Dynamic targets for PedGoTo using several levels - anylogic

I'm using the pedistrian library in anylogic and want to implement different target locations for different agents in the block PedGoTo. I tried to use setPos(x,y) for TargetLines and setPos(x,y,z) for rectangular areas. Both did not work and the message "Markup element is already initialized and cannot be modified. Please use constructor without arguments, perform setup and finally call initialize() function" made me try another method. I tried to use point(x,y) as a target. This works fine by defining a parameter for both X and Y and overwriting the values during the simulation. Every time a value is changed the next agent has a new target location.
But, the point(x,y) has no z or level parameter. So I assume that it is only working with targets in the same level as the agent release point. There is no way to define another level for the target by using point(x,y).
My Question is: how can I define a target dynamically during runtime in a level which is different from the agent release point level?
Thanks for any help!

Related

Anylogic: Declare parameter of type ArrayList

I'm building a class (sorry - Agent) that will work with a set of Tank objects (Fluid Library) - doing things like monitoring individual levels or total level of all tanks, reporting on levels and initiating actions based on levels - things of that nature. For argument's sake let's call it a "TankMonitor" agent.
Ideally I'd like to be able to define a Parameter in my "TankMonitor" agent that allows me to define the tanks of interest when I place a TankMonitor in main. I have tried to define the type of the parameter as Other - ArrayList<Tank> however I don't know how to set up the next step to allow me to populate the ArrayList of Tanks when I put an instance of this agent in main. My preference would be to have a list type control to populate the ArrayList - much like the way the AnyLogic Seize block allows you to specify multiple resource pools to choose from.
Has anyone attempted this before and been successful?
This is possible as follows:
Change the type to "Other" and then 'Tank[]' , i.e. an Array of Tanks
Change the control type to "one-dimensional array"
Example below. Now you have the same UI to pre-define tanks at design time for your agent instance.
In addition to Benjamin's perfect answer, I'd just add the manual workaround, which is not needed here but can be useful when the parameter in question has a more complicated structure than covered by the pre-made controls, say a list of lists, a map, or similar.
In such a case, the Control Type is still Text, and populating it in an instance happens by pointing it to a new object of the parameter's type. E.g. for an ArrayList<Tank> parameter, you might instantiate a new ArrayList object, which you fill with a list of objects like so:
new ArrayList<Tank>(Arrays.asList(tankA, tankB))
In the Java code, whatever is written into that text box will end up on the right side of a parameter assignment statement in the embedded Agent instance's auto-generated parameter setup function. Therefore, multi-statement code won't work in this spot. Instead, if the process of building the parameter value doesn't fit neatly into a single expression, you can hide the code in a function which returns the desired object, and call that from the parameter's text box.

Error when using an inner variable of a component

I am using Thermal Power Library from Modelon. There is a condenser component in the Thermal Power Library which is used for the modeling of power plants.
The default heat transfer area for the wall_2 in the condenser component is 0.8*A_heat_tot, the variable of A_heat_tot is an inner variable in the condenser component, but when I try to use this variable, there is an error showing that this variable isn’t defined.
My question is that If I can use the inner variable directly. If not, how should I use it?
Short answer: You need to address the variable with its full path, i.e. wall_2.A_heat_tot.
A_heat_tot is define in StandardWall and can thus be referred to directly inside the class. However, when you are making changes to A_heat from outside the instance of StandardWall (i.e. outside wall_2) you must point to the origin of A_heat_tot since it is otherwise not known in the scope from which you are trying to use it.
Likewise, if you are making the modification in you simulation model (Preheater_Model_Validation2) you must use the full path, i.e. hex.wall_2.A_heat = hex.A_heat_tot
By the way, this has nothing to do with the inner qualifier in the Modelica language.

How to position Canvas with agents in classical Agent-Based Modeling in AnyLogic

I'm new to AnyLogic and trying to figure out how Agent-based models should be set there. There is a famous Epidemic model, which I'm trying to reproduce. Most tutorials on classical ABM deal with old GUI settings.
For example, in version 8.5+, which is actual now, the Environment object (that was used for positioning of layouts) has been deprecated.
Now I see that new object Canvas is used to put the layout with agents on the page. But the structure of source code file is a bit unclear for me and I've failed to find relevant description how Canvas can be set for the purpose. (Besides I'm not sure that this is recommended way of doing this task.)
Question: I would love to learn the right way to arbitrary position the area with agents on the page. Below you may see what I get by default.
After some playing around, the 'minimalistic' functionality is as follows.
One should create some population with arbitrary name Person (population name people adds automatically).
The following structure of the Project is to be reproduced (arbitrary names are marked with yellow).
Comment: after adding a Canvas called mapCanvas one adds the function setCanvasCellColor with following body:
mapCanvas.fillCircle(person.getX(), person.getY(), 3, color);
It is clear that former two arguments stand for coordinates of a given point, then its size (i.e. 3) and color. Do not forget to add two arguments used in the body, namely, person as Person and color as Color.
From Entry Action of the statechart named state call the just made function. I've put black color here just for the sake of demonstration; chartreuse constant gets used instead in the Epidemic example.
main.setCanvasCellColor(this, black);
Finally, you may run the model to get the following picture.
Note
If one is reluctant to bother with Canvas, use Main - Presentation - xxx_presentation and click Draw agent with offset to this position checkbox.

How to select output in Anylogic by agent parameter?

So, I'm pretty new with Anylogic, but have done a lot of tutorials and I have programming experience in Java. For my thesis I'm modelling a vehicle flow as a process. In the source block, I create custom agents (vehicles) with some parameters from the database. This works fine. Then I want to assign an electric parameter with randomTrue(0.5). For this, I call a setupTaxi-function, where electric ist set. The parameter for the randomTrue-function should be changeable, so I set it as an extra paramter anteilEtaxis (0.5).
After that, I want the vehicles to do different things depending on the value of electric using SelectOutput. I selected the Condition and test on agent.electric.
I basically did the exact same thing as described in the Anylogic help. And yet the framework always chooses the true Output port, no matter if the parameter ist set to true or false.
See the image for setup and parameters. I tested this via console (the first line is a println-call in source, the second a println-call in selectOutput.). Plus you can see that the parameter is set to different values, because the 3D visualisation model depends on it:
enter image description here
Also, I tried a few different combinations of setting the parameters, reading them etc... The only thing that will work is putting randomTrue(0.5) directly in the Condition box. This is not what I want though. So if you have an idea, what is wrong, please tell me.
This is a typical beginners problem.
I will assume you are calling the setupTaxi-function in your source in the "on exit" action... If you are doing that, then it's too late and the agent already made its decision on where it will go after the select output block.
You have to call your setupTaxi-function in 2 possible places:
1) In your source on the "on at exit" action
2) In your vehicle agent on the "on startup" action
Or even.. just make electric variable have a default value of randomTrue(main.anteilEtaxis)... that will also work.

Loading Variable-Based Parameters in Behavior Search

I am using Behavior Search to calibrate my NetLogo model for 20 different hospital units. I am using global variables to set the min and max for several sliders in my model, but I think this is causing an error in Behavior Search when I attempt to load the parameter values from the model. However, I don't want to manually enter these parameter ranges manually each time I use Behavior Search.
Is there a way to get around this error? Is there a way to set the min and max for a specific slider to a constant, rather than using global variables?
Thanks for your help!
BehaviorSearch developer here -- if I'm understanding your question correctly, your NetLogo model has a slider which has a min/max constraint that is not set to a constant, but is instead set to a global variable (in the slider settings, accessed from the NetLogo interface).
When I choose such a model using the BehaviorSearch GUI, and then click the "Load parameter ranges from model interface" button, then I get the value of 0 for that constraint. (I don't see any error message -- just the value 0 (if you're getting an error message instead, then I may not be understanding your situation correctly, and perhaps you could post exactly what error message you're seeing?)
This will be true even if you are setting the slider min/max to a global value in the special STARTUP procedure (see: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/docs/dict/startup.html), because STARTUP is only run when a model loads in the NetLogo GUI, and not when a model is loaded in headless NetLogo.
Thus, unfortunately, I think the answer to your question is: "no, there isn't a way to get BehaviorSearch to load the parameter ranges from global variables within the model".
Some possible work-arounds:
BehaviorSearch is open-source -- some changes could be made to it -- i.e., maybe adding in a call to "startup" whenever BehaviorSearch GUI loads the parameter ranges would be sufficient for you.
If you're only doing a few searches, I don't see why manually editing the parameter ranges would be particularly onerous. However, if you're generating a lot of different searches with this model, then I can see how it might be an issue. The .bsearch files are just XML text files, so you might consider generating them without the BehaviorSearch GUI, e.g. using a scripting language.