Vantage Forecasts Tab
This page is the reference tour: it walks the three views (Cards, Browser, Settings) and enumerates every control the tab surfaces. For an at-a-glance orientation see the Introduction; for step-by-step task recipes see the How To page. Network access to the iEnergy Gateway is required; the connection state is shown at the top of the tab.
Basic Steps
- Cards view
- Browser view
- Settings modal
Before any download folders are configured, the tab shows a Welcome to Vantage card with a single Open Settings button that opens the wizard.
- Open the Vantage Forecast tab in the Suite top bar. After first-run setup, the Cards view is the default landing view.
- Header row (top of the tab, left to right):
- The connection status pill shows the Gateway state (Connecting…, Connected as
<client>(<tier>), or Not connected). - A Custom forecast ready badge appears when custom forecast files are available.
- The ⚙ Settings button opens the Settings modal.
- The connection status pill shows the Gateway state (Connecting…, Connected as
- Download bar (second row, left to right):
- ↓ Download All Latest starts a run across every category.
- The Re-download up-to-date files checkbox controls whether up-to-date files are skipped or re-downloaded.
- Last checked: … is a human-relative timestamp for the last manifest refresh.
- ↻ Refresh re-scans local folders and re-fetches the manifest.
- Asset cards are laid out below the download bar:
- Demand Forecasts — a 2 × 2 grid of Day-ahead / Week-ahead rows by Regional / Zonal columns. Each cell carries a freshness badge (✓ up-to-date, NEW, Update available, or — when the Gateway has no file for that combination). Per-geography destination paths are shown at the bottom of the card, with Download Latest and Browse History… buttons.
- VRE Forecasts (MHCF) — the same shape with a single MHCF column instead of two geographies.
- Database (MDB) — a single-row
DataFileCardshowing a version label parsed from the filename, a freshness badge, a Local: … line, and Download and Browse History… buttons. - When custom forecasts are available, the forecast cards gain a Standard / Custom segmented toggle in their header.
- A fourth card, Bid Sets (ZIP), is present in the interface but is not covered in this guide.
- Below the cards, a Download Activity bar appears while a run is in progress or after at least one file has been downloaded, skipped, or failed. It shows counts during the run and a summary row on completion: ✓ N downloaded · N skipped (up to date) · N failed. Show Details ▾ expands per-file rows; Dismiss clears the summary.
Important Fields, Buttons, and Options
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Connection status pill | Header indicator: Connecting… (amber), Connected as <client> (<tier>) (green), or Not connected (red). Tier is shown only when non-null. |
| Custom forecast ready badge | Green header badge that appears when custom forecast files are available. |
| ⚙ Settings | Header button that opens the Settings modal (wizard on first run; normal mode after that). |
| ↓ Download All Latest | Primary button in the download bar. Fetches every category that has a newer file. Disabled until setup is complete or while a download is running. |
| Re-download up-to-date files | Checkbox in the download bar. OFF by default — files that are already up to date are skipped. When ON, up-to-date files are re-downloaded. |
| Last checked: … | Human-relative timestamp for the last manifest refresh (Never, just now, N min ago, N hr ago). |
| ↻ Refresh | Re-scans local folders and re-fetches the manifest. Disabled while a download is running. |
| Freshness badge (per card cell) | Shows one of ✓ (up-to-date), NEW (no local file), Update available (local file present but out of date), or — (Gateway has no file for this combination). |
| Download Latest (forecast cards) | Per-card primary button that downloads the latest files for that category (Demand Forecasts or VRE Forecasts (MHCF)). |
| Download (Database (MDB) card) | Per-card primary button that downloads the latest Database (MDB) file (example filename shape ipool_2026-04.mdb, parsed as version label v2026.04 — filename shown is a parser example, not a guaranteed name). Disabled if there is no server file, no local directory, or a download is in progress. |
| Browse History… | Per-card ghost button that switches the pane to the Browser view for that category. |
| Standard / Custom toggle | Segmented toggle in a forecast card header; appears when custom forecast files are available. Switches the card's inner content between Standard and Custom file lists. |
| Download Activity bar | Appears below the cards when a run is in progress or after at least one file has been downloaded, skipped, or failed. Shows counts during the run and a summary row on completion. |
| Show Details ▾ | Toggle on the Download Activity summary that expands per-file rows. |
| Dismiss | Ghost button on the Download Activity summary that clears the summary row. Does not affect downloaded files or an in-progress run. |
| ← Back to Overview | Browser-view header button that returns to the Cards view. |
| Geography filter (Browser view) | Select — All, Regional, Zonal. Shown for the demand category only. |
| Horizon filter (Browser view) | Select — All, day-ahead, week-ahead. Hidden for the Database (MDB) view. |
| From / To date inputs (Browser view) | Default to the last 7 days when the Browser view opens. |
| Search (Browser view) | Runs the catalogue query with the current filters. |
| Download Selected (Browser view) | Downloads every ticked row. Disabled at zero selection or while a download is running. |
| Connect to Gateway / Disconnect (Settings) | Authenticates or clears the current Gateway session. |
| Directory rows (Settings → Download Destinations) | Five rows: Demand Regional, Demand Zonal, VRE (MHCF), Database (MDB), Bid Sets (ZIP). Each row is a label + text input + 📁 browse button. |
| Use same folder for Regional and Zonal demand (Settings) | Checkbox that disables the Zonal input and uses the Regional path in its place. |
| Use Defaults from Defaults.csv (Settings — wizard mode only) | Ghost button in the first-run wizard's Step 2 that pre-fills the directory rows from Apollo's Defaults.csv (DirDem / DirDemand / DemandDir for demand, DirScen for the Database (MDB) row). Not present in normal Settings mode. |
| Auto-Refresh interval (Settings) | Select — 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, Never. Default: enabled, 15 minutes. |
| + Add Rule / Upload CSV (Calibration) | Add rules inline or bulk-load from a CSV (Demand: header zone,day_type,hours,scale,note; CFAC: header station,hours,scale,note). |
| Submit Calibration | Cycles the status badge through idle → pending → running → done, polling every 10 seconds. On done, the Custom forecast ready badge illuminates in the tab header. |
| Save / Cancel (Settings) | Save applies the buffered changes, re-scans local folders, and closes the modal. Cancel discards the buffered changes. |
Expected Result
After you use the tab as intended, the configured download folders populate with the requested files and the card freshness badges settle on up-to-date ✓ for the categories you have downloaded. The Download Activity bar shows the completion summary line ✓ N downloaded · N skipped (up to date) · N failed.
When a calibration run completes, the Custom forecast ready badge illuminates in the tab header and the forecast cards gain a Standard / Custom segmented toggle whose Custom position lists the custom forecast files.
There is no batch or command-line equivalent on the Suite side — all Vantage Forecast actions go through this tab.