June 2001
agentTool 1.8.3 User's manual
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
AIR FORCE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OHIO
Approved for public release; distribution unlimited
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Table of contents
BASIC GRAPHIC INSTRUCTIONS......................................................................................................... 1
1. ADDING ............................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Objects............................................................................................................ 1
1.2 Connectors...................................................................................................... 1
1.3 HotKeys.......................................................................................................... 1
2. MOVING & MANIPULATING................................................................................. 1
2.1 Objects............................................................................................................ 1
2.2 Connectors...................................................................................................... 1
2.3 Snapping to Grid ............................................................................................ 2
2.4 Manipulating .................................................................................................. 2
2.5 Multiple Objects............................................................................................. 2
3. DELETING ............................................................................................................ 2
3.1 Objects & Connectors .................................................................................... 2
4. PRINTING ............................................................................................................. 2
BUILDING YOUR SYSTEM...................................................................................................................... 3
1. GOALS ................................................................................................................. 3
2. USE CASES........................................................................................................... 4
3. SEQUENCE DIAGRAMS ......................................................................................... 2
4. ROLE DIAGRAMS ................................................................................................. 2
5. SPECIFYING AGENTS............................................................................................ 2
5.1 Agent Template Diagram Panel..................................................................... 2
5.2 State Diagrams ............................................................................................... 1
6. DEPLOYMENT PANEL ........................................................................................... 1
VERIFYING CONVERSATIONS.............................................................................................................. 4
1.1 Verifying Conversations ................................................................................ 4
2. SET UP FOR VERIFICATION PURPOSES .................................................................. 7
2.1 Within VisualAge........................................................................................... 7
2.2 Outside VisualAge ......................................................................................... 7
AGENT TOOL V1.8 ADDITIONS (2-9-01)............................................................................................... 8
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AGENT TOOL V1.8 BUG FIXES ............................................................................................................ 10
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BASIC GRAPHIC INSTRUCTIONS
1. Adding
1.1 Objects
To add an object, click on the button on the left hand of the screen that is labeled as the
object that you wish to add. (i.e.- the “Add Agent” button adds an agent).
1.2 Connectors
To add a connector, at least one object must already exist on the panel. If it does not,
there is nothing to connect and a message in the message box will tell you that you must
first add an object. Once you have at least one object on the panel, you may begin to add
a connector. There are three steps to adding a connector. They are:
1. Click the correct button. (i.e.- if you wish to add a conversation, click “Add
Conversation”)
2. Click on the first object that you wish to connect. (Click within the box for that
object)
3. Click on the second object that you wish to connect.
If you wish to create a loop, just click on the same object twice.
1.3 HotKeys
On many of the buttons you will find you can also use hotkeys alt-XX to “press” the
button without pressing it. This allows you to quickly add many components without
moving the mouse back and forth to the buttons. Also, many of the menu items also have
hotkeys associated with them. (XX will be underlined on the button text. i.e. – “Add
Agent” button has alt-a for its hotkey.)
2. Moving & Manipulating
2.1 Objects
Moving- To move an object, click and hold the mouse somewhere inside the object you
wish to move and then drag your object to wherever you wish on the displayed panel.
NOTE: It is not wise to move the selected object off the displayed panel. You may not
be able to recover the object
2.2 Connectors
Moving- Connector endpoints will move with their objects. Internal points may be added
to the connectors between the two objects (except for loops). To do this, drag on the
connector between the two objects. Try to stay a good distance away from the
components when doing this. This will add another point to your connector that can then
be moved around just by clicking on it. When Components are moved, the points
between the object do not move, so you may have to manually move them to meet your
visual desires.
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When multiple connectors are connected to the side of an object, the component arranges
them in a manner it sees fit. If this order does not mesh with your requests, you can
change it. To do so, click on or very near to the point where the connector and object
connect. Now, drag the mouse above or below the closest connector. You will see that
the two connectors will then swap places.
It is easy to clutter your screen with lines that contain many points, and often you find
you have created a point that you do not want anymore. To remove a point from a line,
simply drag it on top of another point in the line, or either end of the line. The two points
will automatically merge when they are within a short distance of each other. It can
sometimes be difficult to see the points in the line, so when you select the line they are
now circled in blue.
2.2.1 Example
There are three connectors going into the left
side of component “A”. Let us call them C1,
C2, and C3, from top to bottom.
If we want C1 to be below C2, click on the
end point of C1 (outside of the component
“A”) and drag the mouse below the end point
of C2. They will automatically switch. Now
the order of connectors into the left side of
component “A” from top to bottom is C2,
C1, and C3.
NOTE: Do this slowly. Just switch two
components at a time
2.3 Snapping to Grid
While arranging your numerous objects on the screen you may find it helpful to arrange
your items along a common gridline. While there is no visible grid, there is a function to
snap objects to a grid point by their top left corner. You can do this by simply holding
the shift key down while you move the object around. You’ll notice that it will lock to
one position until you move the mouse closer to the next grid point. Java can be a bit
touchy, so if the snap is not working try releasing the shift key and then pressing it again.
Possibly more useful than the object grid snapping is the function to snap connector lines.
This function also works by holding the shift key while you move a connector point
around. However, the line is not snapped to a grid. Instead when your line is close to
being vertical, horizontal, or at a 45 degree, the line will snap to these angles. You will
find this makes it very easy to arrange many connectors into a clear and organized
pattern.
2.4 Manipulating
Some of the connectors can be reversed, made to originate from different objects, and
made to connect to different objects. If you wish to do this, select the connector with the
left mouse button and then click the right mouse button to get the popup menu to appear.