zeus.actors
Class MailBox

java.lang.Object
  zeus.actors.MailBox

Direct Known Subclasses:

Zeus_ACC_MailBox

public class MailBox

extends java.lang.Object

Each agent has a Mailbox component that implements its communication mechanism. The sub-components of the MailBox are together responsible for creating and reading the TCP/IP sockets that send and receive messages.

The MailBox maintains two independent threads of activity, one is a reader thread, which continually listens for incoming socket connections, whereupon a new transient thread is created to read the message and deliver it to the MsgHandler, which processes it. This approach delegates responsibility for reading messages to the new connection thread, leaving the main Server thread free to continue listening for incoming messages, (thus enabling several messages to be received simultaneously). When the incoming message is read, the connection thread terminates.

The other Mailbox thread is a PostMan object, which creates transient threads that open sockets to the message recipients. If the connection is made the message is then streamed down the socket, this allows the agent to dispatch more than one message at a time.

More details on the workings of the communication mechanism are provided in the Zeus Technical Manual.

Field Summary

protected java.util.Hashtable	asTable
protected Queue	ccMail Holds mail messages that need to be CC'ed to Visualiser agents
protected AgentContext	context
static int	DISPATCH
protected HSet[]	eventMonitor eventMonitor used to be private, but I needed to alter this so that I could build an effective sub-class
protected Queue	inMail A data structure holding the agent's incoming mail messages
protected Address	myAddress
static int	NOT_DISPATCH
protected Queue	outMail A data structure holding the agent's outgoing mail messages
protected PostMan[]	postman The sub-component responsible for dispatching outgoing mail
static int	QUEUE
static int	RECEIVE
protected Server	server The sub-component responsible for reading incoming mail
protected java.util.Hashtable	visualisers

Constructor Summary

MailBox()

MailBox(AgentContext context)

Method Summary

void	add(Address addr)
void	add(java.util.Vector v)
void	addMessageMonitor(MessageMonitor monitor, long event_type) Use this method to add a MessageMonitor if your code needs to react to changes in the state of the mailbox.
void	addressReceived(Performative msg)
java.lang.String	addressSought(java.lang.String agent) changed to public so that subclasses of the classes in this package can have access (Simon)
void	del(Address addr)
void	del(java.util.Vector v)
Address	getAddress()
AgentContext	getAgentContext()
InTray	getInTray() added so that transports can be accessed
void	informVisualisers(Performative msg)
java.util.Vector	listAddresses()
void	logMessages(java.lang.String agent, java.lang.String tag)
Address	lookup(java.lang.String name)
void	lowerStatus()
Performative	nextMsg() redundant now
void	notifyMonitors(Performative message, int type)
void	postErrorMsg(Performative msg, java.lang.String content)
void	register(Performative msg)
void	removeMessageMonitor(MessageMonitor monitor, long event_type)
void	sendMsg(Performative msg)
void	shutdown()
void	stopDispatching()
void	stopLoggingMessages(java.lang.String agent)
void	stopProcessing()

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

eventMonitor

protected HSet[] eventMonitor

eventMonitor used to be private, but I needed to alter this so that I could build an effective sub-class

RECEIVE

public static final int RECEIVE

See Also:

Constant Field Values

QUEUE

public static final int QUEUE

See Also:

Constant Field Values

DISPATCH

public static final int DISPATCH

See Also:

Constant Field Values

NOT_DISPATCH

public static final int NOT_DISPATCH

See Also:

Constant Field Values

inMail

protected Queue inMail

A data structure holding the agent's incoming mail messages

outMail

protected Queue outMail

A data structure holding the agent's outgoing mail messages

ccMail

protected Queue ccMail

Holds mail messages that need to be CC'ed to Visualiser agents

asTable

protected java.util.Hashtable asTable

visualisers

protected java.util.Hashtable visualisers

server

protected Server server

The sub-component responsible for reading incoming mail

postman

protected PostMan[] postman

The sub-component responsible for dispatching outgoing mail

myAddress

protected Address myAddress

context

protected AgentContext context

Constructor Detail

MailBox

public MailBox()

MailBox

public MailBox(AgentContext context)

Method Detail

register

public void register(Performative msg)

getAgentContext

public AgentContext getAgentContext()

del

public void del(Address addr)

del

public void del(java.util.Vector v)

add

public void add(Address addr)

add

public void add(java.util.Vector v)

lookup

public Address lookup(java.lang.String name)

stopDispatching

public void stopDispatching()

stopProcessing

public void stopProcessing()

lowerStatus

public void lowerStatus()

addressSought

public java.lang.String addressSought(java.lang.String agent)

changed to public so that subclasses of the classes in this package can have access (Simon)

addressReceived

public void addressReceived(Performative msg)

logMessages

public void logMessages(java.lang.String agent,
                        java.lang.String tag)

stopLoggingMessages

public void stopLoggingMessages(java.lang.String agent)

informVisualisers

public void informVisualisers(Performative msg)

getAddress

public Address getAddress()

shutdown

public void shutdown()

postErrorMsg

public void postErrorMsg(Performative msg,
                         java.lang.String content)

sendMsg

public void sendMsg(Performative msg)

nextMsg

public Performative nextMsg()

redundant now

listAddresses

public java.util.Vector listAddresses()

addMessageMonitor

public void addMessageMonitor(MessageMonitor monitor,
                              long event_type)

Use this method to add a MessageMonitor if your code needs to react to changes in the state of the mailbox. This is programatic alternative to writing reaction rules

removeMessageMonitor

public void removeMessageMonitor(MessageMonitor monitor,
                                 long event_type)

notifyMonitors

public void notifyMonitors(Performative message,
                           int type)

getInTray

public InTray getInTray()

added so that transports can be accessed

Since:

1.1