Tabular Data Blocks


Textual Model Files written in the Tabular Data Blocks format contain blocks of data in the following order: Information Header, Case Parameters, Simulator Objects, Reference Objects, Component Objects, System Parts, Connection Links, Logged Attributes, and End Marker. Each block is started with a block title indicated by three leading pound-sign characters (###) followed by a space and the block name. The block contents are described in the Data Blocks section below following some explanations of special characters and formats.

Special Characters and Strings

Certain characters and strings of characters in the file have special meanings:

Data Blocks

The following sections describes the data blocks in detail.

Information Header

Block Title: ### <Name> :Project Model ########

Starting out from the first line is the Information Header block title. The <Name> here is substituted with the actual name of the Project Model that the user created to generate the Model File.

All the lines in this block are comments, with the information as the following:

Case Parameters

Block Title: ### Case Parameters ########

Case parameters contains bindings for all parameters. Each case has a leading title that starts with

Case <Number> ========

It is appended with the string of second level blocks. The <Number> in the title is substituted with the actual case number starting from 1. The format for each parameter binding is:

<CaseParameterName>=<Value>

In the binding syntax, <CaseParameterName> is substituted with the actual parameter name and <Value> is the binding value. There is an equal sign (=) in-between without any blank spaces. The bindings are separated with blank (space) delimiters. The first case contains a complete set of bindings for all parameters in the Project Model. Bindings in the subsequent cases override the bindings from their previous cases. Those without overriding bindings in a case will use the bindings in the previous case.

Simulator Objects

Block Title: ### Simulator Objects ########

This data block contains the the simulation control object in the Project Model. Only the Default external process simulation control object derived from the SimControl.XProc class path is listed.

Reference Objects

Block Title: ### Reference Objects ########

All the reference objects are listed in this data block with the third level block separator (a comment sign with hyphens) between two objects. The objects are listed in the name order as in the Object Tree View in SansGUI.

Component Objects

Block Title: ### Component Objects ########

Component objects are listed in this data block. When any port attributes are present, the values of all ports are written behind all non-port values. See discussions below on Class Titles, Object Data, and Data Values for details.

System Parts

Block Title: ### System Parts ########

This is the data block for all the parts in the assembly hierarchy. SansGUI flattens the assembly hierarchy into a model with a single level assembly before writing out the Model File. The header of the block shows the data in each field of the parts:

# SERIAL CLASS OBJECT PATH OVERRIDES

Each field is described in the following:

Each part occupies one text line without any wrapping. Therefore, if there are many part overriding values, the line can become very long.

Connection Links

Block Title: ### Connection Links ########

Similar to the System Parts block, connection links are listed in a single flat level to show all the connectivity in the model. When a link is used to connect to an assembly, the inner part is revealed as the connected part. Therefore, a link represents the connection between two end base parts. The header of the block indicates the fields of the links:

# SERIAL OBJECT PART1 PORT1 PART2 PORT2 PATH OVERRIDES

Each field is described in the following:

Each link occupies one text line without any wrapping. Therefore, if there are many link overriding values, the line can become very long.

Logged Attributes

Block Title: ### Logged Attributes ########

The values in certain attributes of certain objects, parts or links may be logged during the simulation run, according to the user's request. This block contains the variable names of the logged attributes (codes) in all parts, links, and objects.

For parts, the title showing all the fields is:

Part ===================

# SERIAL PATH ATTRIBUTES

# ----------------------

SERIAL is the serial number of the part, PATH is the assembly path of the part, and ATTRIBUTES are requested attributes. A reminder here is that a part may have multiple port data in port attributes. If a port attribute is requested, data for all ports should be logged. There is a space indentation before the SERIAL field in each part line.

For links, the title is:

Link ===================

# SERIAL PATH ATTRIBUTES

# ----------------------

SERIAL is the serial number of the link, PATH is the assembly path of the link, and ATTRIBUTES are requested attributes. There is a space indentation before the SERIAL field in each link line.

For objects, the title is:

Object ================

# NAME CLASS ATTRIBUTES

# ---------------------

NAME is the name of the object, CLASS is the full path name of the class from which the object is derived, and ATTRIBUTES are requested attributes. There is a space indentation before the NAME field in each object line.

Each part, link, or object occupies one line. Therefore, if there are many logged attributes, the line may be very long.

End Marker

Block Title: ### END ########

The end marker indicates the end of the file.

Class Titles

A class title leads a second level block with all objects derived from the class listed one by one. The syntax for the class titles is:

<ClassID> ======== [Version]

where <ClassID> is the full name path of the class and [Version] is the version number. The version number is right justified and a second level block string is filled between the class path and the version number. It is enclosed by a pair of square brackets [ ] with the major, minor, and patch numbers separated by a period (.). Examples are [1.2.0] and [2.0.alpha].

Following the identification line of the class title are the variable names of the class attributes (codes). They are written as comments for informational purposes only.

Object Data

All the objects derived from the same class are listed after the class title. The NAME of the object leads all the data values without a line break. There is a space indentation before the object name. The data values of an object are written in the following manners:

Data Values

Data values in Tabular Data Blocks are written as following:



C:\FH_Suite\htmlgifs\home.gif SansGUI Model File Format XML Model Data

SansGUI Modeling and Simulation Environment Version 1.2

Copyright © 2000-2003 ProtoDesign, Inc. All rights reserved.

http://protodesign-inc.com