Development of an OMScilab interface

[casella]

OpenModelica features the ​OMMatlab API to interact with Matlab. This is motivated by the widespread use of Matlab in the control community. However, Matlab is not open-source, so we lack a completely open-source alternative.

​Scilab is an open-source alternative to Matlab. It was recently acquired by ESI group, and is still released under GPL v2.

The ​FOSSEE initiative promotes the coordinated use of open source software for engineering, and already endorses both OpenModelica and Scilab.

The next logical step is to develop an OMScilab API, akin to OMMatlab, to allow tighter integration between these two tools. The development can probably be jump-started by porting the existing Matlab interface, since there are similarities between the two tools.

The effort will be coordinated by IIT/FOSSEE.in. We can use this ticket as an initial collecting point for project management information. I suggest that project managers get an account on this trac, and coordinate with Adrian Pop (@adrpo) for technical issues. I already created a new OMScilab component category.

I tentatively target this development for the next release 1.17.0, due end of December. We can postpone that if necessary.

[casella]

I understand the code development will have to be hosted as a separate GIT repository under the ​OpenModelica project umbrella. Please coordinate with @adrpo (adrian.pop@…) to set this up.

[arun3688]

I investigated a little bit and found that we can use the same technique of OMMatlab to write OMScilab, Scilab has inbuilt function jimport which does the job for importing zeromq bindings written in java.

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The first prototype for OMScilab is now implemented, This should work now , Now we can communicate directly to openModelica from Scilab though sendExpression() API,

Follow the instruction at ​https://github.com/OpenModelica/OMScilab

What needs to be done for OMScilab:
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Implement the remaining Advanced API's similar to OMJulia, OMPython and OMMatlab,
see ​https://www.openmodelica.org/doc/OpenModelicaUsersGuide/latest/ommatlab.html

[casella]

Retargeted to 1.18.0 because of 1.17.0 timed release.

[casella]

Ticket retargeted after milestone closed