Component Detailed Options
Components can be controlled through the Tabbed options in the Component Properties Dialog.
Main Tab
The Main tab allows the Name of the component to be set, and the on-screen graphic for the component to be set.
The Locked check box allows the Component to have a Password added to prevent others gaining access to the internals of the Component.
Toolbar Tab
The Toolbar tab is where the Component can be saved to a Toolbar for easier access, and where the toolbar image is selected.
Clicking the “Set Image for Toolbar” button opens up the Images library so that a toolbar image can be selected.
The drop down box offers a number of options for how the component should be displayed when it is dropped on the screen. The “Show Component Image” option displays the component with the image selected on the Main tab. The “Remove Component Layer” option unwraps the component so that only the sub objects (the Simul8 objects that make up the component) are displayed on the screen. Finally, the “Remove Component Layer into new Sub-Window” option unwraps the component but places the Simul8 sub objects in a sub-window.
The “Save as Reusable Component” button opens up the Save As dialog. The component can be saved (as a .O8 file) to the Object Repository (i.e. displayed on the Build Tools 2 toolbar) or to a folder within the Component Palette.
There are buttons linking to Visual Logic for the creation or deletion of the component.
There is an option to remove the component layer now. This is useful if you are editing some property of your component and wish to work with the original objects.
If you have specified that the component layer should be removed when the component is dropped on the screen, hold down CTRL when dropping a Component to the screen to ignore the “Remove Component Layer on Create..” check box. This makes it easier to make amendments to components.
Dialogs Tab
The Dialogs tab is where a Simul8 dialog can be selected from a list so that when the component is created or double-clicked the dialog opens allowing the user access to properties etc.
Dialog for Other Parameters can automatically open a Custom Dialog. If a Custom Dialog is referenced by a Component then the Custom Dialog is saved as part of the Component.
If only 1 object is contained in the Component the Object's own properties dialog can be opened, allowing access to the Results and other options of a standard object.
Visual Logic Events Tab
Visual Logic events allows a Visual Logic event to be saved as part of the component and imported to other simulations.
For example, the On Reset logic can be dragged and dropped from the top to the bottom panel. This piece of Visual Logic will then operate whenever the event in the lower panel is executed. If the Reset Visual Logic is added to the “On Simulation Open” event in the lower panel then the code will be run whenever the simulation is then opened, not on Reset. It makes sense to rename logic used in this way to avoid confusion.
Connections Tab
Please note: this tab is only present for backwards compatibility, therefore in most versions (version 7 and higher) of Simul8 this tab is obsolete.
The Connections tab allows Inputs and Outputs to the Component to be defined. In this case a Routing Arrow drawn into the Component will be attached to Queue 1 or 3, but not 2.
An Inbound Routing Arrow will be attached to Queue 1 if Queue 1 has no arrows feeding into it, and Queue 3 has no arrows feeding out.