More Informations

The RMA GUI offers access to platform features using the menu bar and the tool bar visible, but also provides context-sensitive popup menus and tool tips. Now a list of the menu options available will be presented, along with the toolbar buttons that can be used to perform it, if any.
 

1. File Menu

This menu contains the general commands to the RMA.
  1. Close RMA Agent

  2. This item terminates the RMA agent, invoking its doDelete() method, but leaves all the rest of the platform unaffected. Closing the RMA window has the same effect as invoking this command.
     
  3. Exit this Container

  4. This item terminates the agent container the RMA is living in, killing the RMA and all the other agents in the process. If this container is the Agent Platform Front-End, then the whole platform is shut down.
     
  5. Shut down Agent Platform

  6. This item closes down the whole agent platform, terminating all connected containers, then all user agents present on platform front end, and eventually JADE system agents.

2. Action Menu

This menu contains items to invoke all the various administrative actions needed on the platform as a whole or on a set of agents or agent containers. The requested action is performed using the current selection of the agent tree as the target; most of these actions also are associated to toolbar buttons.
  1. Start New Agent

  2. This action creates a new agent. The user is prompted for the name of the new agent and the name of the Java class the new agent is an instance of. Moreover, if an agent container is currently selected, the agent is created and started on that container; otherwise, the user can write the name of the container he or she wants the agent to start on. If no container is specified, the agent is launched on the Agent Platform Front-End. The leftmost button of the toolbar (  )performs this action.
     
  3. Kill Selected Items

  4. This action kills all the agents and agent containers currently selected. Killing an agent is equivalent to calling its doDelete() method, whereas killing an agent container kills all the agent it holds and then deregisters that container from the platform. Of course, if the Agent Platform Front-End is currently selected, then the whole platform is shut down. The third button of the toolbar ( ) fires this action.
     
  5. Suspend Selected Agents

  6. This action suspends the selected agents and is equivalent to calling its doSuspend() method. Beware that suspending a system agent, particularly the AMS, deadlocks the platform, since the RMA acts as a client and is the AMS who ultimately carries out all requested administrative operations. This action can be requested clicking on the fourth ( ) button of the toolbar.
     
  7. Resume Selected Agents

  8. This action puts the selected agents back into th AP_ACTIVE state, provided they were actually suspended, and works just the same as calling their doActivate() method. It is linked to the fifth () button in the toolbar.
     
  9. Send Custom Message to Selected Agents

This action allows to send an ACL message to an agent. Currently, multiple receivers are not supported. When the user selects this menu item (or clicks on the next to rightmost button of the toolbar   ), a special dialog is displayed in which an ACL message can be composed and sent, as the figure below shows.

4. Tools menu:

This menu contains the commands to start all the various tools provided by JADE to application programmers. These tools will help developing and testing JADE based agent systems
  1. Start DummyAgent

  2. The DummyAgent tool allows users to interact with JADE agents hiding themselves behind a special agent.DummyAgent’s GUI allows to compose and send ACL messages, but also keeps a list of all ACL messages sent and received. This list can be examined by the user and each message can be viewed in detail or even edited. Furthermore, the message list can be saved to disk and retrieved later. Many instances of DummyAgent can be started from this menu item or from the associated toolbar button (  ). 
     
  3. Show the DF GUI

  4. This item of the menu allows to activate the GUI of the default DF of the platform. Notice that this GUI is actually executed on the host where the platform (front-end container) was executed.



 
 



JADE is a trademark of CSELT. JADE has been developed jointly by CSELT and the Computer Engineering Group of the University of Parma