Making Connections

Jeremy Merritt isee NetSim

Along with the iThink/STELLA 9.1.3 release, we are happy to announce the isee NetSim 1.0.2 update.  We have fixed many issues and also added a few features:

• Expanded Support for Navigation Buttons — Navigation buttons now support options to “Restore All Devices”, “Restore Graphs/Tables”, and “Switch Variable On or Off”.
• Print Interface — Support for the “Print” menu button has been added so that users can now print the current NetSim interface page.
• Edit Text Boxes — Text boxes that do not have the “Lock Text” option enabled are now editable so that you can provide an input form for users. Coupled with the “Print” menu button, students can now print out their responses to online assignments.
• Proxy Server Support — Users with an Internet proxy server connection can now configure their isee NetSim Wizard installation to publish models on the web.
• Trial Version — We are excited to offer a 30-day trial version of isee NetSim.  If you currently don’t own isee NetSim, click here to download the trial.

If you are a current isee NetSim owner, you can login and download the update now on your My Software page.  If you want all the nitty-gritty details, take a look at the complete release notes here.

proxy, trial, updates

Jeremy Merritt isee NetSim

Typically when software moves from version 1.0 to 1.0.1, the minor release mostly consists of bug fixes.  I’m happy to say that isee NetSim 1.0.1 is not all about bug fixes, (though we have fixed a lot of issues and increased performance).  This release includes some cool new features too:

Chained Sliders are now supported

Not only did we add the chained sliders to isee NetSim, we improved the behavior and also added some functionality you can use in iThink and STELLA 9.1.2 and isee NetSim.  We have dedicated a separate post to the details and published a NetSim so you can try it out online.

Page size dialog (click to expand)

Custom Page Sizes

In addition to the fixed screen resolution page sizes, you can now specify a custom page size by choosing the “Other” option.

The fixed options (640×480, 800×600, etc.), represent the target screen resolutions of the computer screens that will be displaying the model.  This is a great option for sizing pages of models distributed with the isee Runtime.  Runtime models are run from a CD-ROM or installed on the users hard drive and these options are great because you know the model will work for the screen size you choose.

Publishing to the web is a different story.  The model runs in a web browser.  Different browsers have different amounts of available display space.  Users may have add-on toolbars that take up more of that space.  They may be running at different screen resolutions too.

With the new custom size option you can configure a page size that works best for your model when running on the web with isee NetSim.  We have found that making the pages wider and making use of horizontal space is a good strategy for publishing to the web.

Print Graphs

Did you notice the little printer icon on the graph? (Well, you can’t see one here — but open up a sample NetSim and you will) Click on the printer icon in a graph in any NetSim and you’ll get a nice print-out.  You can try it out with one of the NetSim sample models.

isee NetSim Wizard prompts for credentials

HTTP Authentication support in isee NetSim Publishing Wizard

If the isee NetSim Server is running on a secure web server, (such as an intranet or extranet that requires authentication), the isee NetSim Publishing Wizard will now prompt for the credentials.  It’ll remember the username and password if you check off the option.  Currently it supports HTTP Basic Authentication.

If you’re scratching your head here wondering what this means, then review the isee NetSim architecture below:

This means you can now allow users to publish (1), to an isee NetSim Server that has HTTP Authentication turned on (2).  Web Users (3) will be prompted by their browser for username and password when they run the NetSim online.

So if you want to secure your published models, or publish them to a secure intranet/extranet, you can with isee NetSim 1.0.1

Month names in isee NetSim

“Use month names” Option in Tables

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but worth mentioning because a lot of customers wanted this functionality added to tables in isee NetSim. Financial reports look really clean with this option enabled.

releases, software, Version 9.1.2