Text Box Background Colors |  |  |  |

| This topic describes SAM 3.0 and has not been revised for SAM 2009 Beta. You may find useful information, especially if you are new to SAM, but some of the information may be inconsistent with the new version.

The background color of text boxes provides information about the data in the box. On the View menu, click View Input Type Legend to display a legend of background colors.

Table 4. Description of text box background colors.

Background color | Description of variable type
White | User Specified: Data that you can edit by typing in the box.
Brown | Parametric: The variable is a parametric variable and has more than one value. The value in the box with the brown background is the base value of the parametric variable. Right-click the box to view all values. See Parametric Variables.
Yellow | CapturedFrom: The value is linked to a cell in a spreadsheet. Right-click the box to access the spreadsheet. See Working with external workbooks and UDVs.
Blue | Calculated: Values that Solar Advisor calculates based on the values of other input variables. For example, in the Module page, the Power box appears with a blue background because Solar Advisor calculates the module power using values for the module size and efficiency.
Blue type font | Referenced: This value from a different input page appears as part of the text on the current page.
Green | Schedule: A variable that has a different value for each year in the analysis period. For example, seven-year inverter replacement costs could be specified by defining the operation and maintenance Fixed (per year) cost variable on a schedule, with an annual payment every seven years. See Costs.