Using Advanced Options

The advanced options for the Excel component include using macros, setting the action execution order, saving the modified workbook, and determining execution visibility.

  1. Double-click the Excel component icon .

    The Excel Component Editor appears.

  2. From the Excel Component Editor, click the Advanced tab.

    Important: If no macros are in the workbook you loaded into the Excel Component Editor, all macro options are disabled.

  3. Click Macro to select a macro.

    Note: If you experience difficulties executing your macro from Isight, it is recommended that you define your Excel macros to reside within the Workbook code module instead of the standard code module. For details, see the Excel documentation.

  4. Set the available macro options.

    1. Select an Isight parameter for the return value (if applicable).
    2. Click Arguments. You can supply arguments as either constants or Isight parameter values.
    3. Click the Add Macro button.

      The macro is added to the list on the right side of the tab.

  5. If necessary, modify the action execution order using the and buttons below the Action Execution Order list.

  6. Click Save Excel file after execution if you want the changes that were made to the Excel file during execution to be saved.

    You can type the path and file name into the corresponding text box, or you can click Browse and navigate to the file. By default, the current path and file name are automatically added to the text box.

  7. Click the File Parameter button if you want to include the file as an output file parameter from the Excel component.

    This button toggles between an available and not available position. The default setting for this button is determined using the Excel component preferences as described in Setting Excel Component Preferences.

    Isight appends the string “–Out” to the name of the saved parameter. For example, if your input file parameter is named Triangle.xls, Isight names the output file parameter Triangle–Out.xls on the Design Gateway Files tab.

  8. Click Show Excel during execution if you want Excel to be visible when you execute your model.

  9. Click Close workbook if you want to close the opened workbook (when not selected, Excel and the workbook remain open after the model is executed), and use the corresponding list to determine when Excel will close:

    Option Description
    when job completes Closes the workbook after the entire Isight execution completes.

    Note: When an Excel component is configured to close the workbook when the job completes, Isight launches a single Excel process and reuses it to evaluate each run of the component. This ensures that the Excel startup delay is incurred only once. However, if the component’s parent component is launching subflow runs in parallel, these runs will be forced to use this single process and will be serialized, reducing the potential performance gains from parallel execution. Because Excel workbook evaluations are often very rapid, this serialization process is not likely to cause problems. In a SIMULIA Execution Engine environment, the serialization process can be partially overcome because different subflow runs may be dispatched to different stations.
    after each execution Closes the workbook after each execution of Excel. Excel may be executed numerous times during a single job.

  10. If desired, click More Options, and set the following options:

    Option Description
    Re-use open workbook of same name Select this option if you want the component to use the same workbook that was open for a previous component in the model. This option allows you to modify (or extract data from) the same workbook. By default, this option is not selected, which means each component will open its own copy of the workbook.
    Use a dedicated Excel process Select this option if you want a separate Excel process to be started and dedicated to use for this instance alone. By default, the Excel component shares a single Excel application process among all instances of an Excel component, whether they are in the same model or different models.
    Automatically truncate large worksheets to show 500 rows Select this option to allow only the first 500 rows on any worksheet to be loaded into the editor. This allows large worksheets to load more quickly. This will not allow you to select cells in rows beyond row 500 to define mappings, but any mappings already defined will remain defined and will execute.
    Turn auto-calculate off during input mappings Select this option if you do not want Excel to execute calculations during input mappings. However, Excel will execute calculations before performing output mappings or executing macros. This option is useful for improving performance when many input mappings exist for spreadsheets containing expensive calculations.

  11. Click OK to save your changes and to close the Excel Component Editor.