Introduction

A submodel in Simile is a way of bundling up a number of model elements, including other submodels. This is done by either drawing a submodel envelope around a number of elements in the model diagram, or by creating an empty submodel and inserting model elements into it. However, the reasons for wanting to do this are many and varied, and it is important to appreciate that the submodel construct can be used for a range of modelling needs. These are normally considered as being pretty separate, so it may come as some surprise to see that the same model-diagram construct can be used for these different purposes. However, there are considerable benefits by using a single method, both in terms of what you need to learn, and in terms of the machinery that lies inside Simile. This section overviews the different uses of the submodel construct, and the different types of submodel that you can have.