Editing Assign Modules

Assign modules may be added to the flowchart view by dragging and dropping (the same as Create modules). Multiple assignments can be done within a single assign module by clicking on the Add button. Previously added assignments can be edited using the Edit button. There are multiple possibilities for assignments:

Variables

Variables may be assigned a new value by setting the Type to be Variable, the Variable Name to the name of the variable to assign and New Value to the new value of the variable.

One dimensional variables may be useful when dealing with arrays, e.g. using different variable values for each day of the week. One dimensional variables may be assigned a new value by setting the Type to be Variable Array (1D), choosing the required Ro of the array and setting the New Value. Note that the variable array must be set up (see Editing Variables) with the correct number of rows for the assignment to work correctly.

For example, assuming a variable array has been set up with initial values as shown.

To assign a value of 1 to the seventh element in the array we can use the Assignmen a New Value of 1 to Row 7 of our 1D variable.

Note: Row 1 represents Monday, Row 2 represents Tuesday...etc

Two dimensional variables may also be useful. They are implemented identically to one dimensional variables (above) except that the user can define the number of rows and the number of columns.

A good example of a 2D variable is assigning a roster for when several receptionists must start work each day. This example is shown below.

Note: Row 1 represents Monday, Row 2 represents Tuesday...etc

Note: Column 1 represents Receptionist 1 (e.g. Mary) , Column 2 represents Receptionist 2 (e.g. Jenny)...etc

Note: An entry of 0 on a weekday means that receptionist does not work on that day.

Attributes

Entities can have Attributes assigned to them. There are also some special types of Attributes. Examples of Attributes and special types of Attributes are given below based on a medical centre situation.

Each Attribute must be named and assigned a specific value.

Entity.Type is a special kind of Attribute that refers to one of the specific types of entities defined in the model.

Entity.Picture is a special kind of Attribute that stores the value of an entity's graphical picture to be used for animations within the Arena model.

-- MichaelOSullivan - 25 Aug 2009