GoldSim 12 Preview (Part III): New Run Controls

Posted by Rick Kossik

Run Control toolbar

This is the third in a series of blog posts in which I briefly introduce many of the exciting new features that will appear in GoldSim 12 (the previous post can be found here).  Today's blog post focuses on the new ways in which models are run and controlled. In GoldSim 12, this has been streamlined significantly, such that the old Run Controller dialog has been eliminated, and replaced with a new toolbar and new features within the status bar.

In previous versions of GoldSim, models were run (and their status was displayed) using the Run Controller, a separate "pop-up" dialog displayed on top of the GoldSim application when it was running (or paused):

Run Controller use in previous GoldSim versions

In GoldSim 12, this has been streamlined significantly, such that models are run and controlled via a toolbar, and status information is displayed in the status bar.  As a result, there is no longer a need for a separate dialog (the Run Controller), and this has been eliminated completely. 

In GoldSim 12, simulations are run and controlled using the Run Control toolbar. In Edit Mode, the Run Control toolbar looks like this:

You run a simulation by pressing the Run button (second button from the left).  As in previous versions, you can also run a model by pressing F5.

The Run Control toolbar changes its appearance when the model starts running:

The Abort (first button from the left) and Pause button (second button from the left) can be used to abort and pause the simulation, respectively.

Once the simulation is started, the status bar changes color and “Running” is displayed on the left side of the bar.  Next to “Running”, an estimate of the progress of the simulation (in terms of what fraction is currently complete) is displayed. The progress is displayed both as a percentage, and as a progress bar (just left of the zoom control on the right side of the status bar):

More detailed information on the simulation status is also displayed.  In particular, the status bar displays the progress of the simulation in terms of the the actual elapsed time (i.e., how long has the simulation been running), the simulated time for the current realization, and the current realization being run:

If you press the Pause button in the Run Control toolbar while a simulation is running, the model will be paused, and this will be indicated in the status bar:

You can pause the model immediately (in the “Ready” state, before the simulation begins) by pressing the Ctrl key while pressing the Run button or F5. (In previous versions, this required selecting an option in the Options dialog; this is no longer necessary).

While the model is paused, the Run Control toolbar changes its appearance:

The Run button can be used to restart the run. Just to the right of the Run button are two additional buttons for stepping through the simulation one timestep or one realization at a time. On the right side of the Run Control toolbar is a slider that can be used to artificially slow down a simulation.

After a simulation is complete, the model will be placed in Result Mode. The status bar turns green and “Results” is displayed on the left side:

Note that the status information (in particular, the elapsed simulation time) remains displayed.

These changes serve to eliminate the need for the separate Run Controller dialog used in previous GoldSim versions.  Note that this change is also incorporated into the GoldSim Player, eliminating the need for the Run Controller there.  In fact, it is likely that this change will have its greatest impact in the GoldSim Player, as the Run Controller always needed to be present in previous versions.

In order to support this, Player files with Dashboards now provide toolbars: 

Next GoldSim 12 Preview - Part IV: The Pool Element