The "Simple Question" Thread

Brandon,

Thanks for letting me know. I think I've fixed the format of the arrival schedule. Hopefully I can make this a bit more clear.

Each line should represent a single arrival event with the information attached to it as name, item type (numeric code), quantity is one flow item per event, and weight was added as an extra column.

I'll give this a try and let you know the outcome.

Follow up:
This worked great, thanks for helping me out.

Has anyone built a model where the Max Speed and Acceleration/Deceleration values for the Transporter are dependent on whether it is traveling loaded or empty?

Even better would be a speed that is dependent on the quantity of flow items being carried by the transporter (to simulate different speeds with different weights).

I'm also interested in getting the Transporter to slow down when traveling around a curved region of a network path.

Any help in the form of suggestions on any of these would be greatly appreciated.

As I continue to learn, I realize how little I know...

I am now working with a pull system that has two queues and five conveyors. The purpose is to have the conveyors pull the same item type as is currently on the conveyor (no more than two different item types can exist at once). I seem to have this part working, but I'm finding that sometimes the similar items pull to multiple conveyors, even if there is enough room to pull the items onto one.

I've noticed that the pull is an even 50/50 pull, but I really only need it on one conveyor, not two. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

I think I have figured it out, please disregard my last post.

Thanks

Joe,

I tried it and in my eyes you can define the speed of the taskexecuter at OnLoad:
setvarnum(current,"maxspeed",getitemtype(item));
Now the maxspeed is depending on the item type. You could also use a label, or whatever.

In a curved section you could use the OnArrival and OnContinue triggers of the NetworkNodes.
if(objectexists(first(traveler)))
setvarnum(traveler,"maxspeed",getitemtype(first(traveler))/2);
If the taskexecuter transports an item the speed is changing (half speed). The if-statement is to prevent, that an empty taskexecuter gets speed zero.
On the first Network Node (of the curve) I set the speed to /2 and on the next NetworkNode (end of the curve) I set it back.
You also might to set the init speed in OnReset of the taskexecuter and also at OnUnload.

Whenever I try to load a state file everything turns up blank. I use:
File --> State Files --> Load State and then navigate to the state file and double-click it. Am I doing something wrong?

Joe,

Some changes to the menu structure for 4.52 introduced a bug with loading state files. This bug has been fixed for the next release.

Phil - thanks for the post. Just to clarify... do I have to load the library you attached every time I close and reopen a model before I can load a state file or will doing it just one time fix it for good?

You have to load the library each time you reopen the Flexsim program. If you close and open models and states, it will keep working. When you close and reopen the Flexsim program itself, the fix will have been lost and you'll need to open the library to apply the fix if you want to load state files.

If you add the userlibrary to the userlibraries tabpage in your global preferences, the library will be loaded automatically everytime you start Flexsim.

Originally Posted by Tom David

In a curved section you could use the OnArrival and OnContinue triggers of the NetworkNodes.

if(objectexists(first(traveler)))
setvarnum(traveler,"maxspeed",getitemtype(first(traveler))/2);

OK. This suggestion from Tom was very useful. Thanks again Tom.

I have a slighlty different problem now. I have a transporter that loads single flow items (pallets) into a queue (which represents a train). This same transporter unloads 10 flow items (pallets) packed into one flow item from a combiner located immediately after the queue (simulating the full train of pallets). The transporter needs to have different load/unload times for single pallets than it will for trains of pallets.

When I went to apply the same logic as Tom's above post to the Load/Unload times however I realized that I had forgotten that these times are set by picklist options. I had planned on putting a line similar to the one above to change the variable for load or unload when my transporter arrived at certain network nodes that were next to different objects in the model only there are no such variables.

I know how to make my code write the flexscript directly to the flexcript node for the load/unload times (done this before for other flexscript nodes on reset) but this would be a really "unclean" method during a model run.

Does anyone know how I can make the load/unload times be dependant on what the transporter is about to load or unload? There is probably a really simple way to do this that I'm not thinking of...

Phil/Steven - I tried both of your suggestions. I see the library load every time now when I open Flexsim (a little window pops up that says Loading Media). It also appears in the libraries list as UserLibrary 1. However the problem with the state files still persists. Do I need to reboot?

Joe,

Is it not possible to just use a label on the pallet for the load/unload time?
Set the label on the Exit Trigger of the object where the single pallets arrive (Source?) and set the label on the Exit Trigger where the train of pallets arrive (Combiner?). And then just use the label to define the load/unload time (getlabelnum(item,"LabelLoadTime").
So in other words if the pallet leaves the Source it has the LoadTime in a label which might get overwritten if the pallet leaves the combiner. Single pallets will not get into the Combiner, right?
If you like to have different times for load and unload, just use two labels.
Could this be a solution for you? Or did I understand something wrong?

I updated the file in post above so that it works when added as a startup library as Steven suggested.

Originally Posted by Tom David

Joe,

Is it not possible to just use a label on the pallet for the load/unload time?
Set the label on the Exit Trigger of the object where the single pallets arrive (Source?) and set the label on the Exit Trigger where the train of pallets arrive (Combiner?). And then just use the label to define the load/unload time (getlabelnum(item,"LabelLoadTime").
So in other words if the pallet leaves the Source it has the LoadTime in a label which might get overwritten if the pallet leaves the combiner. Single pallets will not get into the Combiner, right?
If you like to have different times for load and unload, just use two labels.
Could this be a solution for you? Or did I understand something wrong?

Thanks for the suggestion Tom! I think I can get that (or a variation) to work just fine.

See I knew it was something simple. I just wasn't thinking of it

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by Phil BoBo

I updated the file in post above so that it works when added as a startup library as Steven suggested.

It works great now. Thank you Phil and Steven.

Is there a way to post this information so that all forum members can follow the steps that I just took? I think eveyone could benefit from what you guys provided here.

I wrote some code that uses setnodenum() to change the value of a global variable directly in the model tree. The value gets changed in the tree but when I go to the global variable through the GUI it is still set to the old value. Does anyone know why this happens?

There is a very similar thread on this here:
http://www.flexsim.com/community/for...ead.php?t=759
... but the problem was never resolved (apparently it worked itself out).

Nevermind. My issue also corrected itself. And I can't seem to replicate it. Strange.

Hi all,

a new simple question for this fine thread:
I'm trying to use dll's in my project but even with all the help from previous posts in this forum I cant get them to work properly. Basic problem is that I always get an error message in the Compiler Console saying:

Flexscript Error MAIN:/project/model/Source1>variables/exittrigger line 1 syntax error, unexpected string, expecting end of code
Could not finish parsing because of previous errors.

when trying to implement:
/**DLL path: */ /**/"Flexsim01.dll"/**/
/** \nFunction name:*/ /**/"exitmessage"/**/

The dll is in the same directory as the model and the exitmessage function exists. I also have used the DLL radiobutton for generating the template code in the exit trigger.

Any suggestion what I'm doing wrong?

Cheers,
Stephan

I am not sure and I can not test it, but I still like to try to give you a hint.

If I toggle a trigger to DLL the header is changes to

/**DLL path: *//**/"../libraries/thedll.dll"/**/
/** \nFunction name:*//**/"dllfunction"/**/

So for me it looks like to get the libraries directory it goes one directory up ../, which means in my eyes it points as default to userprojects and not to the model directory.

What you could do for testing is to put your dll in the libraries directory. If this works, we are on the right track.

Then you can put it back and change the path to the directory of your model.
I hope it will work ...