Dymola release notes

News in version 4.3b

News in version 4.3a

• Checks quantities (as well as units) for connections when checking or translating.
• Allows having different quantities for array elements.
• Enabled on-line checking that time-differentiated if-expressions are continuous (and removed warning during translation).
• Extended output of statistics during translation.
• Check of packages/model will insert values for constants if necessary (taking into account min-value).
• Simulink interface supports buses for hierarchical connectors.
• MATLAB R13.1 and dSPACE Release 3.4 supported.
• Updated OpenGL libraries are installed on Windows 95.

• Modelica standard library version 1.5.
• Significant changes potentially influencing existing models were made to the following classes: Modelica.Blocks.Sources.TimeTable (for startTime<>0), Modelica.Electrical.Analog.Semiconductors: PMOS and NMOS, Modelica.Electrical.Analog.Sources.TrapezoidCurrent
• The changes are described in Modelica/Documentation.

News in version 4.3

• Default connect is performed also on top level, i.e. flow variables are set to zero.

News in version 4.2c

• Non-linear solver uses nominal attributes for scaling to improve convergence (especially important for Hydraulics and Thermo-Dynamics).
• Increased number of table instances, and improved handling of periodic tables.
• Initialization of parameters from initial equations.
• Full check of more Modelica restrictions (as defined in the Modelica specification).
• A package (or a class used as a package) may only contain classes and constants.
• Partial classes are neither allowed for components used in the model nor for top-level components.
• Multiple class definitions (due to inheritance) must be identical.
• Updated compilation scripts for Visual C/C++ (with and without DDE), which handle globally defined VC++ environment variables and when VC++ is installed in a non-standard location. Note: if you have modified environment variable MSDevDir to set up compilation with Visual C/C++, you may now have to set MSVCDir instead (to the same value).
• Fixed reported bugs.

News in version 4.2b

• Many small improvements.
• Support for many Modelica 2 features:
• ModelicaUtilities.h
• Mixed positional and named arguments to functions
• Subscipting with end
• Reduction operators
• For with multiple indices (but no automatic deduction of ranges)
• Environment variable DYMOLA is not used by Dymola on Windows platforms. Instead the Dymola distribution directory is determined from the location of the Dymola program, which in previous versions was the default only if DYMOLA was undefined. If the environment variable is defined by the user, a warning message is printed in the log window at program start-up. This change was done because an incorrect setting of the environment variable may cause Dymola to use incompatible files. On UNIX platforms environment variable DYMOLA should be set as usual.
• The "light" hydraulics library has been updated to version 2.0d.

News in version 4.2a

• Support for license dongles, see online documentation for installation notes.

News in version 4.2

• Improved support for initialization. Dymola's support for initialization of simulation problems has been redesigned according to the draft for Modelica 2.0. The features include steady state initialization of discrete controllers. See the document "Initialization of Models in Dymola 4.2".
• New means to control the selection of states. Dymola's support for automatic state selection has been revised to conform to the draft of Modelica 2.0. See the document "Means to control the selection of states".
• Increased the maximum length of a parameter name sent to the simulator with DDE. On some systems the name was truncated after 50 characters; now all systems have a limit of 255 characters as imposed by the DDE protocol.
• In the manual, the appendix on installation has been extended with a section on troubleshooting.
• Improved support for constant records, arrays of records, and string parameters.

News in version 4.1e

• It is not possible to terminate Dymola while a simulation or compilation is running. This resolves a problem where an idle Dymola process would be left invisible, using up a floating license.
• While Dymola is reading a file (or a library or a demo example), menu choices for opening files, Clear All etc. have been disabled. The names of read classes are shown in the statusbar of the active window; this makes it easier to see that Dymola is active.
• Support for Matlab 6.1 including feedthrough flag. Note: If you do not want feedthrough you can pass each input signal through ModelicaAdditions.Blocks.Discrete.UnitDelay with appropriate sampling interval.
• Functions such as Modelica.Math.asin generate error messages for illegal values when running models.
• Modelica.Mechanics.Translational has been updated to version 1.01.
• Improvements in code generation.
• The dymola\bin\alist.exe utility program has been extended to also handle export to Microsoft Excel and other programs that read data in the form of comma-separated values (CSV). To import data into Excel, please do as follows:

1. Run the simulation in Dymola, creating dsres.mat.

2. Start a command window and make a "cd" to the directory of dsres.mat.

3. Convert the signals with dymola\bin\alist.exe; the command format is

alist -e var1 [-e var2 ...] inputFile outputFile

For example,

alist -e robot.q_ref[5] -e robot.q_ref[6] dsres.mat dsres.csv

creates a file dsres.csv which contains Time and the two signals. The signal names are written as shown in the plot variable selector in Dymola.

• New commands for restarting simulations in scripts.

importInitial(dsName="dsfinal.txt")

Sets up integration or linearization to start from the initial conditions given in the file (including start and stop-time and choice of integration method). The default is “dsfinal.txt” which in combination with simulate corresponds to continue. After calling importInitial it is possible to override specific parameters or start-values before simulating.

Note: Basically importInitial() corresponds to copying dsfinal.txt to dsin.txt.

exportInitial(dsName="....txt", scriptName="....mos")

Generates a Modelica script with settings . After running the generated script it is possible to override specific parameters or start-values before simulating. By genererating a script from a “steady-state” dsfinal.txt it is possible to perform parameter studies from that point.

Note: This cannot be combined with non-standard setting of fixed for variables if dsName="dsin.txt". All other cases work fine.

News in version 4.1d+

• Floating licenses only! License options for the Simulink option and for optional libraries (Hydraulics, Powertrain and Sampled systems) are not checked out when Dymola starts. Instead the corresponding license is checked out when needed, e.g., when the user opens a library for the first time. This increases availability when the number of licenses is limited. Note: The only way to release a license is to exit Dymola.
• Plotting variables in a for-loop of a script is now possible. Note that the "auto-erase" option should be turned off in the plot window, otherwise only the last curve is shown.
• Faster loading of result files.

News in version 4.1d

• Extensive modification of editing of lines and connections in "Manhattan" mode:
• Manhattan mode is now enabled by default. It can be turned off using Setup/Options in an Edit window. It is also possible to turn it off by default by editing the file dymola/insert/dymodraw.ini. Edit the setup command to read

automanhattanize  0

• Operations that change a single component (e.g. rotate) and moving a selection of objects only applies Manhattan mode to the changed objects; previously it was applied to every connection in the enclosing model.
• Moving a point of a line or connection also adjusts adjacent points if Manhattan mode is enabled. For a connection the endpoints are fixed, which requires additional points to be inserted if the second or second-last points are moved.
• Inserting a new point in a connection (right mousebutton menu) in Manhattan mode will offset the point slightly. This make the inserted point clearly visible and allows free movement.
• When drawing a connection, the default color is taken from the starting connection. The connection gets the color of the outline of the first rectangle, polygon or ellipse in the icon layer of the starting connector. This change facilitates color-coding of connections depending on the type of connector.
• Edit windows are shown before saving when Dymola is terminated, even when the windows are minimized. This makes it easier to review changes.
• Selection of independent variable for a plot window displays the list of variables faster.
• Improved color support when run on Windows 2000. The backgrounds of all windows now have the correct color for Windows 2000, even when non-default color schemes are used.

• Improved support for arrays (especially array of components):
• Start-values in types are correctly expanded for array variables of that type.
• Modifiers for an array of component is automatically split to the elements of the array.
• Support for the new proposed keyword each to apply the modifer to each element of an array of components.
• Old incorrect models will only generate a warning, that can be corrected by either using fill or each.
• Updated analog electrical library (part of Modelica standard library).
• Improved support for new features in Modelica 1.4.
• New scoping rule for j in model B=A(i=j); (j is found in same scope as B). This is necessary for making effective use of replaceable models and is used extensively in the ThermoFluid library. The new semantic is also tentatively accepted in Modelica.

• Improved diagnostics if system errors cause the compilation of generated C code to fail. Additional error messages are printed in the compilation log, see Simulation/Show Log.
• Simulation messages do not truncate variable names at 80 characters.
• Faster simulation of clutches through improved lookup in the friction table.
• Improved possibility to find consistent initial conditions when a simulation starts:
• The variable attributes min, max and nominal are supported.
• The computation of initial values recovers from e.g. division by zero in the model.
• The support for initializing a simulation problem is currently being redesigned. The aims include better diagnostics and decoupling of state selection and specification of initial conditions. If you have problems with initializating your problems and you would like to try a beta-release, please contact Dynasim at support@Dynasim.se.

• Support for MATLAB Release 12 (version 6.0).
• Improved support for MATLAB 5.2 (version 5.3 previously supported).
• Support for Mathworks Realtime Workshop compilation including xPC.
• Support for larger models in Simulink by using work-arounds for Simulink limitations.
• Improved support for WATCOM compiler.

News in version 4.1c

• Profiling of simulation code, see "Improving simulation efficiency" in the manual.
• Conversion facility including comprehensive conversion script from Dymola to Modelica language.
• Improved handling of errors and warnings for models.
• Updated floating license vendor deamon (using FLEXlm 7.2)

News in version 4.1b

• Improved graphical user intrerface
• Better diagnostics
• Improved support for new features in Modelica 1.4
• Libraries for Modelica 1.4
• Revised documentation

News in version 4.1a

• Enhanced introduction and Getting Started Guide
• Introduction to Modelica and hybrid modeling
• Updated description of the graphical editor
• Extended documentation of model simulation
• Interface between Dymola and Simulink

• Many improvements regarding animation
• Import of multiple DXF files
• Online animation
• Animation of vectors (for forces, velocities etc.)
• The Simulink interface has been redesigned
• Improved DDE communcation
• New license management including floating network licenses
• Case of filenames is preserved when saving
• Inner/outer attributes copied when copying components
• Open of previously opened model file can reread file and/or show window
• Improved reliability and performance for simulation
• Derivatives of external functions supported

• Declaration order is insignificant
• New when and discrete
• Encapsulated and import
• Replaceable components can have a constraining clause

• Subset of hydraulics library included in standard distribution

News in version 4.1

• Improved GUI
• Activated buttons shown depressed
• Different visual appearance of icon and diagram windows
• Duplicate class
• Better color palette
• Connectors are visible in both icon and diagram layers
• Self-recursive pictures does not crash Dymola anymore
• New Library menu
• Allow resize of parameter dialogue
• Better font selection for strings

• Modelica translator
• if then else statement in equation section handled
• Record equations  handled
• Multiple assignment including records handled
• Many improvements of generated code

• Drastically increased symbolic capacity, handles more than 25 000 non-trivial equations using 256 MByte RAM.
• Improved translation speed
• Improved speed for handling large results files (100 MBytes)
• Improved diagnostics, like
• interactive checking of compatible connectors, input, output.

• Simulator
• Possible to view partial results during simulation
• Model debug commands, like

- output status info in Dymosim log window when control-C pressed

• Plot variable selection window not modal anymore
• Introduced new command Replot to replot only in one window
• Removed additional event data for animation
• Description strings in p= and x0= dialogues

• Command line arguments to Dymola (open .mo file, run .mos file)
• Much improved HTML generation for models (visual appearance, multiple files)
• HTML generation for interactive session
• commands
• model window
• plots
• animation window

• etc, etc