Overview and Key Concepts

An object representing a bank of elevators for transporting people between different floors (grids) in an A* network.

The Elevator Bank is used to simulate elevators moving people between different floors of a facility. The Elevator Bank acts as a custom A* bridge between A* grids that are stacked on top of each other along a model's z-axis.

Create an elevator bank by dragging it from the library. Then expand its x-axis size to define the desired number of elevators. See Working with A* Navigation for more instruction on adding an Elevator Bank to your model.

Events

On Traveler Arrival

The OnTravelerArrival event fires when a traveler arrives at the elevator bank to transfer floors.

It has the following parameters:

On Traveler Continue

The OnTravelerContinue event fires when a traveler is finished using the elevator bank and continues on the A* network.

It has the following parameters:

The elevator bank also relays events of the bank elevator. When listening to these events via the elevator bank (using Process Flow's Wait For Event or Event-Triggered Source activities), you need to define the rank of the target elevator that you want to listen to.

States

The Elevator Bank does not implement a state profile. Instead refer to Bank Elevator states.

Statistics

The Elevator Bank does not implement any of its own statistics. Instead refer to Bank Elevator statistics.

Properties Panels

The Elevator Bank object uses the following properties panels:

• Statistics
• Visuals
• Labels
• ElevatorBank
• Ports
• Triggers

Bank Elevator

A Bank Elevator, or simply an elevator, is an individual elevator within an elevator bank. You will primarily interface with elevators in an elevator bank through the ElevatorBank and ElevatorBank.Elevator FlexScript interfaces. However, you may also want to listen to an individual elevator's events, or collect state information on it.

Elevator Events

On Floor Arrival

The OnFloorArrival event fires when the elevator arrives at a floor.

It has the following parameters:

On Floor Departure

The OnFloorDeparture event fires when the elevator departs a floor.

It has the following parameters:

On Idle

The OnIdle event fires when the elevator finishes at a floor and does not find another floor to go to.

This event does not have any associated parameters

On Traveler Entry

The OnTravelerEntry event fires when a traveler enters the elevator.

It has the following parameters:

On Traveler Exit

The OnTravelerExit event fires when a traveler exits the elevator.

It has the following parameters:

Elevator General States

The elevator's general state profile uses the following states.

Idle

The elevator is idle and stationary.

Busy

The elevator is currently opening or closing its door.

Loading

Travelers are entering the elevator.

Unloading

Travelers are exiting the elevator.

Travel Empty

The elevator is moving between floors and does not contain any travelers.

Travel Loaded

The elevator is moving between floors and contains one or more travelers.

Elevator Custom Profile States

The elevator includes a custom profile, profile 1, that uses the following states.

Idle

The elevator is idle and stationary.

Opening Door

The elevator is opening its doors.

Closing Door

The elevator is closing its doors.

Exiting Travelers

Travelers are exiting the elevator.

Entering Travelers

Travelers are entering the elevator.

Moving

The elevator is moving to a floor to fulfill a request.

Idle Moving

The elevator is moving to a floor but not to fulfill a request. This state will only be used if you expressly tell the elevator to move to a "home" location when it becomes idle.

Elevator Statistics

The elevator uses the same statistics as a task executer. See Task Executer Concepts - Statistics for an explanation of these statistics.

Traveler Events

A* Travelers that use the elevator bank will also have the following events that you can listen to.

On Elevator Bank Arrival

The OnElevatorBankArrival event fires when the traveler arrives at an elevator bank to move between floors. It is fired at the same time as the elevator bank's OnTravelerArrival event, but here the event is owned by the traveler, not the elevator bank.

It has the following parameters:

On Elevator Entry

The OnElevatorEntry event fires when the traveler enters an elevator. It is fired at the same time as the elevator's OnTravelerEntry event, but here the event is owned by the traveler, not the elevator.

It has the following parameters:

On Elevator Exit

The OnElevatorExit event fires when the traveler enters an elevator. It is fired at the same time as the elevator's OnTravelerExit event, but here the event is owned by the traveler, not the elevator.

It has the following parameters:

On Elevator Bank Continue

The OnElevatorBankContinue event fires when the traveler continues from an elevator bank, resuming normal A* travel. It is fired at the same time as the elevator bank's OnTravelerContinue event, but here the event is owned by the traveler, not the elevator bank.

It has the following parameters: