+/** \ingroup msg_task_usage
+ * \brief Sets the tracing category of a task.
+ *
+ * This function should be called after the creation of
+ * a MSG task, to define the category of that task. The
+ * first parameter task must contain a task that was
+ * created with the function #MSG_task_create. The second
+ * parameter category must contain a category that was
+ * previously declared with the function #TRACE_category
+ * (or with #TRACE_category_with_color).
+ *
+ * See \ref tracing for details on how to trace
+ * the (categorized) resource utilization.
+ *
+ * \param task the task that is going to be categorized
+ * \param category the name of the category to be associated to the task
+ *
+ * \see MSG_task_get_category, TRACE_category, TRACE_category_with_color
+ */
+void MSG_task_set_category (msg_task_t task, const char *category)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_TRACING
+ TRACE_msg_set_task_category (task, category);
+#endif
+}
+
+/** \ingroup msg_task_usage
+ *
+ * \brief Gets the current tracing category of a task.
+ *
+ * \param task the task to be considered
+ *
+ * \see MSG_task_set_category
+ *
+ * \return Returns the name of the tracing category of the given task, NULL otherwise
+ */
+const char *MSG_task_get_category (msg_task_t task)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_TRACING
+ return task->category;
+#else
+ return NULL;
+#endif
+}
+
+/**
+ * \brief Returns the value of a given AS or router property
+ *
+ * \param asr the name of a router or AS
+ * \param name a property name
+ * \return value of a property (or NULL if property not set)
+ */
+const char *MSG_as_router_get_property_value(const char* asr, const char *name)
+{
+ return xbt_dict_get_or_null(MSG_as_router_get_properties(asr), name);
+}
+
+/**
+ * \brief Returns a xbt_dict_t consisting of the list of properties assigned to
+ * a the AS or router
+ *
+ * \param asr the name of a router or AS
+ * \return a dict containing the properties
+ */
+xbt_dict_t MSG_as_router_get_properties(const char* asr)
+{
+ return (simcall_asr_get_properties(asr));
+}
+
+/**
+ * \brief Change the value of a given AS or router
+ *
+ * \param asr the name of a router or AS
+ * \param name a property name
+ * \param value what to change the property to
+ * \param free_ctn the freeing function to use to kill the value on need
+ */
+void MSG_as_router_set_property_value(const char* asr, const char *name, char *value,void_f_pvoid_t free_ctn) {
+ xbt_dict_set(MSG_as_router_get_properties(asr), name, value,free_ctn);
+}
+