The Starter is a central administration tool for managing Jadex agents.
It offers basic functionalities for starting and stopping agents as well
as more advanced ones such as integrity checking
of agent and capability models. In Figure 3.1, “Starter perspective”
a screenshot of the Starter tool is depicted. The tool mainly consists
of three different panels. On the upper left hand side the
Model Tree is located. Below the Model Tree the
Running Agents of the platform are shown. On the
right hand side the Model Panel shows details of
the currently selected agent or capability model.
can be used to add a new directory or jar file to the model tree
and to the classpath from which models are loaded.
can be used to remove a directory or jar file from the model tree
and the classpath.
represents a Java/Jadex package. All agents and capabilities
should be placed in the same package hierarchy as their
corresponding Java plans and other Java classes.
represents a Jadex agent model file. By selecting the file in
the tree the model will be loaded and displayed in the Model
Panel.
represents a Jadex capability model file. By selecting the file in
the tree the model will be loaded and displayed in the Model
Panel.
View refresh.
In addition to the standard start and stop functionalities the model tree also
supports more advanced features. If not explicitly turned off in the "Model"
menu the tree is automatically refreshed in certain time intervals. This means that
changes on hard-disk are immediately reflected within the model tree. You can also
initiate a refreshment directly by clicking the
button.
Integrity checking.
In addition all models found in the tree are automatically checked for integrity if
this feature isn't turned off in the "Model" menu. This feature allows
to effortlessly locate corrupt agent and capability files in the project. If
a corrupt file is found, the file as well as all packages up to the root are marked
as corrupt. A corrupt entity is displayed with a red bolt
.
The Running Agents panel shows all currently alive agents of the platform. For each agent its name and the first transport address is shown. The following actions are available in this view:
To kill an agent it has first to be selected. Thereafter
the kill action can be invoked via the popup menu or the toolbar.
With this action the whole platform can be shut down.
This action will suspend the execution of an agent. This means the agent
will not execute any further activities but will still be present on the
platform and can be resumed later on. Its agent identifier remains valid
and the agent will store incoming message in its buffer.
-
This action allows to resume a formerly suspended agent.
In the Model Panel details of a loaded agent or capability are shown. A model can be loaded either by selecting a file from the Model Tree or by using the button to browse for a certain file. For a selected model several properties are presented:
Filename. The exact filename of the displayed model.
Configuration. This choice contains all available configurations of the agent or capability. The default configuration of the agent or capability is selected.
Agent name. The agent name is a necessary parameter for starting an agent. It represents the instance name for a new created agent from the loaded model. If you don't care about the agent's exact name you can turn on the "auto generate" option which will cause the platform generating an unused agent name. Otherwise you will have to supply a custom name via the offered textfield.
Arguments. The arguments are optional parameters for starting an agent. Input possibilities for arguments will only be available when the agent type includes declared arguments (i.e. exported beliefs). For each argument a separate row will be presented in which the name, type and default value of the argument are shown. (The default value may change depending on the chosen configuration). Additionally, a textfield per row will be presented that allows for entering a Java expression or value. The expression will be validated and incorrect inputs will be underlined in red.
Description. In the lower part of the Model Panel the description of the agent or capability is shown. The description is the HTML rendered output of the initial agent resp. capability comment of the model file. If the model contains errors an error report of all discovered bugs is displayed instead of the description.
If an agent model could be loaded without errors you can start a new agent instance of this model simply by hitting the button. If you changed a model you can load it from model again with the button. The button can be used to clear all fields and discard all loaded models from cache. Finally, the button allows to invoke the online JavaHelp.