[kepler-dev] Kepler parameters

[Chad Berkley]

Hi Paul,

In general, whenever a property that is defined in Java is not set to 
something other than its default value, it does not show up in the moml. 
  It will also not be in the moml if its isPersistent parameter is set 
to false.  This used to be the case for ports as well, but we changed 
that in the kepler actor metadata (basically our moml format) because we 
wanted to make the ports explicit.  Maybe we should do the same for 
parameters as well.  That would probably be a discussion for Kepler Core.

chad

Paul Allen wrote:
> Could somebody clarify something about actor parameters/properties for me?
> 
> It appears to me that just by looking at a MOML file I can't figure out 
> the entire set of parameters/properties that can be set for an actor. 
> E.g., I look at the "Timed Plotter" actor in the 
> 02-LotkaVolterraPredatorPrey.xml example workflow. The "Timed Plotter" 
> shows a "legend" parameter that can be set, but the MOML file doesn't 
> mention it. It's not until I dynamically ingest/parse the MOML file, or 
> manually look at the Java implementation of the actor that I get a clue 
> that the "legend" parameter is available. So, in general, I've got to 
> examine Java code or load/parse the actor/workflow in order to see the 
> entire list of settable parameters for an actor. Is that true?
> 
> I assume that is true. That leads me to wonder what determines when an 
> actor parameter property is represented in a MOML file. Is it when a 
> parameter has a definite value? How are defaults handled? Will a 
> parameter with a non-null default value always appear in the MOML file? 
> The "legend" parameter of the ptolemy.actor.lib.gui.TimedPlotter actor 
> certainly shows that when there is no default and no value set, the 
> parameter isn't mentioned in the MOML file.
> 
> Thanks for the info.
> - Paul
> 
> 
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