Idea

Jon Abbott avatar image
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Jon Abbott suggested Jon Abbott commented

Make it easier to duplicate Time Tables, Global Tables, MTBF/MTTRs, User Commands, etc.

Currently there is no easy way to duplicate a time table and preserve its member list. The current process we've used is as follows:

  1. Create a new group.
  2. Run custom code that copies the member list from the source Time Table "WorkSched" to the new group "Group4":
    string tableName = "WorkSched";
    string groupName = "Group4";
    treenode members = node(concat("MODEL:/Tools/TimeTables/", tableName, ">variables/members"));
     
    for(int index = 1; index <= content(members); index++){
           treenode member = ownerobject(tonode(get(rank(members, index))));
           groupaddmember(groupName, member);
    }
  3. Create a new Time Table.
  4. Click on Members.
  5. Click the plus symbol.
  6. Add the group created above.
  7. Click on Functions and make sure the settings match.
  8. Click on Table and make sure the settings match.
  9. Click OK.

I would like to propose a new process:

  1. Right-click on the Time Table.
  2. Select "Duplicate".
  3. If necessary, rename the new table.

FlexSim would create a duplicate Time Table with a slightly modified name (adding "(2)" or something similar to the end of the name), while preserving the member list and other settings. This concept should also apply to other toolbox elements such as Global Tables, MTBFs/MTTRs, etc. The "Duplicate" function should also be accessible via the Edit menu. Thanks for considering this idea.

global tablemtbf mttrtime tableuser commandsduplicate
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Cameron Pluim avatar image Cameron Pluim commented ·

@Jon Abbott, One way to do this is to find the node in the tree (whether that be Global Table, Time Table, MTBF/MTTR...) and do the following

  • left-click on the node and hit "Enter" (this will create a blank node just below the current node. Same thing as right clicking, and choosing "Insert node after")
  • Copy the current node
  • Paste a copy of that node as the newly created node and give it a new name
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Jon Abbott avatar image Jon Abbott Cameron Pluim commented ·

Thanks @Cameron Pluim for the easier solution. I still hope my idea can be implemented in the main GUI, as it would prevent needing to find nodes in the tree.

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Jon Abbott avatar image Jon Abbott Cameron Pluim commented ·

@Cameron Pluim, I noticed today when trying to duplicate a dispatcher using the technique you mentioned in November that it does not duplicate the connections of the dispatcher. I would ideally like for dispatcher connections to be preserved, so that I can delete the non-relevant ones rather than having to add them again one-by-one. The dispatcher I am working with has over 40 center port connections, so a solution that makes this easier is greatly appreciated.

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Phil BoBo avatar image Phil BoBo ♦♦ Jon Abbott commented ·

You can use the Connections section of View > Edit Selected Objects to quickly manipulate the connections of one object based on the connections of other objects.

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Jon Abbott avatar image
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Jon Abbott commented

@Matthew Gillespie, I noticed that this idea was marked as completed but I did not see the functionality in 17.0.3. I tried right-clicking on toolbox items to look for a "Duplicate" function, and also manually duplicated an MTBF in the tree but its members were not preserved. I saw in the release notes that user libraries were updated to preserve members and contents. Is the duplicate functionality accessible via some other means, or is it slated for a future version? Thanks in advance for your help.

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Matthew Gillespie avatar image Matthew Gillespie ♦♦ commented ·

We added a duplicate option to the right-click menu of Toolbox items in 17.1. You'll see it in the release notes of the 17.1 beta we put out last week. Here is the 17.1 Beta release announcement. Go ahead and download the 17.1 beta and try it out.

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Jon Abbott avatar image Jon Abbott Matthew Gillespie ♦♦ commented ·

Thanks @Matthew Gillespie. I just tried it and it works great for a single duplication, but whenever a duplicated Toolbox item is duplicated again, the members get doubled in the Members tab. A quick way to reproduce this is to create a source "Source1", create a Time Table "TimeTable1" with the source as a member, duplicate the Time Table (to "TimeTable1_2") and then duplicate that once more (to "TimeTable1_2_2"). At that point it shows two "Source1" entries in the Members tab. Otherwise, it's exciting to see this functionality added! Thanks for adding it.

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Jon Abbott avatar image Jon Abbott Matthew Gillespie ♦♦ commented ·

One other minor improvement suggestion... when a Toolbox item is duplicated, it would be visually clearer to change the selection in the Toolbox to the new item. Currently, it opens properties for the duplicated item, but the previous item remains selected in the Toolbox, which may be confusing to users.

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Phil BoBo avatar image Phil BoBo ♦♦ Jon Abbott commented ·

Thanks for pointing these out; we'll look into fixing these before the final release.

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