9—Path Editor

9 Path Editor
Path models provide reusable specifications for particular types of path objects.
Each path model can have different attribute interfaces, comments, graphical
representation, etc. Each path object created in the Project Editor is considered
to be an instance of the underlying path model. Changes to the path model are
inherited by the path instances automatically, allowing centralized control of
large numbers of objects.

This section includes the following topics:

• Path Editor Dialog Box on page ER-9-1

• Path Editor Menus on page ER-9-4

• Path Menu Operations on page ER-9-4

For more information about the relationship between path objects and path
models, see Chapter 9 Communication Mechanisms on page MC-9-1.

Path Editor Dialog Box

The Path Editor lets you define path models; each path object’s underlying
model determines its attribute interfaces, presentation, and behavior.

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 9—Path Editor

The following figure shows the Path Editor dialog box, in which you create or
modify the path model specifications described in this section.

Figure 9-1 Path Model Editor

A path model specifies the following information:

• Path Connectivity—At the very minimum, a path object defines the two sites
where the path begins and ends; it may also define a specific route between
these two nodes. The Path Connectivity pull-down menu includes three
options that define whether you can (or must) include link objects when
defining a path based on that model.
The Links Required option specifies a complete route definition. When
defining a path with this setting, you must specify connecting links between
all sites in the path.
The Links Ignored option means that you cannot specify any links connecting
sites in the path. The underlying protocol models determine the specific
paths taken by packets from one site to the next.
The Links Optional option specifies that specifying links between any sites is
optional. Protocol models route traffic through any undefined parts of the
path.

• Number of segments—With the Two Endpoints Only option set, you can only
define single-segment path objects. If you want to create a path with more
than two sites and a connecting link, this box should be unselected.

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9—Path Editor

• Subnets Ignored—With this option set, the path object cannot include
subnetwork objects. (However, you can still include nodes from different
subnets in the same path.)

• Allow Cycles—With this option set, the path object can include the same link
or node multiple times.

• Packet Formats—Each path has a defined set of supported packet formats.

You cannot define a link as part of a path unless that link supports all formats
included in that path model’s Packet Formats field. (Note that if a path
supports no packet formats, you can include any link in the path definition.)

• Keywords—Model keywords allow you to selectively display models that

meet certain characteristics in the Project Editor object palette. You can
define any number of keywords to define a path’s characteristics.

• Model Comments—Each path model contains a set of comments that

describe its characteristics, potential applications, and any information that
may be of interest to a user of the model. Because users of other OPNET
solutions do not have access to path model internals, the comments may
provide the primary information about the model’s capabilities and interfaces.
Embedding documentation on the model’s interfaces as an intrinsic part of
the model itself provides convenient access to information for model users
and helps to ensure that model documentation remains consistent with a
model as it evolves through different phases of development.

• Attribute Interfaces—Path models can provide specifications for the

attributes of path objects in the Project Editor. Like link models, path models
contain no objects that can promote attributes; therefore the only attributes
that a path can promote are the “path model attributes” described later. Like
a link model, a path model can specify configuration information for built-in
attributes of the path object. Specifically, operations that are possible are
attribute pre-assignment, attribute hiding, attribute renaming, and changing
of attribute properties.
For more information about these mechanisms, see Chapter 4 Modeling
Framework on page MC-4-1.

• Model-specific handlers—Allows you to change the default behavior when a

user changes or otherwise accesses (clicks, right-clicks, etc.) a path. You
can specify a custom ETS library and event handlers by clicking the ETS
Handlers button.

• Local Statistics—The Local Statistics button is functionally equivalent to

choosing Local Statistics from the Path menu.
For more information, see Local Statistics on page ER-9-5.

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 9—Path Editor

Path Editor Menus

The Path Editor provides operations for creating and editing link models. You
access these operations from the Path Editor menu bar, which contains the
following menus.

Table 9-1 Path Editor Menus

Menu Description

File Menu on Contains operations that relate to high-level functions such as

page ER-2-2 opening and closing projects, saving scenarios, importing models,
and printing graphics and reports.

Edit Menu on Contains operations that allow you to edit the preferences that control
page ER-2-5 program operation and to manipulate text and objects

Path Menu on Contains operations for defining and describing a path model
page ER-9-4

Windows Menu on Lists all open editor windows and allows you to make one active
page ER-2-7

Help Menu on Provides access to context-sensitive help, the product documentation

page ER-2-8 and tutorials, and information about the program

Note—The editor menus on your machine may vary from those described here,
particularly if there has been any UI customization or use of ETS.

Path Menu
The Path menu includes operations for viewing and editing path models.

Table 9-2 Path Menu Summary

Menu item Description

Model Attributes on Creates, edits, and deletes attributes for the path model.
page ER-9-5

Local Statistics on Define local path statistics.

page ER-9-5

Self Description on Creates a self description for the path model, for path identification
page ER-9-6 during topology import.

Path Menu Operations

This section contains descriptions and procedures for using the operations
available from the Path menu in the Path Editor. The Path menu operations
include:

• Model Attributes on page ER-9-5

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• Local Statistics on page ER-9-5

• Self Description on page ER-9-6

Model Attributes
This operation opens the Model Attributes dialog box, which allows you to
create, edit and delete path model attributes. Attributes are essentially
“parameters” of the model, allowing users to control the model’s behavior in
predefined ways. Path attributes are automatically promoted to the network
level, where they appear as attributes of path objects.

Figure 9-2 Model Attributes Dialog Box

Attributes make path models more robust and reusable. You can create an
attribute to represent a particular characteristic of a path, rather than
“hard-wiring” that characteristic into the model. Users can then configure the
attribute appropriately in each instance of the path. Process models or pipeline
stages may use different path object attributes to simulate different model
behaviors. Attributes also allow users to run multiple simulations and
automatically sequence through scenarios that differ only in their attribute
settings. For these reasons attributes are preferable to creating a large number
of models, each of which represents a unique set of “parameter settings”.

For general information about paths and model attributes, see Modeling
Concepts.

Local Statistics
This operation declares named statistics that can be selected in the Probe or
Project Editors; then process models or pipeline stages can use these statistics
to collect path data during a simulation. Local statistics are scoped to each path,
so different path models can maintain local statistics with the same name.
These statistics vary over time and can support multiple probes.

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This operation opens the Declare Local Statistics dialog box, which you can use
to create, delete and modify local statistics. See Global Statistics on
page ER-6-10 for a description of the fields in this dialog box.

Figure 9-3 Declare Local Path Model Statistics Dialog Box

For more information about local statistics, see:

• Modeling Concepts

• Discrete Event Simulation API

Self Description
This operation allows you to set the information about a path used to match path
models to the objects defined in an imported topology. The self description
specifies information such as what type of interfaces the path supports.

Figure 9-4 Path Self Description Dialog Box

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A self description has three basic parts:

• Characteristics used for matching—Specifies the path model characteristics

to match with the characteristics of paths in an imported topology. Each
characteristic has a value and a comparator. The comparator specifies what
relationship must exist between the values of a characteristic for the path
model and a path in the imported topology for a match to occur, as defined
in the following table.

Table 9-3 Requirements Comparators

Name Description

Comparator Meaning

Equals The imported path’s value must equal that of the path model.

One-of The imported path’s value must equal one of the values listed for the
path model.

Range The imported path’s value must be in the range specified for the path
model.

Contains The imported path’s value must contain that of the path model.

• Assignments—These specify attributes that will be assigned to the path

model when it is chosen to represent an imported path.

• Priority—During topology import, if more than one path model matches an

imported path, the model with the highest priority is used.

Procedure 9-1 Creating a Path Self Description

1 Choose Path > Self Description.

➥ The Self Description dialog box opens.

2 Specify any requirements and assignments for the path model.

3 Set the priority for the path.

4 Click OK to close the Self Description dialog box.

End of Procedure 9-1

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