Source Path

A Source Path is the primary set of source scheduling instructions for a particular piece of Equipment and controls which Leaves are worked and in what order, as well as controlling the behaviour of equipment when it is unable to complete those defined instructions.

The major conceptual difference between Source and Destination Paths is that In Source Scheduling, each piece of equipment is controlled individually via its own Source Path.

(Destination Scheduling is different in that Destination Paths can be filtered to apply to multiple pieces of Equipment, Ranges and Processes. Destination Paths can also be Date Limited.)

The power of Source Paths lies in their ability to be as broad or as specific as required. The simplest Source Path to schedule an entire mine is a single character, whereas the most complex Source Path is capable of having more lines than the total number of Leaves. Understanding how to control this flexibility is the focus of this section.

Look at the table breakdown below which will be used for the examples in this section:

In the example above there are 25,600 possible Leaves (Demo/1/1/1/A/20, Demo/1/1/1/A/25 etc.) and if you choose to, you can individually write each line into your Source Path. This is highly inefficient and also error prone, so the application allows you to group parts of your Source Path using two major tools, Wildcard (*) and Span (-). the application then breaks each line apart into individual lines for you depending on the way they are written.

Use the Source Path tab of the Equipment Settings window to write a source path for a piece of equipment.

Wildcard *

As mentioned above, the simplest Source Path is a single character, the Wildcard *. There are two forms of the Wildcard:

  • Explicit: Written in the Source Path (e.g. Demo/1/5/5/A/* will work every Bench in the Demo Pit -> Stage 1 -> Strip 5 -> Block 5 -> Seam A)
  • Implicit: Any incomplete Source Path has implied Wildcards behind it (e.g. Demo/1/5/5/A is the same as the Demo/1/5/5/A/* above)

The order in which a Wildcard is worked is dependent on the Index of the Position (see Positions). By default, a Wildcard works from the zero Index towards the highest Index. You can reverse this by putting the minus symbol (-) in front of the Wildcard.

Default Wildcard Reverse Wildcard
Demo/1/1/1/A/* Demo/1/1/1/A/-*
Breaks down to Breaks down to
Demo/1/1/1/A/20 Demo/1/1/1/A/95
Demo/1/1/1/A/25 Demo/1/1/1/A/90
Demo/1/1/1/A/30 Demo/1/1/1/A/85
Demo/1/1/1/A/35 Demo/1/1/1/A/80
Demo/1/1/1/A/40 Demo/1/1/1/A/75
Demo/1/1/1/A/45 Demo/1/1/1/A/70
Demo/1/1/1/A/50 Demo/1/1/1/A/65
Demo/1/1/1/A/55 Demo/1/1/1/A/60
Demo/1/1/1/A/60 Demo/1/1/1/A/55
Demo/1/1/1/A/65 Demo/1/1/1/A/50
Demo/1/1/1/A/70 Demo/1/1/1/A/45
Demo/1/1/1/A/75 Demo/1/1/1/A/40
Demo/1/1/1/A/80 Demo/1/1/1/A/35
Demo/1/1/1/A/85 Demo/1/1/1/A/30
Demo/1/1/1/A/90 Demo/1/1/1/A/25
Demo/1/1/1/A/95 Demo/1/1/1/A/20

Span -

The Span character is used to define a range of positions in a Source Path. This differs from a Wildcard in that you are required to set the start and end of the range, which also sets the order it breaks down.

For example, the Source Path Demo/1/5/5/A/95-75 breaks down in the opposite order of Demo/1/5/5/A/75-95

Demo/1/1/1/A/95-75 Demo/1/1/1/A/75-95
Breaks down to Breaks down to
Demo/1/1/1/A/95 Demo/1/1/1/A/75
Demo/1/1/1/A/90 Demo/1/1/1/A/80
Demo/1/1/1/A/85 Demo/1/1/1/A/85
Demo/1/1/1/A/80 Demo/1/1/1/A/90
Demo/1/1/1/A/75 Demo/1/1/1/A/95

Order

What happens if you have more than one Wildcard or Span?

Let's say you were looking at a Source Path line that read Demo/1/1/1/A-B/95-90. There are only 4 Leaves, but the order in which the application will process them can vary. The default order is to work ALL lower Level Positions before working a Level above. What does this look like?

Demo/1/1/1/A-B/95-90
Breaks down to
Demo/1/1/1/A/95
Demo/1/1/1/A/90
Demo/1/1/1/B/95
Demo/1/1/1/B/90

There are ways to control this Order and this is addressed in the Edit Source Path topic. There are also many other simple tools that you can use to control your Source Path. The most important thing to note is that even though you may not write every single Leaf individually in your Source Path (and we wouldn't recommend that you do) the application will break them down. The combination of Position Indexes, Wildcards, Spans and Order are core concepts you require an understanding of.

When you edit the source path for a piece of equipment, the specific solid to be added to the source path can be interactively selected. For more information, see: Equipment Path Using Animation