IDES Software

About IDES

IDES (Integrated Discrete-Event Systems) Software is designed to assist you with discrete-event problem-solving and with input and output of DES models. IDES allows you to mimic pen-and-paper drawing of state-transition diagrams, export your drawings to formats such asEPS, PNG, JPEG, LaTeX, or Grail+  and perform DES operations. It was created in the QDES Lab at Queen’s University under the supervision of Prof. Karen Rudie. IDES is the product of many developers: Philippe Nguyen, Mike Wood, Lenko Grigorov, Kristian Edlund, Axel G. Michelsen, Helen Bretzke, Sarah-Jane Whittaker, Chris McAloney, Christian Silvano, Chris Dragert, Utsav Mital and Valerie Sugarman.

Github Project

Starting with version 3.1, the IDES source code was released under the AGPL-3.0 open source license and the project was moved to Github

Previous releases of IDES can be downloaded from the links below.

IDES Previous Releases

The previous releases of IDES are for educational purposes only; to use our software, you must abide by the terms and conditions of the license. CLICK HERE to view the agreement.

IDES 3 beta 1

CLICK HERE to download the IDES3b1 zip package. After the download is complete, extract it in any location on your hard drive. A folder, called IDES3, will be created which contains all program files. Double-click on the IDES3.jar file inside this folder to launch the program. If “jar” files are not associated with Java on your machine, you may need to start a command prompt in the IDES folder and execute java -jar IDES3.jar to launch the program.

In order to use the LaTeX features of IDES, you have to install LaTeX and GhostScript on your computer. Full instructions on how to download and install this software can be found here.

Our software has a pluggable architecture that allows you to write your own features and to tailor IDES to your own DES needs. CLICK HERE to download the IDES3b1api developer add-on which contains the API, additional documentation and guide on writing plugins. This package is not required for regular users, only those that wish to develop their own IDES functionality.

IDES 2.1 beta 5

To download the previous incarnation IDES2.1b5, CLICK HERE. If you’re looking for an even earlier version, please email us and we will provide you with a ZIP file.

IDES 3 Beta 1 Tutorial

A complete tutorial which describes how to use IDES can be found here. It will provide you with the overview necessary to begin drawing and manipulating finite-state machines, performing operations and more. It should be noted that our current release of IDES is a beta version and thus does not possess all the functionality it will in the future. The operations currently offered by IDES have been moderately tested, but our process of formal verification is not yet complete.

IDES 3 Beta 1 Release Notes

Known issues
  • Poor automatic placement of event labels on edges
  • Occasional poor automatic placement of edges
  • Node labels may not be centered properly when exporting to LaTeX or EPS
  • Potential problems when using the uniform node size option
  • DES operations are not formally verified
  • Automatic layout of the result of operations is slow
  • Pasting from the clipboard might not always work as expected
Changes from previous releases
Version: 3 beta 1
  • Numerous new operations
  • Multiple inputs can be selected for operations which support this (e.g., “sync”)
  • New model type “Event Set”
  • Introduced an API for plugins. One can create plugins for custom
    • operations
    • import/export
    • graph layout
    • etc.

    (please download the developers package for relevant documentation)

  • The “Template Design” plugin is included with IDES
  • Event list is now visible in the side panel
  • Font size can be changed
  • Copy and paste of graphs and events is supported
  • Addition of a new tree layout algorithm
  • Tutorials included with IDES (listed in the Help menu)
  • Models can be annotated with arbitrary text (“Annotations” tab)
  • Warning and error messages appear in a separate “Notices” tab
  • Added command to simplify state labels
  • Examples are now included with IDES
  • Numerous bugfixes
Version: 2.1 beta 5
  • Fix to “supcon” operation
  • Fix to FSA implementation bug which could lead to incorrect DES operation results
  • Other minor bugfixes
Version: 2.1 beta 4
  • Introduction of Undo and Redo
  • New appearance of edges depending on controllability and observability. Controllable edges have a little marker, unobservable edges are dashed
  • Models can be renamed
  • New export to JPEG and PNG files
  • Fix to export to EPS
  • “Use uniform node size” is now graph-specific
  • IDES now remembers your interface settings, such as viewed portion of the model, zoom level, etc., when switching between models
  • Addition of the Multi-Agent product operation
  • “Filmstrip” at the bottom automatically scrolls to active model
  • Numerous bugfixes
Version: 2.1 beta 3
  • Greater usability when drawing graphs
  • Performance improvements (speed and memory footprint)
  • Large graphs with more than 100 states are not displayed graphically by default
  • New I/O subsystem
  • Automatic labeling of nodes
  • New “save modified models” dialog
  • Import/export of TCT and Grail+ files
  • Resolved occasional issues with the labelling of nodes after composition operations (e.g., synchronous product)
  • Smaller default node size so graphs look nicer
  • Compatibility issues with newer versions of MikTeX resolved
  • Improvements to the UI under MacOS
  • Numerous bugfixes