Requirements:

- You must have installed Java 1.3 or higher (http://java.sun.com/)

- Update 18.03.04: No more needed the JADE installation jars are included in the zip.
- You must have installed JADE (http://sharon.cselt.it/projects/jade/) and
  added the JADE jars to your classpath (e.g. set CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;.;c:\jade\lib\jade.jar;
  c:\jade\lib\jadeTools.jar;c:\jade\lib\Base64.jar;c:\jade\lib\iiop.jar).

- Update 18.03.04: Added ontology generator for jade ontologies, generates from UML class diagrams
                   (can be magicdraw or argouml, exported as XMI) jade ontologies.

- Update 18.03.04: Added new Introspector for easy communication testing.

- Update 23.12.04: Added new Gui for the Client.

- Update 23.12.04: Implemented own ProcessComponents (ThreadPC and CommunicationBasePC Observer, no more
                   JADE-Behaviours are required) and
                   Ontologies (CommunicationObjects and DataObjects).

- Update 23.12.04: More elaborated examples, showing the new features

- Warning 23.12.04: The Ontology parser is not up to date.

- tested it for windows 2000/xp and linux suse 8.x machines.


Installation:

- Download the ac.zip file and extract it.
- The files are extracted to YOURPATH/ac/

Package Structure:

- doc: there you find the Java api of the AC Tool and the examples.
- agentcomponent, examples: source code of the AC Tool and the examples.
- xml: xml descriptions for the ProcessComponents, parsed by the AC Tool.
- ontologies.xml: example xml file defining the example ontologies, parsed by the AC Tool.


Starting the AC Tool:

- start the JADE platform: java jade.Boot -gui
- start the Mediator service: startMediator.cmd or startMediator.sh
- start as much clients as you need: startClient.cmd or startClient.sh


Running the AC Tool and Working with it:

- refer to the AC Tool Tutorial and check the examples.


If you have problems, comments or bug reports please contact:
meierp@pst.informatik.uni-muenchen.de