What's New

As of 6/14/2001

• API Changes

  Add (Models), Save, Load, FileName, FileFormat have changed. Previously, the Name of a model was by default the same as its filename. Now a model's Name and FileName are unrelated. For examples see Loading Models, etc.: an Overview

• Additions to the API

  The events PropertyTypePutDescription and PropertyTypePutEnumValues have been added to allow tracking of changes to PropertyType defintions.

As of 8/24/2000

• API Changes

  The event EngineInferenceReady(bReady) has been replaced by two events: EngineInferenceReady and EngineInferenceNotReady.
  

  The Engine's RecommendationsType property must be explicated set to get troubleshooting or other non-default recommendations methods.

• Additions to the API

  • The event EngineInferenceReassess tells if Belief may have changed because the parameters of node distributions have been changed.
  • INFERENUM now has an explicit default value,ine_Default.
  • The Engine of a model now has a RecommendationsType property of type RECOMMENDENUM that tells how recommendations should be calculated. This can also be set with the Models collection's Add method.
  • The Engine also has a RecommendationsReady property that tells if the Engine is ready to make recommendations. (It can also be used to make it ready; although, this is usually not necessary because  it will automatically be made ready if it is used.). Changes to this property's status can be monitored with the EngineRecommendationReady and EngineRecommendationNotReady events.
  • A Model now has a FileFormat property of type FILEFORMATENUM that tells which format to use when saving a model to disk. A model also has a FileName property that can override the model's name as file name where a model should be saved to disk. Changes to these properties can be monitored with the SetFileFormat and SetFileName events.
  • Events have added to monitor changes in time. (This is applicable for time-based inference. Currently when the Engine's Type=ine_HmmCopyBack). The new events are EngineTimeWillIncrement, EngineTimeIncrement, and EngineTimeReset.
  • Not all strings are allowed as the names of nodes, for examples, spaces are not allowed in node names. The method LegalNodeName can created a legal name form any string.
  • The MSBN object has a new property MaxEngineSizeBytes and a new event SetMaxEngineSizeBytes that control and monitor the maximum size of inference engines.

Semantic Changes and Clarifications

• When a change to the Evidence or Assignment collections is immaterial (e.g. setting a node/state pair that is already there), no event will fire.

• Use of SharedDomains may be phased out in the future. Its use is not recommended.

• When an item is removed from the ModelNodes. Models, PropertyTypes, or States collections, it becomes a "zombie". With one exception, if you try to use a zombie, you'll get an error message. The one exception is that the ExistingKey method can test if a zombie is a member of the collection.

• Calling a model's Save may make it not ready for inference. The next time inference is used, however, it will automatically be made ready.

• Setting the value of a Properties(index) to Nothing, removes the property from node or model.

• Previously, when a collection was  indexed with an object, only the object's name matters. Now, the collection also tests that the object really is a member of the collection.

12/14/98 - version 1.0.0.5

Some API changes

Here are changes most likely to require changes in code that uses MSBN3:

• The names of several parameters have been changed. This won't effect code that uses positional parameterization.

Additions to the API

• EngineInferenceReady event -- tells when the readiness of the inference engine changes
  

•  

  MSBNLogger, ModelLogger objects -- provides the events required for full logging.

  12/03/98 - version 1.0.0.4

  Some API changes

  Here are changes most likely to require changes in code that uses MSBN3:

  • The "bArray" parameter of PropertyTypes 's Add is now "IsArray".
    
  • Many Dist related events changed.
  •  

    Additions to the API

    • ChildNodes collection - a property of nodes
      

    • The Properties collection has a new Owner property that tells if it is owned by the Model or by a Node. If it is owned by a node, it tells which one.
      

    • The States collection has a new Owner property that tells if it is owned by the SharedDomains collection or by a Node. If it is owned by a node, it tells which one.
      

    • Repair- In troubleshooting networks, this method says that you are repairing something, not just observing that it is working.
      

    • New Events

      • Reset (Model) -- fired on a model after load and copy
        
      • Remove (Model) -- tells a model that it is about to be removed
        
      • Save -- tells that a model has been saved and to what file.
        
      • NodeParentNodeSetDescription -- tells a node that one of its parents is having its description changed.

    Semantic Changes

    • Fewer events fire during big changes

      When you create a model via load or copy only one event will fire: Reset (Model). Similarly when a Model (or Dist) object is removed the object will get a Remove (Model) (or Remove (Dist)) event telling it that it is about to go away.

      (Previously, when a model was created or removed, many events would fire as each little piece of the model was created or destroyed.)

    • Blocking distributions are automatically removed

      When a change, such as removing all states from a node, conflicts with a distribution, the distribution is automatically removed. The removal of distributions can be monitored with the NodeRemoveDist event.

      (Previously, conflicts between editing and distributions resulted in a general error message.)

  ---

  09/09/98

  Some API changes

  Here are changes most likely to require minor changes in code that uses MSBN3:

  • The NodeParentNodesRemove event now also tells the position of the removed parent.
    
  • Add (ModelNodes) no longer allows a distribution type to be specified. If you want the node to have a distribution, first use Add (ModelNodes) to create the node, then use AddDist to add a distribution to the node. Method AddDist allows you to specify a distribution type.
  •  

    Optional Distributions

  Nodes now may or may not have a distribution. If a node does not have a distribution, the value of its Dist property will be Nothing.

  • To add a distribution to a node use the AddDist method.
    

  • To test of a node has a distribution, use this expression:

  Not aNode.Dist Is Nothing

  • To remove a distribution from a node, use RemoveDist or

  Set aNode.Dist = Nothing

  Tracking Multiple Models and Multiple Distributions

  The "trick" that allows a Visual Basic program to track events from an indefinite number models has been improved and generalized. It now also allows Visual Basic to track events from an indefinite number of distribution objects. The properties and event used are:

  • EventModel - this property of the MSBN object tells which Model object to initially watch. It may have a value of Nothing.
    

  • EventDist - this property of a Model object tells which Dist to initially watch. It may have a value of Nothing.
    

  • SetEventModel - the MSBN object fires this event to tell you to start watching a different Model. The value of the model may be Nothing.
    

  • SetEventDist - a Model object fires this event to tell you to start watching a different Dist. The value of the Dist may be Nothing.

  If you watch the Model and Dist objects that these properties and events specify you will see every model-level and dist-level event that is fired.

  Dist Events

  Distributions can be tracked by watching these model-level events:

  • NodeAddDist
    

  • NodeRemoveDist

  and these distribution-level events:

  • Reset - major change, requiring a scan
    

  • SetValue - a parameter value changes
    

  • NodeSetName - the name of the distribution's node changes
    

  • NodeStateSetName - the name of a state changes in the node
    

  • ParentNodeSetName - the name of a parent changes
    

  • ParentNodeStateSetName - the name of a state changes in a parent
    

  • SetUsingDefault - a paramgroup of a Sparse distribution starts/ends using the default
    

  • SetDefault - a default parameter changes

Some API changes

Here are changes most likely to require minor changes in code that uses MSBN3:

•  
  Load and Add (Models) now accept an explicit file name before the error file name. If you don't want to specify this file name, just add a comma before the error file name.
•  

  Load, Add, Save

Now optionally take a filename argument.

• State events
  

• Minimum distribution changes

When a node is remove or just remove from a parent collection, one of its states can be specified

---