Re: [rules-dev] Planner big user impacting changes: declarative metamodel

Phew! I made it to the end of the email ;) All very interest Geoffrey, but have you explained the purpose of the annotations? Why must I now annotate things, what value is it bringing?

I don't, personally, have any problem with them - there are many libraries that use them - but their purpose is well understood: e.g. @Entity, @Resource etc

Perhaps I missed something? With kind regards Mike On 27 May 2011 11:13, Geoffrey De Smet <ge0ffrey.spam(a)gmail.com <mailto:ge0ffrey.spam@gmail.com>> wrote: Hi guys For Drools Planner 5.3.0 (not the upcoming release) I am working on a separate branch [1] to allow Planner to understand your domain model better. *This will force some big changes upon you as a user*, but it will also allow many new features. Reading and replying to this mail is your chance to steer those changes, and verify that they are a good thing for your implementation too. I'll push those changes to master in a day or 2 ... unless someone finds a good reason not too. Any feed-back, especially on concept names, is welcome. *The Bad News* You'd have to do some serious upgrading changes. Although I am confident this can be done in an hour or 2. Here is the upgrading recipe as in github. Please go through to this list to understand the impact of these changes. Once the changes are on master, I 'll update the reference manual. [MAJOR] You need to define your solution class in the configuration now: Before in *SolverConfig.xml and *BenchmarkConfig.xml: <localSearchSolver> <scoreDrl>...</scoreDrl> After in *SolverConfig.xml and *BenchmarkConfig.xml: <localSearchSolver> <solutionClass>org.drools.planner.examples.curriculumcourse.domain.CurriculumCourseSchedule</solutionClass> <scoreDrl>...</scoreDrl> [RECOMMENDED] Understand the concept of a "planning entity" class. The class (or classes) that change during planning (and do not implement Solution) are a planning entity. For example: ShiftAssignment, BedDesignation, Queen, CloudAssignment, ... The other domain classes are considered normal planning facts, for example Shift, Employee, Bed, Room, Department, ... They do not change during planning (at least not without pausing the solver). Read the manual to understand the "planning entity" concept better. [MAJOR] You need to define your planning entity class(es) in the configuration now: Before in *SolverConfig.xml and *BenchmarkConfig.xml: <localSearchSolver> <solutionClass>....</solutionClass> <scoreDrl>...</scoreDrl> After in *SolverConfig.xml and *BenchmarkConfig.xml: <localSearchSolver> <solutionClass>....</solutionClass> <planningEntityClass>org.drools.planner.examples.curriculumcourse.domain.Lecture</planningEntityClass> <scoreDrl>...</scoreDrl> [MAJOR] You need to annotate your planning entity class(es) with the @PlanningEntity annotation Before in *.java: public class Lecture ... { ... } After in *.java: @PlanningEntity public class Lecture ... { ... } [RECOMMENDED] Understand the concept of a "planning variable" property. The property (or properties) on a planning entity class that are changed (through their setter) during planning are planning variables. For example: ShiftAssignment.getEmployee(), BedDesignation.getBed(), Queen.getY(), ... Note that most planning entities have 1 property which defines the planning entity and that property is NOT a planning variable. For example: ShiftAssignment.getShift(), BedDesignation.getAdmissionPart(), Queen.getX(), ... Read the manual to understand the "planning variable" concept better. [MAJOR] You need to annotate your planning variable property(ies) with the @PlanningVariable annotation. Furthermore, you need to annotate a @ValueRange* annotation on to define the allowed values. Commonly, you 'll use @ValueRangeFromSolutionProperty which specifies a property name on the solution which returns a collection of the allowed values for that variable. Before in *.java: @PlanningEntity public class Lecture ... { private Course course; private int lectureIndexInCourse; // Changed by moves, between score calculations. private Period period; private Room room; public Course getCourse() {...} public void setCourse(Course course) {...} public int getLectureIndexInCourse() {...} public void setLectureIndexInCourse(int lectureIndexInCourse) {...} public Period getPeriod() {...} public void setPeriod(Period period) {...} public Room getRoom() {...} public void setRoom(Room room) {...} ... public int getStudentSize() { return course.getStudentSize(); } public Day getDay() { return period.getDay(); } } After in *.java: @PlanningEntity public class Lecture ... { private Course course; private int lectureIndexInCourse; // Changed by moves, between score calculations. private Period period; private Room room; // This is not a PlanningVariable: it defines the planning entity public Course getCourse() {...} public void setCourse(Course course) {...} // This is not a PlanningVariable: it defines the planning entity public int getLectureIndexInCourse() {...} public void setLectureIndexInCourse(int lectureIndexInCourse) {...} @PlanningVariable @ValueRangeFromSolutionProperty(propertyName = "periodList") public Period getPeriod() {...} public void setPeriod(Period period) {...} @PlanningVariable @ValueRangeFromSolutionProperty(propertyName = "roomList") public Room getRoom() {...} public void setRoom(Room room) {...} ... // This is not a PlanningVariable: no setter public int getStudentSize() { return course.getStudentSize(); } // This is not a PlanningVariable: no setter public Day getDay() { return period.getDay(); } } [MAJOR] Annotate every property on your Solution that returns a collection of planning entities with @PlanningEntityCollectionProperty. Before in *.java: public class CurriculumCourseSchedule ... implements Solution<...> { private List<Lecture> lectureList; ... public List<Lecture> getLectureList() {...} public void setLectureList(List<Lecture> lectureList) {...} } After in *.java: public class CurriculumCourseSchedule ... implements Solution<...> { private List<Lecture> lectureList; ... @PlanningEntityCollectionProperty public List<Lecture> getLectureList() {...} public void setLectureList(List<Lecture> lectureList) {...} } [MAJOR] The method getFacts() has been removed from the Solution interface. Annotate every property that returns a fact or fact collection with the @PlanningFactProperty or @PlanningFactCollectionProperty annotation respectively, except those already annotated with @PlanningEntityCollectionProperty. Properties annotated with these annotations are inserted into the working memory as facts: - @PlanningFactProperty - @PlanningFactCollectionProperty: each element in the collection - @PlanningEntityCollectionProperty: each planning entity in the collection that is initialized Remove the getFacts() method. Before in *.java: public class ... implements Solution<...> { private InstitutionalWeighting institutionalWeighting; private List<Teacher> teacherList; private List<Curriculum> curriculumList; ... private List<UnavailablePeriodConstraint> unavailablePeriodConstraintList; private List<Lecture> lectureList; private HardAndSoftScore score; ... public String getName() {...} public InstitutionalWeighting getInstitutionalWeighting() {...} public List<Teacher> getTeacherList() {...} public List<Curriculum> getCurriculumList() {...} ... public List<UnavailablePeriodConstraint> getUnavailablePeriodConstraintList() {...} @PlanningEntityCollectionProperty public List<Lecture> getLectureList() {...} public ...Score getScore() {...} public Collection<? extends Object> getFacts() { List<Object> facts = new ArrayList<Object>(); facts.addAll(teacherList); facts.addAll(curriculumList); ... facts.addAll(unavailablePeriodConstraintList); if (isInitialized()) { facts.addAll(lectureList); } facts.addAll(calculateTopicConflictList()); return facts; } public List<TopicConflict> calculateTopicConflictList() {...} } After in *.java: public class ... implements Solution<...> { private InstitutionalWeighting institutionalWeighting; private List<Teacher> teacherList; private List<Curriculum> curriculumList; ... private List<UnavailablePeriodConstraint> unavailablePeriodConstraintList; private List<Lecture> lectureList; private HardAndSoftScore score; ... // This is not a PlanningFactProperty: the name is inserted into the working memory public String getName() {...} @PlanningFactProperty public InstitutionalWeighting getInstitutionalWeighting() {...} @PlanningFactCollectionProperty public List<Teacher> getTeacherList() {...} @PlanningFactCollectionProperty public List<Curriculum> getCurriculumList() {...} ... @PlanningFactCollectionProperty public List<UnavailablePeriodConstraint> getUnavailablePeriodConstraintList() {...} // This is not a PlanningFactCollectionProperty: it is a PlanningEntityCollectionProperty @PlanningEntityCollectionProperty public List<Lecture> getLectureList() {...} // This is not a PlanningFactProperty: the score is inserted into the working memory public ...Score getScore() {...} // renamed from calculateTopicConflictList because these are also facts needed in the working memory @PlanningFactCollectionProperty public List<TopicConflict> getTopicConflictList() {...} } [RECOMMEND] A planning entity is considered uninitialized if one if at least on of its planning variables is null. Therefor it's now possible to start from a partially initialized solution, for example during real-time re-planning as new facts events come in. [MAJOR] The StartingSolutionInitializer no longer has a isSolutionInitialized(AbstractSolverScope) method Before in *StartingSolutionInitializer.java: public class ...StartingSolutionInitializer extends AbstractStartingSolutionInitializer { @Override public boolean isSolutionInitialized(AbstractSolverScope abstractSolverScope) { ... } ... } After in *StartingSolutionInitializer.java: public class ...StartingSolutionInitializer extends AbstractStartingSolutionInitializer { ... } [MAJOR] The planning entity collection in the Solution can never be null, but some (or all) of its planning entity's can be uninitialized. So create them before setting the starting solution, instead of in your StartingSolutionInitializer. Before in *.java: public class ... { public void ...() { CurriculumCourseSchedule schedule = new CurriculumCourseSchedule(); schedule.setTeacherList(teacherList); schedule.setCourseList(courseList); ... solver.setStartingSolution(schedule); } } After in *.java: public class ... { public void ...() { CurriculumCourseSchedule schedule = new CurriculumCourseSchedule(); schedule.setTeacherList(teacherList); schedule.setCourseList(courseList); ... schedule.setLectureList(createLectureList(schedule.getCourseList())); solver.setStartingSolution(schedule); } private List<Lecture> createLectureList(List<Course> courseList) { List<Lecture> lectureList = new ArrayList<Lecture>(courseList.size()); long id = 0L; for (Course course : courseList) { for (int i = 0; i < course.getLectureSize(); i++) { Lecture lecture = new Lecture(); lecture.setId((long) id); id++; lecture.setCourse(course); // Make sure to set all non PlanningVariable properties lecture.setLectureIndexInCourse(i); // Notice that we lave the PlanningVariable properties on null lectureList.add(lecture); } } return lectureList; } } [RECOMMENDED] Remove the isInitialized() from Solution if you copied that from the examples. Before in *.java: public class ... implements Solution<...> { public boolean isInitialized() { return (lectureList != null); } ... } After in *.java: public class ... implements Solution<...> { ... } * The Good News* I already have written a brute force solver (only useful for very very small toy problems of course). In time, I 'll write a branch and bound solver (only useful for very small toy problems of course). I 'll write generic, high-quality StartingSolutionInitializers that work on any program, such as First Fit Decreasing and Cheapest Insertion. A good StartingSolutionInitializer is really important to get a good result from Planner. Currently writing a StartingSolutionInitializer was a bit of a black art. Some users use a highly under optimized version or - even worse - none at all. Phasing. This will be fun. You 'll be able to do configure this really easily: Phase 1 = First Fit Decreasing (for initialization) Phase 2 = Simulated Annealing (after initialization) Phase 3 = Tabu search (when things get really hard) Notice that a StartingSolutionInitializer is just a phase. [1] https://github.com/droolsjbpm/drools-planner/pull/2/files -- With kind regards, Geoffrey De Smet _______________________________________________ rules-dev mailing list rules-dev(a)lists.jboss.org <mailto:rules-dev@lists.jboss.org> https://lists.jboss.org/mailman/listinfo/rules-dev _______________________________________________ rules-dev mailing list rules-dev(a)lists.jboss.org https://lists.jboss.org/mailman/listinfo/rules-dev