[kepler-dev] Additional menu items

[Dan Higgins]

One point to note - Matthew has set up the new menus so that it is easy 
to switch back to the Ptolemy menus. Just change the value of the 
'KEPLER_MENUS' property in the uiSettings.properties files in 
ptolemy\configs\kepler and rebuild the kepler-configs.jar ('ant run-dev' 
does this) [We do need to get this properties file out of the 
kepler-configs.jar so that the user can edit it more easily.]

Another very useful thing that can be done with the 'Instantiate Entity' 
menu is to dynamically add new atomic actors! I created a new empty 
directory and placed it in the Kepler classpath. By simply dropping a 
new java actor *.class file in this directory, this new actor can be 
added to a workflow without recompiling everything! This provides an 
already working mechanism for the Kepler actor repositories that have 
been discussed a number of times.

Dan

----

Edward A. Lee wrote:

>
> Instantiate Entity brings up a dialog into which you type a class name.
> The class can defined in Java or in MoML, and the command will create
> an instance of the class...
>
> This mechanism is very useful for experimenting with new actors without
> having to include them in a library...
>
> The corresponding Instantiate Attribute  is also useful (e.g. for 
> creating
> an instance of a new director that is under development).
>
> Any class in your classpath can be instantiated this way.
>
> BTW: One downside of creating a new, parallel menu structure in
> Kepler is that Kepler will not automatically benefit from capabilities
> we add to Ptolemy II.  This consideration should be balanced against
> aesthetic considerations...  Also, we are more than happy to rearrange
> menus in Ptolemy II when reasonable suggestions are made...
>
> Edward
>
> At 06:46 PM 1/22/2006 -0800, Shawn Bowers wrote:
>
>> Dan,
>>
>> Can you give a little more description of how the "Instantiate Entity"
>> works?  Does this work by pointing Ptolemy at a MoML file (e.g., an 
>> "Actor
>> Class") or by pointing it at a java actor class (e.g., "org.kepler. 
>> ...").
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> -shawn
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 22 Jan 2006, Dan Higgins wrote:
>>
>> > Matthew,
>> >     Congratulations on getting the new Kepler menu layout working (and
>> > the ability to change the configuration)!
>> >
>> >     However, it looks likes we left out a couple of menu items that I
>> > just recently learned to appreciate! --- namely 'Instantiate 
>> Attribute'
>> > and 'Instantiate Entity' under the 'Graph' menu.
>> >
>> > I must admit that I did not understand just what these menu items were
>> > used for until recently (and I might have suggested to Laura that we
>> > leave them out in Kepler).
>> >
>> > 'Instantiate Attribute' allows the user to add attributes to the
>> > workflow by name. This allows one to add attributes that are not in 
>> the
>> > Kepler Actor Ontology tree to a workflow! (And we have not included 
>> all
>> > the ones in Ptolemy.) Similarly, 'Instantiate Entity' allows one to 
>> add
>> > actors; there are many Ptolemy actors/directories that we have not
>> > included in our actor ontology and I have already been asked by 
>> several
>> > users how to add such actors to workflows without having to recompile
>> > the whole Kepler system. It also turns out that whole new actor 
>> classes
>> > can be added using this menu item (i.e. new classes).
>> >
>> > So I think these two menu items should be included in the new menu
>> > layout, probably in the Workflow menu. Maybe Laura will want to change
>> > the menu item names?
>> >
>> >
>> > Dan
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Kepler-dev mailing list
>> > Kepler-dev at ecoinformatics.org
>> > 
>> http://mercury.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecoinformatics/mailman/listinfo/kepler-dev
>> >
>> _______________________________________________
>> Kepler-dev mailing list
>> Kepler-dev at ecoinformatics.org
>> http://mercury.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecoinformatics/mailman/listinfo/kepler-dev
>
>
> ------------
> Edward A. Lee
> Professor, Chair of the EE Division, Associate Chair of EECS
> 231 Cory Hall, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
> phone: 510-642-0253 or 510-642-0455, fax: 510-642-2845
> eal at eecs.Berkeley.EDU, http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~eal 
>


-- 
*******************************************************************
Dan Higgins                                  higgins at nceas.ucsb.edu
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/    Ph: 805-893-5127
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) Marine Science Building - Room 3405
Santa Barbara, CA 93195
*******************************************************************