DSS Sharp v0.13.3

Version 0.13.3 upgrades the DSS engine mainly to address bugs fixed in OpenDSS v9.6.1.2 (some present for several years, read below), plus a couple minor fixes on our alternative implementation.

The package is available as an attachment here, and from NuGet: https://www.nuget.org/packages/dss_sharp/
The package contains the required native binaries and should handle copying the DLLs to the output folders correctly for most common scenarios.
Integrating the whole project (.csproj) into an existing solution is also possible, but remember to download the native dependencies.

For an example of usage, see https://github.com/dss-extensions/dss_sharp/tree/master/examples/WinFormsAppSample

What's this?

DSS Sharp is a member of the family of multi-platform language bindings based on the DSS C-API project, which exposes an alternative/customized implementation of the original EPRI's OpenDSS, with a custom API intended to replace and extend the functionality of the official COM object API, while also adding and improving some of the DSS engine internals. For other languages, check: DSS-Python, OpenDSSDirect.py, DSS MATLAB, and OpenDSSDirect.jl.

See more at https://dss-extensions.org/ and also our FAQ.

As with DSS-Python, this package tries to mimic the COM object structure to facilitate the transition and keep most of the existing code valid. The package is usually faster than the COM object for various tasks. Most of the missing features are related to the plotting methods from OpenDSS and A-Diakoptics.

Known differences and more

We maintain a list of important differences between the official COM implementation and DSS C-API at:

https://github.com/dss-extensions/dss_capi/blob/master/docs/known_differences.md

Credits / Acknowledgement

This project is derived from EPRI's OpenDSS and the same style of license (BSD style) is used. As OpenDSS, the project also depends on KLUSolve and SuiteSparse, licensed under the LGPL. The licenses are included in the installation packages.

See the DSS C-API project for more details and source files.

---

⚙️ DSS C-API 0.13.3 changes

check its repo for more info

Bugfix release for some components. No other major changes.

Fixes ported from the official OpenDSS v9.6.1.2 (SVN r3619) released on 2023-06-06, plus our custom changes (including new tests). Test circuits cross-validated as usual.

• LoadShape: check if there's any allocated pointer before normalizing. Since we provide more ways to fill the LoadShape data besides the official alternatives, we needed to add a few more checks in case of misuse to avoid using invalid pointers. Includes a minor fix to how manual values (set by the user) for mean and stddev are handled.

• show command: adjust formatting for show variables, show isolated, show loops, show faults.

• GICTransformer: clean-up the code and add a minor fix for BusX.

• Editor: tweak how the process is started; works better on Linux for terminal-based editors (GUI editors are recommended for a better experience though).

• Obj/API and headers: new functions and add a few warnings in the docs.

• New compatibility flag in DSSCompatFlags: add SaveCalcVoltageBases. On recent versions, running a save circuit doesn't include a CalcVoltageBases anymore since that causes issues for some users. We added the new flag SaveCalcVoltageBases to restore the old/original behavior. More options are planned for a future version in a dedicated function in the API.

• Ported (and complemented) from the official OpenDSS SVN code:

  • UPFC, r3610: "Fixing losses in UPFC model, there was a bug introduced several years ago when trying to redefine losses based on residual currents (bad idea)." (by davismont)
  • CapControl, r3615: "Fixing property requirement (element) for capcontrol in Time and Follow control modes", by davismont
  • Capacitor/Reactor: fixes related to 1- or 2-phase LL objects and Yprim; NormAmps/EmergAmps.
    • r3613: "Fixing bug in Yprim formation for 1-ph and 2-ph delta-connected capacitors. Fix to user-specified NormAmps and EmergAmps for capacitors, which were always being overridden with default values. Pending to check for same issues on Reactors." (by celsorocha)
    • r3616: "Fixing bug in Yprim formation for 1-ph and 2-ph delta-connected reactors. Fix to user-specified NormAmps and EmergAmps for reactors, which were always being overridden with default values." (by celsorocha)
    • Also includes an extra fix for a corner-case issue detected with our tests on DSS-Extensions.
  • PVSystem/Storage/InvControl, r3597/r3598: "Adding current limiting capabilities to IBR in QSTS and dynamics modes. Examples also available." (by davismont). Also refactored more common code to InvBasedPCE on the DSS-Extensions version.