ILOG CPLEX 10.1 User's Manual > Languages and APIs > ILOG Concert Technology for Java Users > Architecture of a CPLEX Java Application

A user-written application first creates an IloCplex object. It then uses the Concert Technology modeling interface implemented by IloCplex to create the variables, the constraints, and the objective function of the model to be solved. For example, every variable in a model is represented by an object that implements the Concert Technology variable interface IloNumVar. The user code accesses the variable only through its Concert Technology interface. Similarly, all other modeling objects are accessed only through their respective Concert Technology interfaces from the user-written application, while the actual objects are maintained in the ILOG CPLEX database.

Figure 2.1 illustrates how an application uses Concert Technology, IloCplex, and the ILOG CPLEX internals. The Java interfaces, represented by the dashed outline, do not actually consume memory. The ILOG CPLEX internals include the computing environment, its communication channels, and your problem objects.

For users familiar with object-oriented design patterns, this design is that of a factory, where IloCplex is a factory for modeling objects. The advantage of such a design is that code which creates a model using the Concert Technology modeling interface can be used not only with IloCplex, but also with any other factory class, for instance IloSolver. This allows you to try different ILOG optimization technologies for solving your model.

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Figure 2.1 A View of Concert Technology for Java Users

Licenses

ILOG CPLEX runs under the control of the ILOG License Manager (ILM). Before you can run any application program that calls ILOG CPLEX, you must have established a valid license that it can read. Licensing instructions are provided to you separately when you buy or upgrade ILOG CPLEX. Contact your local ILOG support department if this information has not been communicated to you or if you find that you need help in establishing your ILOG CPLEX license. For details about contacting ILOG support, click "Customer Support" at the bottom of the first page of ILOG CPLEX online documentation.

Compiling and Linking

Compilation and linking instructions are provided with the files that come in the standard distribution of ILOG CPLEX for your computer platform. Check the file readme.html for details.