Displays

Display primitives allow you to configure the presentation of the results of your model simulation. Primitives can appear in more than one display at a time in order to show different perspectives on your data. One time series display will automatically be created when you first start your model, but you can add many more. There are four different types of displays you can create:

·         Tabular: Creates a tabular summary of primitive values at each time period. The table can be sorted and manipulated.  You may specify the time units to be used when generating the table (seconds, minutes, etc…). Data may be copied from the table and pasted into any standard spreadsheet application. You may also set this display type to automatically include new primitives when you create them.

Sample Results of a tablular display

·         Time Series: This display creates a time series plot of the selected data items. You may specify the time units to be used when generating the time series plot (seconds, minutes, etc…). The chart may be copied and pasted into any graphics application. Additionally, you may set this display type to automatically include new primitives when you create them.

Sample Results of a Time Series Display

·         Scatterplot: This display creates a scatterplot between two or more selected items. The plot may be copied and pasted into any graphics application.

Sample Results of a Scatterplot Display

·         Steady State: The steady state display is designed to show just the final values for the selected primitives. Use this display when you think that the model will approach a constant, unchanging state and you are only interested in the final values for the primitives. The steady state display also shows the current rate of change in the values of the primitives at the end of the simulation. This helps you in determining whether steady state conditions have truly been reached.

Sample Reasults of a steady state display

After Simgua runs your model, you can view the results within the application. At this point you may use Simgua’s powerful Chart Inspector to format the presentation of graphical data displays.

 Chart configuration Options from the Chart Inspector

The Chart Inspector allows the modification of standard display properties such as line color and thickness. It additionally supports more powerful features including primary and secondary y-axises and logarithmic axises. You can even create trendlines and matching confidence bands using the Chart Inspector. Linear, exponential, logarithmic and polynomial regressions are support. One thing to note is that when carrying out a logarithmic regression, any data point with a non-positive x-value is ignored by Simgua during the regression. This is because the log function is undefined for such points. Similarly, for exponential regressions any data-point with a non-positive y-value is ignored.

chart with Automatic Trendline and Confidence Band

Most of the parameters set using the Chart Inspector of self-descriptive but there are a few points that should be clarified. In the labels for the chart title and axes, you may use special shortcuts that are replaced with specific information when displayed in charts. For instance, “%u” is replaced by the time units of the display (“seconds”, “minutes”, etc.). The following is list of the available shortcuts and their replacements.

Shortcuts for use in chart labels

For further analysis not supported by the Chart Inspector you may export the results of all the displays to an Excel workbook or print an elegant summary report.

Back to the overview of all primitives.