Project loading

graph LR
    g0[Project loading];
    g1[Prior elicitation];
    g2[Posterior inference];
    g3[Post-MCMC analysis];
    g0 --> g1;
    g1 --> g2;
    g2 --> g3;

    classDef selected-mermaid-node fill:#33658a60,stroke:#cc5f00,stroke-width:4px
    class g0 selected-mermaid-node

After launching PolyChron, users must create or select a Project and a Model to proceed.

A screenshot of the welcome screen for the polychron project selection process

Project

In PolyChron, a Project is a named collection of Models for the same archaeological site, which are stored in the same directory on disk.

The project name must be a valid directory name for your filesystem.

The files for the project are stored on-disk within the polychron projects_directory, which defaults to ~/Documents/polychron/projects but can be configured.

Model

A PolyChron Model contains all of the data and information for a single chronological model and is a member of a project.

The model name must be a valid directory name for your filesystem, and is stored within the project directory.

Creating a new project

From the project selection welcome screen, you can choose to Create a new project. You will then be asked to provide a name for the new project.

A screenshot of the create project popup window

After a project name is provided, such as thesis, you will be asked to provide a Model name for a new model within the project.

A screenshot of the create model popup window

Entering a model name and selecting Submit will allow you to proceed to prior elicitation.

Selecting an existing project

From the project selection welcome screen, you can choose to Load existing project. You will then be asked to select a project from the list of projects in your projects_directory.

A screenshot of the select project popup window

After selecting a project from the list, and selecting Load Project, a list of existing models within the project* will be displayed.

A screenshot of the select model popup window

You can either:

select an existing model from the list and press Load selected model to proceed to prior elicitation;
or you can create a new model by selecting Create new model, provide a model name, and press Submit to proceed to prior elicitation

Creating or Selecting a Project and Model from the command line

When launching polychron from the command line, a project name and model name may be provided, which will launch polychron and either select or create the specified project/model.

polychron --project PROJECT --model MODEL
polychron -p PROJECT -m MODEL

Reopen the project selection window

If you close the project selection window before a model has been selected, it can be re-opened from the main application window using File > Select Project.