Read Me

The following sections describe important additions and changes to the standard EViews documentation.

Help System
Help System Notes on page 3 offers a detailed description of the EViews help system. In addition, if you are currently experiencing difficulties with the help system, the following quick links offer discussions of and solutions to known issues: My browser displays a blank help page on page 8. The help system appears to freeze when loading on page 10. The help search/index tab does not work properly on page 11. I only get the JavaScript version of the help system on page 11. My IE 7 tabs are incorrectly displayed and labeled on page 13

Errata and Updated Documentation

Corrections and updates to the printed documentation are described in our errata sections: Notable Documentation Updates on page 15. Errata and Updated Documentation on page 17.

2 Read Me

Help System Notes

The EViews help system is a cross-platform, cross-browser, HTML based help system that uses Java and/or JavaScript to display navigation tools, provide hot-linked index entries, and offer full-text search. Unfortunately, the help systems use of Java and JavaScript can lead to compatibility issues for selected browsers and operating systems. To the best of our knowledge, the EViews help system runs on all standard Windows platforms (from Windows 98 onward) using modern browsers (Internet Explorer 6.0, Navigator 4.0, and newer) albeit with some combinations requiring adjusting browser settings or in rare cases, installation of additional software. The remainder of this discussion describes the basics of the EViews help system and offers solutions to some common problems.

Overview
The EViews help system may be launched either from within EViews (by selecting Help and one of the help topics from your main menu) or directly from the Windows filesystem. The EViews helps system opens in your default web browser. In the right-hand frame of the browser window will be displayed help system content. The icon on the upper-right hand corner may be used the print the current page, while the right and left-arrows page forward and backward through the help system. (The remaining icon is described below.)

4 Help System Notes

On the left-hand frame of the browser window are tabs which provide navigation and search tools. Here we see the Contents tab, which offers a tree structured view of the help contents. Simply click on an entry to show the selected content in the right-hand frame. Clicking on the Search tab displays tools that allow you to perform full-text search of the help system. Simply enter the relevant text in the edit field, use the combo to specify the scope of the search, and click on OK.

Overview5

The bottom-portion of the tab will display the results of your search. The first two columns provide information about the page containing the specified content; the third column provides a relevancy rank score for the page. Clicking on an entry displays the selected content in the right-hand side frame. You may display the location of the current page in the Contents tab by clicking on the icon in the upper-left hand corner of the page. The left-hand frame will show the Contents tab with the tree opened to the location of the page. Clicking on the Index tab displays the index entries for the help system. Selecting any item in the index displays the content in the right-hand frame. We discuss the Index tab further in the next sections. The Favorites tab (which may not be available for your help configuration) allows you to tag pages for later reference. You may add the current page to the favorites list, remove pages from the existing list, or selecte items in the list to navigate quickly to a specific page.

6 Help System Notes

Java versus JavaScript

When you launch EViews help, either from within EViews or directly from the Windows filesystem, the help system looks at the settings for your default web brower and determines whether to run the Java or the JavaScript implementation of the help system (the Java version will be run if possible and the JavaScript version otherwise). The two systems differ slightly in functionality, with the Java version offering a different index system, and in some cases, an additional Favorites tab. Below, we see the Java version of the help system displayed using Internet Explorer 6.0 SP2. Most importantly, the Java help system Index tab shows an edit box path into which you may type auto-completed entries. We also see that there is a Favorites tab you may use to tag pages in the help system that you find particularly useful for future reference.

Overview7

The JavaScript version, displayed below in Firefox 2.0.0.2, offers a different index system, with a list of letters provided at the top of the index window; clicking on a letter brings up entries beginning with that letter. While not visible in this screen image, the browser window Address field shows that we are using the JavaScript version of the help (the java in the address displayed in the earlier example is replaced by js . Lastly, note that the JavaScript version does not suppor the Favorites tab.

8 Help System Notes

Help System Issues

The following describe solutions to problems that you may encounter with the EViews help system.

My browser displays a blank help page

If your browser displays a blank page, you may have to reset your browser security settings to allow Java or JavaScript to run.

Internet Explorer
Proper display in Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0 requires that your browser security settings be at most Medium (to check your security settings in IE, select Tools/Internet Options, click on the Security tab, select the Internet zone and Local intranet, and confirm that the Security level slider is no higher than Medium).

Help System Issues9

Firefox
The Firefox 2.0.0.2 settings are in Tools/Options/Content. Make certain that either or both (preferably both) of the Enable Java or Enable JavaScript checkboxes are selected.

Mozilla
Mozilla 1.7 settings for Java and JavaScript are in Edit/Preferences/Advanced and Edit/ Preferences/Advanced/Scripts & Plug-ins, respectively.

10 Help System Notes

Opera
Opera 9.10 settings are in Tools/Preferences.../Advanced/Content.

The help system appears to freeze when loading

Please be patient if nothing appears to happen when you launch help, or if the browser loads a portion of the help system and then appears to stop. To the best of our knowledge, the help system loads properly in all browsers (assuming appropriate security, Java, and JavaScript settings).

Help System Issues11

We have found, however, that initial loading times can be somewhat lengthy (up to 30 seconds or so), with little visual indication that additional content is being loaded. This is especially true when accessing help over a network. Furthermore, load times in Internet Explorer 7.0 appear to be significantly longer than in other browsers. We hope to improve load times in the future.

The help search/index tab does not work properly

There is a problem running the JavaScript version of help in some situations. The symptom of this problem is a non-functioning search and/or index search tab. Clicking on on the search tab, or selecting the index tab and clicking on one of the letters in the index appears to freeze the help system with the status message Error on page. The detailed JavaScript error is: Error: 'WWHFrame.frames.0.frames.1.location' is null or not an object This problem has only been observed for the Internet Explorer 6.0 SP2 browser accessing an EViews JavaScript help system deployed on a network file server (accessing a local copy of of the help system using IE 6.0 does not appear to generate the same errors), but it may appear in other settings. There are three possible workarounds: Use the Java version of the help system. See Java versus JavaScript on page 6 for a discussion of the differences between the two, and I only get the JavaScript version of the help system on page 11 for details on enabling Java help. Update your browser to IE 7 (or use Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, or a different default browser). Deploy the help system on a local machine. If you are able, you may copy the EViews help system from the file server to your local machine. You will need to configure EViews to use the new help system. Select Options/File Locations... from the main EViews menu and change the EViews Help Files directory entry to point to the local version.

I only get the JavaScript version of the help system

The Java version of the help system should be displayed on all versions of Windows that support EViews and most browsers so long as a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is available and correctly configured. There are exceptions. Java help is not supported by the following browsers: Internet Explorer 6.0 SP2 and later accessing a help system deployed on the local machine. Netscape 6.0 (Netscape 6.1 and later are supported).

12 Help System Notes

Opera. If none of these apply and you still are getting the JavaScript help, you may need to install and enable the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or reset help settings in your browsers.

Check Java Installation

Next, you should make certain that your browser supports Java (JRE). You may test your Java installation by pointing your browser to the following web page and following the instructions: http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml The page also provide links to tips for downloading, updating, and configuring the JRE. If the JRE is already installed, but Java help is not enabled or does not work, you may need to enable the JRE for your web browser. See: http://java.com/en/download/help/enable_panel.xml. http://java.com/en/download/help/enable_browser.xml. See also the discussion in My browser displays a blank help page on page 8.

Clear Help Settings

If you have confirmed that you are using a compatible browser which supports the JRE, but the help still only opens the JavaScript version, you may need to reset the cookies in your browser. First navigate to the location of your help system (typically in the subfolder Help Files of the directory in which you installed EViewsyou may determine this location by selecting Options/File Locations... from the main EViews menu; see the entry for EViews Help Files). Next, navigate to the wwhelp\wwhimpl\common\html subdirectory of the help directory, and double-click on the reset.htm file. Click on the Reset link for the Implementation cookie. You may wish to click on Show to verify that the new implementation setting for WWHRESKFJSR_Impl is null.

Help System Issues13

My IE 7 tabs are incorrectly displayed and labeled

If, from within EViews, you ask to display the EViews help system when the help system is already open in IE 7, your browser will load the correct content, but will incorrectly show the tab label for the previous help system page. Furthermore if more than two tabs are open in IE 7, with the help system loaded on a one tab, and the active tab displaying content other than the EViews help system, IE 7 will load the desired content in place of the existing help page, but will not change the active tab to show the help system. Both of these problem results from gaps in the current IE 7.0 interface for working with tabs. At this time, there are no known fixes for these problems. You may, of course, click on the EViews help system tab to display the selected content, but the tab label will remain incorrect until you navigate away from the EViews help system.

14 Help System Notes

Notable Documentation Updates

This section contains an overview of significant changes to the EViews 6 from the printed manuals, or errors in the printed documentation to which you should pay particular attention.

GARCH Analytic Derivatives

EViews 6 offers analytic derivatives for a subset of GARCH specifications. See Derivative Methods on page 192 of the Users Guide II for a discussion.

Financial Functions
EViews 6 includes a set of functions for performing calculations commonly employed in financial analysis. These functions allow you to compute various values associated with annuities for each observation in the workfile sample (e.g., present value, payment amount). See Financial Functions on page 737 of the Users Guide I for a discussion.

16 Notable Documentation Updates

Errata and Updated Documentation

The following contains a detailed list of errata and updated documentation for each manual, organized by chapter: Getting Started on page 17. Users Guide I on page 17. Users Guide II on page 18. Command Reference on page 19. These errata and updates are current as of March 9, 2007. We will make changes in source documents to correct errors in the EViews manuals and help system as errors are found. As a result, these changes will be reflected in the current versions of both the EViews help system and in the PDF files provided with current shipping versions of the program. Note that the changes listed here may or may not be present in the versions of EViews help and the PDF files that are currently on your system. The latest versions of these files may be downloaded from our website: http://www.eviews.com. You may compare the dates of the files on our website with those on your local system to see whether or not you have the latest versions by selecting Help/About EViews from the main EViews menu.

Getting Started
Whats New in EViews 6
p. 9. GARCH Estimation: add sentence noting that analytic derivatives are now available for a subset of GARCH specifications, along with a cross-reference to relevant discussion.

Users Guide I
Title Page
<none> The 9-digit zip code for QMS has changed to 92612-2621.

Chapter 1. Introduction
p. 5. First sentence under the heading Installing and Running EViews: EViews 5 should obviously read EViews 6.

18 Errata and Updated Documentation

Chapter 3. Workfiles
p. 52. Last paragraph on the page: (1) saved in EViews 5 should read saved in EViews 6; (2) change cross-reference in last sentence to see Workfile Compatibility on page 19 of Getting Started.

Chapter 29. ARCH and GARCH Estimation

p. 192. Derivative Methods: EViews 6 offers analytic derivatives for a subset of GARCH specifications. The corrected discussion describes the derivative methods that are available for various GARCH specifications.

Appendix A. Operator and Function Reference

p. 733. Add topic listing for Financial Functions and delete topic for Matrix Functions (which is cross-referenced on the next page). p. 733. The cross-references to the String Function Summary and Date Function Summary should note that the material is in the Command Reference. p. 734. The cross-references to the Matrix Command and Function Summary and Date Function Summary should include the fact that the material is in the Command Reference. p. 737. (new) New reference material for a set of Financial Functions has been added. These functions permit you to perform calculations commonly employed in financial analysis. p. 744. The examples of the @msum and @mav functions have been changed from @mov-

sum and @movav.

p. 749. The syntax description for @quantilesby should have the final comma as an optional argument (inside the [). p. 756. There is a spurious ] in the entry for @insert.

p. 757. The syntax description for @str should have the final comma as an optional argument (inside the [).

Users Guide II
Title Page
<none> The 9-digit zip code for QMS has changed to 92612-2621.

Chapter 28. Specification and Stability Tests

p. 165. First paragraph on page: change sub-set to subset.

Command Reference19

Part VIII. Other Multivariate Analysis

p. 577. p. 577. j. The entry for Chapter 40. Factor Analysis is missing the trailing period (.). The entry for Chapter 33. System Estimation has a typo. Delete the extraneous

Chapter 40. Factor Analysis

p. 618. Last paragraph: the sentence should read Along with the CF family, EViews supports the following rotation methods.

Appendix D. Estimation and Solution Options

p. 629. In the second bullet list item, amend the discussion to note that only selected GARCH models use numeric derivatives. The corrected item should read In a limited number of cases, EViews will always use numeric derivatives. For example, selected GARCH and state space models always use numeric derivatives.

Appendix F. Information Criteria

p. 645. For consistency, the Information Criteria for factor analysis should replace references to the ln function with log. The latter is used in the EViews documentation when referring to the natural logarithm.

Command Reference
Preface
p. 1. Bottom of page: contains... should be changed to contain additional material.

Chapter 1. Object and Command Basics

Alpha
p. 7. Add the phrase to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads which may be used to label output in tables and graphs.

Coef
p. 17. Add the phrase to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads which may be used to label output in tables and graphs.

Equation
p. 47. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

20 Errata and Updated Documentation

Factor
p. 101. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Graph
p. 154. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Group
p. 198. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Link
p. 223. The description of the label command in Link Views on page 223 should read label information for the link. p. 223. The description of the displayname command in Link Procs on page 223 should read set display name. p. 223. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Logl
p. 238. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Matrix
p. 255. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of... p. 262. The corrected reference to Principal Components notes that it appears in Users Guide I. p. 262. The page for the cross-reference for Covariance Analysis in the printed manual is incorrect. The sentence should read See also Covariance Analysis beginning on page 380 of the Users Guide I.

Model
p. 276. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Command Reference21

Pool
p. 305. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of... p. 334. The cross-references to the auxiliary commands testdrop (p. 790) and testadd (p. 789) should be replaced with the pool view commands Pool::testdrop (p. 327) and Pool::testadd (p. 326).

Rowvector
p. 338. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Sample
p. 349. The description of the label command in Sample Views on page 349 should read label information for the sample. p. 349. The description of the displayname command in Sample Procs on page 349 should read set display name. p. 349. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Series
p. 364. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of... p. 386. Last sentence before Cross-reference: capitalize SER1.

Sym
p. 461. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

System
p. 486. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Table
p. 512. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Text
p. 533. The description of the label command in Text Views on page 349 should read label information for the text object.

22 Errata and Updated Documentation

p. 533 The description of the displayname command in Text Procs on page 349 should read set display name. p. 533. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Valmap
p. 538. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Var
p. 553. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of... p. 557. The impulse command: in the descriptions for the options for matbys= and matbyr= (to save impulse responses ordered by shock and by response, respectively), add the word ordered to the first sentence, and append a sentence describing the ordering of the shocks and responses: The response and shock orderings correspond to the ordering of variables in the VAR. p. 557. (new) Add description of new smat= option which permits you to save impulse responses ordered by shock with the shocks and responses in user-specified order. p. 557. (new) Add description of new rmat= option which allows you to save impulse responses ordered by response with the shocks and responses in user-specified order.

Vector
p. 579. Add qualifier to label output to the description of the displayname proc so that it reads may be used to label output in place of...

Chapter 2. Object Summary for Commands

p. 598. Delete extra model (p. 271) entry under trace.

Chapter 3. Graph Creation Object Summary

p. 602. Add sentence: For details on commands to customize existing graphs, see the graph object reference: Graph on page 143. at the end of the first paragraph. p. 602. Add sentence The graph creation objects may be used with the following EViews objects under the Graph Creation Object Summary title.

Chapter 4. Command Reference

p. 675. Replace cross references to the Matrix Language and Programming Language with links to more relevant Command Reference sections: Chapter 7, Matrix Language

Command Reference23

Reference, on page 847, and Chapter 8, Programming Language Reference, beginning on page 877.

Chapter 5. Special Expression Reference

p. 817. Add an example in the @expand description showing how to use the keyword to estimate a model with slope coefficients that vary across categories.

Appendix A. Operator and Function Listing

p. 886. p. 890. p. 890. p. 890. p. 891. (new) Add entry for the new future value function @fv. (new) Add entry for the new annuity number of periods function @nper. (new) Add entry for the new present value function @pv. (new) Add entry for the new annuity payment function @pmt. (new) Add entry for the new annuity rate function @rate.