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 |
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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.
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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.
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Resources |
Here is a brief overview of the available resources for the ePNK:
-
Ekkart Kindler:
The ePNK: A generic PNML tool - Users' and Developers' Guide for Version 1.0.0.
IMM-Technical Report-2012-14, DTU Informatics, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark, December 2012.
- Ekkart Kindler:
Chapter 5 of a draft for a revised and extended ePNK Manual for version 1.1:
Complete Tutorial: Net type and Application, July 2016
(will eventually replace the ePNK manual for version 1.0.0).
- examples_1.2.0.zip:
an Eclipse project with some PNML examples. These can
be imported to the Eclipse workspace via the Eclipse import mechanism. There are in
particular some examples which can be used with the simulator for high-level Petri nets,
which is deployed together with version 1.0.0.
- Mindaugas Laganeckas:
A Simulator for high level Petri Nets: Model based design and implementation.
Master's thesis, Sepetmber 2012, Technical University of Denmark, DTU Informatics, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark,
Series IMM-M.Sc.-2012-101.
- Starting with version 1.2 of the ePNK, the sources of the ePNK, the documentation and
the PNML examples are maintained on GitHub:
https://github.com/ekkart/ePNK
- And of course, all the PNML resources mentioned at the ePNK home page
could be useful.
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