Working out kinks in VB.net/BASINS

I mentioned last week that I was working on revising a portion of the BASINS source code to reproduce the statistics and advice previously calculated by the antiquated HSPEXP program. I'm happy to report that I've gotten the portion of the code I was working with up and running, producing area summaries, statistics, and graphs using Virginia Tech's standard formatting, in a new(ish) program that just runs the statistics and does not require BASINS to be launched. Getting the portion of the code up and running took a little time but was not complicated, after addressing the issues in my last post. However, creating a setup file that would run on Windows 7 proved to be a little more challenging, and I thought I'd write about it to help both future BASINS coders and general VB.net coders alike.

My first problem was that the code I'm working with requires an old DLL created (I think) using FORTRAN - hass_ent.dll. I had tried to enter the version of the DLL published with EPA's version of BASINS 4 into the registry on a Windows 7 machine - no luck. Additionally, the version of BASINS available from EPA would not install on a Windows 7 machine. I believe I mentioned in my last post that Aqua Terra has released an updated version of BASINS on their website, which is nearly impossible to find if you don't know what you're looking for. So I tried downloading and installing the "Installer for GenSCN and WDMUtil" available at that website (following the 'keep it simple stupid' mentality, I decided to try installing just what I needed - WDMUtil and HSPF - rather than the full-blown package). Ta-da! It installed. The version of HSPF in that package does not run, but WDMUtil does. The full blown BASINS upgrade includes a newer version of HSPF (3.0), my hunch is that it will run on Windows 7...but again, keeping it simple, I haven't messed with that yet. All I needed for my purposes was to get something to install hass_ent.dll, and the GenSCN and WDMUtil installer was successful for that purpose.

My next problem arose from the fact that I had updated the references for the BASINS source code in a rather patchwork fashion...first I tried downloading DLLs from MapWindow, then I realized several of the needed files were actually available with the BASINS installation available from EPA and just copied the ones I needed, and then when I was still having trouble I upgraded my BASINS installation as above and referenced those DLLs...so depending on when I brought which projects into my VB.net solution, projects using the 'same' DLL might actually reference two different files. Additionally, there was a BASINS project available that compiled into MapWinUtility.dll that was slightly different from the MapWinUtility.dll that seems to be the default for MapWindow, and of course my patchwork solution was referencing both of them. Once I finally got the code to compile after all the various downloads and updates I didn't think to check that all 15 of the member projects were referencing the same DLLs.

I was receiving multiple errors as a result of this. Additionally, once I attempted to publish the file, I got an actual error in Visual Basic 2010 Express that would no longer let me compile the project. These errors were "two or more files have the same target path" within the development environment and "reference in the manifest does not match the identity of the downloaded assembly" while attempting to install the code on a new computer. I had an earlier error "must be strong signed in order to be marked as a prerequisite" that had caused me to change the status of stdole.dll from 'prerequisite' to 'include' in the Publish->Application files screen for my main project (note that the file it said needed to be strong signed was NOT stdole.dll...but fixing that one fixed the error). I think that change might have launched the other errors... At any rate, after googling and googling I finally started checking the references and discovered I had several with the same name pointing to different actual files. I changed the same-named references in all the projects to point to the same DLLs and poof! my errors vanished.

I suppose this is no great surprise - kind of a 'well, duh' kind of moment. I agree. However, I think it is an easy mistake to make with code acquired WITHOUT all the required references, code that forces you to go identify and download all those references yourself. I had googled and tried things for hours before thinking to check my individual project references, so I'm suggesting it here in hopes it may save someone else a lot of wasted time!

Working with Open Source BASINS

This week I've started tackling a fun new project - working with portions of the open source BASINS software. It has been challenging and educational. I've learned a bit about MapWindow and I've also seen that the code needed to access WDM files is really not so bad.

I started on this project because my colleagues at Virginia Tech need a new way to calculate hydrology calibration statistics. We've been using HSPEXP for years, and it does just what we want, but it just doesn't work on modern computers. You can coax it along using XPMode in Windows 7, but even then it has a tendency to randomly freeze up. It's just not happy anymore, and it's time we laid it to rest.

So, fortunately for us, a former graduate student who used to work with me when I worked at Virginia Tech now works for Aqua Terra, the company that maintains BASINS and HSPF. He told us that they've been working on a way to calculate the same statistics that HSPEXP calculates - without the old DOS program and interface.

Fortunately BASINS is open source, so I could get my hands on the code early and customize it for our use. However, things started to get complicated quickly. The folks at Aqua Terra directed me to the subversion download site for BASINS, from which I obtained the code. Fortunately it's written in VB.net, with which I'm quite familiar! However, I quickly learned I needed far more than just the BASINS code.

I discovered that I needed to download several MapWindow projects as well - specifically D4EM, MapWinUtility, and SwatObject. I read a bit more about MapWindow while searching through their site and I must say I find it very exciting - an open source GIS platform for which you can write code in VB.net. I am really interested in developing some GIS programs with the MapWindow libraries, and hope to get in to that once this current project is done.

I also updated my BASINS 4 installation - I'm still not entirely sure if this was necessary, but it I think perhaps it provided the most current version of some DLLs. Some method of BASINS installation is needed to provide hspfmsg.mdb and hspfmsg.wdm. Interesting to note that the update I linked is for 9/2011...which is newer than the current version available on the EPA website, dated 5/2010. Most of the DLLs provided by the BASINS installation can be obtained from MapWindow, but I think the hspfmsg files and a couple DLLs like TableEditor are only available with BASINS. As of the 5/2010 revision, BASINS would not install in Windows 7 except under XPMode. I'm hoping that perhaps if I copy the hspfmsg files to a new computer and get the DLLs from MapWindow I won't have to install BASINS on a Windows 7 computer...this remains to be tested. It is also possible that the 9/2011 version of BASINS will install under Windows 7...this also remains to be tested.

So for now I'm working with the BASINS code on Windows Vista. I ended up just extracting the tool I needed, as in the end we're hoping to have a standalone executable that just calculates the statistics - and maybe runs HSPF - rather than having to launch the full-blown BASINS system. So far I've gotten the statistics calculated, but I still need to work on some connections for the graphs and summary reports, as they're not printing out correctly with the code I've extracted so far. Once everything seems to be working on Vista (where BASINS does install), I'll try transferring everything to a Windows 7 machine and tackle the problems that are sure to arise. I'll let you know how that goes!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok, so I know it's a little late, but Happy Thanksgiving! I spent the week in Pittsford, NY visiting my sister at her new house there. Pittsford is a very nice-looking village that borders on the Erie Canal.

Speaking of canals, I just submitted an abstract for the 2012 ASABE international meeting in Dallas, TX. I'm hoping to present the results of my PhD research on modeling for inland navigational canals. I should have done this last year, but my work on the BP Oil Spill kept me too busy to think about anything else during the submission window. As I work on the paper for the conference, I'll also be working on a final journal article for my research.

With the past holiday week, I haven't done much blog-worthy technical work, so I guess that's all for now!