Help with importing correct date and time from excel

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Nicholas M asked Aug 23, '21 Nicholas M commented Aug 24, '21

Help with importing correct date and time from excel

Relatively new to FlexSim. I'm trying to run my simulation based off an imported schedule from Excel. I originally converted the start date/time to a number (IE 8/10/2021 7:49:48 PM became 44418.81) just so I could get the rest of the model logic to function. However, this logic did not accurately depict the actual time I needed the FlowItems to arrive. Now, I want to get the arrivals to actually show up on time but am having some trouble converting between Excel's values for DateTime and FlexSim's values.

The way I have it now, FlexSim just ignores the start time and causes all 634 arrivals to occur simultaneously. I was wondering if I'm just having a brain-fart as to which code to run / the correct way to convert to FlexTime or if using a Global Table to import this data would be the best option. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Import Data: Filtered Flexsim Data2.xlsx

FlexSim Model: ScheduledTime.fsm

Software Version:

FlexSim 21.1.5

Software Version:

FlexSim 21.2.0

excel import flexsim 21.2.0 arrival schedule datetime

1629730485094.png (93.2 KiB)

filtered-flexsim-data2.xlsx (41.1 KiB)

scheduledtime.fsm (54.1 KiB)

Answer 1 · 2021-08-23T19:17:38Z

Eric M answered Aug 23, '21 Nicholas M commented Aug 24, '21

Hi @Nicholas McGrath, Flexsim has a DateTime class which can be used in converting times from Excel. You can either import the excel time as a number and use the fromExcelTime command or you can use the date string and use the DateTime constructor. The number that's returned in these commands is the number of seconds since Jan 1, 1601. I did this in your model using the script and GlobalTable1. The 2nd column can be copied into the arrivals source. Let me know if you have any questions!

scheduledtime-em.fsm

scheduledtime-em.fsm (62.2 KiB)

· 3

Jeanette F ♦♦ commented · Aug 23, 2021 at 08:01 PM

Hello @Nicholas McGrath,

The code Eric used in the script window to create a column of the values that FlexSim requires to properly introduce the tokens at the right time can be used in the "Post Import Code" with some slight modification.

Place the following in the post import code box

int onreset = param(1); //1 if this code is being called on Reset of the model, 0 otherwise
Table table = Table("ProcessFlow/Source (Schedule Source)");
DateTime ModelStart = Model.dateTime;  //get model start time as a number

for (int i = 1; i <= table.numRows; i++){
string StartTime = table[i][1];
DateTime date = DateTime(StartTime, "%m/%d/%Y %I:%M %p");  //get string as a number
table[i][1] = date - ModelStart;//calculate the difference between start time and arrival time in number of seconds
}

When you import your data to the schedule source it should show up in the correct number format.

scheduledtime-em-jf.fsm

2 ·

1629748715408.png (78.0 KiB)

scheduledtime-em-jf.fsm (90.0 KiB)

Nicholas M Jeanette F ♦♦ commented · Aug 24, 2021 at 12:51 PM

@Jeanette F The global table isn't needed for this code to work correct? I've tried importing the data and running the code to recreate your example file and it's not changing the number format... I must be doing something improperly.

0 ·

1629809286834.png (124.9 KiB)

Nicholas M Nicholas M commented · Aug 24, 2021 at 02:48 PM

Actually I figured it out! I had to change the table reference for some odd reason but it's working perfectly now. Thank you both for all your help!

int onreset = param(1); //1 if this code is being called on Reset of the model, 0 otherwise
Table table = Table(Model.find("Operator1/ProcessFlow/Source>variables/arrivals"));
DateTime ModelStart = Model.dateTime; //get model start time as a number
for (int i = 1; i <= table.numRows; i++){
string StartTime = table[i][1];
DateTime date = DateTime(StartTime, "%m/%d/%Y %I:%M %p"); //get string as a number
table[i][1] = date - ModelStart;//calculate the difference between start time and arrival time in number of seconds
}

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