Disappointed by the community

I am a little bit disappointed by the community.

When I updated all my models to v4.32, something went wrong with the model Sample_GlobalMaterialFlow_TD.
I realized this today and fixed it and uploaded the fixed model just a minute ago.

I would have been really nice if someone had told me. That I do not get a lot of feedback for my model is one thing, but that no one tells me that my model is not working, that’s another thing.
Sometimes I really ask myself, why do I a take the time and effort and post my models and share my work.

Anyway, I would really appreciate if someone at least tells me that my model is not working if he realizes such a thing.

Hey Tom,

Did I ever tell you your model doesn't work? Just kidding.

I would be surprised if there were very many (if any) who choose to download everything that is posted. I imagine they wait until they have a need or interest in the particular item posted. Just this last week, I finally downloaded a model someone had posted last year because I now have a similar problem and wanted to see how they approached it. If I downloaded everything to my computer immediately, it would just clutter up my hard drive, and I would forget about it anyways. However, the community has a nice search capability that I take advantage of when I have a particular interest.

I for one very much appreciate those concept models you post. I have referred back to several of them from time to time. My memory is terrible, but I often can remember "Tom did something like that once, I'm going to go search the community".

Strangely enough, when searching the community for answers, I have sometimes come across my own posts that provide the help I need. Apparantely at one time I used to know something, but then forgot I knew it. You see, even if no one else reads your posts, you might find them useful yourself someday!

Thanks Tom for all you do. Please don't stop sharing!!

Cliff

Tom,

So what are your feelings about the Animated Arrow, Moving Coveyor, or the New Ortho View? I didn't see any comments from you as to what you thought of those, and those are posts that explicitly ask for your feedback.

I'm not sure why you didn't post a comment but I'm sure you had a valid reason. My guess is that your reason is not much different from anyone else's. If someone had downloaded your model and found that it didn't work they should have let you know, but as for why they don't comment... Who knows why people don't, I'm sure there are lots of reasons.

I do know that many people appreciate your posts even though they may not say so, even me. Also, I don't check the downloads section regularly for new stuff. It's not as easy to scan through as the thread section that alerts you to stuff you haven't seen yet. You might get more traffic to your models if you were to post a thread alerting people to them. I'll start a thread where you can put posts alerting people to new models that are uploaded. This way there aren't hundreds of model alert threads hanging around.

Thanks for all you do on the forum, it is appreciated.
Brandon

Brandon,

Thanks for starting the thread “Download Alerts!”. It is a great idea and I was asking for something like this for quite some time as we discussed in another thread.
Now I know where I can make people aware of my uploaded models.
I hope this thread is also meant to use as the place to give feedback, suggestions, etc.

I did not give you feedback for all your stuff, because before I do so I like to test and examine the things, before I give feedback.
And I am really busy with building own models for uploading to the community.

For my excuse I can say, that I voted in the Animated Arrow thread. So I gave you feedback by the vote. And a lot of times I thank you for your posts.
Do not get me wrong, I do not expect a lot of feedback, but if you get really rarely feedback you sometimes ask yourself why spending all the time in doing so.
I wrote in another thread that it would be just great if there would be more discussion about different model concepts. I think here is so much brain in the forum and so much to learn.
I do not want complain, because I know this is an active forum if you compare it with other forums (for sure other simulation forums). But it could be (as always) even better.

I agree with Cliff (thanks for your post), that there a tons of good stuff in the community and if you want to have a look at everything, it will take quite some time every day. On the other hand you can learn so much by just reading the posts and having a look into the models.

Like you say Brandon, many people appreciate your posts even though they may not say so, even me .

I try to read every day all the new posts in the community, just to know what is going on. Beside this I share my work by posting the sample models. I guess that’s makes me an active forum user.
Sometimes I answer questions and I really like if I can refer to one of my models.
But sometimes if there is an “easy” question I do not answer, because I hope that other will reply. So I try to give other the chance also to be active in the forum. Maybe my perspective is wrong here, but I like the idea to encourage others to get more active in the forum.

Anyway, I like to thank any active user in the forum and your two posts make me feeling better. I guess yesterday I just had a bad day and was shocked that one of my models I posted was not working correct. That’s not the German style.

Hi Tom,

I tried to learn more about DB connection using your sample model (Sample_Database_TD.fsm) today, but had a trouble to run.
After doing several trials by myself and having a consult from Tech Support, I ended up by reaching this post, thanks to Alex's suggestion.
If I read this thread before I contact Tech Support, I might have had some encouragement to post a comment immediately in this forum instead of sending email to Tech Support (Your name was designated though).

Like Brandon commented, I agree there might be a lots of reason why people don't post comments (at least soon enough). In my case, I just hesitate to post a comment in public. It is probably just because I want to hide or minimize revealing my stupidity. From a little more than a half year experience using FlexSim, I am one of the many, I believe, who appreciate all contributors in this forum without comment.

Anyway, going back to original reason why I was here, I have a trouble to run the sample model. According to your message, it seems to be fixed and updated, but I have still a trouble. When I opened the model, it immediately gave me the following error messages before I do anything else:
"Warning:realloc failed: byteblock setsize size requested:35 current size 1"
"Warning:realloc failed: byteblock setsize size requested:39 current size 1"
From that moment, no action is allowed, including even closing Flexsim - I had to use Task Manager to close it. I am wondering if my download model was corrupted somehow. Is there any possibility for you to email the original model to me?

I am afraid if my message fits to this thread. If not, please let me know, I will delete or move it somewhere.
Thank you.

Thanks Sung Kim. This is a good place for that post.

Tom, there have been a few times that I've downloaded something from the forum and it didn't work. I don't remember if they were one of your models or not, sorry. I just assumed that there was something I didn't know about how to get the model working, and that someone else would know what to do. The more I learn about Flexsim, though, I realize that if I can't figure it out, someone else probably can't either. Even when I was a novice, if a novice can't figure it out, then a new Flexsim user probably won't be able to. We should help new users become familiar with Flexsim, and we should also make things in Flexsim intuitive to new users. If we can't figure something out, we should say so. Even if we do figure it out, if it's tricky, we should say how we got it. That's what the forum is for!

Sung Kim,

Thanks for your post. I really appreciate, that I get some feedback to my post.

I understand that people might hesitate a bit posting in the forum, even if they think they have “easy” questions. But some of the questions all of us had in the beginning, so why not ask them here and help others not to struggle about the same things? I can only encourage everybody to use the forum and also start to write replies on questions. I believe that every answer is appreciated. And like said in an earlier post, sometimes I do not post a reply immediately just to give other the chance to post an answer if it is not a really “difficult” question. Maybe my perspective is wrong here, but I would really see even more people active in this forum.

Anyway, back to the Sample_Database_TD model.
I agree with Alex, that the place for the post is as good as everywhere else. By the way, Alex, thanks for your post.

Sung Kim your question and the error message are a little bit tricky. I am afraid it is not easy to answer but I will give it a try.

As far as I know, but maybe sometime can correct me or explain it in a better way, that realloc has something to do with using the memory of the computer.
If something like this happens in a Flexsim model it is not a good thing.
What I normally try to do is to compile whole Flexsim (Build / Compile Entire Session). After doing this the model is normally working fine. Okay, this means that you need to have a compiler installed, which I think every Flexsim User should have, because the Express Version is for free.

I tried the model on my computer and it is just working fine. I am pretty sure, that you found the Description of the model in the Control GUI, where I describe (shortly) how to set up the database alias.

So my suggestion is to compile the entire session and try again. If this is not working and also if it is working, please make a post in the forum.

I hope it will work or someone has some other help or hints.

Good Success!