Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 1 Linking GoldSim to Spreadsheets GoldSim Technology Group Issaquah, Washington USA
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 2 Excel Enabled Elements Five GoldSim elements will interface with Excel:
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 3 Agenda We’ll discuss how each of the elements interacts with Excel and we’ll demonstrate how to set up linkages for each element We won’t do any examples (there’s a lot of stuff to cover) but if you want to follow along on your own machine you’re welcome to.
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 4 Database Type Elements Both of the Time Series elements and the Lookup Table can use Microsoft Excel as a database Import to these elements is automatic. They check the linked spreadsheet prior to the beginning of a simulation run and update themselves with any changes
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 5 Formatting the Spreadsheet for the Time Series Element Data can be in columns or rows You can read in a specified number of rows or until you hit the first blank cell The Excel import functions expect a column of time data (this can be Elapsed Time or Date/Time) Scalar or vector data can be imported for each time point Let’s create a simple spreadsheet and then import it…
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 6 The Lookup Table Element Similar to the Time Series element, import to the Lookup Table is automatic. Again, the lookup table has a spreadsheet format that it expects.
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 7 The Lookup Table’s Excel Dialog
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 8 1D Table Format Data is expected to be in columns Data is read in until the first blank row This cell is the Row Variable Starting Cell
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 9 2D Table Format Data is expected to be in columns Data is read in until the first blank row/column This cell is the Row Variable Starting Cell This cell is the Column Variable Starting Cell
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 10 3D Table Format Data in the 2D format Each Worksheet is a layer of the 3D table This cell is where the Layer Variable is specified
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 11 The Time History Element – Export to Spreadsheets What to Export Where to put it in the spreadsheet
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 12 Disabling Automatic Export Sometimes you may not want to export (e.g. when debugging a model) You can globally disable Time History export in the Model|Options dialog
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 13 The Spreadsheet Element
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 14 Important Notes About the Spreadsheet Element Using offsets The Shift button Updating Logic –If a Spreadsheet element exports data, the spreadsheet is only called if the exported data or and offset changes –If a spreadsheet element only imports data, the spreadsheet is only called at the start of the simulation and when an offset changes
Copyright GoldSim Technology Group LLC, 2006 Slide 15 Important Issues About Using Spreadsheets ALWAYS use relative paths – if you use a full path running the simulation or a Player file on another machine can be difficult. Do not work on connected spreadsheets while the simulation is running.