FlexSim 2017 Update 1 Beta Available

FlexSim 2017 Update 1 Beta is available. (updated 5 Apr 2017)

To get the beta, log in to your account at www.flexsim.com, then go to the Downloads section, and click on More Versions. It will be at the top of the list.

If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email [email protected] or create a new idea in the Development space.

Release Notes

Changed FlexSim to store strings using UTF-8 encoding.
Added support for Oculus Touch controllers.
Implemented OpenVR for HTC Vive compatibility.
Improved the shadow frustum calculation in VR so that shadows look better.
Added a global preference for changing the resolution of the shadow map.
Added support for nested queries in SQL.
Added ROW_NUMBER as a SQL keyword.
Implemented F2 and Esc functionality in tables.
Updated the table view and labels tab to be more robust with different datatypes.
Added Table(name) method for referencing Global Tables.
Added more FlexScript classes, including List, AGV, Conveyor, and TrackedVariable.
Added more properties and methods to existing FlexScript classes, including Object stats and additional string methods.
Improved scientific notation for literals in FlexScript.
Added a start value to tracked variables.
All tracked variables in the model now reset on model reset.
Changed itemtype references to referencing an item's type label instead.
Improved the Person flowitem's 3D shape.
Added repeating events to time tables.
Added a short description field to user commands.
Made the gantt charts and time charts scroll with a fixed time window.
Removed the global table Clear on Reset checkbox and replaced it with a reset trigger.
Added new visualization options for the Rack.
Added duplicate buttons to the Excel Interface window.
Added a duplicate option to the Toolbox's context menu.
Taskbar now shows experimenter/optimizer status and runtime based upon stop time.

Disabled deleting objects while the model is running.
Fixed an issue with the undo history when pasting over nodes with pointer data.
Fixed issues with using the ternary operator after properties.
Fixed an issue with writing to Access databases with read-only fields.
Included fixes listed in 17.0.3.

Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave.

Removed the FlexSim WebServer application from the default installation and developed a new WebServer application using Node.js that streams the 3D view much faster. The new WebServer can be downloaded through FlexSim's Online Content.
Existing models will continue to work with itemtype, but new models should be built using a type label instead of the itemtype attribute and commands.

Process Flow

Added an Assign Released Resource(s) To field on the Release Resource activity.
Added functionality to allow you to Ctrl+Drag activities in an activity block.
Added a right-click menu option and Alt+Click to open the Token View.
Added a sampler to the assign labels Label Name field so you can sample other activities or tokens to get label names.
Added a right-click menu option to open multiple views of a Process Flow.
Added an Assign To property to the Create Tokens activity.
Added a Make Array label aggregation type to the Batch.
Added Center in View buttons for fields with pointer data.
Added a name property to the Token FlexScript class.

Fixed a bug with duplicating Process Flows using the Toolbox.

Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave.

Updated the Pull From List activity so it does not assign a null label when nothing was pulled or the token was released early (manually). Previously, if you used a Max Wait Timer or Max Idle Timer (or some other mechanism) to release a token from a Pull from List prematurely, the label specified in the Assign To field would be created with a value of NULL. Now, the label will not be created. This may break other models that are checking to see if the label value exists. For example, saying objectexists(token.pulled) will throw an exception if the pulled label is never created. This can be easily remedied by changing the code to objectexists(token.pulled?). The ? will cause the value returned to be nullvar when the pulled label does not exist.
Universal Edit fields are now more strict when accessing labels on a token. Previously, typing token.labelThatDoesNotExist would happily return NULL and move on. Now the Universal Edit will throw an exception if the label doesn't exist. This does not include Universal Edit fields that assert labels, for example the Assign To fields.

Chris Smith commented · Mar 15, 2017 at 09:50 PM

@phil.bobo

Hey this release seems awesome. I know that the AGV class is going to be super useful for me. I think I found another bug in the beta, but wasn't sure if this is where bugs should be reported. If not, then let me know how best to report those. The potential bug is that I can't seem to load a user library. It doesn't show up in the file browse when "Open User Libraries..." is clicked and if I put in the path, then FlexSim crashes. Thanks again.

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Phil BoBo ♦♦ Chris Smith commented · Mar 15, 2017 at 10:07 PM

Thanks for pointing this bug out. You can post bugs here or email them to [email protected]. Either way works.

0 ·

Mischa Spelt commented · Mar 16, 2017 at 01:10 PM

Compliments guys, looks great. The UTF-8 strings, Global Table On Reset triggers, and availability of many more datatypes through the GUI are huge improvements (no really, they're great!).

Two (minor) things I noticed, in addition to my earlier remark about the SDK repository (wink, hint):

1. "Implemented F2 and Esc functionality in tables" - F2 goes into edit mode, but selects the entire contents. I cannot use the arrow keys to move the selection so I still need to use the mouse or overwrite the entire cell?

2. "Added a message when trying to sample a Global List from a Push/Pull from List activity." - The message says "Use a shared list asset. Click to apply". Click does not apply anything ;-) I understand why it says what it says, but it would be pretty cool if I could actually click and it would create and connect a shared list asset (just like when clicking in an empty spot in the process flow) linked to the Global List.

Phil BoBo ♦♦ Mischa Spelt commented · Mar 16, 2017 at 06:35 PM

I added cases to the dev list for these two issues. We'll consider what we should do about these.

Abel van der Windt commented · Mar 29, 2017 at 12:36 PM

In the 17.1 beta the pop-up is not visible in both the quick library as well as the normal library. The screenshot is from the FlexSim 17.0.3 version.

untitled2.png (50.4 KiB)

Mischa Spelt Abel van der Windt commented · Mar 29, 2017 at 12:57 PM

To clarify: @Abel van der Windt is talking about the object name tooltip.

Matt Long Mischa Spelt commented · Mar 29, 2017 at 03:51 PM

The normal library displays the names of the objects, so the tooltip gives you a description as to what that object does. The Quick Library gives you tooltips for the name of the object, as it is not displayed. This is by design.

Show more comments

Chris Smith commented · Apr 07, 2017 at 04:44 PM

@phil.bobo I saw the bug report from @Hao Zhou, so I thought I would try it as I had similar system environment (unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to reply on the original comment thread). I created a clean model and did the following:

1. Created source, processor, sink

2. Setup an experiment

3. Reset and saved the model

4. Clicked "Run experiment"

This opened up another instance of FlexSim. Additionally, the experiment did not run and the original instance was not responding until this newly opened instance was closed.

Phil BoBo ♦♦ commented · Mar 08, 2017 at 11:12 PM

Two known issues:

~~We're still working on building and posting the new WebServer application. That should be available sometime next week.~~ (UPDATE: The new Webserver application is now available in the Downloads section of the website.)
~~Lists and SQL queries are not working properly right now in 32-bit.~~ (UPDATE: This has been fixed in the latest version of the beta. Both 64-bit and 32-bit should be working correctly now.)

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