BUILDING VARIABLES AND CREATING MULTIPLE BLOCKS

Discussion:

There are two types of variables in ProModel and these are global and local. As

defined in Promodel User Guide, Global variables are place holders defined by the user

to represent changing numeric values while, Local variables are place holders which are

only available within the logic that declared them.

Global variables are defined in the Variable Editor under Builder Menu. The ID is

the name by which the variable is identified in the model. The type of variables can be

integer $($whole number$)$ or real. In order for variables to be useful, we need to manipulate

their values. This is done with the INC and DEC statements. INC causes the variable value

to be increased by the specified value, or by one if no value is given. DEC causes the

variable value to be decreased by the specified value, of by one if no value is given.

In some instances, when routing a part to a downstream location, sometimes it is

necessary to provide multiple routes for the entity to follow. This is accomplished by

creating multiple lines or multiple blocks of routing.

If a routing record has multiple lines within one block, only one of the lines will be

executed, or in other words, the entity will only route to one location. The routing line that the

entity chooses id based on the routing rules that are established in the rules dialog box. If there

are multiple blocks of routing, then each line will be executed and the specified entity will

route to each of the downstream locations indicated $($thus creating entities$).$ This is done by

clicking on the Rules button and clicking on the Start New Block box.

Objectives:

At the end of the period, students will be able to:

$1.$ Build a model on their own, based on a given model description.

$2.$ Know how to build variables in the model.

$3.$ Create multiple lines or multiple blocks for routing.

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