Getting the current Experiment instance at runtime

Question

I'm running JUnit 4 with AnyLogic. In one of my tests, I need access to the Experiment running the test. Is there any clean way to access it at runtime? E.g., is there a static method along the lines of Experiment.getRunningExperiment()?

Answer 1

There isn't a static method that I know of (and, if there was, it might be complicated by multi-run experiments which permit parallel execution, although perhaps not since there's still a single Experiment, though there'd be thread-safety issues).

However, you can use getEngine().getExperiment() from within a model. You probably need to explain more about your usage context. If you're using AnyLogic Pro and exporting the model to run standalone, then you should have access to the experiment instance anyway (as in the help "Running the model from outside without UI").

Are you trying to run JUnit tests from within an Experiment? If so, what's your general design? Obviously JUnit doesn't sit as well in that scenario since it 'expects' to be instantiating and running the thing to be tested. For my automated tests (where I can't export it standalone because I don't use AnyLogic Pro), I judged that it was easier to avoid JUnit (it's just a framework after all) and implement the tests 'directly' (by having my model components write outputs and, at the end of the run in the Experiment, having the Experiment compare the outputs to pre-prepared expected ones and flag if the test was passed or failed). With AnyLogic Pro, you could still export standalone and use JUnit to run the 'already-a-test' Experiments (with the JUnit test checking the Experiment for a testPassed Boolean being set at the end or whatever).

The fact that you want to get running experiments suggests that you're potentially doing this whilst runs are potentially executing. If so, could you explain a bit about your requirements?