Question about Tutorial - Lists and Resources

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Tao WANG asked Apr 30, '17 Joerg Vogel commented Oct 21, '17

Question about Tutorial - Lists and Resources

https://answers.flexsim.com/articles/23299/tutorial-lists-and-resources.html

I have followed this tutorial and reproduced a model, everything is ok for the first water break, but thereafter, the operators take a water break after each load-unload-travel back activities. I tried but can't find what's wrong.

Thank you in advance.

Software Version:

FlexSim 17.1.1

process flow pull from list lists and resources thirsty water breaks

test-resource-list.fsm (27.5 KiB)

Answer 1 · 2017-05-01T20:45:32Z

Matt Long answered May 1, '17 Joerg Vogel commented Oct 18, '17

There are a couple of issues. First, each of the operators needs a number label on them with the name lastDrinkTotalTravel. Set the value of the label to be 0 and check the box Automatically Reset.

Next, under Step 5 of the Water Breaks section, it says:

Under Assign To enter Label: resource.

Add a label assignment, and under Name, enter lastDrinkTotalTravel. For its Value enter getvarnum(getlabel(token, "resource"), "totaltraveldist").

In your model, you're assigning the label to the token. The current version of FlexSim supports dot syntax so you can actually just type in token.resource rather than Label: resource.

savelastdrinktravelproperties.png (9.5 KiB)

· 1

Tao WANG commented · May 01, 2017 at 09:29 PM

Thank you for your reply. It works now.

I remember that I tried to enter Label: resource, while it was automatically corrected to token, maybe i made a spelling error.

Adding a number label on both operators seems not to be necessary, it works without. Label field lastDrinkTotalTravel has been added to resource in Processflow.

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Answer 2 · 2017-10-19T15:46:04Z

Alyssa Rock answered Oct 19, '17 Alyssa Rock edited Oct 19, '17

I have an update for all of you! When I opened the original model I used to build the tutorial for screenshots, it worked fine because it was built in 2017.1 But it didn't work when I rebuilt the model from scratch in 2017.2. I've talked to the development team and between 2017.1 and 2017.2, FlexSim changed how SQL queries handle NULL values. What is happening is that since the lastDrinkTotalTravel doesn't already exist on the operators, it returns a NULL value rather than a 0, which means that operators would never get pulled to take a water break. The 2017.1 model worked because it was using legacy code where it changed NULL to 0.

The fix for this is:

Reset the model.
Double-click the Operator to open its properties window.
On the Labels tab, click the Add button to open a menu. Select Add Number Label.
Double click the labelName box and change it to lastDrinkTotalTravel.
Confirm that the label's initial value is set to 0.
Check the Automatically Reset Labels checkbox.
Click the OK button to save the changes and close the properties window.
Repeat this process for the second operator.

I'll add this step to the tutorial and it should be updated when there is a new bug release in the next few weeks.

add.png (26.2 KiB)

Answer 3 · 2017-10-18T19:29:16Z

Alyssa Rock answered Oct 18, '17 Joerg Vogel commented Oct 21, '17

Hi there, this is FlexSim's technical writer just chiming in really fast to let you know that the version of the manual you linked to is an old version of the manual. The tutorials in the current version of the manual are more up to date and reflect the changes that have been made to the software.

I'd strongly recommend using the in-software version of the manual rather than the outdated version that is available in FlexSim Answers online. To access this version in FlexSim, open the Help menu and select User Manual. There is also a Help icon on the main toolbar that opens the User Manual.

To access the new version of the tutorial you were working on, go to Tutorials, then Process Flow Tutorials, then Tutorial 1 - Using Shared Assets. This tutorial has been expanded to include a brief tutorial about Zones as well.

Just FYI, we're working really hard to make the current version of the manual available online as soon as we possibly can!

help.png (732 B)

· 6

Alyssa Rock commented · Oct 18, 2017 at 09:52 PM

I've downloaded your model and when I open it, it's unfortunately blank. (I tried twice.) But I'm going to redo the whole tutorial myself and see if I run into any problems. I'll keep you updated. It's possible I didn't document a crucial step, so by doing the tutorial myself, I should be able to see if there's problems like that.

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jing.c commented · Oct 20, 2017 at 01:21 AM

It seems some comments lost. @Jörg Vogel and I had comment under this answer yesterday. But now they are all disappeared. The same things happened in my another answer.

Anyone know what happened? @Ben Wilson

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qq截图20171020091943.png (20.1 KiB)

qq截图20171020092036.png (156.4 KiB)

Ben Wilson ♦♦ jing.c commented · Oct 20, 2017 at 03:25 PM

@jing.chen,

I think you're just on the wrong post.

Try this one.

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Ben Wilson ♦♦ Ben Wilson ♦♦ commented · Oct 20, 2017 at 06:25 PM

Or another option - a user typically can delete their own posts. If your post is a child of theirs, it can be deleted when the parent post is deleted.

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