MAFAgentSystem

One part of the standard is the IDL module called MAFAgentSystem. It defines the basic Agent operations as create, receive, suspend and terminate an Agent. The MAFAgentSystem is mainly designed to control the Agent System from outside, like to remotely create and terminate an Agent. As the MAFAgentSystem was not implemented in this version of TAgents, this section will only give a rough overview about the definition of this part of the standard. The MAFAgentSystem interface consists of the following methods (For a detailed description see the MASIF document [MASIF98]):

create_agent()

Creates a new Agents on this platform.

fetch_classes()

Is used to get some classes from this Agent System, for example to instantiate an Agent which needs this classes.

find_nearby_agent_system_of_profile()

Returns the location of the next Agent System which fits to the given profile.

get_agent_status()

Returns the current status of the Agent.

get_agent_system_info()

Returns the AgentSystemInfo object for this System.

get_maffinder()

Returns the MAFFinder of this System or region.

list_all_agents()

Returns a list of all Agents residing in this platform.

list_all_agents_of_authority()

Returns a list of all Agents that have the given authority.

list_all_places()

Returns a list of all places available in this System.