Entry

From Planimate Knowledge Base

Entries introduce new items into a model.

Most Items will be created at an Entry.

The only other Object that can create items is a Splitter.

Entries can be classified as objects that are “Logical with Process Delays”. Entries are not designed to have storage capacity as such. However in some Entry modes, the Entry will hold an item if it is being blocked.

Entry States

Entries have three states, Idle, Blocked and Done.

Idle The entry is idle.

One or more items/agents are scheduled to appear at the entry at a later time.

Blocked An item attempting to leave the entry is blocked from proceeding.

This is commonly caused by either no queue being used between an entry and a server, or no flow being defined for an item class which has been defined in the entry's schedule.

It is unwise to allow an entry to become blocked, since this will distort the arrivals into your system model.

Done The entry has completed its production schedule in the current simulation run.

No further items will be produced at this entry.

Entry Modes

Entries have nine modes, all of which are configured from Object Edit View:

Periodic Arrivals

This Entry mode is simple to specify, and good for beginners to get started with.

Periodic Arrival events cause items to arrive over a period of time, such as customers at a bank.

You specify a Start and End time, plus a time interval between item arrivals, and if desired, a limit on the total number of items to be created. The inter-arrival time can have a variation pattern applied to it.

For full details refer to this page: Entry Periodic Arrivals

Receive Broadcast

This mode makes your entry behave like a radio or television receiver.

You 'tune' it in to a Broadcast, and whenever that Broadcast is sent from its source, it will be ‘received’ at this entry, and the Entry will produce an Item.

Combined with the generation of Broadcasts by Routines, Dispatchers or Exits, Broadcast Entries are extremely useful for sending information around a model, or invoking activity in a subsystem of your model from a different or remote subsystem location.

Think about Broadcasts as being able to co-ordinate model-wide activities (like initialize, prepare user reports, load from files) etc, and the full capability will become apparent.

For full details refer to this page: Broadcast Entry Configuration

Message Entry

This mode enables the entry to receive a message sent from another object (when an “Original Item” enters a Message Dispatcher or passes through a Change Object).

Upon receiving this message, the entry produces a “Message Item”, which is a ‘clone’ of the Original Item and sends it on.

When the Message Item is destroyed later on in an Exit, the Original Item is informed, and will move on from the object it was waiting in.

For full details refer to this page: Message Entry Configuration

Upon Click / Upon Click (and continue)

This mode enables you, the modeller, to make an event occur during a model run. If you would like to be able to interact with your model during a run, you can use this entry mode to produce an item for you while the model is paused. After pausing a run, click on this entry object.

In the plain 'Upon Click' mode, after you manually continue the run, this entry will then produce an item.
In the '(and Continue) mode, the model run is automatically continued after you click on this entry object, and the entry produces an item.

This mode has certain uses, like enabling you to collect information at certain times during a run, and writing out this information using other features of Planimate®. You may also wish to be able to make choices about certain logical configurations and settings in the model during the run, to test your skill at reading the system perhaps.

Table Driven Remove Row / Indexed

This is an advanced and versatile mode, where you link the Entry to a schedule table. In the schedule table you can add arrival events, one item for each row. The table contains arrival time, and other information that can be carried on the item produced in that row at that time.

There are two table driven modes:

Remove Row

As each item is produced, its row is deleted from the table, and the next row will occur at its scheduled time. The table can be edited by a modeller, or it may be constructed using code in a routine.

Indexed

This is a table driven entry mode that does not remove rows from the source table, instead the entry keeps an index of the rows it has processed. This enables table driven entries to work directly off tables without copies having to be made of the schedule data and is also much more efficient when there are many rows driving the entry.

For full details refer to this page: Table Driven Entry

Attribute Sensor

This mode enables you to watch the value of an attribute, and produce an item after a threshold value is reached or exceeded.

After producing the item, the entry will wait until a different threshold has been reached or exceeded before it is ‘reset’ and able to produce another item again.

For full details refer to this page: Attribute Sensor Entry

Wormhole Entry

This mode allows you to ‘cheat the system’.

Normally you cannot send an item along a path from one subsystem to a distant subsystem without having to respect the hierarchy of subsystems in the model.

However you can link a Wormhole Entry with a Wormhole Exit and pass an item from one subsystem to another directly.

The use of wormholes is not recommended practice, however they can be useful now and again.

For full details refer to this page: Wormhole Entry

Single Time Arrival

This is a very simple mode, which is good for getting started quickly.

You enter two settings in the Arrival Details Option in the Entry's Object Edit Menu.

Start Time
You specify only a single point in time at which this entry will produce an item.
Count/Limit
You can also specify how many items will be produced at that time.

Note that both of these settings are fixed and can only be varied by manual editing.

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