The Protocol Manager is shown in Figure 71. This tool allows you to create and view the set of protocols to be used with various agencies. This tool gives you a high-level view of protocols. The Protocol Editor is used to define all of the properties needed to use a protocol with a specified agency.
Figure 71. The Protocol Manager
The Protocol Manager has five menus: File , Edit , Tools , Windows and Help . The File menu allows you to create new protocols, close the Protocol Manager and shut down AgentBuilder. The Edit menu allows you to Cut , Copy , Paste and Delete a protocol. You can use the Tools menu to open the Protocol Editor for a selected protocol. The Windows menu allows you to quickly and easily switch between the various open AgentBuilder tools.
The protocol tree view allows you to view user-defined and system protocols. You can create and view any number of protocols. The system protocols in the protocol tree are displayed with red text labels. The red text labels signifies that the protocols are read-only and cannot be altered. A user's personal protocols are displayed with black text labels. When a protocol is selected in the left panel, the right panel displays general information about the protocol and includes a short textual description of the protocol as well as information about where the protocol is located. Note that the divider between the protocol tree structure and the properties window can be moved horizontally to provide more viewing space for the protocols.
The protocol manager uses the same tree structures found in other AgentBuilder tools The protocol manager has three levels in its tree structure. The highest level is the Protocols level, which contains repository folders, which in turn, contains the defined protocols. The repository folders are represented in the tree by a folder icon. The protocols are represented without an icon. Any protocols that read-only are displayed with red text labels.
A new protocol can be added to your user's repository folder by first selecting the user's repository folder. You would then select the New Protocol menu item from either the File menu or the repository folder's pop-up menu. This will bring up the dialog shown in Figure 72. The properties of the protocol can be entered into this dialog.
Figure 72. Protocol Properties Dialog
Protocols can be cut, copied, or pasted. There are two ways to use the clipboard functions for a protocol. The first way is to use the Edit menu's Cut , Copy and Paste menu items. The other method is to use the protocol's pop-up menu for cut and copy, and the repository folder's pop-up menu for paste. Whichever method is used, a protocol must first be selected before a cut or copy operation. For the paste operation, a user or system repository folder must be selected. Invalid selections will be ignored. If the folder being pasted into already contains the name of the protocol being pasted, the protocol to be pasted will recursively have CopyOf prepended to its name.
The general protocol properties can be modified by right-clicking on the appropriate protocol in the tree structure and selecting the Properties... menu item from the pop-up menu.
To delete a protocol from the protocol tree structure, simple select the desired protocol and choose Delete from the Edit menu or from the pop-up menu. This will display a confirmation dialog before deleting the selected protocol.
You can launch the Protocol Editor tool from the Tools menu. It is necessary to first select the desired protocol before launching the Protocol Editor . If you launch the Protocol Editor without first selecting a protocol, AgentBuilder will remind you by displaying a dialog asking you to select a protocol.
To switch between different AgentBuilder windows, select the desired window in the Windows menu. This will bring the selected window to the foreground.