OMFrontend.jl

An implementation of the OpenModelica New Frontend (NF) in Julia. The package parses Modelica source, lowers it to SCode, and instantiates it into FlatModelica or DAE form.

For the full compiler suite that builds on top of this package, see OpenModelica.jl. The API exposed here is deliberately low-level; for higher-level use cases, prefer OM.jl.

Library Coverage

The flattening pipeline has been validated against the full Modelica Standard Library. Both MSL 3.2.3 and MSL 4.0.0 are bundled and ready to use without any additional installation. Models from every major MSL sub-package (Blocks, Mechanics, Electrical, Fluid, Media, and MultiBody) flatten correctly and produce verified flat Modelica output.

Third-party libraries (such as the Modelica Buildings Library) can be installed via installLibrary and loaded via loadInstalledLibrary.

Release Status

This package is the primary frontend used by OM.jl for Modelica flattening. The core flattening pipeline is stable. Extensions such as VSS (Variable Structured Systems) and the GUI editing API are active areas where interfaces may still evolve.

Example Use

Given the following Modelica model in HelloWorld.mo:

model HelloWorld
  Real x(start = 1, fixed = true);
  parameter Real a = 1;
equation
  der(x) = -a * x;
end HelloWorld;

The shortest path from source to a flat model is flattenModel:

using OMFrontend
(FM, functions) = OMFrontend.flattenModel("HelloWorld", "HelloWorld.mo")
println(OMFrontend.toString(FM))

The output is the flat representation of the model:

class HelloWorld
  Real x(fixed = true, start = 1.0);
  parameter Real a = 1.0;
equation
  der(x) = -a * x;
end HelloWorld;

If finer control is needed, the same result can be produced step by step:

absynProgram  = OMFrontend.parseFile("HelloWorld.mo")
scodeProgram  = OMFrontend.translateToSCode(absynProgram)
(FM, funcs)   = OMFrontend.instantiateSCodeToFM("HelloWorld", scodeProgram)

To obtain the DAE form instead of FlatModelica, call instantiateSCodeToDAE on the SCode program returned by translateToSCode. See DAE.jl for the data structure.

Discovering and Loading Installed Libraries

libraries() returns all Modelica libraries found in the OpenModelica installation directory (~/.openmodelica/libraries/) plus any non-bundled entries in the package's own lib/Modelica/ folder:

avail = OMFrontend.libraries()
# avail["Modelica"] => [(version="4.1.0", path="...", source=:installed), ...]

loadInstalledLibrary resolves a library by name and optional version, loads it into the cache, and returns the cache key:

mslKey = OMFrontend.loadInstalledLibrary("Modelica"; version = "4.1.0")
# => "Modelica_4_1_0"

If version is omitted, the first discovered version is used. A prefix match is accepted when no exact match exists (e.g. "4.1" matches "4.1.0").

Flattening Models from the Modelica Standard Library

Load the MSL once, then flatten any model against it:

mslKey = OMFrontend.loadInstalledLibrary("Modelica"; version = "4.0.0")

(FM, funcs) = OMFrontend.flattenModelWithLibraries(
  "Modelica.Electrical.Analog.Examples.AD_DA_conversion",
  "MyModel.mo";          # omit or pass "" if model is inside the MSL itself
  libraries = [mslKey],
)

Note: flattenModelWithMSL and initLoadMSL are deprecated. They continue to work but emit a deprecation warning. Prefer loadInstalledLibrary + flattenModelWithLibraries.

Combining a User Model with Multiple Libraries

Custom libraries can be loaded once and then combined freely:

mslKey      = OMFrontend.loadInstalledLibrary("Modelica"; version = "4.1.0")
buildingsKey = OMFrontend.loadPackageDirectory("/path/to/Buildings")

(FM, funcs) = OMFrontend.flattenModelWithLibraries(
  "Buildings.Controls.OBC.ASHRAE.G36.AHUs.SingleZone.VAV.Controller",
  "";
  libraries = [buildingsKey, mslKey],
)

loadLibrary(path) loads a single-file .mo library; loadPackageDirectory(path) handles directory trees with package.mo files.

Inspecting and Exporting Results

A flat model and its function tree can be rendered as a string or written to disk:

str = OMFrontend.toFlatModelica((FM, funcs))
OMFrontend.exportDAERepresentationToFile("HelloWorld.flat.mo", str)

For debugging the lowering pipeline, OMFrontend.enableDumpDebug() writes the flat model after each compiler phase to the working directory. OMFrontend.disableDumpDebug() turns it off again.

Issues, Questions, and Contributing

OMFrontend.jl is a component of OM.jl, and the API reflects that low-level role.

For questions or collaboration ideas, contact details are available on my LiU page.

Licenses

OMFrontend.jl itself is distributed under the OSMC Public License (OSMC-PL); see OSMC-License.txt.

Third-party Modelica libraries included in the test suite (test/3rdParty/) carry their own licenses and are not covered by OSMC-PL:

Library	License	Source
Modelica Buildings Library	Modified BSD (3-clause)	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

See test/3rdParty/README.md for the full license text of each third-party library.