About Database Lookup

Isight can, prior to executing an application component, examine all past executions (or only those within the current job) of this component to find out if this component has been run with this exact set of input values. If so, the assumption is that the output values will be identical and can be restored.

Isight can restore these values rather than executing the application component. For long-running components, such as many simulation codes, this can save valuable execution time because the results are already in the database. For SIMULIA Execution Engine environments, database lookup bypasses the distribution of the component to the SIMULIA Execution Engine station and reduces the execution overhead in the SIMULIA Execution Engine simulation process flow, saving the additional dispatch time.

By default, database lookup is disabled to maintain backward compatibility with previous versions and for cases where database lookup is not feasible (e.g., the component is designed to produce an external effect, such as sending an e-mail or generating a Word report).

Database lookup can be set at the model level (in the Model Properties editor) or at the component level. For information about database lookup at the model level, see Setting Model Properties in the Isight User’s Guide.

If the model enables database lookup, all application components in the model are enabled for database lookup, unless otherwise disabled by the application component’s metamodel (e.g., Mail component). Similarly, if the model does not allow database lookup, database lookup is disabled for all application components in the model.

When you are working with database lookup, consider the following:

  • The application component cannot be a Reference component (e.g., InModel Reference, Library Reference, or a Partner B2B Reference).

  • The component metamodel must not disallow database lookup (e.g., Mail).

  • If the component is a submodel’s root component (the top level component in a local or library reference), you must save the outputs that have the same name as the mapped outputs in the Reference component that contains it. Otherwise, it is not eligible for database lookup because there is an implicit hidden mapping from all the outputs of these submodel root parameters to the reference that contains them. Therefore, if the reference must supply the variable value through an output mapping, the submodel root must supply it to the reference.

  • The Database Lookup option on the application component properties editor must not be disabled.

  • Database lookup imposes the following requirements on parameters saved to the database:

  • All file parameters that are saved to the database must be either FiperFileMgr or InModel File handler types.
  • All nonfile parameters in the component must be set to Save to Database. For more information about saving parameters to the database, see Setting Parameter Preferences in the Isight User’s Guide.
  • There must be at least one input parameter set to Save to Database. For more information about saving parameters to the database, see Setting Parameter Preferences in the Isight User’s Guide.
  • All mapped outputs must be set to Save to Database. For more information about saving parameters to the database, see Setting Parameter Preferences in the Isight User’s Guide.