DTU 
 
 

ePNK: Release 1.2.0

About Version 1.2.0
The ePNK is a platform for developing Petri net tools based on the PNML transfer format (see ePNK Home Page).

 

On January 17, 2018, version 1.2.0 of the ePNK was published, which works for Eclipse Oxygen (4.7) and newer versions of Eclipse. But, version 1.2.0 was also tested on Eclipse Indigo (3.7), Mars (4.5) and Neon (4.6).

 

The Eclipse update site for version 1.2 of the ePNK can be found at http://www2.compute.dtu.dk/~ekki/projects/ePNK/1.2/update/.

 

The ePNK manual for version 1.0 is currently beeing updated for version 1.2. It will be made available here, once the update processes is finished.

 

You will find some more information on how to install this version of the ePNK below.

 

Release notes
The major improvement of version 1.2.0 is the following: Originally (up to version 1.1), implementing a new Petri net type required some minor programming. In version 1.2, an Ecore model defining the concepts of the new Petri net type and the code generated from the model is actually enough to create a new Petri net type for the ePNK; from this model, the plugin for the ePNK can be generated automatically by an action.

 

Moreover, the names of the extended classes for the respective Petri net objects do no longer need to be the same as in the PNML core model. And Petri net types can—without the need for extra programming—be derived from one or more existing types.

 

Installation details
Below, it is explained step by step how to install version 1.2.0 of the ePNK on your computer..

 

For installing the ePNK version 1.2.0 on you computer, you first need to install Java and Eclipse on your computer.

 

It is recommended that you use Eclipse Oxygen (4.7). If you intend to use the ePNK as an end-user only and you do not intend to develop your own extensions, any configuration of Eclipse might do. In that case, you could use "Eclipse IDE for Java Developers" from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/. If you intend to develop your own extensions with and for the ePNK, it is recommended that you install the "Eclipse Modeling Tools" package, which you can obtain from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse-modeling-tools/oxygen3.

 

Once you have installed Eclipse on your computer, you can install the ePNK extensions from the ePNK update site http://www2.compute.dtu.dk/~ekki/projects/ePNK/1.2/update/ directly from your Eclipse workbench. To this end, start your version of Eclipse. Then, proceed as follows:

  • In the Eclipse tool bar, select "Help" -> "Install New Software..."

     

  • In the opened "Install" dialog, press the "Add..." button to add a new update site. In the "Add Site" dialog, enter some name (e.g. "ePNK Update Site"), enter the URL "http://www2.compute.dtu.dk/~ekki/projects/ePNK/1.2/update/" as location, and press okay.

     

  • Now, select the newly created ePNK update site in the still open "Install" dialog. After some time, some ePNK items should pop up in the dialog. If the items are not grouped into categories, make sure to check the check box "Group items by category".

     

    You should select all features from the three categories: "ePNK Features", "ePNK Experimental Features", and "HLPNG Simulator".

     

    You do not need to install the features from the "ECNO" categories, unless you would want to use the ECNO Tool (see ECNO Home Page for more information). You can always install ECNO Tools at a later point in time, if you need the ECNO Tool.

     

    If you want to install the ECNO Tool only, it is enough to select all features from the "ECNO Tool" and the "ECNO Examples" category (all the ePNK features needed for installing the ECNO Tool will automatically be added).

     

    Make sure that the box "Contact all update sites during install to find required software" is checked; this will make sure that all plugins from Eclipse that the ePNK or ECNO Tools need, will be installed too (EMF, GMF, Xtext, etc.).

     

  • Follow through the installation process (don't forget to accept the licence agreement). If you get an error of the kind
    Cannot complete the install because one or more required items could not be found. ...
    you have probably selected the wrong combination of features. In that case, go back and select the right combination as explained above. An other possibility for an error is that you have forgotten to tick the checkbox "Contact all update sites during install to find required software".

     

    Note that at some point you will be informed, that the features to be installed are not signed — and you will be asked whether you want to continue anyway.

     

  • After you made it successfully though all the dialogs, the ePNK and all other required plugins will be installed; it is a good idea to restart Eclipse after that (Eclipse will ask you to do that anyway).

     

  • After a restart you might want to import some examples examples_1.2.0.zip of Petri nets with the Eclipse import feature. If you are a first time user of the ePNK, you should have a look into the ePNK manual (to be updated), where in particular Chapter 3, "Users' guide", will help you getting started with some examples.

 

Resources
Here is a brief overview of the available resources for the ePNK:

 

Ekkart Kindler (), April 11, 2018