SolverStudio & GMPL – SolverStudio for Excel

SolverStudio supports the GNU optimisation package GLPK and associated GMPL modelling language which is (roughly) a subset of AMPL. Please see the “AMPL(NEOS)+GMPL Examples.xlsx” spreadsheet in the SolverStudio download for example code.

Please note that GMPL lacks AMPL’s nice output, and so the following more complicated code is needed to output results from GMPL:

# Write the solution to the sheet (copying AMPL's display format)
# Each item is quoted to ensure spaces in items work correctly
printf "" > "Sheet"; # Open output file
printf "flow :=\n" >> "Sheet";
printf {i in Warehouses, j in Bars}: "'%s' '%s' '%s'\n",  i, j, flow[i,j] >> "Sheet";
printf ";\n" >> "Sheet";

# A single value can be written as follows (again mimicing AMPL)
printf "Total_Cost = " >> "Sheet";
printf Total_Cost >> "Sheet";
printf "\n" >> "Sheet";

Useful GMPL links include:
GLPK/MathProg for Natural Resources (Forestry, Agriculture,…)
GMPL Wiki Pages and GLPK Wiki Pages
GLPK for Windows including 32 and 64 bit executables and GLPK for Java

20 thoughts on “SolverStudio & GMPL”

Agnew - March 18, 2019 at 12:39 pm

Hi Andrew, when I try to output a 1-dimensional parameter to my excel file, I keep getting errors. The syntax (from example file) works for a 2-dimensional array! Do you have an idea what is wrong with my syntax? printf "" > "Sheet"; # Open output file printf "Sourcing :=\n" >> "Sheet"; printf {i in DistributionCenters, j in Customers}: "'%s' '%s' '%s'\n", i, j, Sourcing[i,j] >> "Sheet"; printf ";\n" >> "Sheet"; printf "DCCheckBinary :=\n" >> "Sheet"; printf {i in DistributionCenters}: "'%s' '%s' '%s'\n", i, DCCheckBinary[i] >> "Sheet"; printf ";\n" >> "Sheet"; Here it works to output the Sourcing array (2-dim), but the DCCheckBinary array (1-dim) does not work. Any help is welcome, Thanks Agnew

Andrew Mason - March 21, 2019 at 9:00 pm
The number of %s's should match the number of items being printed. Andrew
Reply

Suresh - July 13, 2016 at 1:38 pm

Hi Andrew, The GMPL/GLPK included in the SolverStudio 0.09.03 (20160520) does not seem to have support for GNU Scientific Library (GSL), unlike AMPL which does support it through amplgsl.dll and related 'function' declaration. Is there a workaround for this? Thanks, Suresh.

Andrew Mason - July 13, 2016 at 1:53 pm
I don't know, sorry. I suggest you ask the GMPL folks directly. Andrew
Reply

Alistair Clark - July 6, 2015 at 1:13 am

I have now got the code working: printf "" > "Sheet"; # Open output file printf "ShortageSurplusDisruption = " >> "Sheet"; # This line is needed printf ShortageSurplusDisruption >> "Sheet";

amas008 - July 14, 2015 at 7:09 am
Alistair: GMPL lacks the nice AMPL output commands, and so, yes, in GMPL you need to do more work yourself. How can I make this clearer in the GMPL documentation and examples? Andrew
Reply

Alistair Clark - July 5, 2015 at 9:17 pm

Hi Andrew. My GMPL objective function is called ShortageSurplusDisruption and has value 11.52 after solving optimally. The command: printf "%g", ShortageSurplusDisruption; works and outputs 11.52 but the command: printf "%g", ShortageSurplusDisruption > "Sheet" causes an error, even though there an Excel cell with name ShortageSurplusDisruption. The error message is: Error executing model code: A value was written to the sheet for data item "11.52", but this data item does not exist. (The error occurred in the string '11.52' on line 1 of file 'Sheet.) Traceback (most recent call last): File "G:\Downloads\SolverStudio\SolverStudio\SolverStudio\GLPK\RunGLPS ol.py", line 376, in File "G:\Downloads\SolverStudio\SolverStudio\SolverStudio\GLPIC\RunGLPS ol.py", line 302, in DoRun Exception: A value was written to the sheet for data item "11.52", but this data item does not exist. (The error occurred in the string '11.52' on line 1 of file 'Sheet'.)

Richard - May 17, 2015 at 3:53 pm

Hi i am having a problem, my model runs for a very long time, although it finds a solution it still running, i would like to stop it when it have found one solution and not wait until it finds the best. Thanks. Regards, Richard.

amas008 - May 17, 2015 at 4:01 pm
I suggest you look up the GMPL documentation in how to set a time limit and/or a tolerance for the branch and bound. Andrew
Reply

newentry - May 15, 2015 at 8:57 pm

Hello, I would understand what: 1)i should to do to use on SolverStudio Gnu (what i had to dowlaoad and if is necessary to have Linux on my pc) 2)are the limits of Gnu (if the solver could eventually solve MLI problems and also if can solve quadratic objective function) 3)where can i find examples of application problems of Gnu on SolverStudio. Thanks so much!

amas008 - May 16, 2015 at 5:52 am
Examples are included in the download. Linux is not needed. See the gmpl documentation for its capabilities. Good luck. Andrew
Reply

UniversityStudent - November 11, 2014 at 8:11 pm

First, I would like to say that SolverStudio is a fantastic tool. I enjoy using it to solve optimization problems. I am having a problem with outputting my results. I would like to output my objective function value to the sheet. The following code prints my objective function value to the Model Output printf "TotalWaitingTime :=\n"; printf : "'%s'\n", TotalWaitingTime; printf ";\n"; When I change my code to the following printf "TotalWaitingTime :=\n" >> "Sheet"; printf : "'%s'\n", TotalWaitingTime >> "Sheet"; printf ";\n" >> "Sheet"; I receive an error that states: "the line "'-105'\n" did not contain an index and a value." Note: -105 is the objective function value The objective function is not supposed to have any indices. Do you know how I can print the objective function value to the sheet? Thank you

amas008 - November 11, 2014 at 9:02 pm
Try this; it works for me. # A single value can be written as follows (again mimicin AMPL) printf "Total_Cost = " >> "Sheet"; printf Total_Cost >> "Sheet"; printf "\n" >> "Sheet"; Andrew PS: You might like to contact the the GMPL author via [email protected] or [email protected] to suggest that GMPL be updated to support using >> in display statements.
Reply

Noli - September 9, 2014 at 4:36 am

Hi Andrew, Nice to see support for GLPK/Mathprog (GPLK and GMPL) in SolverStudio. If I am not mistaken, this support uses only GLPK solver (i.e. glpsol), right? I wish to see support for Mathprog (GMPL) using CBC solver in SolverStudio, so we could take advantage to solve difficult MIP model with CBC solver. GMPL can use CBC solver with limited result outputs. Here's the link below. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/GLPK/Mixing_GLPK_with_other_solver_packages Thanks. Regards, Noli

amas008 - September 9, 2014 at 4:58 am
Noli. Thanks for the positive feedback. Yes, allowing GMPL with CBC has been on the TODO list for a while. We plan to re-visit this over Christmas when I hope to have a student working on the code. Cheers, Andrew
Reply
- RouteXL - February 1, 2016 at 2:28 pm
  Hi Andrew, I am using this code to run GMPL with CBC
  Reply
  - RouteXL - February 1, 2016 at 2:54 pm
    @echo off SET INPUT=input.mod SET OUTPUT=out.txt glpsol.exe --math %INPUT% --check --wlp _glpsol2cbc.lp cbc.exe _glpsol2cbc.lp solve -gsolution _cbc2glpsol.lp glpsol.exe --math %INPUT% --read _cbc2glpsol.lp --output %OUTPUT% pause del _*.lp
    Reply
    - amas008 - February 1, 2016 at 10:01 pm
      Thanks for that. We have just added this functionality into SolverStudio, complete with a menu to make choosing the preferred solver easy. I hope it will be useful. Andrew
      Reply
      - Abhi - February 8, 2017 at 8:09 am
        Hi Andrew, I am having a little trouble using the CBC solver with GMPL. When I try choosing that solver it doesnt seem to recognise what is the model or data file. Can you let me know what the steps would be to use the CBC solver with GMPL. Thanks for all your help
        Reply
        
        Andrew Mason - February 8, 2017 at 9:58 pm
        GMPL cannot use CBC, sorry, within SolverStudio. You can compile your own GMPL-friendly version of CBC; however we have not done this. Andrew
        Reply

20 thoughts on “SolverStudio & GMPL”

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