I'd like to know the limits of the functionality that can be included in a "Jess bean" (one that can be installed using "definstance"). My understanding is that, according the the basic Java definition, a bean is _any_ object that has one or more properties that are accessed using some combination of setter/getter functions. Under this definition, a bean _may_ contain much more functionality, but that functionality is not accessible under the Java bean conventions. (I believe that may of the Swing and AWT classes embody this approach.) I have not been able to adopt this approach successfully in Jess. In particular, I haven't been able to build "self installing" beans, beans having their own method of the form "install(jess.Rete engine)" which allows them to install themselves in the rete engine given as an argument. I have also been unsuccessful in attempts to build beans that could write themselves out as formatted strings or as XML, although there may have been other factors at issue in these two cases. My goal is to design a system based on objects that can both interact with Jess and do significant processing on their own internal data in other environments. Is this goal attainable or must I refactor my design to have all the external processing done in other classes? Peter -- Peter Olsen, PE 703-516-7304 Principal Member of Technical Staff FAX 703-528-5918 The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory SWBD 703-243-2600 1555 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 501 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Arlington VA 22209 Scientists investigate that which already is; engineers create that which has never been. --Albert Einstein --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send the words 'unsubscribe jess-users [EMAIL PROTECTED]' in the BODY of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED], NOT to the list (use your own address!) List problems? Notify [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------
