View source for Windows Port of ns-3 using Visual Studio

'''Note:  This page is dated and kept only for historical reference; it has been replaced by [[Ns-3_on_Visual_Studio_2012 | ns-3 on Visual Studio 2012]].'''

A project to extend NS3 functionality on Windows operating-systems (Specifically Visual Studio integration)

= Project Goals =
# To reduce or eliminate the need for CygWin to run NS3 on Windows operating-systems
# To expose native Windows API to NS3 developers
# To integrate NS3 into IDE's such as Visual Studio 2010
# To integrate NS3 into IDE's such as Visual Studio 2008 (Stretch Goal)

= Development Plan =
# Feasibility study and pilot implementation
# After the final commit from the [[App Store Technical Requirements|ns-3 modularization project]] finalize folder structure and module list
# Review and commit changes for Windows onto ns-3.11
# Review copyrights,coding-style and documentation
# Build automated build framework

= Current status =
# The feasibility study was done .An unstable implementation built on ns-3.10 is available at [[#Software download]] (OBSOLETE)
# After the ns-3 modularization project a new unstable version is available, built on the ns-3-dev lineup

= Software download =
* Version (ns-3-Win2.0) built on ns-3-dev(dated 05/23/2011)
Download via mercurial: "hg clone http://code.nsnam.org/jabraham3/ns-3-win"

Changelog & Caveats:

# The ~30 modules of ns-3 can be built independently as projects within the master solution, saving time
# Instead of building all the examples within the solution, I have provided a facility to run only one example at a time.This is due to the fact that I wanted to reduce the changes required and considering the fact any user deals with 1 or 2 examples at most at any given time. (A Visual Studio solution provides only executable at any point)
# The project files will need to be downloaded via "mercurial"
# Optional features such as click,mpi,openflow can be built, however I have made these project files dormant. It is left to the end-user to enable them and point to the required include libraries to run its examples. I might provide instructions later on how to handle the optional features as time permits
# Any windows-based solution is always going to be a subset of the main ns-3 project and will have a reduced feature-set.
# This version is built on ns-3-dev rather than ns-3.10.
# The GUI MFC code is removed, as I prefer to maintain it separately.

The following are some of the missing features 
(some are excluded currently due to lack of time in porting them,some because they depend on third-party s/w 
and some can never be supported for windows)

# waf,Python-binding,Visualizer (portable). Note:Visual studio solution does not require waf at this point.
# watchdog.cc,wall-clock-synchronizer.cc,unix-system-wall-clock-ms.cc,unix-system-thread.cc,unix-system-condition.cc,unix-fd-reader.cc,int64x64-cairo.cc,int64x64-128.cc (can be sort of ported)
# config-store (portable)
# All NSC code (non-portable)
# SQL dependent code (portable)
# rocketfuel-topology-reader.cc (portable)
# Real-time simulator (????)
# lte-multiple-flows.cc (portable)
# main-test-sync.cc (portable)
# nms-p2p-* files (portable)


* Version (ns-3.10-Win-1.3) Alpha version built on ns-3-dev(dated 02/07/2011)
Download from [http://code.nsnam.org/jabraham3/ns3-on-windows/ns-3.10-Win-1.3/raw-file/cadc7969c1f2/ns-3.10-Win-1.3.zip here]

Changelog & Caveats:
# This version caters to "Distributed simulation/MPI".
# A separate Visual Studio 2010 Solution file "ns-3-dev-MPI.sln" is provided in addition to the default "ns-3-dev.sln", 
# "ns-3-dev-MPI.sln" is required to build "ns-dev" static libraries with MPI/Distributed simulation related code available.
# The MPI-related examples have an associated Makefile, to help build them.
# Distributed simulation is run with the aid of "Open MPI". As Open MPI's "mpirun" utility requires a console application, distributed-simulation needs to be a console app (i.e Windows GUI components won't be available).
# nms* examples are not included as they use "variable-length arrays" with are C99 features not supported on Visual C++.These examples might be made available in a future version.
Please visit the [[#Installation & Usage]] page for more details



* Version (ns-3.10-Win-1.2) Alpha version built on ns-3-dev(dated 02/07/2011)
Download from [http://code.nsnam.org/jabraham3/ns3-on-windows/ns-3.10-Win-1.2/raw-file/f475b791b345/ns-3.10-Win-1.2.zip here]

Download NetAnim for Windows from [http://code.nsnam.org/jabraham3/ns3-on-windows/ns-3.10-Win-1.2/raw-file/78d716fec82a/NetAnim.zip here]

Changelog & Caveats:
# Examples under Animation are enabled
# A Windows port of NetAnim
# Possible memory-leak if "Stop" button is pressed before Simulation ends (Need a way to gracefully shutdown simulator in future versions).


* Version (ns-3.10-Win-1.1)  Pilot/Limited feature/Alpha version built on ns-3-dev(dated 02/07/2011)
Download from [http://code.nsnam.org/jabraham3/ns3-on-windows/ns-3.10-Win-1.1/raw-file/39ad64b4bfc9/ns-3.10-Win-1.1.zip here]

Changelog & Caveats:
# More examples have been enabled,including wireless and wimax.However, the following examples are still excluded:
#* examples/matrix-topology
#* examples/mpi
#* examples/realtime
#* examples/tap
#* examples/topology-read
#* examples/emulation
# Missing code from Core simulator:   
#* tools
#* test
#* mpi
#* cairo high-precision
#* any animation related code
#* tap-bridge
#* emulation
#* NSC
#* realtime
#* utils
#* python bindings
#* unix* and wall-clock-synchronization
#* matrix topology reader
#* buffer-test.cc
# This version contains a port of gsl_erfc from GSL 1.14, as Visual Studio does not provide erfc in the standard math libraries. The erfc(x) port has been tested for x ranging from 0 to 3.5
# Most of the contrib code is now included, except for code such as xml-config,config-store,sqlite*,gtk dependent code etc.
# High-precision cairo is not yet ported.
# OLSR model and helper are included, but olsr\test and olsr\examples are excluded as high-precision cairo is still not ported.
# This version fixes a major buffer-security bug in the first version (this is not related to the ns3 code).
# There should be zero linker errors & zero linker warnings in this version.

= Installation & Usage =
Follow instructions at [[Windows Port of ns-3 using Visual Studio Installation and Usage]]