Once an HEC-WAT study has been created (see Developing a WAT Watershed Study), actions to manage study details and access to the study files are available. For instance, the option to open an existing study, close the current study, provide details about the current study, import models into a study, or select a recently opened study are made available from the File menu option of the HEC-WAT main window.  

HEC-WAT File Menu commands.

Open an Existing Study

There are two ways to open existing studies in HEC-WAT.

The first way to open an existing HEC-WAT study is to select Open Study from the File menu. From the Open Study browser window, navigate to the location of an existing HEC-WAT study (*.sty). Select the study name (e.g., St_Paul_Example.sty), click Open, the Open Study browser closes, and the selected study opens in the HEC-WAT main window.

Open Study browser window, example HEC-WAT study (.sty) file selected.

The second way to open an existing study is to select a study that was recently opened inside of HEC-WAT. To open a recently opened study, select Recent Studies from the File menu, and select the desired study from the list of the five most recently opened studies. HEC-WAT automatically loads the selected study.

Close a Study

To close an active study, select the Close Study from the File menu. HEC-WAT saves the study, which includes all the files associated with the plugins that are part of the study (e.g., HEC-RAS, HEC-FIA) and closes the study. Although the software itself does not close, HEC-WAT removes the study from the main window. 

Note

HEC-WAT keeps track of changes being made to a study by the major study components – alternatives, analysis periods, and simulations. 

Save a Study

To save a study, select Save Study from the File menu. HEC-WAT saves the study, which includes all the files associated with the plugins that are part of the study (e.g., HEC-HMS, HEC-ResSim).

Study Details

To access the study details for the study currently loaded in HEC-WAT, select Study Details from the File menu. The Study Details dialog box opens. 

Study Details dialog box, Map Properties tab.

The Study Details dialog box contains a panel at the top and five tabs at the bottom – Map Properties, Contacts, Model Info, Simulations, and Plugins. The panel at the top displays the name of the study, the study description (which the user can edit), location of the study file (*.sty), the selected unit system, the selected coordinate system, the user name of the team member that created the study, and the date and time the study was created. 

Map Properties

From the Map Properties tab, the user can set the synchronizing of map windows; choose to have or not have a grid display on map windows (default is to have a grid); and, set the background color of map windows (default is white). The Map Properties worksheet is the default tab for the Study Details dialog box.

Contacts

The Contacts tab provides the ability to input study team information. The user can provide each team member's name; their user name; their responsibility on the study team; phone number; office symbol; and the assignment given to the team member (i.e., specific model, creation of stream alignment, etc.).  

Study Details dialog box, Contacts tab.

Model Info

The Model Info tab displays the model alternatives that have been defined for a study. HEC-WAT tracks both the model alternatives and corresponding software applications.

Study Details dialog box, Model Info tab.

In the Model Info worksheet, a user can identify the team member (from the Contacts tab) responsible for an individual model alternative; who imported the model alternative; the date the model alternative was imported; who last modified the model alternative; the date the model alternative was modified; and, the description of the model alternative.

If the model has a description, the Description column will display the description of the model alternative. If there is no description, click in a Description cell, the Edit Description for "model alternative" dialog box will open. Enter a description, click OK. The Edit Description for "model alternative" dialog box will close and the entered description will appear in the selected Description cell.

Edit Description dialog box.

Simulations

The Simulations tab provides information regarding simulations. The information on this worksheet is populated by HEC-WAT based on dates and times, and the user name which was entered on the Contacts tab.

Study Details dialog box, Simulations tab.

Plugins

The Plugins tab allows the user to enable or disable plugins for a specific study. By enabling or disabling the plugins listed, the user defines which plugins will be used for the active study.

Study Details dialog box, Plugins tab.