Ventana software support forum

Dear all,

I'm having the follwing problem in Vensim 9.2.4 (for Windows), which didn't seem to occur in older versions, if I remember correctly. At least I dind't notice this strongly...

As you know, each element in the sketch is by default enclosed in a clear box whose dimensions can be adjusted by moving the round point that is attached to it. In many cases it makes sense to make the box large enough so that the all arrows connected to an element don't intefer with its text, but are still close enough to it so that there isn't a large gap. Also, let's say you have an element whose name consists of two words. From a design point of view it may make sense to make the box narrower but higher so that the text is written in two lines.

However, when I save the project and reopen it, these design adjustments get lost. Is there a function in Vensim that automatically defines the sizes of the boxes that I could disenable? Please find a screenshot attached that shows how in some cases the boxes of elements are so large that the connected arrows are quite far away. If I make the text larger so that it better fills out the box, the the same problem appears after reopening the project.

I'm looking forward to your suggestions!

Best wishes,
Marvin

EDIT: The problem described above might be related to the following: I've been setting up a new laptop and moved files over from the one I've been working with so far. However, when I open existing project files, the design of the sketch sometimes gets strangely adjusted (see attachment). These circles seem to appear when linked elements are placed too close to each other, which might also be caused by the clear boxes being too big. In this case, text also looks smaller and/or the gaps between elements are larger. I assume this all can happen when you work with different Vensim versions and different settings. However, wouldn't it be helpful to have a more standardized design, also bearing in mind that you might share project files with team members?

Maybe I'm missing something... I'm looking forward to your help!

Best wishes!

I can confirm I see the same behavior on Vensim 9.2.4 on PC and Mac. I create a new test file as below on left. When I close and reopen Vensim, I see the figure as below on right:


Sometimes the bounding box has no height at all (shadow variables? I haven't yet reproduced the conditions).

I agree with MarvinK, suggestion you do NOT to recalculate the bounding boxes. Unless you recalculate the bounding box exactly as it looked before I closed and reopened Vensim, I consider the new bounding box to be wrong.

Best regards,
Rob

I can confirm. I wrote to Vensim, they asked for files that show the behavior, which I sent and attach below. So far no reply.
Best, Ulrich
The original mail to Vensim:
I attached 3 simple models (just the sketches, no code). In each one select any one of the Auxiliaries and you see the size of their surrounding box. In test-bigbox3-v9.2.4.back-to-oldGui.mdl you see the huge size which appeared simply by switching test-bigbox3-v9.2.4.newGui.mdl back to the old GUI.

Vensim 9.3 has been released today, can you see if this fixes the problems for you?

Vension 9.3 fixed the problem for me Many thanks!
Best regards,
Rob

It's interesting to see that others also experience these problems. Thanks for your replies!

I've been using Vensim 9.3 for a couple of days now and so far the problems described above seem to have been largely solved, many thanks! Maybe there are still some minor problems if I noticed correctly, but in most cases, keeping a consistent sketch design has improved significantly. I will continue to keep an eye on it and get back to you if necessary.

Interestingly, when I opened project files from Vensim 9.2.4, the problems seemed to have been even bigger at first, so that I had to adjust the sketch design even more. I hope this won't happen again when switching to upcoming versions of Vensim.

Best wishes!