fr.lifl.magique
Class AtomicAgent

java.lang.Object
  fr.lifl.magique.AbstractAgent
      fr.lifl.magique.AtomicAgent

Direct Known Subclasses:

Agent, PlatformAgent

public class AtomicAgent

extends AbstractAgent

This class is dedicated to be extended to create more complex agent. It provides an hollow shell for creating agents. An agent must own to a platform, then after creation he must be added to the platform that runs on his host (see platform.addPlatform(Agent)) The of a agent is based on a short name given at creation. To this short name, the IP address (or hostname) of the host where the agent runs is added, as well as the port number of the platform. Therefore, name is of the form shortName@hostname:port (e.g. anAgent@here.domain.country:4444). An agent is gifted of skills. Roughly a skill is a component (then an object) the public methods of which are immediately usable buy the agent. An agent can dynamically learn new skills using the addSkill method or the learnSkill skill. A new skill can be learn while it does not contain a public method with exactly the same signature that another already "known" by the agent. Skills correspond to the reactive part of the agent. Skills known by agent at creation are defined in the initBasicSkills methods. Here messages are in fact Request objects. The text member of a request object is a name of a method (args can be provided). Therefore, an agent can "ask" another agent to achieve a "method" for him. Some othe properties can be set (e.g. the policy for concurrent request : setConcurrencyPolicy

See Also:

Agent, Skill, DefaultSkill, Platform

Field Summary

protected java.util.List	allKnownSkills
protected java.lang.Object	monitor
protected ConcurrencyPolicy	myConcurrencyPolicy the policy for concurrency
protected java.util.Hashtable	mySkills this attributs stores all the "object-skill" the agent own. the mapping is : the key is a method's name, the value is a reference to the associated object.
protected MessageList	unsentRequests

Fields inherited from class fr.lifl.magique.AbstractAgent

questionTable, toDo, verboseLevel

Constructor Summary

AtomicAgent()

AtomicAgent(java.lang.String name)

Method Summary

void	addSkill(java.lang.Object newSkill) Add all the methods of the object newSkill to the agent
void	addSkill(java.lang.String skillClassName) Add all the methods of the class skillClassName to the agent.
void	addSkill(java.lang.String skillClassName, java.lang.Object[] args) Add all the methods of the class skillClassName to the agent.
void	concurrentPerform(Request request) treat a concurrent request : if the agent knows the method, he applies it,
void	connectTo(java.lang.String agentName) connect this agent to another one
java.util.Iterator	getAllKnownSkills()
Platform	getPlatform() get my platform
protected MessageList	getUnsentRequests()
java.lang.String	giveSkillClassNameFromSignature(java.lang.String signature)
protected void	initBasicSkills() defines the skills known by the agent at creation.
protected void	initialize()
protected Request	interprete(Request request) invoke request : text is a known method name.
java.util.Vector	myMethodsNames() the vector containing the names (String) of the methods of this object
void	perform(Request request) treat a request : if the agent knows the method, he applies it,
void	processRequest(Request request) process a received Request object, it can be an answer, to one of my request, back an answer to someone else back on the way to its creator a request to treat
void	removeSkill(java.lang.String key) Remove the "key" from the hashtable of skills.
void	removeSkillFromClassName(java.lang.String skillClassName) remove a skill from its class name
void	send(java.lang.String to, Message msg) send a request to to through the platform if needed If to is unknown, request is stored
void	send(java.lang.String to, Request request)
void	sendMessage(java.lang.String to, Message msg)
void	setAction(ActionSkill action) changes the action skill that corresponds to the proactive part of the agent
void	setConcurrencyPolicy(ConcurrencyPolicy theConcurrencyPolicy) set the concurrency policy
void	setPlatform(Platform platform) set my platform
void	start() starts the agent activity described in action() method (something like the start() method in thread)
void	treatUnsentRequests(java.lang.String agent, java.util.Vector methods) agent is just known at now, maybe he can handle some of the unsent requests ?

Methods inherited from class fr.lifl.magique.AbstractAgent

addAgenda, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, ask, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, askNow, concurrentAsk, concurrentAsk, concurrentAsk, concurrentAsk, concurrentAsk, concurrentAsk, concurrentAsk, createOrder, createOrder, createOrder, createOrder, createOrder, createOrder, createQuestion, createQuestion, createQuestion, createQuestion, createQuestion, createQuestion, createQuestion, createQuestion, forgetQuestion, getAgenda, getAnswerer, getListener, getName, getQuestionTable, getToDo, getVerboseLevel, isAnswerReceived, perform, perform, perform, perform, perform, perform, perform, perform, perform, perform, perform, perform, perform, processAnswer, returnAnswer, returnValue, setName, setQuestionTable, setVerboseLevel, stopListener, verbose

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

unsentRequests

protected MessageList unsentRequests

monitor

protected java.lang.Object monitor

myConcurrencyPolicy

protected ConcurrencyPolicy myConcurrencyPolicy

the policy for concurrency

mySkills

protected java.util.Hashtable mySkills

this attributs stores all the "object-skill" the agent own. the mapping is : the key is a method's name, the value is a reference to the associated object.

allKnownSkills

protected java.util.List allKnownSkills

Constructor Detail

AtomicAgent

public AtomicAgent()

AtomicAgent

public AtomicAgent(java.lang.String name)

Parameters:

name - = shortname : identifier for my name (platform hostname and port number are added) hostname is by default the local one (not "localhost" if Ip address does exist)

Method Detail

initialize

protected final void initialize()

initBasicSkills

protected void initBasicSkills()
                        throws SkillAlreadyAcquiredException

defines the skills known by the agent at creation.

Throws:

SkillAlreadyAcquiredException - if agent tries to learn an already known skill

setConcurrencyPolicy

public void setConcurrencyPolicy(ConcurrencyPolicy theConcurrencyPolicy)

set the concurrency policy

setPlatform

public void setPlatform(Platform platform)

set my platform

getPlatform

public Platform getPlatform()

get my platform

Returns:

my platform

getUnsentRequests

protected MessageList getUnsentRequests()

Returns:

my unsent requests list

addSkill

public void addSkill(java.lang.Object newSkill)
              throws SkillAlreadyAcquiredException

Add all the methods of the object newSkill to the agent

Parameters:

newSkill - the new skills to be added. Each method of the object newSkill, is added to the agent.

Throws:

SkillAlreadyAcquiredException - if newSkill contains a method with the same signature as another already known

addSkill

public void addSkill(java.lang.String skillClassName)
              throws SkillAlreadyAcquiredException

Add all the methods of the class skillClassName to the agent. skillClassName must be in the classpath.

Parameters:

skillClassName - the class used that contains new skills to be added.

Throws:

SkillAlreadyAcquiredException - if newSkill contains a method with the same signature as another already known

addSkill

public void addSkill(java.lang.String skillClassName,
                     java.lang.Object[] args)
              throws SkillAlreadyAcquiredException

Add all the methods of the class skillClassName to the agent. skillClassName must be in the classpath. args are used to create the skill.

Parameters:

skillClassName - the class used that contains new skills to be added.

args - the ragument used to create the skill

Throws:

SkillAlreadyAcquiredException - if newSkill contains a method with the same signature as another already known

See Also:

AtomicAgent#addSkill(Skill)

giveSkillClassNameFromSignature

public java.lang.String giveSkillClassNameFromSignature(java.lang.String signature)

getAllKnownSkills

public java.util.Iterator getAllKnownSkills()

removeSkill

public void removeSkill(java.lang.String key)
                 throws SkillNotKnownException

Remove the "key" from the hashtable of skills. This method removes all the method learned at the same time than key (that means the "full" skill which contains "key")

Parameters:

key - a string representing the method's signature to be removed.

Throws:

SkillNotKnownException - if key is not a knwon method signature

removeSkillFromClassName

public void removeSkillFromClassName(java.lang.String skillClassName)
                              throws SkillNotKnownException

remove a skill from its class name

Parameters:

skillClassName - the class name of the skill to be removed

Throws:

SkillNotKnownException - if skill is not a known skill

myMethodsNames

public java.util.Vector myMethodsNames()

the vector containing the names (String) of the methods of this object

Returns:

the vector containing the names (String) of the methods of this object

connectTo

public void connectTo(java.lang.String agentName)

connect this agent to another one

Parameters:

agentName - the name of the agent i connect to (of the form "name@hostname:rmiport")

send

public void send(java.lang.String to,
                 Request request)

send

public void send(java.lang.String to,
                 Message msg)

send a request to to through the platform if needed If to is unknown, request is stored

Specified by:

send in class AbstractAgent

Parameters:

to - name of recipient (name can be short name)

msg - message to be sent

See Also:

Serializable

sendMessage

public void sendMessage(java.lang.String to,
                        Message msg)

treatUnsentRequests

public void treatUnsentRequests(java.lang.String agent,
                                java.util.Vector methods)

agent is just known at now, maybe he can handle some of the unsent requests ? if so I send them to him

Parameters:

agent - the new known agent

methods - the methods this agent can handle

processRequest

public void processRequest(Request request)

process a received Request object, it can be

• an answer, to one of my request, back
• an answer to someone else back on the way to its creator
• a request to treat

Overrides:

processRequest in class AbstractAgent

Parameters:

request - request to handle

interprete

protected Request interprete(Request request)

invoke request : text is a known method name. If is a question, answer is replied.

Overrides:

interprete in class AbstractAgent

Parameters:

request - the reauest to invoke

Returns:

the request with its answer field updated with invocation result (null if no answer is required)

start

public void start()
           throws NoActionSkillException

starts the agent activity described in action() method (something like the start() method in thread)

Throws:

NoActionSkillException - if action has not been defined

See Also:

fr.lifl.magique.Agent#setAction()

setAction

public void setAction(ActionSkill action)

changes the action skill that corresponds to the proactive part of the agent

Parameters:

action - the new action skill, it must inherit ActionSkill

See Also:

ActionSkill

perform

public void perform(Request request)

treat a request : if the agent knows the method, he applies it,

Specified by:

perform in class AbstractAgent

Parameters:

request - the request to be treated

Returns:

no return value

concurrentPerform

public void concurrentPerform(Request request)

treat a concurrent request : if the agent knows the method, he applies it,

Specified by:

concurrentPerform in class AbstractAgent

Parameters:

request - the request to be treated

Returns:

no return value