Getting started

Installation

The AMPL API can function as an add-on to any existing AMPL installation. If you do not yet have an AMPL installation on the computer where you will be working with the API, see our demo page or trial page to download a working version that can be installed quickly.

Follow the instructions on our AMPL API page to download the API package appropriate to your platform, and to add the downloaded folder (directory) amplapi to your AMPL installation.

Initial test

AMPL API includes a CMake script that can be used to build C++ examples on a wide range of platforms. To begin, download and install the free CMake utility. Open a command/terminal window, make amplapi/examples/cpp the current folder (directory), and invoke

cmake .

to generate native makefiles or project files that can be used in the compiler environment of your choice:

  • Under Linux or any Unix-like environment, you will see a Makefile in the current directory; you can then build examples by running make.
  • Under Windows with Visual Studio installed, the EXAMPLES.sln file and several project files will be created. You can then build examples using Visual Studio or MSBuild.
  • Under Mac OS X with Xcode installed, an .xcodeproj file will be generated and can be used to build the examples.

To complete an initial test, build firstexample using these generated files, and then invoke it with

./firstexample <solver>

where optionally <solver> is the name of a solver that has been installed with AMPL. (If a solver is not specified, AMPL’s default choice will be used.) This will solve several small diet problems and then display the optimal amounts of the foods from the last solution.

Development

Include the ampl/ampl.h header from the amplapi/include folder (directory) in your C++ code and link binaries with the AMPL library (libampl.so on Linux, libampl.dylib on OS X, ampl1.2.2.lib on Windows) from amplapi/lib to use the AMPL API. Together with your existing AMPL implementation, this will provide the full object library and access to all AMPL functions.

The amplapi folder (directory) can be moved to a different location in your computer’s filesystem, provided that the location of your AMPL executable has been placed in the system search path.

Deployment

To deploy AMPL API applications to users who do not have their own AMPL installations, include with your C++ application the AMPL executable (ampl or ampl.exe); the shared library (lib/libampl.so.1.2.2 on Linux, lib/libampl.1.2.2.dylib on OS X, bin/ampl1.2.2.dll on Windows) which contains the full implementation of the C++ object library; binaries needed to run any solvers that are used; and an appropriate license file for AMPL and solvers.