Data File Format

    Although OptiLine graphical editors give you user-friendly tools for viewing and editing all data manipulated by OptiLine, you may want to export data for OptiLine from an existing repository.

    An OptiLine data file contains multiple tables separated by html like tags in a simple tsv file (Tab Separated Value). The different tables can appear in any order in the file. To be correctly interpreted as a version 9 file the first character of the file must be a '<' character. You can choose which table you want to use, if some of them are missing, OptiLine will fill them with default values.

TIP
    Another way of understanding OptiLine file format is to make a new blank project and to use the “Put Project In Clipboard” option in the File menu to write the data in the system clipboard, and then to paste it directly into an Excel spreadsheet. You will obtain a blank OptiLine project. You can then use an OptiLine command and repeat the paste operation to view what changes in the project and how. If you have any problems with the file format, contact our support team at optilinesupport@optimaldesign.com.

Operation & Workstation Tables
 
Table Tag
   Description  
 
<FILE INFO>
   This table contains the project description (details)  
 
<OPERATION TABLE>
   This table contains the basic attributes of each operation (details)  
 
<LINK TABLE>
   This table contains the links attributes (details)  
 
<PRECEDENCE GRAPH>
   This table contains the position of the operations in the precedence graph (details)  
 
<PRECEDENCE CONSTRAINTS>
   This table contains all the precedence constraints between all operations (details)  
 
<OPERATION STATION TABLE>
   This table contains the assignation of each operation to each workstation (details)  
 
<ZONE TABLE>
   This table contains the description of the zones (details)  
 
<WORKSTATION TABLE>
   This table contains information about the workstations (details)  

NOTE
    Depending on the variant model chosen in the "<FILE INFO>" table, you will have to fill Explicit or Implicit Variant Tables.

Explicit Variant Tables
 
Table Tag
   Description  
 
<VARIANTS TABLE>
   This table describes each explicit variant (details)  
 
<OPERATION VARIANTS TABLE>
   This table assign each operation to a combination of variants (details)  

Implicit Variant Tables
 
Table Tag
   Description  
 
<IMPLICIT VARIANTS TABLE>
   This table describes each implicit variant (details)  
 
<VARIANT POSITION TABLE>
   This table contains for each variant its position in pixel in the BOM window (details)  
 
<VARIANT PRECEDENCE TABLE>
   This table describes all the precedence constraints between variants (details)  
 
<IMPLICIT VARIANT OPERATION TABLE>
   This table assign each operation to a variant (details)  

Position Tables
 
Table Tag
   Description  
 
<POSITIONS0>
   This table contains the description of the operator level position (details)  
 
<POSITIONS0 1 LIST>
   This table contains the name and position of the first series of checkboxes for the operator level position (details)  
 
<POSITIONS0 2 LIST>
   This table contains the name and position of the second series of checkboxes for the operator level position (details)  
 
<POSITIONS0 3 LIST>
   This table contains the name and position of the third series of checkboxes for the operator level position (details)  
 
<POSITIONS1>
   This table contains the description of the operator level position (details)  
 
<POSITIONS1 1 LIST>
   This table contains the name and position of the first series of checkboxes for the operator level position (details)  
 
<POSITIONS1 2 LIST>
   This table contains the name and position of the second series of checkboxes for the operator level position (details)  
 
<POSITIONS1 3 LIST>
   This table contains the name and position of the third series of checkboxes for the operator level position (details)  

Other Tables
 
Table Tag
   Description  
 
<FILE MEMO>
   This table contains the file description as viewed in the Edit Memo window (details)  

The File Info Table <FILE INFO>

 <FILE INFO>
 FileVersion9
 Seed5761
 VariantModel0
 AverageOptimization0.0
 IncludeSolution1
 MemoVersion"2"
 MemoWriter"John Doe"
 PreferredCT4500
 PreferredMP5500
 PreviewOPS53
 PreviewWS8
 PreviewVariants2
 PreviewOperators8
 PreviewOLVersion"3.0.1g"
 </FILE INFO>

    This table contains various values describing the project :

  • FileVersion : This value should be greater than 9 and describes the file format (default=9)
  • Seed : This value is used by the algorithm to initialize the random generator (default=5761)
  • VariantModel : This value describes the variant model used by this project 1 for implicit 0 for explicit Note that this choice is exclusive, you can not mix implicit and explicit variants (default=0)
  • AverageOptimization : This field determines the default percentage between the max peak and balance optimization for the automatic line balancing tool. A 0 value means a full balance optimization and a 100 value, a full spread (max peak) optimization. This value is set in the “Optimize Dialog Box” of OptiLine. (default=0.0)
  • Include Solution : This field determines whether the automatic line balancing tool should or should not include the current solution while optimizing. This value is set in the “Optimize Dialog Box” of OptiLine (default=0)
  • MemoVersion : The version string as editable in the memo dialog box (default="")
  • MemoWriter : The author string as editable in the memo dialog box (default=Licence Owner)
  • PreferredCT : The default cycle time for a new Workstation (default=600)
  • PreferredMP : The default max peak time for a new Workstation (default=800)
  • All the next fields starting with "Preview" are only used to preview the file in the "Open File Dialog Boxes"

The Operation Table <OPERATION TABLE>

 <OPERATION TABLE>
 0"Operation 1""Code 1 "M80001"Any""Any""Any""*;"0
 1"Operation 2""Code 2 "M400Engine01"Any""Any""Any""*;"0
 </OPERATION TABLE>

    This table describes the basic properties of each operation. It must contain one line per operation and the columns must be filled in this order :

  • Column 1 : The ID of the operation. This ID should start from 0 and be increased by 1 per line. If this column does not respect this format, OptiLine will generate a warning and correct the value
  • Column 2 : The name of the operation
  • Column 3 : The code of the operation
  • Column 4 : The type of the operation (This field can only be "M" or "R")
  • Column 5 : The duration of the operation (This field should be an integer)
  • Column 6 : The operation link if any (This field must match the name of a link in the link table)
  • Column 7 : The operation fix status 0 or 1
  • Column 8 : The number of operators required by the operation
  • Column 9 : The first operation position field (Any,Left,Center,Right,Back,Front)
  • Column 10 : The second operation position field (Any,Low,Medium,High)
  • Column 11 : The third operation position field (Any,Yes,No)
  • Column 12 : The operator based position field for this operation [not supported yet]
  • Column 13 : The zone ID of the operation as it appears in the Zone Table (0 means all stations)

The Link Table <LINK TABLE>

<LINK TABLE>
0"Motor"M0"Any""Any""Any""*;"2040255
1"Tires"M0"Any""Any""Any""*;"2040204
</LINK TABLE>

    This table describes the properties of each link. It must contain one line per link and the columns must be filled in this order :

  • Column 1 : The ID of the operation. This ID should start from 0 and be increased by 1 per line. If this column does not respect this format, OptiLine will generate a warning and correct the value
  • Column 2 : The name of the link
  • Column 3 : The type of the operation (This field can only be "M" or "R")
  • Column 4 : The link fix status 0 or 1
  • Column 5 : The first operation position field (Any,Left,Center,Right,Back,Front)
  • Column 6 : The second operation position field (Any,Low,Medium,High)
  • Column 7 : The third operation position field (Any,Yes,No)
  • Column 8 : The operator based position field for this operation [not supported yet]
  • Column 9 : The red component of the color of the link (between 0 and 255)
  • Column 10: The green component of the color of the link (between 0 and 255)
  • Column 11: The blue component of the color of the link (between 0 and 255)

The Precedence Graph Table <PRECEDENCE GRAPH>

 <PRECEDENCE GRAPH>
 023893
 1272136
 2396690
 </PRECEDENCE GRAPH>

    This table describes the position in pixels of each operation in the precedence tab. It must contain one line per operation and the columns must be filled in this order :

  • Column 1 : The ID of the operation. This ID should start from 0 and be increased by 1 per line. If this column does not respect this format, OptiLine will generate a warning and correct the value
  • Column 2 : X position in pixels of the operation
  • Column 3 : Y position in pixels of the operation

The Precedence Constraints Table <PRECEDENCE CONSTRAINTS>

 <PRECEDENCE CONSTRAINTS>
 03
 02
 13
 </PRECEDENCE CONSTRAINTS>
  • Column 1 : The ID of the operation as defined in the operation table
  • Column 2 : One predecessor of the previously defined operation

    The example above means that operation 0 has two predecessors 3 and 2, and that operation 1 has one predecessor operation 3.


The Operation Station Table <OPERATION STATION TABLE>

 <OPERATION STATION TABLE>
 001
 1-11
 201
 </OPERATION STATION TABLE>


    This table contains for each operation the ID of the station it belongs to. It must contain one line per operation and the columns must be filled in this order :

  • Column 1 : The ID of the operation. This ID should start from 0 and be increased by 1 per line. If this column does not respect this format, OptiLine will generate a warning and correct the value
  • Column 2 : The station ID as it appears in the Workstation Table. If the operation is not yet assigned, this field should contain the value -1
  • Column 3 : The operation movability. This value determines if the operation is (value=1) or is not movable (value 0)

The Zone Table <ZONE TABLE>

 <ZONE TABLE>
 0"All stations""{}"
 1"My zone" "(0:2)(6:7)"
 </ZONE TABLE>


    This table describes the zones :

  • Column 1 : The ID of the zone. This ID should start from 0 and be increased by 1 per line. If this column does not respect this format, OptiLine will generate a warning and correct the value
  • Column 2 : The name of the zone
  • Column 3 : This field describes to which workstations an operation belonging to this zone can be assigned. Fill the field with ‘{}’ if the zone has no workstation restriction. To specify a zone simply fill teh cell with an interval formatted ‘(x:y)’, to specify that this operation can be assigned to the zone between the station x and the station y included. You can add more zones by adding more intervals. For example the string ‘(0:2)(4:4)’ means that the operation can be assigned to any of the stations 0,1,2 or 4
Note
    This table is as the other tables non mandatory. If you decide to generate this table by yourself, don't forget that the first zone is non editable and should be filled as shown above. (Line : 0"All stations""{}")


The Workstion Table <WORKSTATION TABLE>

 <WORKSTATION TABLE>
 0"Workstation 0"M1450055001"Any""Any""Any""*;"
 1"Workstation 1"M1450055001"Any""Any""Any""*;"
 </WORKSTATION TABLE>


    This table describes all the workstations :

  • Column 1 : The ID of the workstation. This ID should start from 0 and be increased by 1 per line. If this column does not respect this format, OptiLine will generate a warning and correct the value
  • Column 2 : The station name
  • Column 3 : The type of the operation (This field can only be "M" or "R")
  • Column 4 : This field is used to graphically display the successive workstations closer to the current one. For example, if you specify 3 in this field, in the OptiLine line view, the current station will appear juxtaposed to the two next workstations. This field is only used for graphical purpose
  • Column 5 : This value is the total cycle time of the workstation. This means that if you have 3 operators on the workstation, each of them available for 480 minutes of work, the cycle time of the workstation must be set to 3*480=1440 minutes.
  • Column 6 : Same as above, but for the max peak time
  • Column 7 : This field lets you specify the number of operators assigned to (working at) the workstation
  • Column 8 : The first operation position field (Any,Left,Center,Right,Back,Front)
  • Column 9 : The second operation position field (Any,Low,Medium,High)
  • Column 10 : The third operation position field (Any,Yes,No)
  • Column 11 : The operator based position field for this operation [not supported yet]

The File Memo <FILE MEMO TABLE>

 <FILE MEMO >
 Any text on as many lines as needed.
 </WORKSTATION TABLE>