Double click or run from a cmd prompt the SimulationContainer.bat
file in the SimulationConatiner directory. The main window should be seen (figure 1).
If the window does not appear, refer to the trouble shooting
section for help.
Figure 1: New Simulation Container
To make a new simulation active in the Simulation Conatiner, click the
button (Set the Active Simulation). In a new Simulation Container (figure 1),
this will be the only active icon in the toolbar. The Select Simulation
(figure 2) dialog will appear.
Figure 2: Select Simulation
Select a simulation.xml and click Open.
Please note that the Simulation Container does not ship with any simulations. Example
simulations are provided in the tutorial download
section.
If there was a simulation already loaded in the Simulation Container there are
two other dialogs that may be displayed. If the same simulation is selected as
the currently active simulation an Already Active Simulation dialog will appear
(figure 3) and the simulation will remain unchanged. See the redeploying a simulation
section for information on how to redeploy an existing simulation.
Figure 3: Already Active Simulation
If a simulation different from the currently active one is selected then a dialog
will appear to ensure that the current simulation should be replaced (figure 4).
Select OK to replace the simulation with the new one or Cancel to leave the
current simulation in place.
Figure 4: Replace Simulation?
After selecting the simulation the Loading Simulation dialog will appear (figure 5).
The cmd window associated with the Simulation Container will display
the loading progress. Once the simulation has been loaded, the dialog will disappear
and the simulation is ready to be started.
Figure 5: Loading Simulation ...
Once the Simulation has been loaded, all of the icons in the toolbar will become
active (figure 6). To start the simulation press the 
button. In the body of the window the simulation will start. If the start
button does not stay depressed and nothing appears in the window then refer
to the trouble shooting section
for help.
Figure 6: Active Toolbar
To stop the simulation, press the 
button. Starting a simulation after it has been stopped does not restart the
simulation from the beginning -- it will start the simulation from where it
left off. To understand why this is, refer to the Simlets background.
To restart a simulation, it must be redeployed.
The simulation window can be resized at any time by using the window icons in the
upper-right corner of the window, manually resizing the window, or double clicking
in the toolbar. For convenience, when the simulation is stopped a screen-grab is
made so that the window is repainted with the last frame of the simulation.
Resizing of the window while the simulation is stopped will cause the screen-grabbed
image to be resized; this may cause the image to appear distored or blocky.
A screen shot of the simulation can be made at any time by pressing the
button. At this time only JPG images are supported. The size of
the screen shot will be the size of the current simulation window.
The Simulation Container does not automatically check for updated resources, classes or
JAR files. To notify the Simulation Container that it should check for updated
files press the 
button. The refresh button may be pressed even if the simulation is running.
There are a number of dependency cases where simply refreshing a simulation will
not achieve the desired result. For example, updating a Pipeline that has dependant
Simlets will cause unexpected (though not undefined) results. For more information
refer to the Simlets background.
To redeploy a simulation so that it is in its initial state, press the
button. The redeploy button can be used even if the simulation is running.
