Desmo-J Experiment Starter Users Manual

Applet GUI v1.0 - Java 1.4
@author Gunnar Kiesel - 27.11.2003

1. What is the Desmo-J Experiment Starter?
The Experiment Starter enables you to run an experiment (or a series of experiments) on a Desmo-J model. You are able to manipulate the given model and experiment parameters. Parameter sets can be saved and loaded. Graphical observers can provide visual information on the experiment. Finally you'll be able to view experiment results.

1.1 System requirements
Java 1.4 is needed to run the Experiment Starter Applet. The Applet works on Windows platforms with IE5.5+ and Mozilla 1.5+ (see known problems), on Sun Solaris Systems with Mozilla and on Mac OS X with Safari 1.1.

2. Usage

2.1 Top Buttons
Load - Enables you to load a paramter set from file.
Save - Saves the current parameter settings into an XML file.
Reset - Once an experiment has been run you'll need to reset it. Only then will you be able to run a new experiment. 'Reset' resets all parameter to their default values.
Start - Starts the experiment with the current parameter values.
Stop - Stops a running experiment and creates reports (Experiments are automatically stopped when the stopTime value is reached). Stopped experiments cannot be continued.
Pause - Allows you to pause and resume an experiment run. Observers will be updated when pause is activated. However, no reports will be generated.

2.2 Panels

Settings
The Settings panel, which is divided in two halves, shows you the current model- and experiment- parameters. To change a given value, click the corresponding field. Press 'enter' to complete your input. Make sure you enter a new name for each new parameter set.

Observers
Provides you with graphical information on the current experiment. Observers will appear at the start of an experiment. Graphs will be updated at whenever an experiment is paused or at the end of an experiment.

Reports
Allows you to view the reports generated at the end of an experiment. On the left hand side double click the 'simulation output' folder. A new folder with the current experiment name will appear. Double click the new folder or single click the switch next to it to open. Four documents corresponding to the generated output will appear. Single click them to view the information in the browser on the right.
IMPORTANT: To be able to view different result sets you have to enter different names in the experiment settings, or previous results will be overwritten!

Manual
Shows this text.

3. Known Problems
Some browsers (e.g. Mozilla on Windows platforms) may not find the result files. To solve this problem, change the output path in the experiment parameters.