Messages

I see my question was not clear enough because it seems you misunderstood me. I'll try to rephrase the question.

[max hours daily for student]

Hello,

I have classes dividided this way:

Class    Division criterium   Groups
1.A        Language1             A1
                                            A2
       
             Language2             N1
                                            N2

where activities for A1 and A2 can take place simultaneously (they are from the same "division criterium") and activities for A1 and N1 (they are from different "division criterium") cannot be scheduled for the same times.

The following FET XML snippet ensures what I wrote above.

<Students_List>
<Year>
<Name>1.A</Name>
<Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
   <Group>
   <Name>1.A A1</Name>
   <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      <Subgroup>
      <Name>1.A A1 N1</Name>
      <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      </Subgroup>
      <Subgroup>
      <Name>1.A A1 N2</Name>
      <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      </Subgroup>
   </Group>
   <Group>
   <Name>1.A A2</Name>
   <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      <Subgroup>
      <Name>1.A A2 N1</Name>
      <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      </Subgroup>
      <Subgroup>
      <Name>1.A A2 N2</Name>
      <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      </Subgroup>
   </Group>
   <Group>
   <Name>1.A N1</Name>
   <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      <Subgroup>
      <Name>1.A A1 N1</Name>
      <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      </Subgroup>
      <Subgroup>
      <Name>1.A A2 N1</Name>
      <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      </Subgroup>
   </Group>
   <Group>
   <Name>1.A N2</Name>
   <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      <Subgroup>
      <Name>1.A A1 N2</Name>
      <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      </Subgroup>
      <Subgroup>
      <Name>1.A A2 N2</Name>
      <Number_of_Students>0</Number_of_Students>
      </Subgroup>
   </Group>
</Year>
</Students_List>



Now imagine that I add the constraint:


<ConstraintStudentsMaxHoursDaily>
   <Weight_Percentage>100</Weight_Percentage>
   <Maximum_Hours_Daily>5</Maximum_Hours_Daily>
   <Active>true</Active>
   <Comments></Comments>
</ConstraintStudentsMaxHoursDaily>


How will FET count the number of hours for students in my scenario? It makes sense that max hours daily for student would be counted from student perspective so I would expect that FET does this:

1) Activities for groups 1.A A1 and 1A A2 can take place simultaneously so they cannot have students in common.
2) Activities for groups 1.A A1 and 1A N1 cannot take place simultaneously so they can have students in common.

Consequently FET should count max hours daily for all following pairs of groups:

1.A A1 and 1.A N1,
1.A A1 and 1.A N2,
1.A A2 and 1.A N1,
1.A A2 and 1.A N2

Am I correct or not?

Thank you!

[not]

I was thinking about usefulness of subactivities in FET. It seems to me that it is possible to express timetabling problems without subactivities. Subactivities seem convenient when a user uses FET's GUI (and not a custom script/program) to generate FET XML files. Am I correct? Or am I mistaken?

Thanks!

Hello,

I have a little bit different concept of preferred rooms than is usual.

* Let's suppose I have a list of rooms 1,2,3,4,5
* Activity A has to take place in rooms: 1,2,3 or 4 and I preferred if it take place in rooms 1,2 or 3.

How can I express this in FET?

I was thinking about this:

    <!-- Activity A has to take place in rooms: 1,2,3 or 4
    <ConstraintActivityPreferredRooms>
      <Weight_Percentage>100</Weight_Percentage>
      <Activity_Id>1</Activity_Id> <!-- activity A -->
      <Number_of_Preferred_Rooms>4</Number_of_Preferred_Rooms>
      <Preferred_Room>1</Preferred_Room>
      <Preferred_Room>2</Preferred_Room>
      <Preferred_Room>3</Preferred_Room>
      <Preferred_Room>4</Preferred_Room>
      <Active>true</Active>
      <Comments/>
    </ConstraintActivityPreferredRooms>

    <!-- Additional constraint should add to the final score a timetable and therefore the rooms 1,2 and 3 should be preferred -->
    <ConstraintActivityPreferredRooms>
      <Weight_Percentage>30</Weight_Percentage>
      <Activity_Id>1</Activity_Id> <!-- activity A -->
      <Number_of_Preferred_Rooms>3</Number_of_Preferred_Rooms>
      <Preferred_Room>1</Preferred_Room>
      <Preferred_Room>2</Preferred_Room>
      <Preferred_Room>3</Preferred_Room>
      <Active>true</Active>
      <Comments/>
    </ConstraintActivityPreferredRooms>


Is it correct way? Or how can it be done properly?

Thank you!

Thank you!

I'll check if I can add the constraint in a little different form.

Hello,

I'm trying to add a constraint so that:

• If students have <=7 lessons on a day then no break is required
• If students have >= 8 lessons on a day then a break is required in one of 3 specific periods (time around 12:00; i.e. 11:00 - 13:00)

I read the manual and I believe this is really hard condition because none of the approaches in the manual seem to be usable.

Thank you!

[Example:]

Hello,

I'm trying to add a constraint to limit the number of lessons for a class (e.g., 1.A) per day (e.g., 3 lessons per day is maximum).

Let's suppose I use "Max hours daily for a students set" on class 1.A. Now let's suppose that the class is divided into subgroups A1 and A2.

Does FET handle the situation correctly?

Example:

Classroom / periods      1            2           3             4
=====================================
Room1                       || 1.A   ||   1.A  ||  1A(A2)  ||  1.A       

The example shows a situation when the class 1.A (or the subgroup 1.A(A2))  in Room1 attends some lessons.


The question is if FET sees this situation as violation of the constraint "Max hours daily for a students set 1.A". In my opinion it should but I need to be certain.

Thank you!

I was afraid it has to be done this way. Thank you!

Hello,

  I would like to ask what is a recommended approach when I need a compact timetable for classes and for teachers. The "compact timetable" may be rephrased as a timetable with "as low as possible number of gaps".

Thanks!

Divide year 1.A by two categories, category 1: A1, A2, category 2: N1, N2. This way both groups 1.A A1 and 1.A N1 will contain subgroup 1.A A1 N1, so they will have common students and their activities will be impossible to be simultaneous.

Thank you! That's exactly the kind of argument I wanted to know. You have literally made my day :-)

[Year Groups Subgroups]

Hi,

  I have a class 1.A and students in the class are divided into groups A1 and A2 according to their level of English. And similarly for a second foreign language (groups N1 and N2).

I've come up with a FET division:


Year       Groups        Subgroups
1.A        Language1        A1
                                       A2
       
             Language2       N1
                                      N2

1) This division allows activities for A1 and A2 to take place simultaneously. That's OK and it is good for me.

2) The division allows activities for A1 and N1 to be scheduled at the same time. That's not what I want. Can I fixed it in any other way than using the constraint "A set of activities are not overlapping"?

Thank you!

Note: I try to understand the FET XML format as I export my data to the XML.

I'm just curious what does the FET shortcut stands for?

Thanks!