Attribute View

Use of Attribute Screen Display Features

Using the Pause at Events Debugging Option to perform Event Stepping becomes extremely slow and frustrating in a large model.

Instead, use the on-screen display features of attributes to provide an " on the spot " explanation of the " unseen " activity of the Model.

One important thing to know is that Planimate® performs steps one at a time.- It takes each individual item as far as it can go FOR THAT PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME.

Many separate items can be moved at that SAME POINT IN TIME in the Model Run.

Therefore, it may be that an attribute does not seem to register the value you want it to, (for whatever reason) and this distorts the behaviour of a separate yet dependent step that was to be based upon that attribute's current value, but which was also occurring at the same time.

Understanding this issue is the clue to discovering and implementing a solution to your problem.

Faced with this sort of situation, some strategies to consider might be:

Where occupancy is not an issue or a problem, you can " insulate " one step from another, using objects like a server or a queue.

This breaks up the model into more " Time Epochs ", that may then be carried through and have a greater chance then of enabling a succeeding dependent event to behave sensibly.

Where occupancy is an issue, the use of portal limits enables sophisticated attribute based switching to be accomplished internally, with the use of the insulating objects described above, while access to the portal is limited.

The placement of Change Objects can be tested and the number required to enable the range of operations performed upon the Portal Attributes to be properly spaced out and ordered.