Stella Simulator is a command line application that allows you to run models created in Stella from batch files or other programs. This makes it easy to get results from models with different input parameters and to connect your models to other applications. Stella Simulator runs on Windows, the Macintosh and Linux computers.
You interact with Stella Simulator using command line options and an optional handshake file that can be used to control operations within a run or between runs.
Stella Simulator licenses on a CPU bases and may be used for purely computational activity or as a back end to server side solutions that incorporate a simulation model.
Stella Simulator is provided as an archive. The first step in installing is to extract the files from the archive. There is no specific location these files need to go, and where you put them will depend on your intended use. If you are going to use Stella Simulator directly you may want to put them in a location already in your path, or add the location you put them to your path. If you will be using Stella Simulator programatically you do not need to include it in your path.
After extracting the archive you will need to add the license.xml file provided separately to the same location that the execution file is located.
Independent of the way you will use Stella Simulator, you should test the installation by changing to the directory the executable is in and typing the name of the executable as in: Stella_Simulator (windows) or ./Stella_Simulator (Mac and Linux).
Note Unlike desktop Stella you do not need to wrap commands on the Macintosh in a special shell argument. This is because you can give the name of the executable directly, not the name of the application bundle.
If there is a problem with the license file or its placement, you will see a message:
Stella Simulator version 3.7.3, Copyright (C) 2020 by isee systems, inc.
Installation Error
Double check that you have included the license.xml file provided to you in the location of the executable. If you problems persist, contact use at support@iseesystems.com.
If the installation is good, you will see a list of arguments:
-r Run the model once (default)
-rn arg Run specified number of times
....
For a complete list of arguments and their meaning, see Stella Simulator Arguments. For example usages see Stella Simulator Use Examples.
Any errors, including divide by 0 errors, will be written to the console (standard out). When en error is encountered the call to the executable will return 1. If no errors are encountered the call to the executable will return 0.
If you do not have keep all variable results checked in the Model Settings Properties Panel, exports that read the variables to be exported from a file (see Export Data dialog box) will work even when those variables are not included in graphs or tables. This is different from the desktop version which will skip variables not included in graphs or tables.