Control Tool On-Line Help

What is it?
As the Control Tool is effectively an online version of the Agent Generator, it enables users to modify the internal states of agents at run-time.

When should I use it?
Whilst modifying an agent whilst it is still running may seem dangerous, the declarative nature of ZEUS agents means changes can be incorporated whilst still preserving the integrity of the agents concerned. There are several scenarios when making such changes might be desirable :

Giving Orders - if the agent does not have its own user interface this tool can be used to issue instructions.
What Ifs - when you want to experiment and modify an aspect of an agent, but you don't want to recompile it.
Administrative Management - the tool can be used for administrative tasks, like killing or suspending agents.

How do I use it?

Before using the Control Tool ensure that the list of all known active agents has been obtained from the Agent Name Server. The instructions for this process can be found here.
If the Visualiser was not supplied with an ontology when it was started choose the Load Ontology... option from the File menu. This will summon a file browser, locate the appropriate ontology file and then click on the Open button.
The Control Tool is now ready for use, its options can be selected from the menu or toolbar.

Using the Menu Options
All the operations of the Control Tool can be selected by choosing the appropriate menu entry. The menu options list the five aspects of an agent society that can be modified, namely:

Sending Commands
There are several ad hoc commands (i.e. non-standard Agent Communication Language commands) that can be sent to agents using the Send Commands... menu option. This dialog window allows a choice of which agents will receive the command, and a textfield for entering the command itself, this can one of the following:

```
kill_yourself
```
- instructs the recipient to cease running gracefully
```
db_del
```
- instructs the recipient to clear its resources database
```
db_reset
```
- makes the recipient re-initialise itself
```
optimise
```
- causes the recipient to optimise its schedule

Using the Toolbar Buttons
Alternatively, the toolbar icons provide shortcuts for the more frequently used operations, namely:

Kill Agents - selecting this option will send messages to every known agent instructing it to cease running. This is a useful option for elegantly ending an application regardless of where its processes are located.

The other icons will be documented when they become functional.