HELICS Installation¶

HELICS Installation Methods¶

The first step to using HELICS is to install it. Since there are several ways to do this, the flow chart below provides some insight into what approach is likely to be the easiest depending upon a number of factors, most predominantly the programming language bindings that you intend to use. Below the flow chart are links to more complete instructions for each method. Note that you’ll need an internet connection for this process, as we’ll be downloading HELICS from the internet.

As of HELICS v3, the only supported language bindings that are included with the core HELICS library downloads are C and C++98, in addition to C++17 when building from source. If you end up needing to build from source AND use one of the supported language bindings you’ll need to follow the instructions for installing HELICS for said language. This would also be the case if you were needing to run a co-simulation that used tools that provided their HELICS implementation in a variety of languages. Generally speaking, as long as all supported languages are on similar versions, each one can use it own installed version of HELICS without any trouble. The supported languages also have ways of being pointed towards a specific HELICS installation (rather than the one they install for themselves) if that is preferred or necessary for a particular use case.

%%{ init: { 'theme': 'base', 'themeVariables': { 'primaryColor': '#0C96D0', 'edgeLabelBackground':'#646464', 'tertiaryColor': '#646464', 'primaryTextColor': '#ffffff' }, 'flowchart': { 'useMaxWidth': true } } }%% graph LR Start(Do you want to install a standard HELICS version?) -->|Yes| languageChoice Start -->|No| build subgraph Source Build build[Build from source for the particular branch or configuration that you need.] end subgraph Package Manager/Precompiled languageChoice(What language are you using?) languageChoice -->|Python| python["Use pip: pip install 'helics[cli]'"] languageChoice -->|MATLAB| matlab[Follow instructions in the matHELICS repository] languageChoice -->|julia| julia[Use pkg: pck> add helics] languageChoice -->|Java| java[Build from source with the Java CMAKE option set HELICS_BUILD_JAVA_INTERFACE=ON] languageChoice -->|nim| nim[Use nimble: nimble install https://github.com/GMLC-TDC/helics.nim#head] languageChoice -->|C#| csharp[Build from source with the C# CMAKE option set HELICS_BUILD_CSHARP_INTERFACE=ON] languageChoice -->|C/C++| hpc subgraph   hpc[Will you be using HELICS on an HPC?] hpc --> |Yes| spack[use spack] hpc --> |No| precompiled end end click build "https://docs.helics.org/en/latest/user-guide/installation/build_from_source.html" "build from source" click python "https://python.helics.org/installation/" "pyhelics installation guide" click matlab "https://github.com/GMLC-TDC/matHELICS/blob/main/README.md" "matHELICS installation guide" click julia "https://github.com/GMLC-TDC/HELICS.jl/blob/master/README.md" "HELICS.jl installation guide" click java "https://docs.helics.org/en/latest/user-guide/installation/build_from_source.html" "jHELICS installation guide" click nim "https://github.com/GMLC-TDC/helics.nim/blob/master/README.md" "nim installation guide" click csharp "https://docs.helics.org/en/latest/user-guide/installation/build_from_source.html" "C# installation guide" click precompiled "https://docs.helics.org/en/latest/user-guide/installation/installing_the_pre_compiled_libraries.html" "precompiled libraries installation guide" click spack "https://docs.helics.org/en/latest/user-guide/installation/spack.html" "spack installation guide"

Build from source¶

Build from source

Python via pip install¶

pip install helics

matHELICS install¶

Installation instructions are available in the matHELICS repository README

Julia install¶

pkg> add HELICS

pip install¶

pip install 'helics[cli]' (Includes the optional but recommended helics_cli tool.)

jHELICS¶

Build from source with the CMAKE option HELICS_BUILD_JAVA_INTERFACE=ON

nimble install¶

nimble install https://github.com/GMLC-TDC/helics.nim#head

C# install¶

Build from source with the CMAKE option HELICS_BUILD_CSHARP_INTERFACE=ON

Download pre-compiled¶

Download the pre-compiled libraries and add them to your system path

spack install¶

spack install helics

Running an Example¶

The Quick Start guide walks through the steps of running the first Python-based User Guide example and serves as a good way to test your (Python) installation.

HELICS runner¶

Previously a separate executable, helics_cli was used to provide functionality to launch a HELICS-based co-simulation by calling a JSON configuration such as

helics run --path=<path to HELICS runner JSON>

This functionality still exists but has been moved to the PyHELICS code base and the helics_cli repository has been deprecated. Thus, it is recommended that all users install PyHELICS (via pip install 'helics[cli]' as described above) to gain the runner and web interface functionality.