attribute labels and values, or task lists, or conditional price tables. If the section for attribute labels is missing, the reader cooks up defaults.

The .val file contains the exact same information this optional section has. So if you import both a .att with the section and a .val, I have to check to see if they are the same and reconcile them if they aren't.

The problem is that if a .val is specified and the .att optional section is missing, it was comparing the .val to the defaults that got cooked up.

This fix and the previous fix by Leonhard will be fixed in Beta 3.

Bug: Importing constraints

2009-07-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Beta user Leonhard Kehl sent in a bug regarding constraints. Importing a .con file for specifying constraints results in the project not being created. To work around this issue, specify your constraints in the software rather than importing the .con file.

Good catch Leonhard.

Beta 2 Released!

2009-06-30T15:30:00.000-07:00

I have posted a download to Beta 2:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHB_v5_0_0_Beta_2.exe

You *MUST* uninstall Beta 1 before installing Beta 2. You can uninstall by going to the Control Panel and selecting Add/Remove Programs (XP) or Programs and Features (Vista).

Resolved issues:
* InstallShield Error 1722 during install
* Importing .mtrx file
* Pasting data to Prior Covariance Matrix grid
* Unspecified error during estimation when using User-Specified coding

Other changes:
* Updates to Help
* Engine performance enhancements
* Vastly reduced download (34MB -> 9MB)!

One of the other things I've been working on lately is the 64-bit version. I hope to have a download for Beta 2 (x64) soon.

WWHT: The Project Window

2009-06-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

One of the UI (User Interface) design goals I had for v4 and v5 was to reduce the trouble in getting around trying to get things done. It's a real pain in the neck to have to open a window here, change a few things, then close it and open another one only to have to come back, etc. By using a tabbed interface getting from the attributes to the alpha parameters is quick and easy.

One thing I hate is pop-ups. Especially ones that aren't there to give you a choice or report some catastrophic crash. I didn't want people clicking another tab only to have to display a pop-up to tell them there was a conflict with another setting. In that case the pop-up isn't informative, it's intrusive and annoying. Thus CBC/HB does dynamic error checking, not allowing you to click Estimate until all conflicts are resolved, but allowing you the ability to change any setting at any time.

For v5, there was an opportunity to do some new UI which wasn't possible before (given the development tools). Instead of specifying custom prior covariance matrices with a text box (and some clever parsing), we use a grid which feels more like a spreadsheet view, which is the natural way to think about it.

Also, using the collapsible panels everything in v5 is now top-level, or in other words, you don't have to open any sub windows. There's perhaps one exception, which is to specify a constraint, but at the top level you can ascertain the state of any setting offered by the software. To me, that's the single best UI change to v5.

The goal of UI design is to not get in the user's way. It shouldn't just be easy -- it should feel natural. That being said, don't hesitate to tell me if you think something could be designed better. Don't hesitate to compliment the UI either. :)

Bug: Importing custom prior covariance matrix

2009-06-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Beta user Jon Godin has reported the first bugs in Beta 1.

Importing a .mtrx file with the study will result in a project creation error. The problem is a bug in the matrix file reader, which makes it think it's a respondent filter file. To work around the issue, uncheck the .mtrx file on the import and type in the matrix manually.

Normally I'd tell you to paste in the matrix from Excel (as I did Jon), but that is bug #2 (which he replied with). For matrices that are symmetric, I didn't want you all to either shoot yourselves in the foot by making a typo or wasting your time by duplicating half the matrix. That's why the lower half is greyed out and mimics the upper half automatically. Well, this inadvertently caused a bug in the paste. Outside of people running MaxDiff data, most won't alter the prior covariance matrix.

Getting past the first two bugs leads to Bug #3 which Jon encountered which is the most severe. It's hard to explain, but it affects the output files if attributes are set to User-specified, as they are in MaxDiff sets. A workaround is to temporarily turn off all the CSV-based output files (including alphas, covariances, and the utilities).

The fixes to these issues will be in Beta 2, and given the third bug I'm inclined to try for next week. Like I said, these are the first bugs reported for the beta, and they won't be the last, but I hope that there won't be too many. Your experiences will find those that are still in there.

So kudos to Jon. We always wish we had a T-shirt for bug finders, but Bryan says we need to be "austere" with our expenditures in this economy. Getting your name in a blog is nice, but perhaps there is middle ground:

New license file download

2009-06-23T15:56:00.001-07:00

It seems the browsers are having all sorts of fun with the license files. I've posted a new download which should make it easier to download. It's zipped, so you'll have to unzip it.

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHBv5BetaLicense.zip

WWHT: The New Command Interpreter

2009-06-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

A few years ago at the Sawtooth Conference I had a few people express nostalgia and desire for a console version of CBC/HB v4. At first it sounded crazy. We had worked so hard to make v4 a true Windows app. We programmers used to joke with ourselves about still shipping console apps. But after talking with those people, I discovered why they wanted an old-style version: They used to be able to make CBC/HB part of a larger automated process. With the Windows version, that step had to be done manually.

At the time, I envisioned just doing a console-style estimation window. I designed it, but we decided not to deploy it because we worried that companies would use it to make a 'HB mill' where anybody could submit their project to one person, abusing their license.

Since that occasion, I have fielded several questions from various people regarding similar behavior, that is, to automate CBC/HB within the context of a larger process. It seemed there were quite a few people that would benefit from this feature. We discussed whether this would again lead to license abuse, and while the potential exists we now decided the benefit outweighed the risk and besides, we assume our customers are honest.

I redesigned the feature to include the creation as well as estimation of projects, since many of the questions revolved around that. I designed it as an interface that programmers familiar with the .NET Framework could write actual code against. It was cool, but in testing it looked like there would be a lot (I mean a LOT) of support issues from people who weren't exactly sure what they were doing.

So finally we redesigned again and created the CBC/HB Command Interpreter. It works like a command prompt, and you can type commands that create, manipulate and estimate projects. Full documentation is available in Appendix N of the online help and manual. One of the nice features it has is that you can save a list of commands to a text file and pass that to the interpreter. That allows users the ability to again automate CBC/HB as part of their larger processes. A user or another program can generate a script file and then call the interpreter, which will faithfully execute the commands successively. Once it is finished, the results will be available via their output files for supplementary analysis.

What Was He Thinking!: The Project Wizard

2009-06-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

As part of the beta period, from time to time I'd like to showcase some of the changes and explain why some things were done the way they were. That way you can agree with me or tell me what would be better (notice I won't just let you disagree). I affectionately will refer to this as What Was He Thinking! or WWHT (I hate texting-style acronyms, but the phrase is long).

When I was a student at BYU, I had a professor by the name of Mike Goodrich. Besides being a great instructer, he taught us some guidelines regarding design. Sure, the class was about hardware but the rules apply to software as well. He called them the 4 Design Principles:

Smaller [less code] is faster
Simplicity favors regularity
Make the common case fast
Good design demands good compromise

I've tried to apply them to this project, and I won't say that I've done a perfect job but I think it's pretty good. My hope is that you can have your projects up and working with minimal effort.

The Project Wizard

When I was reviewing the v4 Project Wizard, I realized that there were two problems. The first problem was that it took two dialogs to create a project. There was the 'Choose your data file', and the 'Additional files' dialog. I also had to accomodate the new data file types.

The second problem was that you could open an existing project using the wizard, but to open a recent project you had to go to the file menu.

Another annoyance was that you had to click File / Open just to get to the wizard. I decided this was a case to apply design principle #3, "Make the common case fast."

By default, the new Project Wizard opens automatically, displaying at the bottom a list of recently used projects. Double-click one and you're off and running. If the project isn't in the list, you can still browse to it.

At the top, the 'Additional Files' information has been integrated to eliminate the second step of creating projects. Most of the time projects are created just with a .cho & .att. They can specify the .cho file and click continue, and their project will be ready for them.

Importing your license

2009-06-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

Someone wrote that when he clicked the link to the license file, it displayed the contents rather than download the file. In IE, you should see something like the picture shown.

The new licenses are a simple XML script. We are using a completely new method to generate licenses. It appears that there we are not exempt from hackers, and we found that someone had cracked our old licenses and was publishing phony licenses. The new licenses are much harder to break, since they employ two digital signatures using private/public key encryption. Estimates are that it would take 30+ years to decipher the keys, by which time we hope to have shipped v6 :).

Back to our story: the user copied the contents into a text file and found that it didn't work. The reason is the little dashes pointed to in the picture get copied as text. The dashes are there to let you collapse portions of the XML, but they aren't really part of it.

To solve the problem, the user entered the whole URL of the license into the License Manager. That works too, but the most common solution is to right click on the link and use Save As rather than click the link outright.

Upgrading from v4

2009-06-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

Installing v5 will uninstall v4 on the same machine. The two programs cannot coexist. Please take this into account as your are testing.

If you open a v4 study in v5, the project will be updated and will no longer open in v4. Before you open a project that you plan to use in both versions, it would be wise to make a copy of the .cbchb file.

One of the beautiful things about CBC/HB is that you can have multiple project files pointing to the same data file. You could have myprojectv4.cbchb and myprojectv5.cbchb using the same data file, and existing in the same folder.

InstallShield Error 1722

2009-06-19T09:51:00.000-07:00

We had an install issue where Error 1722 was encountered. The error refers to something called "VistaWorkaround". This happens when the installer is trying to install some redistributable Microsoft components, and other software is open that is accessing those components.

I will be working on how to make that work smoother in the installer, but for now shutting down the other programs seems to fix it.

Beta User Questions

2009-06-19T09:35:00.001-07:00

A couple of questions have already come out:

Q) Will this work sith ACBC data? Is Otter's method [Task-specific scale factors] baked in to this version, or only included in the SSI Web version?

A) Yes and no. You can export a .cho and .att from your ACBC dataset, but CBC/HB does not differentiate between task types (BYO, Tournament, or Choice Task), so Otter's method is not available. But perhaps this is what you really want to know: Yes, covariates will be coming to ACBC/HB once this engine is perfected (no promises on what that will be released). Covariates and Otter's method are really the only two major differences between the two engines.

Q) I'm assuming there will be at least minimal documentation to suggest what is intended with the covariate functionality?

A) I hope you find it to be more than just minimal. We've rewritten most of the documentation to reflect the new features, but also to update for the times. For heaven's sake, we used to have a section comparing HB to ICE!

I'm happy to keep answering questions as they come up. I'll do my best to respond to comments, and to repost questions that come via email (as long as they might be beneficial to all).

Beta 1 Released!

2009-06-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

The first beta release of CBC/HB v5 is available here:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHB_v5_0_0_Beta_1.exe

This beta will expire September 30, 2009, by which time we expect the final version will be available. The number of beta releases between now and then depends largely on the feedback from the beta users, so please do your best.

For use with the beta, download the following license:

http://www.sawtoothsoftware.com/download/releases/cbchb/CBCHBv5Beta.license
(Right-click and select Save As / Save Target rather than Open)

The software will request this license upon start. We would also like you to test using our new registration server and provide feedback about using the registration process.

Welcome

2009-06-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

Thank you for your participation in the CBC/HB v5 Beta program. Version 5 contains a lot of firsts -- our first HB capable of covariates; the first available scripting engine; and this will be the first of our software to be released for a 64-bit platform.

As another first, I would like to use this blog as a tool for communicating with you, the beta testers. The users are our most valuable resource, and it is more art than science in figuring out how to get user involvement.

As changes are occurring during the beta, I will post them to the blog. If I receive feedback from you regarding disired changes or features, I would like to consult with your via this blog. You will be able to add your comments regarding your experiences, which we hope will help make the software better.

Finally, we'd like to prove to Bryan that this method is helpful and worthwhile to you (if indeed it is). If this endeavor proves successful, we will be able to create more blogs regarding our products.