IPAT-S Scenario Scripting Language / News: Recent posts

After a long period with no updates, we're upgrading the development environment for IPAT-S. We're moving files into a Subversion repository on the project site at SourceForge, switching to a NetBeans environment for the interpreter and Komodo for the GUIs. Issues have been migrated (by hand!) to a Trac hosted by SourceForge.

The mixed integer LP feature of IPAT-S is now part of the formal release. Also, there are new versions of each of the IPAT-S programs: IPAT Studio 4.9.15, IPAT SN 1.3.4, and IPAT DX 1.3.6. These versions fix bugs in the installer that could cause problems when not installing in the default directory.

The IPAT-S interpreter now supports mixed integer linear programming (MILP). The enhancement is currently beta (version 4.9.15beta). If you are using the LP features of IPAT-S, please try it out! It must be downloaded directly from sourceforge, and not from the ipat-s.org web site.

The changes are not yet documented. To try it, use a syntax like
solve for realvar1 int(intvar1) realvar2

It is also now possible to dump an LP structure by setting the global variable _LP_PRINT_ = true. The LP structure will be output as though it were a print block.

Ver. 4.9.14 of IPAT Studio and 1.3.3 of IPAT SN are maintenance releases. Fixes a bug in IPAT Studio that would generate an error after a user interface was repeatedly loaded and unloaded by pressing the F2 key.

There is now an experimental Linux port of the IPAT-S command-line interpreter. If you would like to try it, look for the "IPAT for Linux" package. Gunzip/untar the file, and run "Make". Please let the developer know how it goes! Information about IPAT-S, with sample IPAT-S scripts, can be found at http://www.ipat-s.org/

Version 4.9.13b fixes a bug with the SPINNER UI element that said that "SPINNERup" or "SPINNERdown" does not exist.

Version 4.9.13b fixes two bugs with the SPINNER UI element. First it fixes the error that said that "SPINNERup" or "SPINNERdown" does not exist. Second it returns iwidgets4.0 to the installation package, for any UI elements that might use it (including SPINNER).

IPAT Studio ver. 4.9.13 mostly changes the look-and-feel, due to a change in widget sets from iwidgets to BWidget. I think BWidget provides a nice user experience, and it requires fewer new folders created when the software is installed. There are also a few bug fixes.

Version 1.3.2 of IPAT SN brings it up to date with the most recent changes to IPAT Studio. If you have encountered errors when running IPAT SN, please upgrade to this version.

IPAT-S and IPAT Studio ver. 4.9.12 has been released. This release includes the improvements and bug fixes in the intermediate releases 4.9.11a-4.9.11c. It adds some further bug fixes, especially to the installer.

If an IPAT Studio installation failed to run after installation (opening the main screen, then showing a command-line interface) then ver. 4.9.11c should fix this bug. If you did not see this problem, then you do not need to upgrade to ver. 4.9.11c.

IPAT-S ver. 4.9.11b and IPAT SN ver. 1.3.1b include a serious bug fix for the IPAT-S modeling language interpreter. The bug appears when embedding numbers in print blocks.

Other changes include faster color coding and a new internal variable to report the number of scenario years.

IPAT Data eXchange version 1.3.5, part of the IPAT-S modeling language suite of tools, has just been released. Version 1.3.5 is faster and has a smoother interface than previous versions.

Version 4.9.11 of the IPAT-S interpreter and the IPAT Studio IDE fix some outstanding bugs, as well as introduce a new feature: an error-reporting pane at the bottom of the IDE (replacing a message box). The pane makes it easier to debug scripts.

IPAT SN ver. 1.3.0 introduces a new look, with a floating panel for the controls. The floating panel gives more space for graphs. See the new screenshot at SourceForge.

IPAT DX 1.3.3 is a maintenance release, but it fixes a serious bug introduced in version 1.3.2. Anyone who ran into the "ndxcache" error in version 1.3.2 should upgrade to 1.3.3.

IPAT DX, the IPAT Data eXchange program, is a tool for managing and sharing data. It also exports data to an IPAT-S script.

Version 1.3.1 offers new features and bug fixes that make it easier to enter and manage data.

IPAT-S is used by Department of Energy System Survivability and Security of the Siberian Energy Institute (SEI) in the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) for simulation of critical situations and determination of potentialities for the fuel energy complex (FEC) and energy systems in the most complete supply of consumers with energy resources in different conditions of energy operation and development.

Version 4.9.0 of the IPAT-S scenario scripting language and the IPAT Studio IDE contains many new features. (The features have not been documented in the help and language reference yet.)

In the IPAT-S language and interpreter:
- Arbitrary expressions can be used in LP coefficients
- Dual variables and slack variables can be reported in LPs (e.g., for calculating shadow prices)
- Foreach loops can now loop over years as well as dimensions
- An "assert" statement has been added to help create more robust scripts
- Ratio variables can be inserted in report expressions - they are treated as ordinary variables, and are given a value of 1.0 in the base year
- Sums and averages over dimensions can be calculated inside expressions using the syntax "var{dim = sum}" or "var{dim = ave}"... read more

Version 4.80 of IPAT Studio makes running IPAT-S scripts easier, especially for scripts making use of the new features of the IPAT-S language for running external programs and redirecting output.

Version 4.80 also includes some bug fixes.

The IPAT-S language and the IPAT Studio IDE are significantly updated in version 4.7x. New features include:
- Commands to run external processes from inside an IPAT-S script
- Commands to redirect output to named files from inside a script
- Multiple character encodings and fonts available from IPAT Studio

Maintenance release 4.64 of IPAT Studio and release 1.01 of IPAT Scenario Manager fix a potentially serious memory bug.

The bug (a memory leak) mainly affected linear programming (LP) models. It could make moderate to large-sized models overflow memory. If you have experienced this bug, version 4.64 of IPAT Studio and 1.01 of IPAT SN should correct it.

The IPAT-S scenario scripting language is being surrounded by a growing suite of tools: the IPAT Studio development environment, the IPAT DX Data eXchange program and the IPAT Scenario Navigator. The IPAT Studio interface also supports the IISD Dashboard of Sustainability.

For more information, see the IPAT-S home page at http://ipat-s.kb-creative.net.

There is a new item in the IPAT-S suite of tools - IPAT Scenario Navigator. IPAT SN lets users interact with an IPAT-S scenario via a user-friendly interface. Useful for workshops and distributing scripts to clients.

IPAT Studio is the graphical interface to the IPAT-S scenario scripting language.

With ver. 4.60, IPAT Studio has been substantially updated. It now allows IPAT-S script developers to create graphical user interfaces in IPAT Studio so that end-users can easily interact with scripts.

The new version also lets you define custom palettes for graphs, and fixes some bugs in the search/replace dialog and the file browser.