Entering Time Series Data

Use the Time Series Grid in the agent properties panel to record values across timesteps — the spreadsheet inside your model.

The Time Series Grid is the spreadsheet you use to record an agent's values over time. Rows are properties, columns are timesteps — a familiar layout that scales from a handful of values up to thousands of cells without changing how you work.

Open the grid

Select an agent — either on the simulation diagram or in the Model Navigator
The Properties Panel opens on the right
Below the agent's baseline properties, you'll see the Time Series section with the grid

The columns are computed from the scenario's timeline (start, end, dt) — change those and the grid resizes.

Type values directly

Click a cell to start editing
Tab moves to the next timestep on the same row
Enter moves to the same timestep on the next row
Esc cancels the edit

The grid adapts the editor to the property's data type — text input for strings, numeric input for numbers, dropdown for option properties, checkbox for booleans, date picker for dates.

How values are resolved

If you don't enter a value at a particular timestep, Metapad doesn't leave a gap. It looks up the value in this order:

The cell you typed at this timestep
The previous timestep's value (carry-forward)
The agent's baseline value (from the agent properties)
The node type's default value (from the metamodel)

So a property only needs explicit entries where it changes. A salary that's flat for a year and bumps up in month 7 is two cells, not twelve.

Time series and parameter sets

A scenario can be run under several parameter sets — variants that change some inputs and leave the rest alone. Both kinds of input follow the same rule:

a set that specifies a value or a series uses its own;
a set that says nothing inherits the default set's.

So to build a "high growth" variant of a scenario you only enter what actually differs. Everything else — baselines and time series — comes from the default set automatically, and stays in sync when you edit the original.

One rule worth knowing: inheritance is per property, not per cell. If a set enters any cell for a property, it owns that property's whole series and inherits nothing further for it. That keeps things predictable — there is no half-inherited series where some years come from one set and some from another. If you want a variant that differs in a single year, enter the other years too (carry-forward means that is usually only one or two extra cells), or use a baseline override instead.

Computed cells

If a property has a formula (set on the node type), the grid shows its computed value automatically and the cell is read-only — you don't enter values for computed properties; the simulation does.

You can switch a property between manual and computed at the metamodel level: turn the formula on, and the cells go gray and read-only; turn it off, and the cells become editable again.

Next steps

Simulation Diagrams — visualize agents and their links over time
Writing Property Formulas — automate the cells you don't want to type by hand
Adding Charts, Sliders, and Checkboxes — interactive controls and visualizations