(588a) How to Make Use of CAPE-OPEN?

CAPE-OPEN is a freely available interoperability standards for CAPE software tools. Most process simulation software tools implement CAPE-OPEN interfaces that enables the end-user to plug 3rd parties CAPE-OPEN compliant tools and to export CAPE-OPEN compliant components.

End-users of CAPE tools do not need to know about CAPE-OPEN to make use of it. Readily available software tools interact through CAPE-OPEN on a regular basis and this is commonly used in major companies.

Development of CAPE-OPEN compliant software is often a task for software engineers since the implementation of CAPE-OPEN interfaces does require advanced knowledge of middleware technology. Also there is a need to optimize the implementation in order to make non-noticeable the overhead of communicating through CAPE-OPEN interfaces.

For those who do not want to invest in the leraning of advanced programming techniques while still making use of CAPE-OPEN, at least two ways are open, especially for unit operation models: making use of wizards available for the development of CAPE-OPEN compliant unit operations in various programming languages or using modellers that have the capability to export unit operations.

While wizards are not well considered by software engineers, they have proved valuable in inexperienced hands, either for programming in Fortran, VB.Net or Visual Basic. Modellers such as Scilab, Matlab, COMSOL, gPROMS, MoT or even Excel are now available for making CAPE-OPEN compliant unit operations while nullifying the need for middleware knowledge by the model developer.