Gitiles
Code Review Sign In
git.eclipse.org / amp / org.eclipse.amp / 3a3219731a2324e4b70e30b9a10405b6f721b950 / . / org.eclipse.amp / doc / org.eclipse.amp.doc / wiki / Escape.html
blob: 2040c33c263426daeac0500cfe67dda12cc4428f [file] [log] [blame]
mparker6e96f892009-12-15 22:52:46 +0000[diff] [blame]1<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' ?>
2<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
3<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
4<head>
5<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
6<title>Escape</title>
7</head>
8<body>
9<h1 id="Overview">Overview</h1>
10<p>Escape is a full-featured Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) integrated development environment (IDE) with a Java based
11API and end user modeling tools. It's based on Ascape, which has been in use for more than 10 years. The core API is
12very stable, and that should give users a way to explore the features of AMP without concerns about keeping in synch
13with the rapidly evolving AXF /AGF API. It allows modelers to code in Java and/or generate models with AMF and then
14execute those models within the same development environment.</p>
mparker3a321972009-12-16 23:07:24 +0000[diff] [blame^]15<p><img src="image/AMPScreenshot.png" /></p>
mparker6e96f892009-12-15 22:52:46 +0000[diff] [blame]16<p>A primary purpose of the Escape project -- apart from the obvious goal of providing a nice Eclipse hosted ABM
17toolkit -- is to provide an exemplar to demonstrate how any arbitrary agent modeling framework can be integrated within
18the AMP environment. A cool aspect of this is that AMP has no dependencies on Escape, but also that the underlying ABM
19modeling framework for Escape has no dependencies on AMP -- instead Escape simply provides the runtime glue between AMP
20and the ABM framework. The underlying ABM framework uses the Ascape API, an API that first began development more than
21ten years ago and that has not been modified at all in order for it to work within the AMP environment.</p>
22<p>(Well, not quite.. Ascape was refactored into separate non-UI core and a Swing UI projects. This involved a bit
23of repackaging, but was really straightforward as Ascape follows a strict MVC architecture. Note that currently Escape
24is bulkier than it will eventually be -- over time we will be generalizing more aspects of Escape into the AMP AXF and
25AGF components.)</p>
26<h1 id="Getting_Started">Getting Started</h1>
27<h3 id="Documentation_and_other_Resources">Documentation and other Resources</h3>
28<p>Because it's API is based on Ascape, Escape is one component of AMP that already has extensive documentation.
29There is complete Javadoc as well as a manual and other web resources. See the <a href="http://ascape.sourceforge.net">Ascape
30Website</a> to locate these resources. The documentation on the main page is a good place to start. It's written for Ascape
31so ignore all of the bits about project setup, and a lot of the UI is different, but the basics apply to Escape just as
32well. The <a href="http://ascape.sourceforge.net/docs/TheAscapeManual5.pdf">Ascape Manual</a> written by Damon Centola
33should be very helpful. Take a look at the conversion link below for ideas on how to make the models form the manual
34work under Ascape. (Converting these models is a great opportunity for a community contribution!)</p>
35<h2 id="Installation">Installation</h2>
36<p>Escape is <a href="http://eclipse.org/amp/installing/">installed</a> by default with the other model components.
37If you want to do 3D (really 2 1/2) visualizations, you will want AGF3D and the LWJGL dependency. You can build from
38source but in that case you'l need to launch a self-hosted runtime, so it's best to simply install from the update site
39if you're not actually doing AMP development.</p>
40<h2 id="Exploring_Example_ABM_Models">Exploring Example ABM Models</h2>
41<p>The first thing most people will want to do in AMP is to play with the example models. You don't need to do any
42programming for this, and the setup is really straightforward. Of course, the first think you'll need to do is <a
43 href="http://eclipse.org/amp/installing">Install AMP</a>. (You don't need any of the optional components unless you
44want to play with the 3D visualizations, Ascape, or Repast.) You can explore AMF models as well as some really
45interesting classic ABM models.</p>
46<h3 id="AMF_Models">AMF Models</h3>
47<p>There are a number of models developed with AMF that can automatically generate example models to run in Escape.
48There are two ways to run the example models:</p>
49<h4 id="Setup_Escape_Projects">Setup Escape Projects</h4>
50<h5 id="Creating_a_New_Escape_Project">Creating a New Escape Project</h5>
51<p>The best option is to simply create a new Escape project and drag the models into it! We're working on a simple
52cheat sheet for this, but until then, just follow these simple steps:</p>
53<ol>
54 <li>If you're not already there, open the Agent Modeling Perspective. Select Window : Open Perspective :
55 Other.. and then Agent Modeling. (Or you can choose Window : Reset Perspective and the Agent Modeling perspective
56 should appear in the Open Perspective list itself.)</li>
57 <li>Next, let's create the project where we'll place our model. Select File : New : Escape AMF Project. Give it
58 a name like "escape.tutorial", then click Finish.</li>
59 <li>Finally grab the Epidemic.metaabm model at <a
60 href="http://download.eclipse.org/amp/models/Epidemic.metaabm">http://download.eclipse.org/amp/models/Epidemic.metaabm</a>
61 and drag it into the project. (Depending on your browser the file may load as text directly into your browser, in
62 which case just right-click on the link and save it to a file.)</li>
63</ol>
64<h5 id="Using_an_Pre-Built_Example_Project">Using an Pre-Built Example Project</h5>
65<p>If you get really stuck somewhere, you can also get ready made projects from CVS. See <a
66 href="http://eclipse.org/amp/developers/repositoryDetails.php">this page</a> for information on CVS setup. The
67project for Escape example models are located at:</p>
68<pre>org.eclipse.amp/org.eclipse.amp.amf/examples/org.eclipse.amp.amf.examples.escape
69</pre>
70<h4 id="Run_the_Model">Run the Model</h4>
71<p>Right-click on the model, and select "Execute"! You should see something like this:</p>
mparker3a321972009-12-16 23:07:24 +0000[diff] [blame^]72<p><img src="image/EpidemicModelRunning.png" /></p>
mparker6e96f892009-12-15 22:52:46 +0000[diff] [blame]73<p>We're working on more end-user documentaiton, but hopefully you'll find model control pretty self-explanatory.
74The toolbar buttons allow you to control model execution.</p>
mparker3a321972009-12-16 23:07:24 +0000[diff] [blame^]75<p><img src="image/EpidemicModelControls.png" /></p>
mparker6e96f892009-12-15 22:52:46 +0000[diff] [blame]76<p>From right to left, you can start, restart, pause, step, stop and close a model. You can even run multiple models
77and control them independently. You can also move views around, close them and so on as with any other Eclipse views.
78Here we're running two separate models for comparison.</p>
mparker3a321972009-12-16 23:07:24 +0000[diff] [blame^]79<p><img src="image/EpidemicModelComparison.png" /></p>
mparker6e96f892009-12-15 22:52:46 +0000[diff] [blame]80<p>If you want to find out more about an agent, show the properties view, and click on agent.</p>
mparker3a321972009-12-16 23:07:24 +0000[diff] [blame^]81<p><img src="image/EpidemicModelAgentProperties.png" /></p>
mparker6e96f892009-12-15 22:52:46 +0000[diff] [blame]82<p>You can experiment with different parameters (settings) for models by then clicking in the gray area away within
83the view.</p>
mparker3a321972009-12-16 23:07:24 +0000[diff] [blame^]84<p><img src="image/EpidemicModelProperties.png" /></p>
mparker6e96f892009-12-15 22:52:46 +0000[diff] [blame]85<p>There are a number of other things to play around with, such as zooming the agent view or selecting other chart
86series to display using the Chart Customizer, so just explore. You can always close an active model by clicking on the
87close toolbar button. Or if you can't access the models controls for some reason, you can open the progress view and
88close projects form there.</p>
89<h4 id="Next_Steps">Next Steps</h4>
90<p>Other models are located at: (to do)</p>
91<p>To understand the capabilities of AMF, you might also want to try out running the same models automatically
92generated for Ascape or Repast.</p>
93<pre>org.eclipse.amp/org.eclipse.amp.amf/examples/org.eclipse.amp.amf.examples.ascape
94org.eclipse.amp/org.eclipse.amp.amf/examples/org.eclipse.amp.amf.examples.repast
95</pre>
96<h3 id="Classic_Java_ABM_Models">Classic Java ABM Models</h3>
97<p>Many models have been created using Ascape over the years, including all of the classic models created at
98Brookings and some other cool models such as Craig Reynold's Boids and a pretty cool little traffic model, and they've
99all been converted to run in Escape. They're in Java but you can execute and explore them in exactly the same way as the
100Epidemic model above. All of the Ascape example models have been converted (a straightforward process) from their intial
101Ascape incarnations. For licensing reasons (they're BSD, not EPL) we can't host them directly on the Eclipse site. You
102can get the projects in two ways:</p>
103<h4 id="From_Project_Archive">From Project Archive</h4>
104<ul>
105 <li>Download the Escape examples zip from the Ascape sourceforge site: <a
106 href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ascape/files/Escape/5.2.0/EscapeExamples.zip/download">http://sourceforge.net/projects/ascape/files/Escape/5.2.0/EscapeExamples.zip/download</a>
107 </li>
108 <li>Unzip the file.</li>
109 <li>Import them into your workspace. For help, see <a
110 href="http://help.eclipse.org/help32/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.doc.user/topics/ph-projects.html">this
111 page</a>.</li>
112</ul>
113<h4 id="From_SVN">From SVN</h4>
114<ul>
115 <li>Import the SVN projects from the sourceforge SVN. For help, see <a
116 href="/http://www.eclipse.org/subversive/documentation/teamSupport/find_check_wiz.php_this_page"
117 title="http://www.eclipse.org/subversive/documentation/teamSupport/find_check_wiz.php this page">http://www.eclipse.org/subversive/documentation/teamSupport/find_check_wiz.php
118 this page</a>.</li>
119</ul>
120<pre>http://ascape.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/ascape/org.ascape.escape.models.brook
121http://ascape.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/ascape/org.ascape.escape.models.examples
122</pre>
123<p>Once you've downloaded the projects, open up the src folder and navigate to the Java files for the actual models.
124For example, to run Conway's Life, you'll want src/edu.brook.life.ConwayLife. Right-click on the Java file and select
125"Execute". There are many models to explore! (It's not always obvious which Java files are for models, so you may have
126to poke around a bit. We need to put together a catalog here. Another nice opportunity for user contributions.)</p>
127<h2 id="Developing_Models">Developing Models</h2>
128<p>The easiest way for Java developers to get started doing agent-based modeling in Eclipse is to begin to write
129programs using it.To develop new models, you can:</p>
130<ol>
131 <li>Create a new Escape project. The Escape projects are actually configured for AMF code generation so there
132 are dependencies and builders in there that you don't need; you can remove all of the escape builders and any of the
133 kitchen sink items. We'll try to get a POJO Escape project wizard out there at some point.</li>
134 <li>But it might be simpler to just create a new Plugin Project and add the necessary dependencies there. Have
135 a look at the example escape project to see what you need. Note that you will likely need more dependencies then you
136 need to simply build -- this is because the class loader uses the classes from the project path and so runtime
137 classes have to be there as well. We may simply package an Eclipse runtime convenience plugin to gather these
138 dependencies up a bit.</li>
139</ol>
140<p>Then just create new Java classes for your root model scape and agents just as you would for an Ascape project.</p>
141<h1 id="Reference">Reference</h1>
142<h2 id="Converting_Existing_Ascape_models">Converting Existing Ascape models</h2>
143<p>There are only a few changes should have to make to existing Ascape models or to use existing Ascape
144documentation to develop Escape models.</p>
145<h4 id="Model">Model</h4>
146<p>The core model is completely API compatible. No changes!</p>
147<h4 id="View">View</h4>
148<p>Because Escape uses SWT and Ascape uses Swing, there are a few unavoidable incompatibilities. Most of these we
149avoid by using higher level APIs but here are the key changes that you're likely to have to make:</p>
150<h5 id="Convert_the_low-level_imports_from_AWT_and_Swing_to_SWT">Convert the low-level imports from AWT and Swing
151to SWT</h5>
152<p>The simplest way to accomplish this is to remove all of the imports and then organize imports. For example:</p>
153<pre>java.awt.Color <b>to</b> org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Color
154java.awt.Graphics <b>to</b> org.eclipse.draw2d.Graphics
155</pre>
156<p>Then just do a global find for all of the imports and replace them with nothing. This is a great place for a
157regexp. Try:</p>
158<pre>find: import java\.awt\.(.*);
159replace: [nothing]
160</pre>
161<p>You don't have to replace these with the SWT equivalents, just click on the project, right-click and choose
162"Source:Organize Imports.." By the way, a great way to avoid having to select the right entries in optimize imports and
163to alert you when you have missed anything is to prevent the awt and swing classes from being used at all. Right-click
164on project, choose "Build Path:Configure Build Path", go to Libraries tab, open JRE System Library, choose "Access
165Rules", edit, and then add entries for java/awt/** and javax/swing/**. The code will regenerate and you'll have error
166markers for all of the stuff that won't work with Escape and Eclipse.</p>
167<h5 id="Convert_color_features">Convert color features</h5>
168<p>You can't use AWT colors either so you'll need to replace any colors. AMP provides a convenience classes for
169Colors called ColorFeature and ColorFeatureConcrete. You can use these or any of the other ways to define SWT colors.
170For example:</p>
171<pre>Color.lightGray <b>to</b> ColorFeature.LIGHT_GRAY
172new Color(Math.min(1.0f, (float) (redEnergy + orangeEnergy)), (float) orangeEnergy * .8f, (float) blueEnergy) <b>to</b>
173 ColorFeatureConcrete.create(Math.min(1.0f, (float) (redEnergy + orangeEnergy)), (float) orangeEnergy * .8f, (float) blueEnergy)
174</pre>
175<h5 id="Change_agent_color_getters">Change agent color getters</h5>
176<p>If you've defined colors through overriding Agents as in most models, you'll need to change the method signature.
177You could just do a global replace for this one.</p>
178<pre>public Color getColor( <b>to</b> public Object getPlatformColor(
179</pre>
180<h5 id="Get_rid_of_image_features">Get rid of image features</h5>
181<p>Escape doesn't support them. In practice they haven't been used a lot. At some point perhaps we'll have nice
182sprite support instead. :)</p>
183<pre>public Image getImage() {**} <b>to</b> ""
184</pre>
185<h5 id="Modify_usages_of_DrawFeatures">Modify usages of DrawFeatures</h5>
186<p>If you've created any of your own draw features, you'll need to change them slightly to accommodate the
187differences between the AWT and SWT / Draw2D APIs. This should be pretty straightforwrd. For example:</p>
188<pre>g.setColor(...
189g.fillOval(..
190becomes:
191g.setBackgroundColor(
192g.fillOval(..
193</pre>
194<p>That's about it, though it's probable that we've missed something. Please post a message on the amp newsgroup if
195you run into any other conversion issues.</p>
196<h4 id="Configuration">Configuration</h4>
197<p>Instead of using Ant, Escape has really nice support for parameterizing and testing models. See <a
198 href="/wiki/Experimenting_and_Testing" title="Experimenting and Testing">Experimenting and Testing</a> (todo). If
199you do want to work with ant you will need to install the plugins from the Sourceforge download site. (These have
200dependencies that I didn't want to bother with going through the Eclipse IP process to get in. If for some reason you
201think these should be part of core Escape let Miles know and I'll take care of it.) Ant has not been tested for Escape
202so it's not even clear it will work.</p>
203<h2 id="Current_Limitations">Current Limitations</h2>
204<ol>
205 <li>Escape is pretty robust, and the APIs are solid and well-tested but the runtime is not going to be as
206 stable for a while as Ascape which has been around for a long time.</li>
207 <li>Escape graphics performance is generally slower especially for charts. But on the other hand you can run
208 multiple models at once and the headless models should perform just as well as console launched Ascape programs. In
209 practice this shouldn't affect your normal model exploration work.</li>
210 <li>We don't have the speed slider working yet. See <a
211 href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=291299">https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=291299</a>
212 </li>
213 <li>Charts only support time series, not histograms and pie. See <a
214 href="https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=282953">https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=282953</a>
215 </li>
216</ol>
217</body>
218</html>