FlexSim Knowledge Base
Announcements, articles, and guides to help you take your simulations to the next level.
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Nesse vídeo demonstramos como importar modelos de animações para os executadores de tarefas ou recursos através de arquivos criados em software específicos para modelagem de animações e disponíveis em repositórios como o Mixamo. Veja o passo clicando em BoneAnimationVideo Também descrevemos o passo a passo de uma parte, logo abaixo. Estes são os passos que seguimos para criar os operadores com bone animation no FlexSim. (opção disponível a partir da versão 7.7) Copie o conteúdo deste diretório "Pasta Operador" para o seu diretório FlexSim/ fs3d / Operator para que ele tenha 5 opções de operadores ao invés de apenas 3; Abra o FlexSim; Arraste um Operador; Clique duas vezes nele para editar suas propriedades; Selecionar Masculino - High Res ou Feminino - High Res na opção do Shape na guia Operador; Pressione Aplicar; Reinicialize o modelo (Isso é necessário para atualizar as animações porque esses arquivos possuem mais animações do que o padrão); Clique com o botão direito do mouse no Operador na vista 3D e selecione Editar> Animações Existem agora 12 animações disponíveis; Execute estas animações usando listas de seleção, utilizando um Triggers para Iniciar e ou Parar a Animação eu sua Modelagem no 3D ou então use a atividade Run Animation na criação da sua lógica com o ProcessFlow. Abaixo você encontra os arquivos necessários para incluir os operadores em alta resolução em seu FlexSim e também uma grande quantidade de animações de dança extras adicionadas! Faça o download aqui do material explicando sobre o bone animation. Faça o download aqui do material usado no passo a passo do vídeo deste artigo. Inscreva-se e acompanhe nosso canal de videos no YouTube FlexSim Brasil -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Neste modelo anexo simples mostramos como usar TrackedVariable para conseguir alguns outputs customizáveis dentro do FlexSim e uma das funções do recurso Global Variables, outro recurso que pode ser usado durante a modelagem para customizar os trabalhos de criação de lógicas e também customizar alguns outputs de seu sistema. O passo a passo como elaborar esse modelo encontra-se no vídeo em Passo a Passo TrackedVariable e Global Variable trackedvariables-e-global-variable.fsm somente na versão 2017 do FlexSim.
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FloWorks 22.1.0 is now available (12 May 2022). This version of FloWorks is intended for use with FlexSim 2022 Update 1. If you are using FloWorks with FlexSim 2022 (LTS) please use FloWorks version 22.0.1. All versions can be found in the Downloads section of your FlexSim account on the 3rd party modules tab. Please do not hesitate to report any bugs, usability improvements and feature requests to support@talumis.com. About FloWorks FloWorks is a 3rd party module developed and maintained by Talumis BV ( talumis.com). It provides faster and more accurate modelling and calculation of fluid systems than the default FlexSim fluid library. It is especially useful within the oil, gas, and bulk industry both for production and supply chain optimization. This module requires a FloWorks license with active maintenance. For any questions, please email support@talumis.com. Release notes FloWorks 22.1.0 All bug fixes in FloWorks 22.0.1 below. FloWorks 22.0.1 Added support for Object Property Tables Bug fix: incorrect MassFlowConveyor content Bug fix: LoadingPoint issue with not-released positions (and status) Bug fix: Object created at incorrect scale when not using meters The documentation at docs.flexsim.com is in progress of being updated with the new release and will become available shortly. Until such time you can use the offline documentation included in the FloWorks installer and available through the Help menu in FlexSim.
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Attached is a simple model that implements functionality for "pallet moles." These are small vehicles that move pallets forward in a racking system. The targeted behavior is a FIFO storage mechanism like what you would see in gravity flow racks. However, for incredibly deep storage, a gravity flow mechanism would result in unacceptable pressures exerted on the pallets at the front of the rack, especially when pallets collide with each other as they roll down the slot. These pallet moles solve these issues. They provide the forward movement that enables FIFO storage, without the unacceptable pressures that come with gravity flow. The functionality is implemented as two object process flows, one for the rack, and one for the pallet mole. As such, it is scalable to higher numbers of racks and moles. Just add the set of racks/moles that your model uses, and then make sure those objects are attached as instances of their respective object process flow. Moles can be moved between different slots in the racking system. If a mole needs to move to a different slot, it will request transport from a team of fork lifts. The fork lift picks the mole up from the slot, and moves it to the destination slot. RackMole.fsm
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Assumed configurations   All steps below assume that you followed the installation instructions as described in our license server installation instructions, and that all FlexSim's license server files were extracted to the location C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS. Throughout these instructions we will reference files inside that folder.   Reread the license   Within your FlexSim_LMTOOLS folder, right-click lmtools.exe and choose Run as administrator. You may need to accept a permissions prompt. Go to the Start/Stop/Reread tab. Choose the FlexNet License service for your FlexSim licenses. The name of the service could be FlexSim_License, but the service could have been given a different name. Press the ReRead License File button. Close lmtools.
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Remembering the proper credentials To log in to lmadmin's Administration area you need know the port number your license server manager is hosting on and your lmadmin admin password. lmadmin's default port number for serving its web-based user interface is 8090. There is a very good chance that your system is hosting lmadmin on its default port. On your license server, open a browser and go to http://127.0.0.1:8090 to see if this will open lmadmin's web-based interface. The default login information for lmadmin's Adminstration area is username admin and password admin. Upon your first logging in to the Administration area you would have been prompted to create your own new password consisting of at least 8 characters. If you have forgotten either the port number or your admin password, there is unfortunately no way to recover these. You will need to uninstall, then reinstall lmadmin. If you do not wish to do so at this time, you should be able to start serving your upgraded FlexSim licenses by restarting the lmadmin64 Windows service. Logging in to lmadmin Use a web browser to connect to the lmadmin service at https://127.0.0.1:8090 (specify a different custom port besides 8090, as necessary). The FLEXnet Publisher interface should open. Click on Administration to sign in. After logging in to the Administration portal, click the Vendor Daemon Configuration tab on the bottom left. Click on the flexsim daemon. Reread the license If there is a Start button, that means that your flexsim vendor daemon is currently stopped. Press the Start button to start the vendor daemon using your upgraded licenses. If there is a Reread License Files button, that means that your flexsim vendor daemon is currently running, and serving the old licenses. Press the Reread License Files to start serving your newly activated and upgraded licenses.
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Not sure about the differences between network and standalone licenses? No worries! Read on for an in-depth explanation of each license model: Standalone Licensing (Client-Activatable) Network Licensing (Server-Concurrent) You can also download our printable reference, which includes some example scenarios: Standalone vs Network Licensing.pdf. Standalone Licensing (Client-Activatable) Once a standalone license is activated to a PC it remains there permanently until it is returned. The PC could be rebooted, taken offline, or even have FlexSim uninstalled - the license remains on the PC. The steps to activate and return a license are user-accessible from within FlexSim software. Once FlexSim is installed, there are no special PC permissions required to activate or return licenses. See our licensing procedures article for instructions for managing your standalone licenses (activate, return, repair, upgrade). User-managed license movement The ability for the user to activate and return their license at will is a big advantage. It allows teams the freedom to share a license, while still giving individuals the freedom to take a license off-site or off-Internet. As long as a team sharing a license communicates effectively, the license can be passed around to whoever needs it at the moment, by returning the license from one PC and activating to another. History Log FlexSim's main license server logs a license's activation/return history, including who last activated (in case you need to contact someone about returning it!). The license history log can be viewed by any FlexSim account that can view the license. This includes the license owner and any account the owner has shared with. Your activation IDs (the license codes copied into FlexSim to activate your license) can be shared and visible - including the activation history - with every member of your group. See the Sharing tab on your FlexSim account's Licenses page. Trusted Storage Your standalone FlexSim licenses are activated to a special holding area on your computer called Trusted Storage, which exists outside and independently of FlexSim software. FlexSim's activation process will authenticate your computer with our main license server and store your license credentials in Trusted Storage, completely outside of any FlexSim installation. You could uninstall FlexSim, but your license will still reside in your computer's Trusted Storage. You would need to reinstall FlexSim in order to access the return functionality to move your license off of your computer. So, you can go ahead and use ANY version of FlexSim to activate ANY version of your license so that it will be stored in your computer's Trusted Storage. Whether the activated license will enable features in your version of the software is a separate question - and as a quick reminder, FlexSim's licenses are backward-compatible, meaning that if you have a 21.2 license, you can use that with any version of the software up to version 21.2.x, including all older versions back to 5.0. The crux is, your standalone license can be accessed by any version of FlexSim installed on your computer, regardless of what version was used when activating the license, because all versions just put your license into Trusted Storage, and all versions check license rights by reading out of Trusted Storage. Standalone pros User-level control of the license gives flexibility in who has the license at any given moment. FlexSim maintains the license server, so you don't have to (avoids complexity of installing, configuring, maintaining, and upgrading your own separate license server). Online tools to see the license history and who currently has the license (via your FlexSim Account). In-software auto-upgrades makes upgrading your license easy. Standalone cons People sharing the license need to coordinate who will use it when and remember to return the license when unused. Lost, stolen, or broken licenses require interaction with your local FlexSim rep to fix. Network Licensing (Server-Concurrent) Let's begin with an overview of the setup (simplified from our license server installation instructions😞 Provision a computer/VM to act as the license server. It should remain powered on and attached to the network at all times. Activate your FlexSim licenses to your local license server. Install and configure the license manager software. Configure firewalls and permissions on the server and/or network to allow communication with FlexSim client PCs. Next, the client PCs: Install FlexSim on the client PC. Configure licensing settings in the client software to point to the license server. Configure firewalls and permissions on the client PC and/or network to allow communication with the license server. The network connection between client and server must be maintained throughout use of FlexSim software. If the network connection breaks, FlexSim software reverts to the feature-limited Express mode. This sort of setup is great for computer labs at universities, for instance, where there are many client PCs, and license server hardware or virtual machine is easy to obtain or already exists. Also, where the client PCs are stationary and always on the network, and where network topology makes it easy for the clients to stay connected to the server. Opening FlexSim software requests a seat from the organization's license server. Closing the software returns the seat. Network pros Allows for management of many licenses (seats) from a single location. Some server settings are customizable (Options files can be quite powerful - see chapter 13). Licenses can never become lost or stranded on client PCs. If a client PC loses its connection to the server, the server will reclaim the seat after a timeout period (default timeout is 15 minutes). Network cons Complexity of installing, configuring, maintaining, and upgrading a separate license server. Client PCs must maintain a constant connection to the server. No online record of activations/returns (but you can examine your own raw server logs).
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Neste Tutorial iremos demonstrar como criar uma apresentação do seu modelo no FlexSim, utilizando a ferramenta Flypath (Presentation Builder). Com esta ferramenta você poderá criar sua apresentação de forma rápida fazendo um filme de seu modelo. Nela você poderá definir vistas e os tempos entre as transições destas vistas no modelo. Apresentação a qual você poderá gravar em um vídeo de alta definição no próprio FlexSim, utilizando outra ferramenta chamada Video Recorder. Vamos lá! Assista o vídeo em nosso canal do YouTube e acompanhe as informações explicativas abaixo. Presentation Builder Após construir seu modelo acesse o Flypath para definir como o seu modelo se movimentará durante a apresentação, clicando em: Tools / Visual / Flypath Na janela Presentation Builder você irá criar um novo Flypath1 clicando em Então é só você selecionar a vista em seu modelo e clicar em , no centro da janela para definir uma vista, dentro do Flypath1 então movimente o cursor de tempo e selecione uma segunda vista, clicando novamente em . Este será o tempo em que a apresentação levará para chegar até a segunda vista definida por você. Você pode criar vários flypaths cada um com seu próprio conjunto de flypoints. Quando executado, a visualização 3D voará sequencialmente ou mover-se-á para cada flypoint no flypath. Por padrão, flypaths não estão associados com velocidade de simulação. Não se preocupe, o Presentation Builder vai definir para você todo o movimento entre as 2 vistas. Após concluir sua apresentação é só clicar em retornar para a primeira vista e rodar o Flypath , então você verá a apresentação levando em conta as vistas e o tempo definido no seu modelo em 3D. O Presentation Builder tem seu próprio conjunto de botões Iniciar e Parar. No entanto, ao usar o gravador de vídeo, você pode especificar um seu flypaths para ser executado durante a gravação de seu arquivo. Você também pode usar os botões e para caminhar entre as vistas, flypoints, definidas. Video Recorder Após construir sua apresentação utilizando o Flypath vamos gravar esta apresentação em vídeo! Para isso acesse: Tools / Visual / Video Recorder Na janela Video Recorder você irá configurar o seu vídeo para poder iniciar a gravação! Primeiro clicando em você cria um novo arquivo File Path de vídeo para ser exportado para seu computador. Lembramos que este procedimento pode ser feito para um conjunto de videos. Na seleção Codec, você pode escolher qual o codec que será usado para a gravação do seu vídeo, o mais comum é gravarmos em MPEG-4, (*.mp4). Selecione na sequencia a quantidade de frames por segundo que o seu vídeo será gravado, selecione por exemplo 30 para a opção FPS. Na etapa seguinte, Size, você poderá definir a resolução e o tamanho do seu vídeo Neste exemplo iremos utilizar a opção "use basic sequence" na qual iremos definir o Flypath1 criado como referencia para a gravação do vídeo. Logo é só definirmos o tempo para o início e fim do vídeo e sua velocidade no modelo 3D. Lembre-se que o tempo do Flypath tem que estar dentro do tamanho do vídeo, caso contrário o Flypath irá se repetir. Exemplo: Para um Flypath de 20 segundos e uma velocidade de Speed 4, teremos que gravar um vídeo de 5 segundos. Lembre-se de utilizar a Amostra "Sample" para selecionar no seu modelo 3D a vista a qual o vídeo iniciará a gravação em View, utilize a primeira vista definida no seu Flypath. Após concluir as configurações clique em Record, no canto esquerdo da janela Video Recorder. Pronto! Seu vídeo será gravado e poderá ser acessado em: Segue o modelo referente ao artigo: modelo-flypath-videorecorder.fsm Inscreva-se e acompanhe nosso canal de videos no YouTube FlexSim Brasil
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Flexsim 2021 Update 1 is now available for download. You can view the Release Notes in the online user manual. For more in depth discussion and videos of the new features, check out https://www.flexsim.com/news/flexsim-2021-update-1-pre-built-agv-logic-bottle-shapes-and-more/ If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email dev@flexsim.com or create a new idea in the Development space.
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In this article, you will learn how to export data from individual replications to an external database. This is an advanced tutorial, and assumes some exposure to databases and SQL. It also assumes that you are familiar with the Experimenter and/or Optimizer feature in FlexSim. This tutorial uses PostgreSQL, but should be compatible with the most popular SQL database engines. Model Description Let's assume you have a model with at least one Statistics Collector, as well as an experiment ready to go. The model used in this example is fairly simple: As the model runs, a Statistics Collector fills in a table. The table makes a new row for every item that goes into the Sink, recording the time, and the Type label of the item: For the experiment, we don't have any variables, but we do have one Performance Measure: Input of the Sink. Of course, an actual model would have many Variables, Scenarios, and Performance Measures, but this model leaves out those details. For reasons which come up later, this model also has two global variables, called g_scenario and g_replication. We will use these during the experiment phase. Connecting to the Database To connect to a database, you can use the Database Connector tool. Each Database Connector handles the connection to a single database. If you need to connect to more than one database, you will need more than one Database Connector. For this model, I have added a Database Connector, and configured the connection tab as follows: This configuration allows me to connect to a PostgreSQL database called "flexsim_test" running on my computer at port 9001. You can test the connection by clicking the "Test Connection" button. The test attempts to connect, as well as query the list of tables found in the database. Setting Up the Export Next, take a look at the Export tab: This tab specifies that we are exporting data from StatisticsCollector1 to the table called experiment_results in the database (this table should exist before you set up the export). The Append to Table box means that when the export occurs, the data will be added to the table. Otherwise, the data would be cleared from the target table. The other interesting thing here is that we are exporting more columns than the Statistics Collector has, namely the Scenario and Replication number. However, the expression in the From FlexSim Column column must be valid FlexQL (FlexSim's internal SQL language). Wrapping the values in Math.floor() leaves the values unchanged, and works well with FlexQL. Setting up the Experimenter Finally, let's take a look at just a little bit of code that makes the Experimenter dump data to a database. There is code in Start of Experiment, Start of Replication, and End of Replication: In the Start of Experiment, we need to clear the table. The code in this trigger connects to the database, runs the necessary query, and the closes the connection to the database. In the Start of Replication trigger, the code simply copies the replication and scenario values into the global variables we created for this purpose. In the End of Replication trigger, the code uses function_s to call "exportAll" on the database connector that we created. This uses the settings on the Export tab to dump the data from StatisticsCollector1 to the database table, including the replication and scenario columns. These same triggers run during an optimization, so the same logic will apply. Run the Experiment Finally, you can run the experiment. When each replication ends, the Statistics Collector data will be exported to the database. Databases can handle many connections simultaneously. This is important, because the child processes that run replications will all open individual connections to the database at the end of each replication. This leads to many concurrent connections, which most databases are designed to handle. But how can we tell that it worked? If you connect to the database with another tool, you can see the result table. Note that there are 1700 rows, and that data from Replication 5 is included. Additionally, you could use the Import tab to import all the data, or summary of the data data, into FlexSim. Conclusion Storing data in a database during an experiment is not difficult to do. There are many excellent tools for analyzing and visualizing database tables, which you could then use to further explore and understand your system. postgresqlexperimentdemo.fsm
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Attached is a sample model that tracks social distancing metrics. I just grabbed one of our testing models, so it's not necessarily eye popping as far as visuals, but the basic concepts of social distancing metric tracking are in there. This model is implemented in the new 20.2 beta. It uses the new Agent module to detect proximity between objects. I added a proximity system, and added each operator as an agent in the system. I created an object that draws a "heat map" where proximity points happen. This is a visual tool called "HeatMap" in the model. If you send a message to the object it will add a "hot point" at the location of the sending object. I implemented the object's OnReset, OnMessage, and OnDraw triggers to do this. Once the heat map is set up, I have the proximity system send a message to the HeatMap from the involved agent object as part of it OnEnterProximity trigger. Second, I do some statistical tracking using a statistics collector named ProximityTimes. This listens to the agent proximity system's OnEnterProximity and OnExitProximity events, and collects data accordingly. The trickiest part to setting this up was sampling the actual event. For now (hopefully we'll get a better system in the future) you have to sample the event in the tree. In the Events tab of the statistics collector, press the sampler button, then in the tree navigate to the node at MODEL:/ProximitySystem>variables/behaviors/Proximity Behavior and hover the cursor over it to get the list of events. The ProximityTimes statistics collector collects individual times. This allowed me to add the "Time In Proximity" dashboard chart. For the other charts, I needed a calculated table to aggregate the values. The ProximityAggregates table aggregates the data needed for the other three dashboard charts: Total Proximity Time, Proximity Count, and Average Time In Proximity. SampleSocialDistancing.fsm
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FlexSim 2023 Beta is now available. FlexSim 23.0.0 Release Notes To get the beta, log in to your account at https://account.flexsim.com, then go to the Downloads section, and click on More Versions. It will be at the top of the list. The More Versions button does not appear when logged in as a guest account. The beta is available only to licensed accounts and accounts that have a license shared with them. Learn more about downloading the best version of FlexSim for your license here. If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email dev@flexsim.com or create a new idea in the Development space.
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FlexSim 2018 Update 1 Beta is available. (updated 28 March 2018) To get the beta, log in to your account at www.flexsim.com, then go to the Downloads section, and click on More Versions. It will be at the top of the list. If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email dev@flexsim.com or create a new idea in the Development space. Release Notes Added a Database Connector tool and Database FlexScript API. Updated the Emulation module and added it to the toolbox. Updated object triggers to be dynamically added and executed to improve performance and flexibility. Added an option to store StatisticsCollector bundle data on the hard drive. Added a global preference for date and time formats, which will default to the system's locale settings. Updated the stick() command to be able to get information about the VR headset by passing -1 for the stick number. Added a Box Plot chart type. Added a visual Walls object, which can be connected to A* as a member. Added an option to reverse rows on a gantt chart. Updated how the gantt chart handles colors. Added a time window option to several charts. Improved axis title options on several charts. Added a y-axis range option to the time plot. Output, system, and compiler consoles now wrap lines. Fixed a bug with using local variable "a" within FlexScript lambda commands, such as findmatch(). Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Removed FlowNode, Reservoir, WatchList, and other unused library class objects. Changed transportincomplete() to be more fail-safe so that it only affects the object when called correctly. Fixed an issue with the Rack sometimes receiving items out of order when the upstream object is using a transport. Process Flow Added a Variable shared asset. Updated the Event-Triggered Source and Wait for Event activities to be able to match values. People Added a Waiting Line object and a Wait in Line activity. AGV Fixed a bug with preempting an AGV during a pre-arrival event. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Improved AGV proximity detection for stop-space-based accumulation. Fixed an issue with reversing direction on accumulating paths. A* Added a routing mode for traveling at right angles only. Added an option for stopping and turning when changing directions. Added an option for routing by travel time. Improved the usability of creating and editing barriers and dividers. Added an option for snapping dividers between grid points. Fixed some visual issues with various components. Fixed a bug with distancetotravel(). Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Improved the accuracy of the calculation of which grid points are affected by dividers. The mechanism for recovering from deadlock has been changed. The path costing system was slightly changed to allow for travel-time-based routing.
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FlexSim 2020 Update 2 Beta is available. (Updated 22 July 2020) To get the beta, log in to your account at www.flexsim.com, then go to the Downloads section, and click on More Versions. It will be at the top of the list. If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email dev@flexsim.com or create a new idea in the Development space. Release Notes Updated the run speed slider so you can customize the ratio of display units to real seconds. Moved object properties windows into the context sensitive Properties window (formerly known as Quick Properties). Added a new Quick Properties window that appears next to your cursor when double clicking on an object. Added a pop-out button to the Labels panel of the Properties window. Added a Dark theme for FlexSim's UI. Added Unit edit buttons to more edit fields. Updated the Quick Library to match the current state of collapsed and expanded panels in the main library. Removed the View Settings window and moved all its options into the Properties window. Improved performance of Properties window and various other UIs. Added Object Property tables. Added Object class properties and methods to the Variant class in FlexScript. This removes the need to use .as(Object) if you know the treenode pointed at by a Variant is an Object. Added Object.resetPosition property. Added capture groups to the string.replace() method. Enabled several SQL clauses - NOT, NOT IN, DELETE FROM, INSERT INTO, and LEFT JOIN/LEFT OUTER JOIN. Added ARRAY_VAL() sql function for accessing a value in an array. Added unit conversions to the convert() command - convert(4.5, "ft/min", MODEL_UNITS). Improved performance of loading media by making it multi-threaded. Added Color.fromPalette options to several Set Color popups. Added a pickoption for the Source's On Creation trigger for attaching items to an Object process flow. Disabled the beeping noise when pressing Enter in edit fields. Fixed the Create Object edit mode sometimes not creating objects and just exiting (like when clicking on the library when the User Manual was active). Fixed a draw issue with tables drawing bold text sometimes. Fixed a bug with window docking. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Changed updatehotlinks() to only repaint the view if it applies a node with a viewsyncupdate attribute of 1. The keywords VALUES an DELETE were added to the sql parser. This means that previous models that use the term VALUES, Values, values, DELETE, etc. will get an error because sql now sees it as a special keyword. If you get this error, just wrap your term with square brackets: [Values] to tell the parser to not interpret it as a sql keyword. Agent Added the Agent module to the Flexsim Installer. Enabled A* walls as static agents. Added a neighbors() function to the Agent API. Fixed social forces for agents not in model space. Fixed bugs with using A* bridges. AGV The join tool now joins in all cases, defaulting to a straight path if it can't solve for a curved path. Conveyor The join tool now joins in all cases, defaulting to a straight conveyor if it can't solve for a curved conveyor. Emulation Added Allen-Bradley connections. People Improved performance of state history tables. Fixed listening to travel events on a person created with the Create Person activity. Process Flow Added new Kinematics activities. Added new Warehousing activities. Added an Enabled checkbox to the Source activities so that you can turn them off. Consolidated Fixed Resource and Task Executer process flow types into a single "Object" type. Added a right-click menu option to the 3D view so a user can right-click on an object and add an Object process flow directly. Added an Object Flow field to the Create Object activity and added a pickoption for attaching items to an instanced flow. Changed double clicking on an activity to be more consistent with the 3D view and now opens the activity's properties window. This window now has a name edit field so you can still easily rename the activity. You can also slow double click to only open the old name edit field. Improved performance of activity properties windows.
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FlexSim Answers is designed to make information available to the FlexSim community. However, there are times when you will need help with a model or project that contains proprietary or otherwise confidential information. Here are a couple ways of getting the help you need while protecting sensitive information. Private Questions When you create a question you can mark it as Private. The question is then only viewable to FlexSim employees. A lock icon will show up next to the question for those who can see the question Comment Visibility (Currently this option is only available to moderators, but moderators may use it to make comments visible only to you and other FlexSim employees) You can also post private comments by setting the visibility level of your comment. Setting the visibility of the comment to Viewable by Moderators will make the comment visible only to FlexSim employees. Posting private comments is useful for posting confidential information to questions that aren't private.
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The instructions below are for offline/Manual XML licensing. If your server successfully connects to the Internet and to FlexSim's main license server, you can try our simpler online license activation instructions. Getting ready If you're configuring a new license server, please stop now and follow the complete license server installation instructions. This shorter guide just focuses on one piece of the installation instructions: license activation. We've broken the activation step out into this standalone article for convenience in subsequent licensing procedures, like upgrading your license server. These instructions assume that: you followed the steps outlined in our license server installation instructions including download of all required files and installation of the FlexNet Licensing Service; FlexSim's license server files were extracted to the location C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS. When should I use XML/offline licensing? If your license server cannot connect to the Internet or is blocked from direct communication with FlexSim's license activation servers then you will need to activate your license manually . This article guides you through the manual activation steps. If you're not sure, go ahead and try an online activation first. Activating your license server online is faster and simpler. If online activation fails due to communications on your license server being blocked, you can fall back to this offline activation guide. Activate your license NOTE: If this is the first time a license has been activated to this license server you must first configure trusted storage. On your license server, run the flexsimserveractutil.exe program (C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS\flexsimserveractutil\flexsimserveractutil.exe) by right-clicking and selecting Run as Administrator. Create manual activation requests In the FlexSim ServerActUtil program, go to Tools > Manual Activation > Generate Request. Enter a valid Activation ID. Enter a Count (seat quantity) for your license. NOTE: If you have a 20-seat license but want to host 12 seats on this server and 8 seats somewhere else, you can do so. Simply enter 12 for the Count value. Browse to select an Output File. Press Generate. You've just saved a new XML activation request to the location you selected. Repeat steps 1-5 above to generate an activation request for all license codes you intend to activate on this license server. Submit your manual activation requests Transfer your XML activation requests to a computer with Internet access. From your Internet-connected computer, open a web browser and login to your FlexSim Account. Click the Licenses link in the header, then choose Manual XML in the Licenses submenu. Upload your XML files by dragging them onto the drop zone. Your uploaded XML requests will be processed. Upon completion, you will be prompted to download each XML response. Process your manual activation responses Transfer your downloaded XML activation responses to the offline license server you are licensing. In the FlexSim ServerActUtil program, go to Tools > Manual Activation > Process Response. Browse to an XML activation response file. Press Process. FlexSim should give you an indication of successful processing of your activation, and activation for that XML request will be complete. Successfully Processed Response Repeat steps 1-5 to process the XML activation responses for any other XML activation requests. Is this a license server upgrade? If this license activation is part of upgrading the license on your license server, don't forget to reread license files. If you have any questions or problems, please search our Answers Community for possible solutions. There is a good chance someone else has already asked your question. Still not finding what you're looking for? Submit a new question and we'll check it out. If you're including any confidential information, such as license codes, be sure to mark your question as private! You can also contact your local FlexSim distributor for live phone, web, or email help.
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FlexSim 2020 Beta is available. (Updated 26 November 2019.) To get the beta, log in to your account at www.flexsim.com, then go to the Downloads section, and click on More Versions. It will be at the top of the list. If you have bug reports or other feedback on the software, please email dev@flexsim.com or create a new idea in the Development space. Release Notes Changed models to automatically open the environment in which they were saved. Added boy and girl shapes to people visuals. Improved keyboard interactions within table views. Improved tabbing between fields in certain windows. Updated the 3D names and stats text rendering to support more fonts and Unicode. Improved the 3D view's lighting capabilities by adding Light objects that can be arranged in the model. Improved lighting in RTX Mode, including support for soft shadows and a denoiser. Adjusted the Rack Dimensions tab to be able to specify slot padding. Added an optional parameter to TaskSequence.create() for waiting until TaskSequence.finish(). Added an OnValuePulled event to the List. Added methods for creating a DateTime using a string or component parts. Added support for in-place addition and subtraction of DateTimes. Fixed bugs with DateTime methods when using certain years or ranges of time. Improved the convert() command's capabilities with converting dates and times. Improved the exporting of null bundle values to Excel. Added an excelcreateworkbook() command. Added statistics collectors and calculated tables to the Excel Export. Added an option for creating sheets using the Excel Export. Fixed rotation issues with pasting certain objects. Added a Vec3.projectRotation() method. Added a Vec2 FlexScript class. Changed the License Activation window to be responsive during licensing operations. Added an index type to statistics collector columns for improving performance. Added a categorical combo type to tracked variables. Updated the query builder to handle CASE statements. Simplified certain queries written by the query builder. Changed the tree structure to simplify creating custom webserver interfaces. Added a repeat type to animations for remaining in the last frame after running the animation. Added a Go To Row/Column option in quick properties for tables. Improved time plots to be able to show durations as well as calendar times. Added an optional wire mesh rack visualization. Added more picklist options to the storage object slot assignment strategy. Updated the animator so that keyframes are updated using a right-click menu option instead of automatically. Added an option to duplicate an animation keyframe into another animation. Changed the default network node speed limit to 0 (no speed limit). Reorganized the Use Transport pick list and added a No Transport Reference option. Fixed a bug with the rack's default pull requirement not reevaluating after becoming full. Fixed an issue with copy/pasting sub-locations. Fixed the dark patterns when zooming out in RTX Mode. Fixed a crash on certain hardware in RTX Mode when rendering too many transparent layers. Improved the Time Table Date Based GUI to draw past the last event and allow scrolling into the future. Added PushWheelchair and PushCart animations to Operators Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Time tables now combine consecutive down periods if using the same state and profile or the same down behavior. Fixed issues with pick/place offsets on drive in racks to improve usability with A*. Because of performance improvements to query(), the row order is not guaranteed unless using an ORDER BY statement. Fixed excelrangewrite() so that the correct overload is available in FlexScript. Improved the FlexScript hypertext preprocessor scoping mechanism used by the webserver. Fixed object color being applied incorrectly to ambient material color on certain meshes. Changed point source light attenuation. Changed TASKTYPE_NODEFUNCTION to pass variants in as parameters instead of interpreted legacy doubles. This fixes the types of arguments that are passed when calling treenode.evaluate() as part of a TASKTYPE_NODEFUNCTION task. This allows you to add TASKTYPE_NODEFUNCTION tasks with parameters that are not just numbers, (nodes, strings, arrays, etc.) and have those parameters be preserved in a type-safe manner and properly passed into the subsequent treenode.evaluate() call. However, this change may have some consequences for older models. The following guidelines apply: If you use the inserttask() command, and cast a node to a number with tonum() to pass it in as a task variable, then you should use parnode() to get those parameters out in the nodefunction. While this method will continue to work, this mechanism is nevertheless deprecated. The now-correct method for adding a TASKTYPE_NODEFUNCTION task to a task sequence is to use TaskSequence.addTask(). This method takes full Variants as its task variable parameters, so you do not need to use tonum(). When using this, you should use param() to get the parameters back out. Older models that use neither of these methods may need to be updated to use method 2 in order to work properly in this version. Process Flow Changed the default behavior of the Create Task Sequence activity to work easier with task sequences created outside of Process Flow. Added a Finish Task Sequence activity that works with the new Create Task Sequence features. Changed the default value of Task activities from token.resource to token.taskSequence. Improved the interface for connecting activities. Added a mechanism for connecting to and from containers and routing tokens between activities using those connections. Added an option to the Run Sub Flow activity to run tokens one at a time. Adjusted the size of containers and connections based on the zoom level when created. Removed the width attributes of themes. Improved the UI for entering times in the Date Time Source activity. Change Set Color By Case and Set Object Color pick options to enable setting the color of a token. Fixed the display of task parameters in the event log. People Improved people resource shared assets to be able to reference other people resources. Added Sort By and Filter By fields to people resources. Simplified and improved several activity sets. Improved the list of labels in drop-down menus to include People Settings labels. Added a Kiosk to the list of locations. Added an Observation Room multilocation. Added an option to the Toolbox to add all people tables to the Excel Export. Added more people tables and charts. Improved the performance of many existing people tables and charts. Updated preempted resources to be able to be reacquired with a higher priority. Updated Escort Patient and Tranpsort Patient activities to set the staff's TravelingWithPatient label when escorting or transporting a patient. Improved the query builder interface with support for adding group/individual subsets. Changed people acquire activities to have the default max wait timer trigger release the token out connector 2. Changed the Split activity default to creating child tokens in the Healthcare environment. Changed the repeat type of the LayDown and SitDown/SitDown2 animations to repeat the last frame. Backwards Compatibility Note: the following changes may slightly change the way updated models behave. Changed how labels are handled by People Settings. Improved animations and positioning of transports and equipment when staff move them. Emulation Added support for OPC UA connections.
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The instructions below are for Internet-connected license servers.   If your server cannot connect to the Internet or to FlexSim's main license server, try our offline/Manual XML license activation instructions.   Getting ready   If you're configuring a new license server, please stop now and follow the complete license server installation instructions.   This shorter guide just focuses on one piece of the installation instructions: license activation. We've broken the activation step out into this standalone article for convenience in subsequent licensing procedures, like upgrading your license server.   These instructions assume that:   you followed the steps outlined in our license server installation instructions including download of all required files and installation of the FlexNet Licensing Service; FlexSim's license server files were extracted to the location C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS.   Online vs XML/offline licensing   Online activation is faster and easier, so if your license server connects to the Internet, follow the instructions below to activate your seats to your server. If your server is not connected to the Internet, or communication with FlexSim's servers is blocked, you can try the offline/XML activation method.   Endpoints, protocols, firewalls   When your license server activates a license over the the Internet the FlexSim server activation utility communicates with one or more of the following FlexSim servers via HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443):   www.flexsim.com sw.flexsim.com sw1.flexsim.com license.flexsim.com   Your license server should be able to communicate across the Internet with these addresses in order to successfully activate your licenses online.   Activate your license   On your license server, run the flexsimserveractutil.exe program (C:\FlexSim_LMTOOLS\flexsimserveractutil\flexsimserveractutil.exe) by right-clicking and selecting Run as Administrator.     In the FlexSim ServerActUtil program, go to Connect > Activate.     Enter the Activation ID and Count (seat quantity) for your license.   NOTE: If you have a 20-seat license but want to host 12 seats on this server and 8 seats somewhere else, you can do so. Simply enter 12 for the Count value.   Press Activate.   After a few seconds, and several status messages, you should receive an indication of success.     Repeat the steps above to activate any other license codes you are hosting on this license server.   Reread license files   If this license activation follows a license return, either as part of upgrading the license on your license server or some other procedure, don't forget to reread license files.   If you have any questions or problems, please search our Answers Community for possible solutions. There is a good chance someone else has already asked your question. Still not finding what you're looking for? Submit a new question and we'll check it out. If you're including any confidential information, such as license codes, be sure to mark your question as private! You can also contact your local FlexSim distributor for live phone, web, or email help.
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Tokens and Flow Items can be very difficult to add to a chart. This is true because they don't exist on Reset, making them difficult to select. This article shows how you can use a Process Flow to allow a Statistics Collector to record a token's changing label value, and also to chart that value over time: The model for this example is attached (graphlabeldata.fsm). It is a very simple model: The Scheduled Source creates three tokens, each of which create a label called data. This label is created by choosing "Add Tracked Variable" for the value, which opens this dialog box: The reason we want the label to be a Tracked Variable is that Tracked Variables emit an OnChange event. We want to listen to that event. If you use the time interval collection method, discussed later in this article, you don't need to make the label a Tracked Variable. Each token then goes through a loop, where it waits, and then updates the value. This is meant to represent a much more complicated model, where the token travels through many activities, any of which could change its label value. For this example, the model randomly changes the value on the label. Now that we have a token and a label whose value is changing as the model runs, we can work on making a chart. We want to eventually make a Statistics Collector, but Statistics Collectors can only listen to events of objects that exist after the model has been reset. Tokens and FlowItems (along with their labels) are destroyed on reset, and so we can't listen directly to them. However, some Process Flow activities can listen to events on tokens and flowitems, and the Statistics Collector can listen to those events. For that reason, we make a second Process Flow: This flow has an Event-Triggered Source, which listens for tokens to leave the "Init Tracked Variable" activity in the first flow. When that happens, the source creates a token, and that token immediately gets a reference to the label node (note that this is different than the value of the label node). Next, the new token goes to a Start activity. The Start activity called "Log Change." This activity is just a placeholder. While you could technically live without this activity, it makes things a little clearer, as we will discuss later. Other than providing OnEntry and OnExit events, the Start activity has no internal logic whatsoever. After passing through the Log Change activity, the new token waits for the label value to change: In order to listen to this event, you can first sample a Tracked Variable in the Toolbox. This provides the OnChange event. Then you can update the Object field to the code shown above. Notice that every time this event happens, the token simply passes through the Log Change activity, and then resumes listening. When the original label value changes, it emits an OnChange event. When that event fires, the token listening to that even travels through the Log Change activity, which emits OnEntry and OnExit events. We can use these events in the Statistics Collector. The key to this technique is that we used Process Flow, which is good at listening to token and flowitem events, to generate Activity events, which can be used in the Statistics Collector. In the attached model, the first Statistics Collector is configured like this: It simply listens to the On Entry of the Log Change activity. The columns are defined as follows: The first two columns are simpler; the Time column uses the Model Date/Time option: The second column gets the ID of the token as an integer: The third column gets the current value of the Data label: Now that the Statistics Collector is set up, we can configure the chart to use this collector, and split by the Token ID. The process to record the label value every interval (rather than on every change) is very similar. The downside is that the data is less granular, but the upside is that a label doesn't have to be a Tracked Variable to be charted. The example model simply uses a Split activity to copy the data from the Event Triggered Source, and sends it to a similar listening loop: Instead of waiting for the value to change, the second token waits for a fixed time interval. A similar Statistics Collector will allow you to create the following chart: This approach works for every token created by the scheduled source. No matter how many tokens you create, each will show up on the chart:
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I'm attaching a user library and an example model that contains process flows for two types of merge controller. The main advantage of both of these is that the release strategy is consolidated into a single list pull query, so that you can have incredible flexibility in defining custom release strategies just by adjusting a single query. Several query examples are included and explained. The DPClearingMergeController uses the standard merge controller mechanism that utilizes decision points and the merge controller's lane clear table to determine when slug lanes are clear for release. Alternatively, the FixedGapMergeController customizes lane release times for an optimal target gap between released slugs. This, combined with a good release strategy, can maximize total merge throughput. Here's a view of the fixed gap merge control running. Notice how it tries to time the releases so the slugs line up pretty close on the take away lane (the target gap here is 3 feet). And below is a screenshot of the fixed gap merge control process flow. mergecontrollerprocessflows.zip This model and library were created in 16.1.0.
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