ECAST Summary
Benchmark Tool for forecast automation and comparison of forecast systems aka cores
1 Installation
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Requirements: Windows OS with Oracle Database, tested with Oracle 11g
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Maven and dependent libraries
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Download framework ressources from website
http://wwwdb.inf.tu-dresden.de/research-projects/projects/reef/
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It contains:
◦ Installation files for ECAST Project: ECAST Execution Framework
◦ Two open source cores: OpenForecast and Mirabel
◦ SQL scripts for setup of tables and user
1.1 Setup of ECAST execution framework
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Unzip the downloaded ecast-core-db.zip
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Execute setup.bat. If there are dependencies that Maven cannot meet, check them and add
them manually, for instance
mvn install:install-file -DgroupId=com.oracle -DartifactId=ojdbc6
-Dversion=11.2.0.2.0 -Dpackaging=jar -Dfile=lib/ojdbc6.jar
-DgeneratePom=true com.oracle.ojdbc6:jar
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Maven add an archive ecast-core-db-0.2-SNAPSHOT.jar that is the base of your Benchmark
Tool
1.2 Database entries
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Download and unzip db-objects.zip
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Open and configure 00_Skript.bat to access your database
◦ Enter the system user and password
◦ Make sure the system can resolve your data base
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Double-check 00_CreateECast.sql. For convenience, create a new user "ECAST" as
proposed. If not possible, than you must change all SQL imports because they belong to this
namespace
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Execute 00_Skript.bat and check that there are no errors in the execution: scroll up and
check that every table has been correctly imported or print the results to a file. Normally,
this should be fine!
1.3 Use ECAST execution framework
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Within main directory ecast-core-db, you need to create
◦ application-configuration.xml for database connection, see sample file
▪ The username is ecast if you created it, cf. section 1.2
◦ models-configuration.xml for configuring a model, see sample file
▪ Enter your timeseries, normally they are placed in the "datafiles" directory
▪ Enter your core aliases and other configurations, cf. Schnittstellenbeschreibung.pdf
1.4 Execution of framework
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Now you can check that the ECAST framework is working correctly
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Start run_model_creator.bat: this creates a model query within your database for every core
and every configuration
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Start run_forecast.bat: now the queries are executed and you will find the results in
"reusults" directory as well as in the ECAST.RESULT tables in your database
2 Integration of own core
2.1 General remarks
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You can add any core on your own to compare them with the out-of-the-box cores from
ECAST. It requires your core to include a wrapper that implements the ICalculator interface,
cf. source files
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Build a Java wrapper that implements ICalculator to your core algorithm and create a jar
archive. The best way is to compare it with wrappers that exist already (RCalculator,
OpenForecastCalculator). ICalculator takes a class ModelConfiguration for input variables,
you should implement it in your wrapper
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Put the jar archive into /lib/cores of the execution framework
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Register core in REF_CORE table:
◦ ID_REF_CORE = unique id (integer) for this entry
◦ ALIAS = the alias string of your algorithm as used in models-configuration.xml. It
cannot begin with "R_" because this implies a wrapper for R scripts
◦ FILENAME = the name string of your jar archive (without version and ".jar" extension)
◦ VERSION = the version string of your jar archive. Example: FILENAME =
'openforecast' and VERSION = '2.0' looks for a jar archive "openforecast-2.0.jar".
Version is optional, you can leave it NULL, that means "openforecast.jar"
◦ INTERFACECLASS = the class of your wrapper with full path. Example:
de.ecast.db.calculate.core.RCalculator
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If external classes (*.jar) are necessary create one entry in table REF_CORE_LIB for each
jar archive and for each core:
◦ ID_REF_CORE_LIB = unique id (integer) for this entry
◦ ALIAS = the alias (string) of your algorithm as used in models-configuration.xml
◦ LIB = name (string) of jar archive without ".jar" extension. Example: 'commons-io-1.3.2'
includes lib/cores/commons-io-1.3.2.jar
2.2 Java to R Bridge
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Requirements: Install R binaries (v3.1.0 tested) for Windows from cran.r-project.org for
your architecture (32bit or 64bit)
Install library rJava as root: install.packages(rJava)
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Make sure that jvm.dll from Java (1.4.0 and higher) can be resolved from your PATH
variable, if not add it (usually, add C:\Program Files\Java\jre<Version>\bin\server)
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Make sure that jri.dll for your architecture can be resolved. Usually, add
C:\Program Files\R\R-<Version>\library\rJava\jri\<architecture>
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Make sure that R.dll for your architecture can be resolved. Usually, add
C:\Program Files\R\R-<Version>\bin\<architecture>
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Download and unzip RWrapper.zip from the project homepage. It contains:
◦ JRI.jar, JRIEngine.jar, REngine.jar - libraries from Java to R Bridge
◦ RWrapper.jar - Wrapper for ECAST execution framework
◦ R_ets.R - R sample file
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Put all those file into lib/cores
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In models-configuration.xml, add the alias as a core name, for instance "R_ets". The R script
file should be placed in /lib/cores and is named: <Filename>-<Version>.r
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Add the following row in table REF_CORE:
◦ ALIAS = 'R_ets' (your algorithm name must begin with "R_")
◦ FILENAME = 'R_ets' (your algorithm name must begin with "R_")
◦ VERSION = null
◦ INTERFACECLASS = null
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Register the following libraries in REF_CORE_LIB:
◦ INSERT INTO REF_CORE_LIB VALUES (<Id>,'R', 'JRI')
◦ INSERT INTO REF_CORE_LIB VALUES (<Id>,'R', 'JRIEngine')
◦ INSERT INTO REF_CORE_LIB VALUES (<Id>,'R', 'REngine')
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The libraries must be registered only once, all R_<Script>.r scripts can use them
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Finally test your script by running run_model_creator.bat and run_forecast.bat
2.3 Add Mirabel core
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Unzip Mirabel-2.0.zip and put all files into /lib/cores.
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Make sure that you install the libraries that fit your system architecture. If you use 32 bit,
replace the dll with those from lib.zip win32/. Libraries for 64 bit are given.
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Add the following row in table REF_CORE:
◦ ALIAS = mirabel
◦ FILENAME = mirabel
◦ VERSION = '2.0'
◦ INTERFACECLASS = de.ecast.db.calculate.core.MirabelCalculator
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Add <Path Execution Framework>/lib/cores to your PATH variable
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Execute system by testing Mirabel core
3 Core parameters
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You can add all parameters that concern you core to REF_CORE_PARAMETER:
◦ ID_REF_CORE_PARAMETER = unique id (integer)
◦ NAME = alias (string) of your core
◦ KEY = key (string) of your parameter
◦ VALUE = value (string) of your parameter.
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Those parameters are transmitted to your core via ModelConfiguration.coreParameters.
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For R script: coreParameters are split in coreParametersKeys and coreParametersValues.
Please take care of correctly evaluating them in your script!