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Frequently Asked Questions

General

Known Issues

Is there a demo of SHAZAM Professional Edition available?
If you have purchased and completed installation of the standard edition of SHAZAM for Windows (version 9) then you may install the professional edition from the CD and press the 'Demo' button when the registration dialog appears.  If you have not purchased  version 9 then please take the virtual tour available from the professional edition homepage (http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/pro).  There is currently no downloadable demo of SHAZAM.

How much does SHAZAM Professional Edition cost?
The SHAZAM Professional Edition license is an upgrade to the version 9 standard edition license and as such requires you to purchase the version 9 standard edition license of SHAZAM.  You may buy the upgrade license when you buy the standard edition or subsequently.  Please note that from an installation point of view the professional edition installer can be run without running the standard edition installer.

I have purchased SHAZAM for Windows - Standard Edition Version 9 but would like to upgrade to the Professional Edition. What do I need to do?
Both the standard and professional editions are contained on the Installation CD.  Please visit http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/order and complete the online order form.  You will be sent a professional edition registration code as soon as your order is processed.

Does the professional edition allow menu driven execution of SHAZAM?
Yes. The professional edition has been built specifically to bring a high level of user friendliness to performing econometrics.  Notably, using the SHAZAM Wizards it is possible to perform estimation, run diagnostics, specify confidence intervals, restrictions, do hypothesis tests, construct forecasts and many other tasks all with the click of a mouse.  SHAZAM Wizards also allow the construction of program statements so that as users become more demanding in their requirements they may easily make the transition from menu driven execution to more advanced econometric programming methods.

What are the installation requirements of the professional edition?
The minimum hardware requirements for the professional edition are:

* 486 or higher processor (Pentium recommended)
* 16mb RAM (32mb or higher recommended)
* 16mb hard disk space
* 800 * 600 display resolution

Required software components for the professional edition on all supported operating systems are contained on the installation CD.  The installation CD contains an installer that checks whether your machine has the required components and notifies you should items be found to be missing.

Windows XP 
Nothing additional is required.

Windows 2000 
Nothing additional is required.

Windows ME
Nothing additional is required.

Windows 98
You may be prompted to install (from the installation CD):
* MDAC2.5 or later

Windows 95 
 You may be prompted to install (from the installation CD):
* DCOM for windows 95
* Internet Explorer 5.0 or later
* MDAC2.5 or later

Windows NT4.0
You may be prompted to install (from the installation CD): 
* Service Pack 4 or later (not on CD)
* Internet Explorer 5.0 or later
* MDAC2.5 or later

All earlier versions of windows such as Window 3.0, 3.1 or NT 3.51 are not supported.

Does the professional edition offer the same econometric features as other editions?
Yes. All versions of SHAZAM offer the same econometric features.  Please visit http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/ref for a full list of all shazam programming statements and commands.

How do I order a copy?
Please visit http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/order and fill out the form.  Alternatively if you are purchasing via purchase order then print the form, complete it and send it and the purchase order to us.

I have recently upgraded to Windows 2000 and when I start SHAZAM the message "Failed to update registry" appears. What has happened?
This is a known bug with software created using Microsoft Visual C++ running on Windows 2000.  Please update your version of SHAZAM to the latest version available here http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/up 

Is the professional edition networkable?
Yes. To discuss any particular network installation issues please email pro@shazam.econ.ubc.ca

We are operating a Novell network and find that SHAZAM will not properly startup. What can we try?
Ensure the files shazamw.ini, shahelp, and demo are all given read write permissions.  If you still experience trouble please contact us at pro@shazam.econ.ubc.ca

I have installed MDAC2.6 or later and don't seem to be able to access ODBC datasources such as Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel and the like with the Advanced Data Connector. What should I do?
Beginning with MDAC2.6 Microsoft removed the Jet components from MDAC. The Jet components contain the drivers for desktop databases and need to be installed separately.  These can be found at:  http://www.microsoft.com/data/download_Jet4SP3.htm

I am using Windows98 and whenever I double click on my project from Windows Explorer SHAZAM Pro opens but the project is not there.  Next when I try to do anything it crashes.  What has happened?

This is a known bug in the Professional Edition that we are working to resolve.  In the meantime when using Windows98 please open all projects using the 'Open' button on the professional edition toolbar.

How do I change the values of PAR and SIZE in the Professional Edition?

These can be changed as per any other SHAZAM version you may:
a) Set them on the command line eg. shazamp size=1234 par=5678
b) Enter them as the first commands in the command editor and press 'Run'
c) Use Single Window Mode to change the values.

Note that to permanently set the values you may use the commands

par xxx
size yyy
stop save

then exit SHAZAM and restart.  These will now be the default starting values.

The Introduction to SHAZAM index file is not found.  What can I do?

Please visit http://shazam.econ.ubc.ca/download and update your the introduction to the latest version.  Extract to the /help/intro subdirectory in the SHAZAM installation directory.

I have recently installed some new software and SHAZAM begins the startup process and then exits before fully loading. What has happened?

Some software vendors attempt to forcibly replace common runtime libraries (dlls) contained on your computer even if a later version is already on the computer.  This is a poor practice and can damage existing applications, such as SHAZAM, that rely on the features in the latest libraries.  These libraries are backward compatible so that later versions always support the earlier features using the principle of COM interfaces. 

The best way to restore functionality to SHAZAM should this happen is to go here to download and install the Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime libraries Redistributable file (vcredist.exe) contained there.  This updates the runtime files to the last Microsoft release (Service Pack 5).

 

SHAZAM fails to run the same file twice when using the Run button. What has happened?

Some command files can fail to run more than once when in batch mode. Should this happen ensure there are no STOP statements contained within the file. Also ensure that before any data is read that a correct SAMPLE statement is present (if not using the autoload feature). Should the problem continue add DELETE / ALL as the first command in the command file.