Petri .NET Simulator 2.0.1700 - User Guide and FAQ

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Brief Introduction

Main Window

On the right-center side of the window there is a surface of PetriNet Document. It represents a document of Petri .NET Simulator application. PetriNet Document is consisted of three views: PetriNet Editor view, Description view and Response view.

Rest of the screen is used by four dock-able windows. They are: Toolbox, Document Explorer, Properties and Rules Editor. These windows can be undocked, moved around or docked to another place, depending on users' desires. Layout is saved when application closes, so next time when application starts layout is preserved.

Toolbox is a special TreeView control that contains all objects that can be dragged to editor. These objects can be simple or complex objects. One example of complex object is Resource-Operation object that consists of two Transitions, one Resource Place, one Operation Place and 4 arcs connecting that objects.

Document Explorer shows objects tree of currently selected document. In this version of Petri .NET Simulator Document Explorer doesn't have any important role. It is only used as helping tool to see the objects hierarchy.

Properties window is used to display and edit all important properties of objects that are part of Petri net model. Also, properties of other objects, used in the application, can be displayed and edited.

Rules Editor is used to add/edit/remove rules that are applied to selected document. It contains collection of rules that determine the behaviour of Control places included in Petri net.

PetriNet Editor

This is the top object of Petri .NET Simulator application. It holds all important information of your Petri net. As mentioned before, it consists of three different views used for drawing, editing, simulating and analyzing Petri net.

Initially, when new document is created, Properties window shows properties of PetriNet Document object.

PetriNet Editor

PetriNet Editor is the most important view of PetriNet Document. Its surface is used for drawing a Petri net model. All objects that are in Toolbox window can be placed at PetriNet Editor's surface. A simple drag&drop puts selected object to surface.

The objects placed on PetriNet Editor surface can be selected by left/right mouse click. Upon selection the object's colour changes to blue and Properties window shows properties of the selected object. The object can be moved by pressing and holding left mouse button while moving mouse around the PetriNet Editor surface.

A complete Petri net model requires definition of arcs (connections) between Places and Transitions. Arcs can be added to the model by using the following procedure: right-click on source object (place or transition; the object becomes blue) and move mouse to the destination object (transition or place) while holding right mouse button. When the mouse is over the object that can be connected with the source, the connection arrow becomes yellow. The connection is created by releasing the right mouse button.

In case connection between two already connected objects is undertaken, the connection arrow turns to red, and upon release of right mouse button, the user is asked if existing connection should be deleted.

Places

Toolbox window under Simple section contains five types of Place objects. They are: Input, Operation, Resource, Control and Output.

Rules and rule editor

Rules are an important part in Petri net simulation. A Petri net can be controlled by control places. These places control the flow of tokens in critical sections of system (if there is a danger of deadlock or conflict). In every sampling interval rules are calculated and based on result control places receive particular number of tokens determined by the rules.

As it was mentioned in section 3, main application window has a dockable window called Rules Editor. It contains a set of rules for particular Petri net.

Rules Editor window shows collection of items associated with current document. In front of every rule there is an icon that shows if that rule currently evaluates to true or false. This is very useful in step-by-step simulation (explained later in this manual) so control algorithm can be easily validated and debugged. In Rules Editor new rule can be added, or existing rule can be edited by double-clicking that rule. A new window called Rule Editor is opened. In this window, you type a new rule by entering a Rule Expression and (optionally) a Rule Description.

Extras

A Petri net model, built in PetriNet Editor, and oscillograms obtained by the simulation, can be copied in form of Enhanced Metafile on Clipboard and then paste in other Windows applications.

A Petri net model can be copied by using 'Edit' in main menu and then 'Copy model'.

The oscillograms can be copied by right-click on Oscillogram object and then select 'Copy to Clipboard' from context menu.



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