Chapter 3. Jadex Starter

The Starter is a central administration tool for managing Jadex agents. It offers basic functionalities for starting and stopping agents as well as more advanced ones such as integrity checking of agent and capability models. In Figure 3.1, “Starter perspective” a screenshot of the Starter tool is depicted. The tool mainly consists of three different panels. On the upper left hand side the Model Tree is located. Below the Model Tree the Running Agents of the platform are shown. On the right hand side the Model Panel shows details of the currently selected agent or capability model.

Starter perspective

Figure 3.1. Starter perspective

3.1. Model Tree

The model tree allows for easy navigation of Jadex agent and capability models. Each direct child of the root-node represent a classpath entry of the current project. Initially the model tree is empty.
  • can be used to add a new directory or jar file to the model tree and to the classpath from which models are loaded.

  • can be used to remove a directory or jar file from the model tree and the classpath.

Within the tree packages, agents and capability files are displayed according to the icons explained below:
  • represents a Java/Jadex package. All agents and capabilities should be placed in the same package hierarchy as their corresponding Java plans and other Java classes.

  • represents a Jadex agent model file. By selecting the file in the tree the model will be loaded and displayed in the Model Panel.

  • represents a Jadex capability model file. By selecting the file in the tree the model will be loaded and displayed in the Model Panel.

View refresh.  In addition to the standard start and stop functionalities the model tree also supports more advanced features. If not explicitly turned off in the "Model" menu the tree is automatically refreshed in certain time intervals. This means that changes on hard-disk are immediately reflected within the model tree. You can also initiate a refreshment directly by clicking the button.

Integrity checking.  In addition all models found in the tree are automatically checked for integrity if this feature isn't turned off in the "Model" menu. This feature allows to effortlessly locate corrupt agent and capability files in the project. If a corrupt file is found, the file as well as all packages up to the root are marked as corrupt. A corrupt entity is displayed with a red bolt .