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Use JESS Client with EP-Launch

EP-Launch screen

The EnergyPlus EP-Launch program is very convenient for running single or multiple E+ simulations. It uses a batch command file named Epl-run.bat in the EnergyPlus folder. Making EP-Launch to run simulation on JESS instead of on your own computer is very easy. This page explains the steps for Windows users. If you are using Linux or Mac, the process will be fairly similar.

Follow these steps to link EP-Launch to the JESS service:

  1. Download a suitable JESS Client package from the download page. If you are using Windows and are unsure about whether Java is available, get the jess_client_v2.0.0_jre_for_windows.zip package.
  2. Unpack it in your computer, say to the C:\JESS_Client_v2.0.0_JRE_for_Windows\ folder. For convenience, rename the folder to C:\JESS_Client\.
  3. Go to the EnergyPlus folder, e.g. C:\EnergyPlusV8-2-0\, and locate the Epl-run.bat file.
  4. Edit this file using a text editor (Notepad++ is a good one), and make the changes described in the next section.
  5. Alternatively, copy and paste the Epl-run.bat and Epl-run.original files from the C:\JESS_Client\scripts\ folder to the EnergyPlus folder. These scripts assume that the Client is installed at C:\JESS_Client\, and are suitable for E+ v8.1 and v8.2.
  6. That's about it.

Make changes to Epl-run.bat

EnergyPlus EP-Launch program uses EPL-run.bat to execute simulations. The batch file contains all steps for staging a simulation, running pre-processes and post-processes as required. The JESS Client's command-line can be used to replace the call to EnergyPlus.exe in the batch file, so that the main simulation step will be sent to the JESS server. Since the JESS Client has been configured to behave just like EnergyPlus.exe, there are very few things need to be changed in EPL-run.bat.

Here is an exertion of the original EPL-run.bat: 

:  4. Execute EnergyPlus
SET EP_OMP_NUM_THREADS=
IF "%cntActv%" ==  "" SET cntActv=1
IF NOT %cntActv% == 1 SET EP_OMP_NUM_THREADS=1
IF %multithrd%==N SET EP_OMP_NUM_THREADS=1
"%program_path%EnergyPlus"
if %pausing%==Y pause

...

Here is EPL-run.bat injected with JESS Client: 

:  4. Execute EnergyPlus
SET EP_OMP_NUM_THREADS=
IF "%cntActv%" ==  "" SET cntActv=1
IF NOT %cntActv% == 1 SET EP_OMP_NUM_THREADS=1
IF %multithrd%==N SET EP_OMP_NUM_THREADS=1
rem ...commenting out the original E+ call
rem "%program_path%EnergyPlus"
rem ...check if user has logged on to JESS
java -jar C:\JESS_Client\JESS_Client.jar -cfg C:\JESS_Client\client.cfg -log C:\JESS_Client\log4j.cfg -logon
rem ...submit job
java -jar C:\JESS_Client\JESS_Client.jar -cfg C:\JESS_Client\client.cfg -log C:\JESS_Client\log4j.cfg -job ./ -type STD_SINGLE_JOB -output ./
if %pausing%==Y pause

...

If you have downloaded the client package with Java JRE for Windows, in the above changes, java -jar … at the beginning of line 332 and 334 should be replaced with C:\JESS_Client\Java\jre7\bin\java -jar ….

Importantly, there is a “bug” in the Epl-run.bat that will cause remote simulation to fail. It has to be rectified as below. 

...
if exist expanded.idf MOVE expanded.idf in.idf
if not exist in.idf copy "%epin%.idf" In.idf
:if %pausing%==Y pause

:  3. Test for weather file type and copy to working directory
if %eptype%==EP    copy "%epwthr%" In.epw
: Convert from an extension of .epw to .stat
if %eptype%==EP    SET wthrstat=%epwthr:~0,-4%.stat
if %eptype%==EP    copy "%wthrstat%" in.stat
:if %pausing%==Y pause

...

Rename In.idf in line 252 and In.epw in line 256 to in.idf and in.epw, respectively as below: 

...
if exist expanded.idf MOVE expanded.idf in.idf
if not exist in.idf copy "%epin%.idf" in.idf
:if %pausing%==Y pause

:  3. Test for weather file type and copy to working directory
if %eptype%==EP    copy "%epwthr%" in.epw
: Convert from an extension of .epw to .stat
if %eptype%==EP    SET wthrstat=%epwthr:~0,-4%.stat
if %eptype%==EP    copy "%wthrstat%" in.stat
:if %pausing%==Y pause

...

You can add further cleaning up actions as below. These are optional, though. 

:  8.  Clean up directory.
IF EXIST eplusout.inp DEL eplusout.inp
IF EXIST eplusmtr.inp DEL eplusmtr.inp
IF EXIST in.idf       DEL in.idf
IF EXIST in.imf       DEL in.imf
IF EXIST in.epw       DEL in.epw
IF EXIST in.stat      DEL in.stat
IF EXIST eplusout.dbg DEL eplusout.dbg
IF EXIST test.mvi DEL test.mvi
IF EXIST expandedidf.err DEL expandedidf.err
IF EXIST readvars.audit DEL readvars.audit
IF EXIST sqlite.err  DEL sqlite.err
IF EXIST utilSocket.log   MOVE utilSocket.log testsocket.log
: Delete FMUs files and folder --Added for FMI
: IF EXIST *.mat DEL *.mat 
: IF EXIST *.fmu DEL *.fmu 
IF EXIST tmp-fmus rmdir tmp-fmus /Q/S
REM clean up JESS files
IF EXIST client.log DEL client.log
IF EXIST job.done! DEL job.done!
IF EXIST JobRecords.xml DEL JobRecords.xml
IF EXIST time_stamps.txt DEL time_stamps.txt
IF EXIST client.err DEL client.err

...

You can use similar method to insert JESS Client into other batch file-based programs, such as GenOpt (see Use JESS Client with GenOpt).

A video demo made for earlier versions of the JESS Client is available here: