DSS Python 0.10.0

Major changes

• The creation of the binary modules has been automated using Travis-CI and AppVeyor. We expect that this will allow us to release more often, bringing new features sooner.
• Integrates many fixes from the upstream OpenDSS and changes specific to DSS C-API.
• Reorganizes and reuses the code across DSS versions (v7 and v8)
• Uses __slots__ to simplify attribute handling.
• Exposes both the our classic API (e.g. dss.v7.DSS_IR for the immediate/direct results) and global result API (e.g. dss.v7.DSS_GR for the global result interface). See DSS C-API's docs for a detailed explanation. We default to the GR interface since it will generally be faster at the cost of a small memory overhead.
• Although still experimental, the v8/PM module is more stable. If you try it, please give feedback.
• Error checking is now done for most API writes. That is, if an OpenDSS error occurs, it should cause a Python exception soon after. Previously, you need to call CheckForError() manually to trigger this. This change was introduced after user reports indicated that manually checking for errors is a common behavior.
• Expose API extensions for the classes LineGeometry, WireData, LineSpacing, CNData, TSData, Reactor.
• Make most DSS classes iterable (including buses), e.g. you can now use:

for l in DSS.ActiveCircuit.Loads:
    print(l.Name)

• Add a COM patching function (dss.patch_dss_com) -- that is, extend the COM instance with iterators like above and some other few functions to make it easier to exchange between COM and DSS Python:

import win32com.client, dss
com = dss.patch_dss_com(win32com.client.gencache.EnsureDispatch("OpenDSSEngine.DSS"))

# ...compile a circuit, etc.

for l in com.ActiveCircuit.Loads:
    print(l.Name, l.kva)

for b in com.ActiveCircuit.ActiveBus:
    print(b.Name, b.x, b.y)

Performance

On microbenchmarks, the GR interface can reduce the running time up to 50% (typically 25%) on properties that return arrays. If you find issues using the default GR interface, you can always use the classic interface from 0.9.8 by importing the appropriate module: from dss import DSS_IR as DSS. Currently, the GR changes do not affect writing data (setting properties), only reading them.

Mixed-case handling

If you were using use_com_compat to allow mixed-cased attributes, it should work better than before. You may now use use_com_compat(warn=True) to warn when you use an attribute that wouldn't exist without calling use_com_compat. The intention is that the user should run their code to get a list of warnings, fix it, and then remove use_com_compat since it does have a small performance impact.

Installation

Install it with conda:

conda install -c pmeira dss_python=0.10.0

Or via pip:

pip install dss_python==0.10.0