Hello:
I don’t know how to use the vcActionContainer .Can you give me some example？
thankyou
You can review the contents of these old tutorials.
https://community.visualcomponents.net/Portals/0/Tutorials/Layout_Configuration/ResourceModeling.pdf
The use of vcActionContainer is old/deprecated in my opinion, but it still has its uses in 4.x products. For example, the Action Script, a Wizard whose source files you can find in 4.x program files, is an example of what you could do with an Action Container and robot.
An Action Container is a type of behavior that allows you to signal, broker, and execute actions. What actions? There are constants for certain types of actions, but you can implement your own. Most of the constants are rarely used and I would argue that they are deprecated since most component libraries and resources like the human worker do not use them at all anymore.
In a nutshell, an Action Container is used with a Python Script. The Action Container can connect to a script and be used with the OnAction event handler. The sending and receiving of actions is like writing an email where you have a sender, receiver, and content. Or you could think of it as HTTP where there is a communication protocol and a set of commands.
Generally, a sender is an object requesting an action. That is, a resource client. For example, a machine might send an action to a human worker (resource/resource provider) to close its doors and run its process. Another example is where an available infeeder for pallets signals a resource broker (some controller of tasks), so the next action in queue can be done by resources (human and forklift) at that infeeder. In the last example, you can see how work (actions) can pile up, so actions can be contained and pending in a component. To keep it organized, a broker can be used to assign the actions and workload among a set of resources.
If the tutorials do not offer any help and you still want to pursue this topic, I would recommend using a Python Script with an Action Container to get familiar with the OnAction signal and the vcActionContainer API.
Than you zesty
Hi Zesty,
I found your comment and explanation around the Action Container very useful for what I was trying to achieve in my project.
I struggled to find much information on the Action Container, but ended up finding a VC demo layout of a machine tending application that used the Action Container to transfer information between components.
For anyone else looking for info on the Action Container the machine tending layout provides a good reference.
best,
ws