Reference Manual

| Table of Contents |

Action Editor

The Action Editor allows you to view, edit and create actions. An action is an association between an action name and a method on a PAC. The action name may be the same as the method name or it may be different. An action also contains lists of preconditions and effects which will automatically be added to any rule containing the action. The actions are optional, you can use direct method invocation instead. The Actions will be needed when you create Commitments that need to invoke methods on PACs.

Overview

You can open the Action Editor by selecting Action Editor from the Tools menu in the Agent Manager or selecting the Action tab in the Agent Manager . You can also double-click on an action in the Agent Manager Actions Panel to open the Action Editor. After opening the Action Editor, you can use the File menu to create a new action, save the current list of actions, close the Action Editor, and exit the system. The Edit menu allows you to delete actions from the defined actions list. The Windows menu lets you switch between other AgentBuilder tools that are open. The Help menu provides access to the AgentBuilder help system. The Action Editor is shown in Figure 45.

Figure 45. Action Editor

The Action Properties panel allows you to either create a new action or view a defined action. The Action Properties panel allows you to specify an action's name, description, PAC, PAC Instance and PAC method.

The Defined Actions panel allows you to add new actions to the list, or delete defined actions from the list.

Operation

Creating an Action

If you want to create a new action, the Action Properties panel must be cleared. If an action is currently being worked on, you can select the New menu item from the File menu. Selecting the New menu item will prompt you to confirm that you want to create a new action.

To create an action, fill out the Action Properties panel. The action's name must be entered into the Name text field. You can either press the Enter key on your keyboard while your cursor is in the Name text field, or click on the Enter button on the panel. Once an action name has been entered, the new action name will appear in the Defined Action text field. If the text in the Defined Action text field has scrolled out of view, you can click on the text field, and use the , , Home and End keyboard keys.

You can select a PAC from the <PAC> combo-box. PACs that have been defined for the currently loaded agent will be loaded into the <PAC> combo-box. The selected PAC will be shown in the Defined Action text field.

The Method combo-box is dependent on the selection in the PAC combo-box. Once a PAC has been selected, the PAC's methods will be loaded into the <Method> combo-box. To complete the action definition, you must select a method. The selected method will then be shown in the Defined Action text field.

You can also specify a PAC Instance. If there are any PAC Instances that have been built from the currently selected PAC, they will show up in the PAC Instance combo-box.

You can also enter a description for the action in the Description text area.

Adding an Action

Once an action has been completely defined, the Defined Action Add button will become enabled. At the minimum, an action must have a name, PAC, and method selected. To add the action shown in the Defined Action text field, the user must press the Add button.

Pressing the Add button will add the action in the Defined Action text field to the list of defined actions. The Action Properties panel will be reset so a new action can be defined, or so an existing action can be displayed.

Viewing Defined Actions

You can view actions that are in the defined actions list. Selecting an action will cause the selected action to be loaded into the Action Properties panel.

Editing a Defined Action

Once you load a defined action into the Action Properties panel, you can edit the action. You can repeat any of the steps outlined in the section on Creating an Action. If you want to add the edited action to the list, then add the action as outlined in the Adding an Action. If the edited action has the same name as the old action, the edited action will overwrite the old action. Otherwise, it will be added to the list of defined actions, along with the old action.

Deleting a Defined Action

If you wish to delete a defined action, you have two options. You can first select the action in the Defined Actions list, then click on the Delete button. You can also select the action in the list, then select the Delete menu item from the Edit menu.

Saving the Actions

After you're finished adding and deleting actions, you need to save the action list to the current agent. To do this, select the Save menu item from the File menu.

Switching Windows

The Windows menu is a dynamic menu that contains a list of all AgentBuilder tools that are open. This menu facilitates switching between the tools when multiple tools are open. To switch to the desired tool, select the tool from the Windows menu. The selected tool will then be brought to the front on your screen.

Accessing Help

The help system can be accessed using the Help menu item. The About menu item allows you to read the help information for the current tool. The Index menu item will display an index to the help system's contents. The Tutorial menu item will display the Quick Tour of the AgentBuilder toolkit. The About AgentBuilder menu item will display the AgentBuilder logo along with the version number and copyright information. The AgentBuilder Home Page menu item will display the home page for the AgentBuilder product.

Closing the Action Editor

To close the Action Editor and leave all other tools open, select Close from the File menu. If you have modified the list of defined actions, you will be given a chance to save the action list before closing the Action Editor.

Exiting AgentBuilder

The File menu's Exit menu can be used to exit AgentBuilder. This will close all of the tools that are currently open. If you have modified the list of defined actions, you will be given a chance to save the action list before exiting the system.

| Table of Contents |


AgentBuilder is a registered trademark of Reticular Systems, Inc.
Copyright © 1998-2001 Reticular Systems, Inc.