ITool: Difference between revisions

In order to adapt BMotion Studio to other simulators and formal languages, a simple interface called ITool has been developed during the Advance Project.

Here is the full interface with comments:

<source lang="java">
/**
* API for integration of ProB visualization into other tools. A tool has to
* implement this interface and register itself in the ToolRegistry.
* 
* 
*/
public interface ITool {

/** * doStep is called by the user interface if an event/operation/action is * triggered, e.g. through a button click in the visualization. The UI * provides the state in which the event is triggered, the name of the * action and some parameters. * * The tool performs the action and returns a reference for the new state. * If the event cannot be executed the tool should raise an * ImpossibleStepException * * The stateref parameter is a string that is meaningful for the tool. The * UI will send the stateref back to the tool each time it requests state * specific information. * * In order to do caching on the UI side, the tool should send different * staterefs for different states. * * The event/parameters are a matter of the protocol between visualizations * and the tool. Usually doing a step requires an operation name and some * parameters, but the interpretation of the Strings are up to the tool. * * @param stateref * @param event * @param parameters * @return Reference of the next state * @throws ImpossibleStepException */ public String doStep(String stateref, String event, String... parameters) throws ImpossibleStepException;

/** * evaluate is called by the user interface to compute the values of an * expression or predicate. The formula has to be valid in that particular * formalism, i.e., it is syntactically correct and well-typed. * * @param stateref * see {@link ITool#doStep} * @param formula * @return the result of the evaluation * @throws IllegalFormulaException * if the formula is illegal */ public Object evaluate(String stateref, String formula) throws IllegalFormulaException;

/** * Checks if a given formula contains errors. If the formula is valid this * method must return an empty list. * * @param state * @param Formula * @return A list of error messages associated with the formula in the given * state. */ public List<String> getErrors(String state, String Formula);

/** * @return the reference String for the current state */ public String getCurrentState();

/** * @return true if and only if the tool is able to evaluate a formula in a * different state than the current one. */ public boolean canBacktrack();

/** * @return the String representation that specifies this exact instance of * the ITool. This should be as unique as possible. */ public String getName();

}
</source>