Behaviour (JADE v4.5.0 API)

java.lang.Object
- jade.core.behaviours.Behaviour

All Implemented Interfaces:

java.io.Serializable

Direct Known Subclasses:

CompositeBehaviour, LoaderBehaviour, SimpleBehaviour, WrapperBehaviour
```
public abstract class Behaviour
extends java.lang.Object
implements Serializable
```
Abstract base class for JADE behaviours. Extending this class directly should only be needed for particular behaviours with special synchronization needs; this is because event based notification used for blocking and restarting behaviours is directly accessible at this level.

Version:

$Date: 2013-03-11 09:55:05 +0100 (lun, 11 mar 2013) $ $Revision: 6645 $

Author:

Giovanni Rimassa - Universita' di Parma

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

Fields
Modifier and Type Field and Description

protected Agent myAgent
The agent this behaviour belongs to.

Fields
Modifier and Type	Field and Description
`protected Agent`	`myAgent` The agent this behaviour belongs to.

Constructor Summary

Constructors
Constructor and Description

Behaviour()
Default constructor.

Behaviour(Agent a)
Constructor with owner agent.

Constructors
Constructor and Description
`Behaviour()` Default constructor.
`Behaviour(Agent a)` Constructor with owner agent.

Method Summary

All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods Concrete Methods
Modifier and Type	Method and Description
`abstract void`	`action()` Runs the behaviour.
`void`	`block()` Blocks this behaviour.
`void`	`block(long millis)` Blocks this behaviour for a specified amount of time.
`abstract boolean`	`done()` Check if this behaviour is done.
`Agent`	`getAgent()`
`java.lang.String`	`getBehaviourName()` Retrieve the name of this behaviour object.
`DataStore`	`getDataStore()` Return the private data store of this `Behaviour`.
`protected CompositeBehaviour`	`getParent()` Retrieve the enclosing CompositeBehaviour (if present).
`boolean`	`isRunnable()` Returns whether this `Behaviour` object is blocked or not.
`int`	`onEnd()` This method is just an empty placeholder for subclasses.
`void`	`onStart()` This method is just an empty placeholders for subclasses.
`void`	`reset()` Restores behaviour initial state.
`void`	`restart()` Restarts a blocked behaviour.
`Behaviour`	`root()` Returns the root for this `Behaviour` object.
`void`	`setAgent(Agent a)` Associates this behaviour with the agent it belongs to.
`void`	`setBehaviourName(java.lang.String name)` Give a name to this behaviour object.
`void`	`setDataStore(DataStore ds)` Set the private data store of this `Behaviour`

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

- Field Detail
  - myAgent
```
protected Agent myAgent
```
    The agent this behaviour belongs to. This is an instance variable that holds a reference to the Agent object and allows the usage of its methods within the body of the behaviour. As the class Behaviour is the superclass of all the other behaviour classes, this variable is always available. Of course, remind to use the appropriate constructor, i.e. the one that accepts an agent object as argument; otherwise, this variable is set to null.
- Constructor Detail
  - Behaviour
```
public Behaviour()
```
    Default constructor. It does not set the agent owning this behaviour object.
  - Behaviour
```
public Behaviour(Agent a)
```
    Constructor with owner agent.
    
    Parameters:
    
    a - The agent owning this behaviour.
- Method Detail
  - getParent
```
protected CompositeBehaviour getParent()
```
    Retrieve the enclosing CompositeBehaviour (if present). In order to access the parent behaviour it is strongly suggested to use this method rather than the parent member variable directly. In case of threaded or wrapped behaviour in facts the latter may have unexpected values.
    
    Returns:
    
    The enclosing CompositeBehaviour (if present).
    
    See Also:
    
    CompositeBehaviour
  - setBehaviourName
```
public final void setBehaviourName(java.lang.String name)
```
    Give a name to this behaviour object.
    
    Parameters:
    
    name - The name to give to this behaviour.
  - getBehaviourName
```
public final java.lang.String getBehaviourName()
```
    Retrieve the name of this behaviour object. If no explicit name was set, a default one is given, based on the behaviour class name.
    
    Returns:
    
    The name of this behaviour.
  - action
```
public abstract void action()
```
    Runs the behaviour. This abstract method must be implemented by Behavioursubclasses to perform ordinary behaviour duty. An agent schedules its behaviours calling their action() method; since all the behaviours belonging to the same agent are scheduled cooperatively, this method must not enter in an endless loop and should return as soon as possible to preserve agent responsiveness. To split a long and slow task into smaller section, recursive behaviour aggregation may be used.
    
    See Also:
    
    CompositeBehaviour
  - done
```
public abstract boolean done()
```
    Check if this behaviour is done. The agent scheduler calls this method to see whether a Behaviour still need to be run or it has completed its task. Concrete behaviours must implement this method to return their completion state. Finished behaviours are removed from the scheduling queue, while others are kept within to be run again when their turn comes again.
    
    Returns:
    
    true if the behaviour has completely executed.
  - onEnd
```
public int onEnd()
```
    This method is just an empty placeholder for subclasses. It is invoked just once after this behaviour has ended. Therefore, it acts as an epilog for the task represented by this Behaviour.
    Note that onEnd is called after the behaviour has been removed from the pool of behaviours to be executed by an agent. Therefore calling reset() is not sufficient to cyclically repeat the task represented by this Behaviour. In order to achieve that, this Behaviour must be added again to the agent (using myAgent.addBehaviour(this)). The same applies to in the case of a Behaviour that is a child of a ParallelBehaviour.
    
    Returns:
    
    an integer code representing the termination value of the behaviour.
  - onStart
```
public void onStart()
```
    This method is just an empty placeholders for subclasses. It is executed just once before starting behaviour execution. Therefore, it acts as a prolog to the task represented by this Behaviour.
  - reset
```
public void reset()
```
    Restores behaviour initial state. This method must be implemented by concrete subclasses in such a way that calling reset() on a behaviour object is equivalent to destroying it and recreating it back. The main purpose for this method is to realize multistep cyclic behaviours without needing expensive constructions an deletion of objects at each loop iteration. Remind to call super.reset() from the sub-classes.
  - root
```
public Behaviour root()
```
    Returns the root for this Behaviour object. That is, the top-level behaviour this one is a part of. Agents apply scheduling only to top-level behaviour objects, so they just call restart() on root behaviours.
    
    Returns:
    
    The top-level behaviour this behaviour is a part of. If this one is a top level behaviour itself, then simply this is returned.
    
    See Also:
    
    restart()
  - isRunnable
```
public boolean isRunnable()
```
    Returns whether this Behaviour object is blocked or not.
    
    Returns:
    
    true when this behaviour is not blocked, false when it is.
  - block
```
public void block()
```
    Blocks this behaviour. It should be noticed that this method is NOT a blocking call: when it is invoked, the internal behaviour state is set to Blocked so that, as soon as the action() method returns, the behaviour is put into a blocked behaviours queue so that it will not be scheduled anymore.
    The behaviour is moved back in the pool of active behaviours when either a message is received or the behaviour is explicitly restarted by means of its restart() method.
    If this behaviour is a child of a CompositeBehaviour a suitable event is fired to notify its parent behaviour up to the behaviour composition hierarchy root.
    
    See Also:
    
    restart()
  - block
```
public void block(long millis)
```
    Blocks this behaviour for a specified amount of time. The behaviour will be restarted when among the three following events happens.
    - A time of millis milliseconds has passed since the call to block().
    - An ACL message is received by the agent this behaviour belongs to.
    - Method restart() is called explicitly on this behaviour object.
    Parameters:
    
    millis - The amount of time to block, in milliseconds. Notice: a value of 0 for millis is equivalent to a call to block() without arguments.
    
    See Also:
    
    block()
  - restart
```
public void restart()
```
    Restarts a blocked behaviour. This method fires a suitable event to notify this behaviour's parent. When the agent scheduler inserts a blocked event back into the agent ready queue, it restarts it automatically. When this method is called, any timer associated with this behaviour object is cleared.
    
    See Also:
    
    block()
  - setAgent
```
public void setAgent(Agent a)
```
    Associates this behaviour with the agent it belongs to. There is no need to call this method explicitly, since the addBehaviour() call takes care of the association transparently.
    
    Parameters:
    
    a - The agent this behaviour belongs to.
    
    See Also:
    
    Agent.addBehaviour(Behaviour b)
  - getAgent
```
public Agent getAgent()
```
  - getDataStore
```
public DataStore getDataStore()
```
    Return the private data store of this Behaviour. If it was null, a new DataStore is created and returned.
    
    Returns:
    
    The private data store of this Behaviour
  - setDataStore
```
public void setDataStore(DataStore ds)
```
    Set the private data store of this Behaviour
    
    Parameters:
    
    ds - the DataStore that this Behaviour will use as its private data store

Class Behaviour

Field Summary

Constructor Summary

Method Summary

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

Field Detail

myAgent

Constructor Detail

Behaviour

Behaviour

Method Detail

getParent

setBehaviourName

getBehaviourName

action

done

onEnd

onStart

reset

root

isRunnable

block

block

restart

setAgent

getAgent

getDataStore

setDataStore