question

Luke L2 avatar image
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Luke L2 asked anthony.johnson edited

Storage System Slot Label Data Type - Assign as string data instead of number?

Would like to use paint slot labels tool to identify location names in pallet racking to create existing warehouse layout. Preferred over addressing scheme, because difficult to make my facility's existing warehousing location naming scheme work with flexsim addressing tool.

When creating slot labels for storage system, do not see the option to change/assign data type to a string from a number. All of the location names I'm dealing with from an existing db are strings i.e. D0014L, C0077R - Format: X0000Z is X = Aisle, 0000 is even/odd to depict which side of aisle the location is on and Z is either L or R to dictate if the pallet is in the left/right slot of the bay - bays in our WH are 2 pallets/slots wide. Currently, as a workaround, I've arbitrarily assigned numerical IDs to each Location name string in a global table and am painting slots using the ID # instead of the location string itself. It would be much easier to paint the slots using the location strings, but I haven't been able to find if the paint slot label tool works with labels of data types other than numerical. Please let me know if I need to provide more info and/or if it's possible to paint slot labels with string data. Thanks!

FlexSim 20.1.0
flexsim 20.1.0slot labelsdata typepainted slots
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1 Answer

Regan Blackett avatar image
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Regan Blackett answered anthony.johnson edited

Hi @Luke L2,

Strings can be used as slot label values by putting quotation marks around the text string:


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Luke L2 avatar image Luke L2 commented ·

Thanks for the reply @Regan Blackett! So I got that far on my own and thought I was doing something wrong because FlexSim wasn’t accepting my entered string values within quotations.

I started by adding the label “Location” under the slot labels tab of the storage system properties and created my own color palette with some test strings to use with the slot label painter. When selecting the values dropdown in the slot label painter quick props, everything looks good with just the strings I created in my color palette showing up. When I try selecting any of the string values, flexsim doesn’t use the correct color for that string and creates a value of 0 with color black in the color palette on its own. At this point, regardless of which string I select in the dropdown, they all get the color black and don’t work as intended. That was why I originally thought the slot label painter would only work with numerical data labels. Now knowing that strings should work with the slot label painter, I’m not sure what I might be missing or if there’s an issue with the slot label painter tool itself. Appreciate your help thus far!

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Joerg Vogel avatar image Joerg Vogel Luke L2 commented ·

@Luke L2,

There are some steps in the right order essentially.

  • Create a color palette. Set the name of a color equal to the string you will later assign. Choose a color.
  • Open the Storage System in Toolbox
  • Add a label in Slot Labels, set a name for the label and choose a color palette of the right values you want to set.
  • Reset model
  • Activate Paint Slot Labels

Quick Properties: Storage Slot Label Painter

  • choose a Label name from Picklist (small black down arrow)
  • choose a Value from Picklist (small black down arrow)

paint slots in racks

my_label_values_by_my_color_palette_name.fsm

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my-label-values-by-my-color-palette-name.fsm (36.2 KiB)
Luke L2 avatar image Luke L2 Joerg Vogel commented ·

@Jörg Vogel Thank you! This method worked for me when creating all new string values to use in my color palette. I'm still getting this unusual error with the original string values that I used to try to set up the first attempt at a color palette. When I try selecting or typing in any of the original string values, flexsim doesn’t use the correct color for those strings and creates a value of 0 with color black in the color palette on its own. With none of the original string values working as intended with the slot painter tool. I feel like I may have ran into some bizarre glitch and am likely going to create a new model and follow your steps to slot label painting from the start.

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Benjamin W2 avatar image Benjamin W2 Luke L2 commented ·

Hi @Luke L2, It looks like your images didn't upload. Sometimes this forum will delete the pictures if you edit your post. Could you re-upload them?

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Luke L2 avatar image Luke L2 Benjamin W2 commented ·

Hi @Benjamin W2, thanks for the heads up - hopefully this works. I can still see images from original response, so I wasn't aware.

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Luke L2 avatar image Luke L2 Luke L2 commented ·

Quick follow-up - so I tried typing strings in directly to the value field as opposed to creating color palettes with strings loaded from global tables. The method I was trying would've saved me the time of manually keying in every location name string when painting slot labels, but typing them manually does work. Still not sure what exactly was wrong with using color pallets, but I should still be able to do what I need to - just with a little more keying.

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