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Hello, Is there any way that I can use data that I have pulled into Simio from Excel to be used as processing times for a server?

Hello All, I have a single Sources that makes 3 different types of parent entities. When these entities exit their first Server through the transfer node, 3 other Sources randomly create Uniform(1,4) of a New type of member entities. I have changed the priority of the member entities, with a on exit add on process, to be equal to the event number of this happening which matches up with the parent Entities with the same priority. With in the Combiner, I have the matching rule of 'Match Members and Parents' and both Member and Parent expressions of 'Entity.Priority'. I am still pretty new to Simio but can someone please help with why this might not be working?? Both types of Entities just build up in their respective input queues at the combiner and never combine. Please help, thanks! David

David - Glad to see you are getting your hands dirty with Simio. The problem in your model is that you have the Source 2 set to create between 1 and 4 entities per arrival. Your combiner is set to Batch Qty of 4. So if say only 3 entities are created in Source 2, they (and their matching parent) will never pass through the combiner, since they are waiting for the 4th entity. As a solution I would suggest having either the parent (preferred) or the members carry a reference value to how many batch members are expected. Then use that in the Batch Qty field on the combiner, such that the combiner works with any 1, 2, 3, or 4 batch member sizes. Sincerely, Martin

Actually, one more question...what Simio statement can I use to get the value in the last row of a database table without doing a query inside Access? This would correspond to the latest data. Thanks

Hello I'm trying to build a (very) simple simulation that accesses a data variable from MS Access (2007). I have a table called "CurrentValues", with a couple columns named Station1Pressure and Station1Temperature. For my sim, in the first instance, I just want to read in (DBRead step) in the values; so, I have process that reads the value when I click a button. Eventually, I want to update the database value with a form in Access and see the change when I click the event button in Simio. Note: The database (Sample.accdb) and the sim are in the same directory. First problem is, after I define the Element reference (DbConnect), I set the "Connection String" to the database file, (Sample.accdb) and the "Provider Name" to "Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0" as noted in another post. Unfortunately, I get the error attached. (I'll start with that since if I can't get through the first step, the following ones are irrelevant.) Thanks

NOTE: Inserting Data into MS Access is very slow...I suggest using MySQL or Microsoft Sql Server Your connect string should be: Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;data source=C:\\Users\\dbName.mdb The provider should be: OleDb Data Provider If you are getting an error stating"Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0 provider is not registered on the local machine", see the following URLs... Running connectivity to MS Access using 64 bit apps is a well known issue. If this is an issue on your side, either follow the steps in the following URL or run SImio in 32 bit mode. http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/1d5c04c7-157f-4955-a14b-41d912d50a64/how-to-fix-error-the-microsoftaceoledb120-provider-is-not-registered-on-the-local-machine http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=13255

I ran into a problem with writing data to a MySQL database table from Simio. The issue was MySQL was complaining about the String representation of a node (Node.Name) that I was trying to write to a VARCHAR() type database column using the DBExecute Step (using native sql in the SQL Statement). The error was something on the lines of "Unknown Column in field list". Found the answer on a mySQL posting. The solution is to surround the String value with a single quote (') character when writing it out to using a DBExecute statement. MySQL thinks it reading a column name instead of an actual value (wierd!). For instance, if I wanted to write the String "ABC" to a VARCHAR column, I should instead write "'ABC'" (adding a single quote on either sides of the String). If I wanted to write the Node name to the VARCHAR column, I should write "'" + Node.Name + "'" I thought this might be helpful and save others valuable time debugging.

NOTE....Code has been removed from this post. Please use the DB Read and DB Write steps that are provided when Simio is installed. There is a DBReadWrite simbit. The code is provided in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Simio\Examples\UserExtensions\DbReadWrite

Not sure about the last 2 questions, but you have to copy the .dll files into the "C:\Users\\Documents\SimioUserExtensions" on you computer for the add-ins to appear in Simio. Also be sure to close and reopen Simio. Ps. Simio is not a spelling mistake Simio Forum Spell Checker!

Thanks Willem, Also I had a few other doubts that I was hoping you could clarify. Firstly, in Simio, under select add-in, I do not have the "Load Objects and Links from an external spreadsheet" option. All I have is the "Place Source, Server, Sink" option. Secondly, I am not able to set the output directory file path on Visual Studio. Can you help me out with that as well? Also, can you tell me which one is the assembly file for Simio? is it the .exe file? Guys, any help would be appreciated as I am completely new to this. Thanks.

Hi, This might help, to import and export properties... http://www.simio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1389&hilit=Export+Import+Model

Hey Guys, Couple of questions- 1. Which one is the Simio Assembly file that I have to copy? Is it the .exe file? 2. In the excel file, would I be able to change the properties to each workstation like exponential distribution, normal distribution, etc.? Thanks

Hey Glen, A couple of questions. They might be simple but I am completely new to this and I want to get it right 1. You say "Right-click the assembly and select properties. Then choose to "unblock" button and press apply". Can you tell me where in Simio is the assembly option? 2. Also, can we add properties like type of distribution for each work station (eg: exponential, uniform, etc.) in the excel file? If we can, would that be automatically reflected in simio when we automatically generate the model? 3. Can you give the C# code for this automatic model generation from excel to simio procedure? Thanks

NOTE....Code has been removed from this post. Please use the Excel Read and Excel Write steps that are provided when Simio is installed. There is a ExcelReadWrite simbit. The code is provided in C:\Users\Public\Documents\Simio\Examples\UserExtensions\ExcelReadWrite ExcelReadWrite.zip

I moved your post because the Shared Items forum is for... well... sharing items, and is not an appropriate place to post questions. But ironically, the answer to your question can be found in that same Shared Items forum. Several postings deal with such topics, for example: http://www.simio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=904

I would suggest that you create four new States in the model, one for each type of entity, to keep track of the number of each type that have entered the InputBuffer of Workstation2. Next, create another column in your table that is a StateProperty column. Populate this column with the four new States that you created. In the State Assignment property of Workstation2, in the OnEntered assignment, you can increment the appropriate State by simply setting the State Variable Name to Table1.StateProperty and the New Value to Table1.StateProperty + 1. Because the appropritate row is already set in the table, Simio will know which State variable to update, depending on what type of entity has just entered the Workstation.

How Simio manage the simultaneous event??Any principle??

Hello. In my model, I have three timers that launch events at the same time: based on time, one (call it A) launch its event at 60, the second at 30 (B) and last at 120 ©. So every 120hours, the three launch their events. Does Simio choose randomly their order on the heap, or is there some kind of "hidden choice"? In "Simio event calendar", it is written that "Within an event type the events are ordered by event index; i.e. the order in which they were scheduled". I do not really understand "the schedule order". In my model, it seems that Simio chooses C-A-B for what I have seen. Is anyone able to explain? I thought that maybe, at time 0, C is put in "future events", so are B at 30 and A at 60. Then, at 60, A is added at 120 (after C so) and B at 90. Finally, B at 120 and we have the order C-A-B. Am I right? Thank you!

When does a resource change capacity when this is requested through a schedule or through an assignment of the CurrentCapacity? When studying the behavior, we deduced the following, but want to check that it is correct (the documentation did not give much information): 1. When the resource is busy (say, fully occupied with a capacity of 5), and the capacity is decreased to 1 or more, all entities that are in process finish their work as scheduled. The effective change apparently takes place after busy entities are finished. (in Arena, this was either the IGNORE or the WAIT behavior). 2. When the resource is busy (say, fully occupied with a capacity of 5), and the capacity is decreased to 0, it immediately stops processing the current entities, which will stay in the Processing queue. When capacity is increased again to 5, the entities are finished. (in Arena, this was the PREEMPT behavior). 3. When the resource is busy (say, fully occupied with a capacity of 5), and the capacity is decreased to 0, it immediately stops processing the current entities. When capacity is increased again to, e.g., 1, all entities seem to finish at the same time. This is strange, because one would expect the entities to be finished one-by-one. This could be considered a bug? Finally, is it possible to implement IGNORE (schedule change starts late if entity busy, but next schedule change remains unchanged), WAIT (schedule change starts late if entity busy, and next schedule change is shifted accordingly) and PREEMPT (schedule change starts immediately) behaviors in Simio? -- Alexander Verbraeck, TU Delft, Netherlands

First of all, I won’t argue with you at all – I would also like to see Simio have more intuitive behavior in our Standard Library objects. But perhaps my explanation below will make it a little bit more intuitive. But the good news is that, unlike other products that limit the behavior to one of a few predefined choices: 1) In Simio your choices are unlimited - it is not too difficult to make it behave exactly as you want. The OnCapacityChanged add-on process (or related processes like On Shift and Off Shift) can use the Interrupt, Suspend, and Resume Steps as illustrated in several SimBits. 2) If you want some behavior to be your default behavior, just create a custom object with that behavior. If you think about the built-in behavior as follows it might help… PARADIGM: A resource of capacity > 1 still represents a single resource, but just has the ability to process multiple concurrent entities. But it still only has a single state (Idle, Busy, Failed, …), e.g. if it is failed, the entire resource is failed (all capacity units), and if it is off-shift (e.g. capacity=0) all units are off-shift. REDUCING CAPACITY: When capacity available is reduced below the current number of busy units, there are many possible valid behaviors depending on your system. The default behavior of our standard library is simply to finish working on the current entity, and then take the unit off-line. But you can use the tools mentioned above to change that default. For example, you might implement some behavior that says “if I am within 10 minutes of completion, go ahead and complete it, otherwise record its remaining time, add 5 minutes of restart time, then put it at the beginning of the waiting entities”. OFF-SHIFT: When a resource is taken off-shift (capacity=0) all units are off-shift. Current Standard Library behavior causes all processes to be suspended (Suspend/Resume Steps) while it is off-shift. This essentially means that everything is “frozen” in place. The entities are not removed from the resource, but rather just suspended so no progress is made during the off-shift period. When the off-shift period is complete (e.g. capacity > 0) then all the entities resume exactly where they left off. Unfortunately that last phrase is what causes the unexpected behavior when you suspend at one capacity and then resume at another lower capacity. You are essentially combining the two above paragraphs. You suspend all activity while off-shift, then after you resume, you will behave as though you had just reduced the units in service, which under the default behavior says keep working on the entities in process until they are completed. In your case, it sounds like you would want to add content to the On Shift process so that if capacity is set to less than the number busy, that you would want to Interrupt the remaining entities and send them back to the entry queue. And then perhaps build that behavior into a custom Server object and use that object routinely.

Glenn, Dave, Thanks for the replies. Totally clear, and IMHO, very important to state this CLEARLY and OFTEN in the Simio documentation, where this seems to be totally missing. I had a few models where processing times were quite long, and there were lunch breaks and times to go home for the employees (resources) through schedules, but the results were not valid. I now understand that most employees did probably not take lunch at all and went home late. It would be ideal if "preemptive" schedule changes and "wait" behavior for breaks could be implemented as standard options as well when building a schedule. E.g., indicating that the schedule capacity needs change immediately (preemptive behavior), needs to finish the current job(s) (ignore -> current behavior), or needs to shift the next capacity change for the duration of finishing the current job(s) (wait behavior, but I realize that this is difficult to implement in a consistent manner). Alexander.

Hi. I wanted to ask if there is any simple way to select ONE out of couple of alternative destinations specified in a data table? I.e. I have the machines grouped into three manufacturing cells, lets say ProductType A can be produced on machines 1 OR 2 OR 3 within Cell1. Input nodes of each cell are specified in the NodeList. I want to route the entity to one of these 3 machines based on this ResourceState(idle). Any ideas? Detailed description along with the base model can be found in this topic http://www.simio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1765

Hi All This has probably never really come up for most of you, but is there a way of using a button to open an external file (like a PDF)? I just want the system to open a reference document from within a simulation. It's ok (actually preferable) for the file to open outside Simio; it just makes for a good contact to relevant supporting information. Thanks

I think this posting http://www.simio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1389 might address your needs.

Hi I wonder how I can write the results of multiple replications of a model in a single file. In other words, Simio doesn't write over previous run data. Thanks