You can create custom resource types. They have their own diagrams where you can add parameters, statecharts, functions, etc. You can select custom animation for the resource types that you create and easily make changes to those animation figures.
Specify the parameters for this resource type. Click
button below.
Click Finish.
The graphical diagram of the created resource type will open. You will see there the chosen resource unit animation (located in the axis origin) and the parameter(s) you have defined in the wizard.
Since custom resources are derived from agent type, it is possible to enrich them with custom variables, parameters, functions, and other elements.
When using a custom resource in a process flow (for example, upon starting processing the resource via the Seize block), you may need to access these elements in the context of the resource being used. In this case, you cannot directly access the resource without specifying its type explicitly.
Let’s say we have a custom resource pool named Cashiers that consists of multiple resource instances: the Cashier agents. On the Cashier agent’s diagram, there is the isBusy Boolean parameter whose value is false by default — but we want to set it to true upon starting the resource’s utilization.
To do this, specify the following as the On seize unit action in the Actions section of the Seize block:
((Cashier)unit).isBusy = false;
Note that we address the agent type — Cashier, rather than the resource pool Cashiers itself.
Use a similar approach to access other elements of a custom resource type to modify their values, execute functions, and so on.
To learn more about the parameters of custom agents, see the following article: Accessing parameters of custom agents in the flowchart block parameters.