GORUN User Guide

gO:RUN User Guide
Release 3.6
October 2012
Process Systems Enterprise Limited

6th Floor East
26-28 Hammersmith Grove
London W6 7HA
e: [email protected]
w: www.psenterprise.com
t: +44 20 8563 0888
f: +44 20 8563 0999
gO:RUN User Guide

Release 3.6
gO:RUN User Guide

Release 3.6
October 2012
Copyright 1997-2012 Process Systems Enterprise Limited

Process Systems Enterprise Limited
6th Floor East
26-28 Hammersmith Grove
London W6 7HA
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 20 85630888
Fax: +44 20 85630999
WWW: http://www.psenterprise.com
Trademarks
gPROMS is a registered trademark of Process Systems Enterprise Limited ("PSE"). All other registered and pending
trademarks mentioned in this material are considered the sole property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
Legal notice No part of this material may be copied, distributed, published, retransmitted or modified in any way without
the prior written consent of PSE. This document is the property of PSE, and must not be reproduced in any manner
without prior written permission.
Disclaimer
gPROMS provides an environment for modelling the behaviour of complex systems. While gPROMS provides valuable
insights into the behaviour of the system being modelled, this is not a substitute for understanding the real system and any
dangers that it may present. Except as otherwise provided, all warranties, representations, terms and conditions express
and implied (including implied warranties of satisfactory quality and fitness for a particular purpose) are expressly excluded
to the fullest extent permitted by law. gPROMS provides a framework for applications which may be used for supervising a
process control system and initiating operations automatically. gPROMS is not intended for environments which require
fail-safe characteristics from the supervisor system. PSE specifically disclaims any express or implied warranty of fitness
for environments requiring a fail-safe supervisor. Nothing in this disclaimer shall limit PSE's liability for death or personal
injury caused by its negligence.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1
gO:RUN an overview ................................................................................................................................... 5
1.2
System set-up ................................................................................................................................................. 5
Chapter 2
Creating a gO:RUN application ....................................................................................................................... 6
2.1
The gPROMS activity...................................................................................................................................... 7
2.2
Exporting your gPROMS activity using ModelBuilder ..................................................................................... 7
Chapter 3
Using gO:RUN ................................................................................................................................................ 9
3.1
General ......................................................................................................................................................... 10
3.2
From a command window ............................................................................................................................. 10
3.3
Within external software................................................................................................................................ 10
Chapter 4
4.1
Appendix A
Trouble shooting ........................................................................................................................................... 12

Common problems ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Using gO:RUN with Microsoft Excel
TM
.......................................................................................................... 14
A.1
Running the example .................................................................................................................................... 15
A.2
Using example as template to run new problems ......................................................................................... 16
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Chapter 1
Introduction
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1.1
gO:RUN an overview
gO:RUN allows a gPROMS model-based activity to be executed using a pre-existing model. Typically, the latter will have
already been developed, validated and tested using gPROMS ModelBuilder or another gPROMS Product, from which it
will have been exported in encrypted form.
gO:RUN is designed to provide a simple yet comprehensive, easy-to-use runtime access to gPROMS capabilities using
a single command line.
The gO:RUN command may be issued either directly from a terminal, or more usually as a system command from within
TM
other software (e.g. Microsoft EXCEL ) used to provide a simplified user interface to a gPROMS model. The latter will
normally communicate with this user interface via a combination of Foreign Object and Foreign Process interactions. Uses
of such an interface include:
adding a front end to a gPROMS activity, for example presentation or operator training purposes.
using gPROMS to provide another software package with calculations
1.2
System set-up
gO:RUN is included as part of the standard gPROMS installation process, no additional software components are
required.
1.2.1
Licensing
To use gO:RUN an additional licence key is required contact [email protected] to obtain an appropriate licence.
1.2.2
Confirm environment variable settings
The system environment variable GPROMSHOME should be set correctly to point to the gPROMS Core directory of your
1
gPRODUCT installation .
Additionally, the bin subdirectory of GPROMSHOME needs to be added to the PATH environment variable:
1.2.2.1 Windows
%GPROMSHOME%\bin has to be part of PATH

1.2.2.2 UNIX
$GPROMSHOME/bin needs to be in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH

On both Windows and Linux, for standard gPROMS installations these environment variables should have been set
automatically during the installation process and in these cases no action is required by the user.
Please contact your system administrator if you are unsure on the location of the gPROMS installation or on the procedure
for setting environment variables.
An example of a gPROMS Core installation directory is C:\Program Files\PSE\gPROMScore_3.6.0.54862. This is the directory GPROMSHOME must be set to.
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Chapter 2
Creating a gO:RUN application
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2.1
The gPROMS activity
There are no limitations on the gPROMS activities that can be used in gO:RUN therefore any activity created and run in
ModelBuilder can be used in a gO:RUN application.
A gPROMS activity to be used within gO:RUN must be at a minimum a complete gPROMS PROCESS entity for simulation.
For the other activities (optimisation, estimation and experiment design) the corresponding entities must also be created.
Most gO:RUN applications will actually use one or a combination of the Foreign Process and Foreign Object interfaces to
link the activity to the external software. For more information about writing models that use the Foreign Process and
Foreign Object interfaces see the gPROMS Advanced User Guide. The Foreign Process and Foreign Object can be used
together and can be the same piece of software, although they do not have to be. It should be noted that only one Foreign
Process can be used by an activity.
Before exporting a model for use with gO:RUN it is vital that the model has been thoroughly validated and tested inside
the ModelBuilder environment. There are no specific changes that have to be made to a gPROMS PROCESS, or any other
activity, to allow it to be used with gO:RUN (there are no limitations on the activity). However, if it is required for the
gO:RUN application to send results to gRMS (the default gPROMS output) then the PROCESS should be modified so that
the following SOLUTIONPARAMETER is added:
SOLUTIONPARAMETERS
gRMS :=
ON;
Once the activity has been created and successfully tested, it can be exported from ModelBuilder to be used with
gO:RUN. It is highly recommended that before exporting the activity it is tested within ModelBuilder to ensure it behaves
as desired.
2.2
Exporting your gPROMS activity using ModelBuilder
To use the activity in gO:RUN it must be exported from gPROMS ModelBuilder. To do this select the corresponding
PROCESS for the desired activity in the project tree to be exported and use the Export tool provided under the Tools
menu (see Figure 1).
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Include crossreferenced Entities
Exported file to
be encrypted
Password needed
to run model
Figure 1 Exporting an activity for use with gO:RUN
In gPROMS when exporting an individual Entity, the user may request that all other Entities on which it depends (via
cross-referencing) should be exported with it this option must be selected here. This ensures that all the required entities
are included in the encrypted file and also that the entities present for activities other than simulation are exported. For
example, if it is desired to run a Parameter Estimation through gO:RUN, the Parameter Estimation and experiment entities
also must be exported. This is done automatically if the PROCESS is exported with dependencies.
The model should be exported as an encrypted file using an encryption password. Note that the decryption password can
be ignored. If the file is not encrypted gO:RUN will not be able to use the activity. It is important to remember the
encryption password as this is required to run the activity.
The export creates the following directory structure in the location selected by the Export to field in the export dialog:
input directory this is where the .gENCRYPT file is located. Also, any other activity files (Optimisation,
Parameter Estimation, Experiment Design) will be located here;
save directory any saved variable sets used by the activity will be exported here;
output directory this is where the results files for Optimisation and Parameter Estimation are saved when the
activity is performed in gO:RUN.
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Chapter 3
Using gO:RUN
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3.1
General
There are two ways in which gO:RUN can be used:

1.
As a standalone product from the command window. This is useful, for example, in running gPROMS activities in
batch mode.
2.
Within external software. This is useful for providing a simplified interface to a gPROMS model.
Once an activity has been exported from ModelBuilder, as described in section 2.2 it can be used by gO:RUN. For all
cases, gO:RUN must be executed at the same level as the input directory containing the gENCRYPT file. For example, if
the activity is exported to the location C:\myworkingdir the gO:RUN command must be executed in this directory as this
is where the input directory is located.
gO:RUN is provided as a pure executable file or as a batch or shell script. The latter includes a number of environment
settings which have to be made in the calling application if as well if the executable is used.
3.2
From a command window
gO:RUN is designed to provide a simple yet comprehensive, easy-to-use runtime access to gPROMS capabilities using
a single command line of the form:
gORUN.exe [-silent] [-s <maxEqnSize>] <model> <activity type> <activity name> <password>
The arguments of the above command are as follows:
-silent reduces verbosity of activity execution. This argument is optional;
<maxEqnSize> is the maximum number of equations allowed by the gO:RUN licence to be used (see section
1.2.1). This argument is optional;
<model> is the name of the file containing the encrypted gPROMS model to be used;
<activity type> is the type of the activity to be executed, i.e. sim, opt, est or exd for simulation,
optimisation, parameter estimation and experiment design respectively;
<activity name> is the name of the activity to be executed; this is normally the name of the PROCESS entity
in the gPROMS model;
<password> is the password used to encrypt the gPROMS model when it was exported from the gPROMS
ModelBuilder.
3.3
Within external software
gO:RUN also provides an easy mechanism for running a gPROMS activity inside other software packages (such as MS
Excel).
This parameter is optional. If omitted, a licence allowing models over 50,000 equations will be assumed.
This is normally a file of type .gENCRYPT.

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gO:RUN is started through the exact same command line as described in section 3.1. Therefore the external software from
which gO:RUN is used must send this command line to a terminal. The command line may be hard coded or created on
the fly by the software.
The specifics on doing this depends on the software application from which gO:RUN is being called from, and the relevant
documentation for that software should be referred to. For example, it is possible to call gO:RUN using Visual Basic
TM
allowing a gPROMS activity to be run from Microsoft EXCEL .
An easy way of sending the command line to a terminal is to use a batch file. This batch file may be manually written and
then called by the external software or it could be automatically written by the software and then run. A batch file is just a
simple text file with the file extension .bat. An example of such a file is shown in Figure 2 below, where gasflowEUI is the
name of the .gENCRYPT file, run_gasflowEUI is the name of the PROCESS and password is the encryption password
chosen when exporting the activity.
@echo off
gORUN.exe gasflowEUI sim run_gasflowEUI password
Figure 2 gORUN.bat file
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Chapter 4
Trouble shooting
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4.1
Common problems
Table 1 below lists common problems that may be encountered when using gO:RUN and describes how to overcome
them.
Problem
Cause
Fix
Error message in command window:
The computer has not

been set up correctly
to find the gO:RUN
installation
ensure a gPROMS 2.3 or later

installation is available
check that the system has been

set up correctly to use this
installation, see 1.2
'goRUN' is not recognized as an internal or external

command, operable program or batch file.
The most common cause of this error

will be that the environment variables
are not set correctly.
Failure of gPROMS activity
Commonly caused by
change in input to
gPROMS model from
external software.
This kind of troubleshooting should be

performed on the model inside
ModelBuilder.
Note, it is recommended that before a
model is exported to be used in a
gO:RUN application that it is
thoroughly tested inside ModelBuilder.
In particular, it should be ensured that
the model can be solved for the
expected range of inputs.
Failed to connect to gRMS, e.g.

gRMS output channel: Fatal error - Failed to connect
to gRMS localhost:9876.
Socket Error Code: 10061.
ERROR: Cannot create Output Channel instance
'gRMS::COLUMNOPT.gRMS'
gRMS::COLUMNOPT.gRMS: Output Channel
initialisation failed.
gRMS not started, or

not started in correct
location.
gO:RUN only sends results to gRMS if

the SOLUTIOPNPARAMETER has been
set in the exported model, section 2.1.
Table 1 Problems using gO:RUN
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Appendix A Using gO:RUN with Microsoft ExcelTM
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This example is included in the gPROMS installation and can be found in the examples\gO Products examples folder in
the installation. As well as providing a means to interface gO:RUN with Excel this example also uses Excel as a foreign
process and object.
A.1
Running the example
A.1.1
From Excel
To run the example from Excel, without the need for opening gPROMS:
1.
Start MS Excel and load Batch reactor.xls. This file can be located at the following location:
\gPROMS\examples\PML examples of the gPROMS installation.
2.
In the Batch worksheet, choose the desired debugging mode:

0 debugging is switched off and gO:RUN is started in the background.
1 debugging is switched on and the gO:RUN command window is opened allowing the gPROMS execution
output to be viewed.
3.
Go to the Reactor Schematic worksheet, click on the Solve button to execute the simulation.
When this is done, gO:RUN is automatically started, with the correct command sent to simulate the example.
The cells shaded in yellow can be changed to modify the inputs to the simulation. Making changes to cells in the Initial
data table only affects the initial conditions, the other yellow cells can be changed during a simulation. The cells shaded in
grey are values sent by gPROMS to Excel.
A.1.2
From ModelBuilder
To run the example within ModelBuilder:

1.
Start ModelBuilder.
2.
Load Process Model Library.

Note: The Process Model Library is located in the PML subdirectory in gPROMS distribution.
3.
Open the PML Batch Reactor Example.gPJ

Note: The PML Batch Reactor Example project file is located in the PML examples subdirectory in the examples
subdirectory in gPROMS distribution.
4.
Go to Test_Batch_Reactor_FO Process and modify the path for FO and FPI accordingly so that ModelBuilder
can launch Batch Reactor.xls correctly. For example:
RxnData := "ExcelFO::C:\Program Files\Pse\gPROMS\gPROMS\examples\PML examples\Batch_Reactor.xls";
FPI := "ExcelFP::C:\Program Files\Pse\gPROMS\gPROMS\examples\PML examples\Batch_Reactor.xls" ;
5.
Execute the simulation.
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A.2
Using example as template to run new problems
This example contains the necessary Visual Basic macros needed to run user defined activities in gO:RUN from Excel,
and so can be used as a template. This allows model developers to easily embed their gPROMS models inside excel with
no further programming required.
A.2.1
Exporting from ModelBuilder
Before this can be done, the model activity must first be exported from ModelBuilder as described in section 2.2. If Excel is
also used as a Foreign Object or Process these settings must be changed so that there is no path before the Excel file
name.
A.2.2
Modifying Excel file to run exported model
The excel file should be saved in the same location as to where the model was exported (at the same level as the input
directory, etc). The Batch worksheet can then be modified so that the exported model will execute when the solve button
on the Reactor schematic worksheet is pressed. The following cells in the Batch worksheet can be modified:
A1 the exported file name
A2 the activity type
A3 the activity name
A4 the password
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gO:RUN User Guide

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gO:RUN User Guide

gO:RUN User Guide

Copyright 1997-2012 Process Systems Enterprise Limited

gO:RUN User Guide

gO:RUN an overview ................................................................................................................................... 5

System set-up ................................................................................................................................................. 5

Creating a gO:RUN application ....................................................................................................................... 6

The gPROMS activity...................................................................................................................................... 7

Exporting your gPROMS activity using ModelBuilder ..................................................................................... 7

Using gO:RUN ................................................................................................................................................ 9

From a command window ............................................................................................................................. 10

Within external software................................................................................................................................ 10

Trouble shooting ........................................................................................................................................... 12

Running the example .................................................................................................................................... 15

Using example as template to run new problems ......................................................................................... 16

gO:RUN User Guide

gO:RUN User Guide

using gPROMS to provide another software package with calculations

Confirm environment variable settings

%GPROMSHOME%\bin has to be part of PATH

$GPROMSHOME/bin needs to be in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH

gO:RUN User Guide

Creating a gO:RUN application

gO:RUN User Guide

The gPROMS activity

Exporting your gPROMS activity using ModelBuilder

gO:RUN User Guide

Include crossreferenced Entities

Figure 1 Exporting an activity for use with gO:RUN

gO:RUN User Guide

gO:RUN User Guide

There are two ways in which gO:RUN can be used:

From a command window

-silent reduces verbosity of activity execution. This argument is optional;

1.2.1). This argument is optional;

optimisation, parameter estimation and experiment design respectively;

Within external software

This is normally a file of type .gENCRYPT.

gO:RUN User Guide

Figure 2 gORUN.bat file

gO:RUN User Guide

gO:RUN User Guide

Error message in command window:

The computer has not

ensure a gPROMS 2.3 or later

check that the system has been

'goRUN' is not recognized as an internal or external

The most common cause of this error

This kind of troubleshooting should be

Failed to connect to gRMS, e.g.

gRMS not started, or

gO:RUN only sends results to gRMS if

Table 1 Problems using gO:RUN

gO:RUN User Guide

Appendix A Using gO:RUN with Microsoft ExcelTM

gO:RUN User Guide

Running the example

In the Batch worksheet, choose the desired debugging mode: