Package jade.lang.acl

Class MessageTemplate

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    Serializable, Serializable
    public class MessageTemplate
extends Object
implements Serializable
    A pattern for matching incoming ACL messages. This class allows to build complex slot patterns to select ACL messages. These patterns can then be used in receive() operations. This class provide one method for each attribute of an ACLMessage, that can be combined using the logic operators to create more complex patterns. A user can also create an application-specific pattern. In this case he has to implement the MatchExpression interface, writing the application specific match() method. Then an instance of that class can be used as parameter of the MessageTemplate constructor to define the application specific MessageTemaplate.
    Version:
    $Date$ $Revision$
    Author:
    Giovanni Rimassa - Universita' di Parma, Tiziana Trucco - Telecom Italia Lab S.p.A.
    See Also:
    Agent.receive(MessageTemplate mt), Serialized Form

    • Constructor Detail

      • MessageTemplate

        public MessageTemplate​(MessageTemplate.MatchExpression e)
        Public constructor to use when the user needs to define an application specific pattern.

    • Method Detail

      • MatchAll

        public static MessageTemplate MatchAll()
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching any given value.

      • MatchSender

        public static MessageTemplate MatchSender​(AID value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :sender slot.
        Parameters:
        value - The value the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchReceiver

        public static MessageTemplate MatchReceiver​(AID[] values)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :receiver slot.
        Parameters:
        values - An array of Agent IDs against which the value of the message slot will be matched.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchTopic

        public static MessageTemplate MatchTopic​(AID topic)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message about a given topic.
        Parameters:
        topic - An AID representing the topic to be matched
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching messages about the given topic

      • MatchContent

        public static MessageTemplate MatchContent​(String value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :content slot.
        Parameters:
        value - The value the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchReplyWith

        public static MessageTemplate MatchReplyWith​(String value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :reply-with slot.
        Parameters:
        value - The value the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchInReplyTo

        public static MessageTemplate MatchInReplyTo​(String value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :in-reply-to slot.
        Parameters:
        value - The value the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchReplyTo

        public static MessageTemplate MatchReplyTo​(AID[] values)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :reply-to slot.
        Parameters:
        values - An array of Agent IDs against which the value of the message slot will be matched.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchLanguage

        public static MessageTemplate MatchLanguage​(String value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :language slot.
        Parameters:
        value - The value the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchEncoding

        public static MessageTemplate MatchEncoding​(String value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :encoding slot.
        Parameters:
        value - The value the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchOntology

        public static MessageTemplate MatchOntology​(String value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :ontology slot.
        Parameters:
        value - The value the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchReplyByDate

        public static MessageTemplate MatchReplyByDate​(Date value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :reply-by slot.
        Parameters:
        value - The Date the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchProtocol

        public static MessageTemplate MatchProtocol​(String value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :protocol slot.
        Parameters:
        value - The value the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchConversationId

        public static MessageTemplate MatchConversationId​(String value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given :conversation-id slot.
        Parameters:
        value - The value the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate matching the given value.

      • MatchPerformative

        public static MessageTemplate MatchPerformative​(int value)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches any message with a given performative.
        Parameters:
        value - The value the message slot will be matched against.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTenplatematching the given value.

      • MatchCustom

        public static MessageTemplate MatchCustom​(ACLMessage msg,
                                          boolean matchPerformative)
        This Factory Method returns a message template that matches ACL messages against a given one, passed as parameter. The following algorithm is used: When the given ACLMessage has a non null slot, subsequent messages must have the same slot value in that slot to have a match. When the given ACLMessage has a null slot, subsequent messages can have any value for that slot and still match the template. In short, a null value for a slot means don't care.
        Parameters:
        msg - The ACLMessage used to build a custom message template.
        matchPerformative - a bool value. When true, the performative of the msg will be considered as a part of the template (i.e. the message template will match only ACL messages with the same performativa as msg). When , the performative of msg is ignored and the resulting message template will not consider it when matching messages.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate, matching the given message according to the above algorithm.

      • not

        public static MessageTemplate not​(MessageTemplate op)
        Logical not of a MessageTemplate object. This method creates a new message template that is matched by those ACL messages not matching the message template given as operand.
        Parameters:
        op - The not operand.
        Returns:
        A new MessageTemplate object.

      • match

        public boolean match​(ACLMessage msg)
        Matches an ACL message against this MessageTemplate object.
        Parameters:
        msg - The ACLMessage to check for matching.
        Returns:
        true if the ACL message matches this template, false otherwise.

      • setID

        public void setID​(String id)

      • getID

        public String getID()

      • toString

        public String toString()
        Retrieve a string representation of this message template.
        Overrides:
        toString in class Object
        Returns:
        A string describing the syntactic structure of this message template.

      • hashCode

        public int hashCode()
        Overrides:
        hashCode in class Object