What’s New

Revised and significantly expanded the "C++ Development" chapter in the User Guide to better assist model developers; smaller improvements in other chapters

Updated MSYS and MinGW binaries in the Windows distribution.

The build system now creates 64-bit binaries on Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 (if your processor supports it). Previously the -m32 flag was added to the GCC command line to force the creation of 32-bit binaries. (This was necessary because earlier versions of CDT did not support 64-bit debugging).

Enabled pretty-printing of variables in gdb (see below)

Better C++ debugging experience: std::string, std::vector, std::map and other standard classes as well as simtime_t are now displayed in a meaningful way; simulation objects (cObject) display their full paths. This functionality is enabled by gdb pretty printer extensions written in Python, and is thus available for command-line gdb debugging too. For activating the pretty printers, see misc/gdb/README.

NED documentation generator improvements: better-looking tables in the generated documentation; running Doxygen is now cancellable; etc.

Dropped PowerPC support for the IDE because Mac OS X 10.7 no longer supports this architecture.

Refactored operator= and copy constructor in all classes. Now they delegate to the same function in the super class, and the common part of the two is factored out to private copy() functions.

Fixed all warnings to make it compile using -Wall -Werror.

Coroutines used for 'activities' are now implemented using the swapcontext() POSIX call (if it is available on the system).

Database example revived. It demonstrates using database as configuration source, as storage for output scalars and vectors, and as source of network topology. Currently it works with MySQL.

Ini files: iterations (${…}) can now refer to other iteration variables, improvement makes it possible to have loops where the inner iteration range depends on the outer one. When needed, the default top-down nesting order of iteration loops is modified (loops are reordered) to ensure that expressions only refer to more outer loop variables, but not to inner ones. When this is not possible, an error is generated with the "circular dependency" message. Variables are substituted textually, and the text resulting from substitution is NOT evaluated except in the '<from>..<to> step <step>' syntax, and in the 'constraint=' ini file option. CAUTION: textual substitution means that variables in arithmetic expressions should be protected with parentheses. The text substitution model was chosen for greater flexibility as well as the ability to produce a more consistent semantics. See src/envir/ChangeLog for more details.

Incompatible change: In the constraint= configuration option, variables now be surrounded with parens (to ensure precedence after the textual variable substitution). For example, the expression x+y<10 must be changed to $x+$y<10, or for greater safety, to ($x)+($y)<10.

Parallel iteration: it is now supported to use named iteration variables and parallel iteration together ($…!bar syntax.) This was not supported previously.

Some iteration-related error messages have been improved to provide more context.

Result filter/recorder interfaces and registration macros made public (moved to src/sim), so that users can contribute their own result filters and recorders. Files: cresultlistener.h, cresultfilter.h cresultrecorder.h. Result filters have to be subclassed from cResultFilter or the more specific cNumericResultFilter or cObjectResultFilter base classes and registered with the Register_ResultFilter() macro; result recorders have to be subclassed from cResultRecorder or the more specific cNumericResultRecorder, and registered with the Register_ResultRecorder() macro. After that, the new filter or recorder can be used in the source= and record= attributes of @statistic, and with the **.result-recording-modes configuration option.

The Define_Function() macros have been renamed to Define_NED_Math_Function(). For backwards compatibility, the old macro definitions remain, but issue a deprecation warning. Note that the preferred way of defining new NED functions is now the Define_NED_Function() macro.

The API for custom NED functions defined via Define_NED_Function() has been changed. cDynamicExpression::Value (the old value class) has been factored out to a new cNEDValue class. Data members are no longer public, they can be manipulated via various methods. NOTE: This change is NOT backwards compatible: user-supplied NED functions will need to be revised. Look at src/sim/nedfunctions.cc for code examples.

Measurement unit support: added "mps" (m/s) and "kmph" (km/h) as recognized units; changed "Kbps" to more standards compilant "kbps"; changed byte multiples notation to use the now-standard IEC binary prefixes: KB -> KiB, MB -> MiB, GB -> GiB, TB -> TiB. The latter changes affect backwards compatibility, i.e. you may need to update existing models.

opp_run: bugfix: release-mode simulation models compiled as shared libraries could not be run using a debug-mode opp_run program (they either crashed or reported that a module was not registered with the Register_Module() macro.) As part of the fix, a new opp_run_release program has been introduced, and opp_run (which is now always compiled as debug) delegates to it when necessary. Due to makefile changes related to the fix, you may need to re-create the makefiles of your simulation when upgrading to OMNeT++ 4.2. (You only need to do that when working on the command line. The IDE automatically recreates the makefiles, so no action is needed on your part if you are using only the IDE.) See src/envir/ChangeLog for details of this change.

Implemented number filter expressions using multiple inputs for statistics source expressions. For example:

@statistic[dropRate](source="count(packetDropped)/count(packetSent)");

opp_msgc: improvement: announcements and type definitions now observe whether they are above the namespace declaration (=outside the namespace) or below it (=inside the namespace). This change makes it consistent with cplusplus blocks that had this behavior for quite some time. A related improvement is that type lookup in namespaces has been modified to make it possible to use unqualified names when declaring fields. See src/nedxml/ChangeLog for details.

Akaroa support improved; samples/aloha/akaroa.ini was added as example

Several chapters in the User Manual have been updated; especially, the Message Definitions section was turned into a separate chapter, and was completely revised.

Upgraded to Eclipse 3.7

Added Eclipse Marketplace to the Help menu. You can now install additional features from the market.

Before running the simulations, the IDE will show the command line in the console view to help you execute the same simulation from the command line.

Ctrl-Tab now works on freshly opened NED files even if you do not explicitly select a simple module. In that case, the IDE opens the .h and .cc files associated with the first simple module in the NED file.

Improvement on the Manage Build Configurations dialog: newly created build configurations are now configured, by copying the source entries from one of the existing build configurations.

Project Makemake Options property page: overhaul for better usability.

Documentation generator: turn on JAVADOC_AUTOBRIEF in newly generated doxy.cfg files. (When this option is on, there is no need for @brief in C++ doxy comments; instead the first sentence of the comment is taken automatically as brief description.)

Bug fixes on: IDE makefile generator; the Project Features feature; the Inifile Editor (hover info, content assist, etc); the NED editor (display string proposals for connections and channels, etc.); Organize Imports feature; NED documentation generator; Simulation Launcher (e.g. launching folders with simulations in them works again);

SVN support removed from the IDE. It had very few users, and can be installed from the Market if needed.

Removed Animation Player as it was only a "technology preview" bundled with the beta releases to gather feedback from the user community. The animator is scheduled to appear in the next major OMNeT++ release.

Added support for conditional submodules. Syntax:

udp: UDP if needsUDP {...}
tcp: <tcpType> like ITCP if needsTCP {...}

Added the xml() NED function, which accepts a string argument and parses it as XML. Its most notable use is eliminating "empty.xml" files from INET: one can use xml("<root/>") in NED files instead.

Implemented default value for parametric submodule and channel types. NED now supports the following syntax:

mobility: <default("NullMobility")> like IMobility;

The effect is that the NullMobility NED type will be used for the mobility submodule if the type name is not specified otherwise, e.g. in the config- uration with something like

**.mobility.type-name = "ConstSpeedMobility"

Added the firstAvailable() NED function, which is helpful with the Project Features feature (see below). It accepts any number of strings (see new varargs support for NED functions), interprets them as NED type names (either short names or fully qualified names), and returns the first one that exists and is also "available" (its C++ implementation class exists). Example usage:

tcp: <default(firstAvailable("TCP_lwIP", "TCP_NSC", "TCP"))> {..}

It chooses the TCP_lwIP, TCP_NSC or TCP module type for the tcp submodule, in this order, unless the type is explicitly defined to be something else in the configuration.

Parametric submodule type can now also be specified in NED files, using patterns that end in the new "typename" keyword. An example:

network Net {
parameters:
host[*].tcp.typename = "TCP_lwIP";
...
}

The "type-name" per-object configuration option (**.typename=) has been renamed in to "typename", for consistency with the similar new NED feature.

Implemented varargs support for NED functions. If the signature (see Define_NED_Function() and Define_NED_Function2() macros) ends in ", …", then the function will accept any number of additional arguments of any type. At runtime, the implementation has access to both the actual number and types of args. When passing extra args, optional arguments (those marked with '?' in the signature) must all be present, i.e. varargs can only come when all typed args are there.

Upgraded to Eclipse 3.6.2

Implemented the "Project Features" feature, which makes it possible to disable unused parts ("features") of a project to reduce compilation time and complexity. It has been invented to help INET Framework users and developers deal with the growing size of the framework. Features are described in the project’s .oppfeatures file, authored by INET developers. Users can activate/deactivate features in the Project Features page of the Project Properties dialog (this page is directly accessible from the Project menu and from the Build Configurations submenu of the project’s context menu in Project Explorer). Features map to NED packages and C++ source folders; disabling a feature maps to NED package exclusion, and folder exclusion in CDT (C++ Development) configuration. Features can also define C/C++ symbols (for #ifdefs), and extra libraries to link with. At build time, the IDE checks the project’s configuration (NED, CDT) and if it is inconsistent with the selected features, it offers fixing it. Features can also be used from the command line by exporting Makefiles (or opp_makemake commands) that reflect a particular enablement of features.

Support for excluding (disabling) NED packages. This feature is needed for the Project Features feature. Exclusions can be edited on the NED Source Folders project property page, and are saved into the project’s .nedfolders file.

Implemented lazy loading of the eventlog file: the tool can now animate large eventlog files with acceptable performance.

Animation effects refined, e.g. packet transmission on a datarate channel.

Heavy bugfixing. Note that the tool is still being actively developed, and it is generally not yet ready for everyday use.

Usability: the editor now comes up with the page (text or form) that was used last time, and not always with the form editor. (When you flip the editor to the other page, the page type is stored in the preferences. When an editor is opened, the setting is read from the preferences and the corresponding page is activated.)

Improved text hover (F2) and hyperlink (Ctrl+click) support: the editor can now show information and go to the definition of modules that occur in the inifile key. For example, for a **.host[*].tcp.sackSupport = true line, the user can hover over (or Ctrl+click) the host[*] part, and the editor will show relevant information and go to the definition of the host[] submodule vector in the NED network description.

Improved content assist: per-object configuration options are now filtered by the type of object that the key refers to; for example, if you type **.ppp[*].txPkBytes.<Ctrl+Space>, the editor will know from the NED files that txPkBytes is a statistic, and offer completions accordingly.

Content assist: different types of completions (modules, parameters, statistics, configuration options, etc) are now marked with icons.

Markers on included inifiles are now removed when the main inifile is closed. (Fix for #176)

Added the Copy action to the Module Parameters view context menu: you can now select the key for an unassigned parameter in the view, and copy/paste it into the editor area.

New Tictoc Example and New Source-Sink Example wizards: fix: the root Makefile executed opp_makemake in the src/ folder at each build, overwriting the IDE-generated Makefile.

New OMNeT++ Project wizard template: now it is possible to set "custom make" for a folder: specify <foldername>:CUSTOM in the makemakeOptions= template variable in template.properties. Use "." to name the project root folder. Example: makemakeOptions = .: CUSTOM, src: --deep -meta:recurse…

New option for template.properties: preRunTemplate=<fti-file-name>. Example: preRunTemplate = main.fti. The option causes the given template file to be evaluated for its side effects, just after the user hits Finish but before any file is copied or template is evaluated. It is not allowed to produce text output, but the variables it sets will be substituted into other template.properties variables, and will also be available in other template files. (Note: all other templates are run in isolation, and cannot change variables for other templates!) The preRunTemplate option is the only way to programmatically set the value of makemakeOptions and similar template.properties options.

Switched back double-click behaviour to Open NED Type action. The Properties dialog can now opened with Ctrl+Enter (Alt+Enter was unavailable.)

Added show/hide options for arrows that represent mixed dependencies. (Such arrows are drawn when the sequence chart is filtered, and represent e.g. a sequence of message sendings and self-messages)

Eventlog: enhanced performance of event tracing filter

Simulations now record the termination message and result code into the eventlog file

Note: eventlog file format has changed (in order to better serve the Animation Tool) — .elog files recorded with any prior version of OMNeT++ have to be re-recorded.

Removed #include <winsock.h> from <platdep/timeutil.h>; the reason is that it conflicted with lwIP code recently integrated into INET. <platdep/sockets.h> still includes <winsock.h>, but now <platdep/sockets.h> (and <platdep/timeutil.h>) MUST precede <omnetpp.h> in all source files.

Ini files: implemented multiple inheritance for sections. Syntax:

[Config Foobar]
extends = Foo, Bar

When the runtime looks for a config option or param assignment, sections are examined in a "fallback order" until the first match is found. In the above example the order would be: Foobar, Foo, Bar, General. OMNeT++ uses C3 lineratization to compute the section fallback order, see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C3_linearization

Ini files: better parsing for iteration variables, e.g. the value in $uniform(1,2) is now parsed as one item, not as "uniform(1" and "2)". Nested parens/brackets/braces and string literals are recognized; escaping commas and close-braces is now possible using backslash.

NED: fixed deep parameter assignments: parameter references were interpreted in the wrong context. Deep parameter assignments are when an inifile-like pattern is used to name the parameter(s) to be set, as in:

network Inet {
parameters:
host[*].tcp.nagleEnabled = true;
...
}

Resolved spurious errors: 'Class "…" not found — perhaps its code was not linked in, or the class wasn’t registered with Register_Class()' Added a check to ensure that the debug and the release versions of the simulation library are not loaded at the same time. This problem occurred when a model was built as 'release' and the debug version of 'opp_run' was used to start it. As a result, the simulation seemingly started but complained about missing classes.

Fix: Some classes were thrown out by the linker if OMNeT++ was statically built, and the simulation was complaining at runtime about the missing cCompoundModule class.

Eventlog recording: .elog file format change: message creations and duplications (cloning) are now recorded; MC (ModuleCreated) entries now precede GC (GateCreated) entries. IMPORTANT: The sequence chart in the IDE will only work on .elog files in the new format, existing event logs need to be re-recorded!

This is a new component in the IDE, you can access it by right-clicking an .elog file and selecting "Open With / OMNeT++ Animation Player" from the context menu. This is a preliminary implementation (Technology Preview) not yet optimized for large files, the practical maximum file size it can handle is about 10MB.

Added a new "Clean Local" item to the project’s context menu that does not clean referenced projects. This resolves the problem that CDT’s "Clean Project" command also cleans the referenced projects, e.g. if you have a Foo project that depends on INET, cleaning Foo also cleans INET which takes a long time to recompile. Now you can use the "Clean Local" command to clean Foo only.

Added new "OMNeT++ Code Formatter" profile. This coding convention follows the rules used in the OMNeT++ kernel and the INET Framework. (No tabs, etc.)

Added MachO64 binary parsers and error parsers. This makes it possible to debug a 64-bit executable on Mac OS X 10.6

Linux only: Added support for profiling with Valgrind. To activate this feature, select "Profile as… / OMNeT++ Simulation" from the Project Exporer context menu. This feature requires Valgrind to be installed on your system. (Note: the main IDE toolbar does not show a Profile button next to the Run and Debug buttons at this time, but profiling is still available via the Project Explorer context menu.)

The Makemake page in Project Properties can now fix the "Source Folders differ across configurations" problem in the project setup, which usually occurs when you add a build configuration to an existing project later. The dialog now displays a "Fix it" link.

Several performance optimizations for the NED Editor. It can open much larger files than before. NED validation is done now in a background thread and does not block the UI.

Select 'NED Type Selection' dialog now works correctly on first open. It shows the defining projects for the types.

Enhanced drag and drop capabilities in NED Graphical Editor. You can drop NED types into a compound module either to create submodules (if you drop it into the submodule area), or to turn it into an inner type (if you drop on the title of the compound module).

The Graphical Editor now displays the file’s package name at the top.

Graphical Editor displays self-connections as arcs in the module’s upper right corner.

The resize/move feedback figures have been changed from a simple outline to translucent blue.

Added a 'Properties' dialog that can edit one or several objects at a time, and allows you to change graphical and type information. It also has a preview panel.

Enhanced editing of type fields in the 'Property View'. The editor correctly enumerates the possible choices and adds an import statement if necessary.

'Open Type' and 'Open Supertype' have been reassigned to the F3 function key. Double-click now opens the 'Properties' dialog.

The IDE now uses the use native (C++) layouter code for placing unpinned submodules, which means better performance and consistency with the simulation runtime (Tkenv).

Support for inifile improvements in this release, namely multiple section inheritance and better parsing for iteration variables

Performance improvements: inifile is now analyzed in the background so that it does not block the UI, and features that need its results (hover text, content assist, etc) have a timeout how long they are willing to wait for it (see bug #132 for details). It is now also possible to disable inifile analysis. Further performance and UI responsiveness improvements are planned.

Added 'Goto Simulation Time' and 'Goto Event Number' in the context menu.

'Go to Simulation Time' in the 'Event Log' view now supports relative values.

The Sequence Chart tool now knows about message creations and duplications (cloning), and as a result, in certain situations it is now able to better identify relationships between events and draw a better sequence chart. NOTE: Due to changes in the .elog file format, the tool will only work with newly recorded files. Existing event logs need to be re-recorded!

The command-line for launching the simulation now uses relative paths instead of absolute ones. This makes the starting command-line easier to understand.

Added tilde notation as an alternative to automatic hyperlinking of module names in comments. The latter was often too agressive (e.g. linking to the IP module in the phrase "IP address" is wrong). Automatic hyperlinking can now be turned off in the generator, and then the user is expected to mark words to be hyperlinked with a tilde: "the ~IP module". The INET Framework has already been converted to use the tilde notation.

Added Javascript to autoload frameset page if a content page is opened by itself. This is useful when URLs to specific content pages are posted on the mailing list or sent over email.

Implemented @include in NED comments. Lines in the included file don’t have to start with "//", but otherwise they are processed exactly as NED comment text.

Fix: External pages (@externalpage) now appear unded the "Selected Topics" node of the navigation tree in the generated documentation.

Several minor fixes: recognize the <u> (underline) HTML tag; sanitize the file names for @page; added/refined test cases

Parallel simulation: Placeholder modules are now displayed with a semi- transparent icon (or if it’s a rectangle or oval, with dotted border).

Fix (bug #248): compute coordinates (and sizes) in double and not int; necessary if background scaling (bgs display string tag) is set up.

Better choice of default user interface font, especially on Linux.

The generic UI font and the font used in graphics are now configurable in the Simulation Options dialog.

The default font for log text is now proportional (same as the generic UI font), for better readability and space efficiency. It can be customized (switched back to a monospace font, etc) in the Simulation Options dialog.

Minor: menu items have been changed to title case

Tcl errors are now logged into .tkenvlog instead of dumping them on stdout.

Added -g option to 'scavetool scalar' command. You can specify how the scalars are grouped into columns/variables.

The build system can now build large projects on windows. The 32K command-line limitation has been resolved.

Updated base system to Eclipse 3.6.1

Added a detailed IDE change log file doc/IDE-Changes