Xpress-MP Software Overview

Xpress-MP Modeling Interfaces
There are three Xpress-MP components which offer the user different methods to define their optimization problem in order to solve it using the Xpress-Optimizer.

Xpress-Mosel allows the user to formulate their problem, solve it using the Xpress-Optimizer, and analyze the solution using a programming language specifically designed for the purpose. Mosel programs are compiled, which makes them fast and hides the intellectual property within them from end-users. They can be run interactively or embedded within an application.
[Click here to download Mosel presentation ]

The Mosel language is easy to learn and use, making it easy to develop optimization problems from scratch, understand and audit problems that other people have written, and modify and maintain problems over time. A visual development environment, Xpress-IVE, makes the process even easier. Full support for arbitrary ranges, index sets, and sparse objects means even the largest and most sophisticated problem can be expressed clearly and concisely, and completely independently of a particular data instance.

Mosel includes extension libraries, one of which provides direct control of the Xpress-Optimizer, through optimization statements in the Mosel program. Another provides an ODBC data driver which enables the user to interface directly to all common databases and spreadsheets, and data can also be imported/exported directly from/to text files.

Xpress-BCL is an object-oriented library for building problems within an application. It uses a step-by-step approach, with functions to add a variable, and add a constraint, which the developer calls within their C/C++ or Java program, gradually building up the complete problem. Once the complete problem is defined, it is solved using the Xpress-Optimizer. Further BCL functions enable the developer to access the solution directly within their application.

Finally, there are two means of loading a problem directly into the Xpress-Optimizer. The user can load problems from file, using the industry standard MPS matrix format or the LP matrix format, or load a complete problem in a single function call direct from their application.

For examples of these four methods, and a discussion of their relative merits, please see the white paper Modeling with Xpress-MP.