Extensions to support Intelligent Agents Technology

The Intelligent Agents in AutoPilot are implemented using AutoScript. In order to support this technology AutoScript implements some extra keywords and constructs to do the job.

start_agent_info...end_agent_info

We use them to define basic elements of the agent. For example:

start_agent_info

       AgentName = "first_agent"

       AgentDescr = ""

       AgentLanguage = ""

       __timer_interval = 0 {....define (in seconds) the timer interval for the wake up}

       __is_registered = 1 {.....1=the agent keeps trail to database, 0=starting without trail}

       __delete_on_termination = 0 {....1=the agent frees itself when terminates its task}

end_agent_info

start_action...end_action

They include the code that executes when the agent is activated

{....................................ACTION CODE..............................................}

start_action

       callwait bpm_assign_job ("do job one","John","")

       callwait bpm_assign_job ("do job two","Peter","")

       callwait bpm_assign_job ("do job three","Matthew","")

end_action

start_bpm_activity...end_bpm_activity

start_bpm_subactivity...end_bpm_subactivity

start_bpm_validation...end_bpm_validation

Those keywords are used to define user activities. They include code of the agent that executed in the user's computer. For example:

start_bpm_activity "New Request"

       start_bpm_subactivity "Define new request's elements"

               rec = bpm_getrecid()

               if rec = 0 then

                       call OpenFormModal("ptAppend","REQUEST02.FM","WORK.REQUEST",1,"?=REQUEST")

               else

                       expr = strcat(rec,"=REQUEST")

                       call OpenFormModal("ptEdit","REQUEST02.FM","WORK.REQUEST",1,expr)

               endif

       end_bpm_subactivity

           start_bpm_validation

                  result = 1

               rec = bpm_getrecid()

               if rec = 0 then

                  call message("Order does not defined!")

                     result = 0                                              {....do not return to server}

               endif

           end_bpm_validation

end_bpm_activity

We can have any number of start_bpm_subactivity...end_bpm_subactivity into a user's activity.

callwait

This is used only for bpm_assign_job and agent_run . The agent action code does not continue until those procedures are return control to the agent.  For example:

callwait bpm_assign_job ("do job one","John","")

callwait agent_run(ag)

split_in_branches...and_branch...join_branches

Parallel splinting is implemented in the following example

split_in_branches

       callwait bpm_assign_job ("do job one","John","")

and_branch

       callwait bpm_assign_job ("do job two","Peter","")

and_brach

       callwait bpm_assign_job ("do job three","Matthew","")

join_branches

a = 10

The command (a = 10) will be executed only after John, Peter and Matthew finish their activities. Take in mind that in this example we know in advance the number of parallel splits of the code. In cases where the number of parallel splits defined by code, for example (x), we have the following construct.

split_for...next_branch

We use this type of parallel splinting when the number of splits are not known in advance. For example:

split_for i = 1 to user_count

       callwait bpm_assign_job ("do your job",user[i],"")

next_branch

a = 10

The command (a = 10) will be executed only after user_count jobs are assigned to those users and then return finished by them.