[kepler-dev] kepler "instantiate component" from a url

[Edward A. Lee]

The actor ptolemy.actor.lib.Sinewave is a class defined in MoML.
You can instantiate it using the dialog you refer to, but it is a composite actor.
It is used in the demo ptolemy/domains/sdf/demo/Sinewave/NoisySinewave.
Moreover, the class definition (a MoML file) can be put on a website,
and can be instantiated by referencing the URL.  This is illustrated
by the Ptolemy demo ptolemy/moml/demo/Networked/Networked.xml.

This class mechanism is described in the following paper:

"Classes and Inheritance in Actor-Oriented Design,"
Edward A. Lee, Yang Zhao, and Stephen Neuendorffer
to appear in ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems, August 27, 2007. 
http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/publications/papers/07/classesandInheritance/index.htm

Hope this clarifies things...

Edward


At 12:05 PM 8/31/2007, Eric Magaha wrote:
>I tried to load and it states something about MoML format, which is the xml format that it uses to save workflows.  Can you define a class in MoML?  I don't know.
>
>I am thinking maybe you could write a custom actor to load a remote actor.  I think that might be possible.  I have written java code to load plugins from a webserver for a different system before.  Still doesn't answer the question about using the Kepler/Ptolemy dialog box though. 
>
>On 8/31/07, Dan Higgins <<mailto:higgins at nceas.ucsb.edu>higgins at nceas.ucsb.edu> wrote:
>Hi Eric,
>    I have wondered the same thing! Kepler just copied this dialog field from Ptolemy. I have never tried using that field. I am curious how it handles the java class file loading from a web server. (You can open workflows from a web server, at least when the underlying java classes are already on the Kepler machine.)
>
>Dan Higgins
>NCEAS
>
>---
>Eric Magaha wrote: 
>>All,
>>
>>I have created some custom actors and instantiated them successfully in kepler.  I have to copy the "package" of actors under the kepler directory.
>>
>>In the "Instantiate Component" dialog there is a text field for URL.  Can I load these custom actors from a web server instead of having to keep local copies under my kepler installation directory? 
>>
>>Thanks.
>>
>>Eric
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>-- 
>
>*******************************************************************
>
>Dan Higgins                                  <mailto:higgins at nceas.ucsb.edu>
>
>higgins at nceas.ucsb.edu
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------------ 
Edward A. Lee
Chair of EECS and Robert S. Pepper Distinguished Professor
231 Cory Hall, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1770
phone: 510-642-0253, fax: 510-642-2845
eal at eecs.Berkeley.EDU, http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~eal