The Event-Triggered Source activity creates tokens in response to an event during a simulation run. When that event occurs, it will create a token. (See Event-Listening Activities for more information about the types of events that can be listened for.) If the event has data associated with it like a flowitem or port number, you have the option to save that data off as a label on the created token. If the data is an object like a flowitem, a reference to that flowitem will be saved on the token label for later use. You can also assign a name to the created token.
To get a deeper understanding of how the Wait for Event activity works, you might want to consider reading these topics first:
- Linking Process Flows to Simulation Models
- Key Concepts About Event-Listening Activities
- Event Types and Related Properties
As a more advanced feature, the Event-Triggered Source also has the ability to override the return value of the event it is listening to. For more information, see the Will Override Return Value.
When this activity is first created, a red exclamation mark shows up to the right of the activity notifying you that a link to an event is required for this activity to function. This link may be a direct pointer which can be created by clicking on the exclamation mark and then clicking on an activity or object and selecting an event, or the reference may be set through the quick properties.
Connectors
The Event-Triggered Source activity only allows one connector out. See Adding and Connecting Activities for more information.
Properties
The following image shows properties for the Event-Triggered Source activity:
- Name You can change the name of the activity using the Name box. See Name for more information about this property.
- Font The Font button opens a window to edit the activity's background color and font properties. See Font for more information about this property.
- Statistics The Statistics button opens the activity's statistics window. See Statistics for more information about this property.
- ObjectUse the Object box to select the object that the Source activity will listen to. You can listen to events on:
- An object in the model.
- An activity in the Process Flow.
- The current instance object (See Instances for more information.)
- A group of objects. In this case, the activity will listen to the defined event on all members of the group.
Use the Sampler button to select the object and choose which event to listen to. When you hover over an object with valid events, a list of those events will be shown. Selecting an event this way will change both the Object box and the Event box and will cause the interface to change based upon the event type.
See Event-Listening Activities for more detailed information about listening to objects and events.
- EventUse the Event box to select the event that the Wait for Event activity will listen to. The Event box is connected to the object you selected in the Object box. When you use the Sampler button to select an object in the Object box, a menu will appear that lists all the different types of events that are available for that object. (This menu is created dynamically based on all the possible events related to that object.) The event that you select from this menu will automatically be listed in the Event box. You can change the event type by clicking the drop down arrow next to the Event box and selecting an event.
See Event-Listening Activities for more detailed information about listening to objects and events.
- Label Matching/Assignment and Change RuleThe Label Matching/Assignment or Change Rule properties will appear after you've selected an object and event to listen to. See Event Types and Related Properties for more information about these sets of properties.
- Add Events You can listen to more than one event on an Event-Triggered Source. To add an event in addition to the original event, press the Add Event button . Additional events will have a Delete button button if you need to remove them.
- Token NameUse the Token Name box to determine the name that the newly created token will be given. Tokens are not required to have a name so this box is empty by default. You may give the token a static name like Token or it may be dynamic by using a picklist or through FlexScript. These names do not change the behavior of your Process Flow but can be useful for debugging purposes.