                              PERMAP 11.8 Help File


	Version 11.8 is substantially the same as version 11.7 with the exception that high resolution printing has been eliminated.  This feature was leading to runtime errors on some laptops.  The only other changes envolve labels and descriptons.

      This file largely contains excerpts from the PERMAP manual which is currently undergoing a major update.  

      PERMAP is an interactive computer program that uses multidimensional scaling (MDS) techniques to make 1, 2, 3, ..., or 8 dimensional maps.  It can do ratio, ratio + bounds, interval, interval + bounds, and ordinal MDS.  It can treat up to 1000 objects at a time and up to 100 attributes per object.  It is PC-based and visually oriented.  Its name is derived from the words perceptual and map.

      PERMAP can use similarities, dissimilarities, or attribute data to define the map.  It offers several objective functions (Stress, Stress1, SStress, Multiscale, Fractional) and any Minkowski distance function.  Its resulting map can be mirrored, rotated, translated, and zoomed. 

      PERMAP's purpose is twofold.  It is intended to be a practical tool for MDS users and an effective learning tool for students new to MDS.  It does not attempt to apply every known transformation formula to your raw data or reduce multiple replicates to a single map.  It single-mindedly tries to do a good job of making mainstream MDS analyses in a way that beginners and experts can easily understand.

      PERMAP can be controlled by a mouse or keyboard.  The alt-key gets you to and from the menu bar, the tab-key shifts between controls, and the enter-key activates a control. 

      Data are entered using a text file (i.e., a file stored in ASCII or ANSI format, U.S. numbers convention).  Any modern word processor can save information in this generic format.  For instance, if you use WordPerfect, use File/Save As and choose ASCII DOS Text or ANSI Windows Text from the File Type box at the bottom of the screen.  If you use Word, use File/Save As and choose Text Only or MS-DOS Text from the Save As Type box at the bottom of the screen.  Alternatively, it is often faster and easier to use Notepad, the simple text editor that comes with the Windows operating system.  Notepad is designed for the quick entry of short segments of unformatted text.

      A data file is based on freeform data entry.  This means that keyword identifiers announce the presence of various data elements and that these elements can be entered in any order.  Comment lines can be placed freely throughout the data file as long as they are not placed between a keyword and its following data.  All optional information is covered by default values.  Thus, if you choose not to use weights in the problem formulation then they need not be mentioned in the data file.

      Here is a very simple data file that assumes your data are in the form of dissimilarities.

NOBJECTS=6
   
DISSIMILARITYLIST
0
.21, 0
.59, .68, 0
.74, .79, .2, 0
.88, .8, .24, .25, 0
.11, .1, .66, .7, .89, 0

      Dissimilarity data either can be in a lower-left half-matrix, as shown above, or a whole matrix format.  If a whole square matrix is entered, the upper-right triangle is ignored.  Entering a square matrix is allowed simply to facilitate data interchange with other programs.  

      If you want to use dissimilarity data from a spreadsheet, first save the spreadsheet in ASCII format.  For instance, if using Excel, use File/Save As and choose either Text or CSV from the Save As Type box at the bottom of the screen.  Then, use a text editor to enter the keywords (e.g., DISSIMILARITYLIST), messages, and so forth.  Save the edited file in ASCII text format with a txt or dat extension, and use this new file as input to PERMAP.

      The short data file shown above works fine.  However, you will probably want to control more aspects of the analysis and the display.  For instance, you may want to title the output.  You do this with the following entry somewhere (anywhere but between a keyword and its associated data) in the data file.

MESSAGE= 

      If your proximity information is in the form of similarities, then replace the key word DISSIMILARITYLIST with SIMILARITYLIST and be sure that the diagonal values are all equal and are not exceeded by any other similarity value.  There is no space before the LIST part of the keyword and capitalization is not important except for readability considerations.

      Instead of entering proximity data, PERMAP will accept attribute data.  In this case each object is represented by a series of attribute values (all of which must be numbers even if nominal attributes are being used) and the proximity information is calculated from the attribute data using any of several standard relationships built into PERMAP.  If attributes are to be used then do this.

NATTRIBUTES=3

ATTRIBUTELIST
Tom, 1, 1, 2
Dick, 1, 2, 2
Harry, 3, 3, 2
Greg, 3, 4, 0
Steve, 3, NA, 0
Bob, 1, 6, NA


      The leading names are optional.  They can be entered with the attribute data as shown above or with the (dis)similarity data.  See the example files EXAMPLE_A.txt through EXAMPLE_I.txt that come with PERMAP for more details on input file construction.

      Experienced users often want the fastest possible ways of controlling program execution even if the commands are not particularly intuitive.  Here are some such control techniques using the mouse, keystrokes, or combination key strokes.  All of these apply only while the main screen has the focus.  That is, the familiar Windows cut, paste, and select commands still work in an edit window, even though their control keys have been usurped when the main screen is active.

Mouse shortcut controls:
      Clicking an open area toggles between the Stop and Continue buttons.  
      Double clicking an open area is equivalent to clicking the Start button.
      Double clicking an object parks the object.
      Double clicking an attribute number parks the attribute.
      Right clicking an open area reveals the field movements controls.
	Control clicking an object toggles between locking and unlocking the object's position.
                              
Keystroke shortcut controls:
      F1 opens the help file
      F2 opens the file selection dialog box
      F3 opens the special cases screen
      F4 opens the active data file
      F5 opens the last-saved solution data file				
      F6 opens the last-saved short solution data file				
      F7 opens the best-saved solution data file (saved by Auto Repeat feature)

      A-key changes the Attributes function
      B-key changes the Badness  function
      C-key clicks Continue
      
      D-key changes the Distance function
      F-key reveals the Field Movements controls
      E-key changes the level of Dij Precision
      J-key clicks Jiggle
      M-key changes the Mapping Weights function
      N-key changes the number of Dimensions in the solution
      P-key clicks Stop
      S-key clicks Start
      T-key changes the MDS Analysis Type function
      X-key clicks Exit
      Y-key changes the Boundary size
      esc-key clicks Exit

Alternate-key shortcut controls:
      alt-A opens the Analysis Parameters menu
      alt-B opens the Attributes-to-Dissimilarities screen
      alt-C opens the Special Cases screen (same as F3)
      alt-E opens the Edit menu
      alt-F opens the File menu
      alt-H opens the Help menu
      alt-N opens the Convergence screen
      alt-P opens the Map Evaluation menu
      alt-V opens the View screen

Control-key shortcut controls:
      ctrl-A opens the Attribute Evaluation screen 
      ctrl-B opens the Objective Functions selection screen
      ctrl-D saves the existing analysis settings to file PermapDefaults.dft
      ctrl-L opens the Links Evaluation screen
      ctrl-M opens the Mapping Weights selection screen
      ctrl-N opens the Dimensions and Boundary selection screen
      ctrl-O opens the Objects Evaluation screen
      ctrl-P prints the screen using the Windows PrintScreen command
      ctrl-Q prints the screen in high resolution mode
      ctrl-S saves the input data and the solution to file PermapSolution.dat
      ctrl-T opens the MDS Types and Error Bounds selection screen
      ctrl-Y changes the Boundary size at a slower rate than the Y-key












