[rules-users] Dynamic ValueRangeProvider

[Andrew Varner]

Here's the problem I am trying to solve.

My users provide me a a list of configurations for what a truck can hold. For example:

PickupTruck:
1xLargeSofa
3xSmallChair

PickupTruck:
1xLargeSofa
1xSmallSofa
1xSmallChair

PickupTruck:
5xSmallChair

TractorTrailer:
2xLargeSofa
4xSmallChair
…

The also give me the inventory of the a furniture store.  I am using a set of rules (Drools) to determine which ones are the best to throw on the next vehicle. So if a PickupTruck arrives, I calculate for each truck configuration I have to see which sofa, chair, etc. goes on it.

My current plan is to convert the truck configuration (essentially a domain specific language) into a PlanningEnity

The first configuration translates to:
//PickupTruck:
//1xLargeSofa
//3xSmallChair
public class PickupTruck1(){ 
 private String type="PickupTruck";
 private String description = "PickupTruck:1xLargeSofa,3xSmallChair";
 private Furniture furniture1;
 private Furniture furniture2;
 private Furniture furniture3;
 private Furniture furniture4;
 @PlanningVariable(valueRangeProviderRefs = {"largeSofa"})
 public Furniture getFurniture1() {
  …
 }
 @PlanningVariable(valueRangeProviderRefs = {"smallChair"})
 public Furniture getFurniture2() {
  …
 }
 @PlanningVariable(valueRangeProviderRefs = {"smallChair"})
 public Furniture getFurniture3() {
  …
 }
 @PlanningVariable(valueRangeProviderRefs = {"smallChair"})
 public Furniture getFurniture4() {
  …
 }
}

My gut feeling is that this is faster/better than trying to put a chair in a sofa slot, than using a generic "Furniture" provider, but I could be wrong. I'd like to have a single class that parses the inventory and provides them as value ranges. Of course, I could transform the inventory into a @PlanningSolution and compile it. However, I'd rather not.

Also, looking at this now, I realize that the provider may provide me the same small chair in all three slots (doh!).

Does this make sense?

Thanks,
Drew

On Sep 10, 2013, at 3:10 AM, Geoffrey De Smet <ge0ffrey.spam at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> On 09-09-13 16:13, Andrew Varner wrote:
>> Optaplanners,
>> 
>> I'm looking to add some dynamic goodness to ValueRangeProvider. The only way I see to specify a ValueRangeProvider is via annotation.
>> 
>> I'd like to be able to generate the id and Collection of candidate values dynamically. Is it possible to generate the ValueRangeProvider data outside of an annotation?
>> 
>> For example:
>> 
>> public class MyDataSource {
>>   public Collection getValues(String id) {
>>     …
>>     return values;
>>   }
>> }
> First, I thought you were asking for this issue:
>   https://issues.jboss.org/browse/PLANNER-190
> That would allow you to generate the Collection dynamically (although 
> you can already do that now with an entity based value range and 
> somewhat with a solution based value range).
> 
> But you want to "generate the id of ValueRangeProvider dynamically"?!
> Interesting :) Why?
> That implies that you also want to generate the planning entities and 
> their variables dynamically,
> because there's no use in generating a provider id if you're not going 
> to use it.
> Long term we 'll support this because we'll support an alternative to 
> annotations too,
> but why does your use case need it now?
> 
> 
> 
> Also, you might want to read these references:
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18343221/does-optaplanner-support-optimizations-and-constraints-on-continuous-variables
>   https://issues.jboss.org/browse/PLANNER-160
> Note: 160 won't allow you to generate the value provider id at runtime.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Drew
>> _______________________________________________
>> rules-users mailing list
>> rules-users at lists.jboss.org
>> https://lists.jboss.org/mailman/listinfo/rules-users
>> 
> 
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