Give item an specific ID

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Tzu Hsuan C asked Jun 4, '21 Jeanette F commented Jun 7, '21

Give item an specific ID

Hi,

Recently I have a problem with giving item an specific ID.

Is there any way to give item an ID number whenever a item is created by Source? I hope I can record these item's ID number together with their entering and leaving time from stations or transporters to Statistics Collectors, so that I can track each item and do some calculation.

Currently my way of giving ID to every item is: Source > Triggers > On Creation > Data > Set Label.

But I have problem with Value, what I want to do is let 1st item ID=1, then for later coming item ID = previous ID + 1.

Maybe I need a variable first, and use the value of variable to tell what next coming ID should be.

There are Variable and Attribute concepts in other simulation software. I would like to ask what is correspond to such concepts in FlexSim?

Thank you!

Software Version:

FlexSim 20.2.3

flexsim 20.2.3 item creation

label.png (39.4 KiB)

· 1

Jeanette F ♦♦ commented · Jun 07, 2021 at 06:54 PM

Hi @Tzu Hsuan C, was Joerg Vogel's or Jeanette F's answer helpful? If so, please click the red "Accept" button at the bottom of one of their answers. Or if you still have questions, add a comment and we'll continue the conversation.

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0 ·

Answer 1 · 2021-06-04T07:54:07Z

Joerg Vogel answered Jun 4, '21

Each item is unique in a model. This is true to every object in FlexSim, too. There are two commands, which can convert a reference, pointer and thing into a number and a number identification back into a pointer reference. They are tonum(thing or pointer) and tonode(num). Because of this the tracking of items works over a model run time. Even if you put an item into a list and you see a reference which describe a path to it, this path changes automatically if the item moves in your model. The item literally path is not a string it is still a pointer.

Answer 2 · 2021-06-04T05:30:12Z

Jeanette F answered Jun 4, '21

Hello @Tzu Hsuan C,

You can set the label by referencing the output of the source since it increments with each flowitem released. In my example model it starts from 0 but you can insert a +1 for it to start from 1.

Set incrementing Label.fsm

1622784587058.png (26.5 KiB)

set-incrementing-label.fsm (25.5 KiB)

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