Summary

Below is a summary of the inputs and outputs of the six service methods. See also Figure 19.

• solve(osil, osol):
  • Inputs: a string with the instance in OSiL format and an optional string with the solver options in OSoL format

  • Returns: a string with the solver solution in OSrL format

  • Synchronous call, blocking request/response

• send(osil, osol)
  • Inputs: a string with the instance in OSiL format and a string with the solver options in OSoL format (same as in solve)

  • Returns: a boolean, true if the problem was successfully submitted, false otherwise

  • Has the same signature as solve

  • Asynchronous (server side), non-blocking call

  • The osol string should have a JobID in the <jobID> element

• getJobID( osol)
  • Inputs: a string with the solver options in OSoL format (in this case, the string may be empty because no options are required to get the JobID)

  • Returns: a string which is the unique job id generated by the solver service

  • Used to maintain session and state on a distributed system

• knock(ospl, osol)
  • Inputs: a string in OSpL format and an optional string with the solver options in OSoL format

  • Returns: process and job status information from the remote server in OSpL format

• retrieve( osol)
  • Inputs: a string with the solver options in OSoL format

  • Returns: a string with the solver solution in OSrL format

  • The osol string should have a JobID in the <jobID> element

• kill( osol)
  • Inputs: a string with the solver options in OSoL format

  • Returns: process and job status information from the remote server in OSpL format

  • Critical in long running optimization jobs

Figure 19: The OS Communication Methods