The simulator creates CSV files with random records by defining its fields and random distributions on a YAML properties file.

The JAR file execution only requires Java 8 and the development requires Maven and optionally Eclipse. Additionally, the random variable dependencies visualization requires GraphViz.

Once the code was downloaded, run the next command inside the project directory:

mvn compile
mvn assembly:assembly -DdescriptorId=jar-with-dependencies
mv target/csvSimulator-1.0-jar-with-dependencies.jar target/csvSimulator-1.0.jar

Aditionally, an eclipse project can be created by running:

mvn eclipse:eclipse

The simulator needs a YAML configuration file that defines a CsvGenerator structure. For example, the next snippet shows the contents of greetings.yml:

!!com.csvsim.wrapper.CsvGenerator
fields:
- &id001 {name: greeting, type: STRING}
generator: !!com.csvsim.wrapper.String {field: *id001, discreteHistogram: {Hi: 0.4, Bye: 0.4, Au revoir: 0.2}}

This files defines a single field named greeting and its discrete distribution with three strings: "Hi", "Bye", and "Au revoir".

To simulate an infinite number of records run:

java -jar target/csvSimulator-1.0.jar -f greetings.yml

To simulate only five records run:

java -jar target/csvSimulator-1.0.jar -f greetings.yml -n 5

Both simulations can be run on a socket server, for example, to simulate 100 records and start the server on port 2020 type:

java -jar target/csvSimulator-1.0.jar -f greetings.yml -n 100 -p 2020

To test the server, open another terminal and run telnet on port 2020:

telnet localhost 2020

Finally, to create a field and random distribution dependency graph in DOT language run:

java -jar target/csvSimulator-1.0.jar -f greetings.yml -d greetings.dot

To create a SVG file run:

dot -Tsvg greetings.dot > greetings.svg

For instance, the next image shows the fields and random distributions of the 3.containers.yml example.

The next example files are located in the main directory:

• 0.helloWorld.yml
• 1.fieldStructure.yml
• 2.basicGenerators.yml
• 3.containers.yml
• 4.discreteEventDispatcher.yml