Actor Editor

Overview

The Broadway Actors inheritance mechanism enables reusing the same business logic in different places in a flow or in several flows of the project.

If an inherited Actor needs to be modified, open the Broadway flow with this Actor, edit it and save the updated Actor via the Export Actor menu with the Override Current option.

To simplify the Actor modification process and enhance it with additional editing options, Broadway provides an Actor Editor which enables creating new Actors and editing inherited ones.

The Actor Editor can be accessed by opening the *.actor file from the Project tree. It is displayed as a dummy flow with one Actor that can be setup / modified using the extended Actor's Properties window.

How Do I Use an Actor Editor?

The Actor Editor can be used to create a new inherited Actor or modify an existing one via its *.actor file. The Actor must inherit either from another Actor or from an Inner Flow that has been saved as an Actor.

To create a new Actor, do the following:

1. Right click the Broadway folder in the Project tree and click New Actor.
2. Populate the new Actor's name and click OK to open the Actor Editor.
3. Select the Parent Actor to get the parent's input and output arguments.
4. Debug the Actor by running it from the Main menu toolbar. If the Actor receives input parameters, they can be set using the Debug / Run Arguments.
5. Save the Actor.

To modify an Actor, do the following:

1. Go to the Broadway folder in the project tree and double click the *.actor file to open the Actor Editor.
2. Modify the required settings, for example set a value of an input argument.
3. Debug the Actor by running it from the Main menu toolbar. The Actor's input parameters can be set using the Debug / Run Arguments.
4. Save the Actor. The change impacts every flow where this Actor is used.

How Do I Create a New Actor from Scratch?

Broadway enables you to create an Actor that inherits its properties and behaviors from a custom Java class rather than from another Actor.

To create a new Actor from scratch, do the following:

1. Create your own Java class: Right click the Java folder in the Project tree either in the Shared Object or under the Logical Unit. Then click New Java File.

   

2. Define the class as follows to inherit the core Actor's properties and behaviors:

   public class <class_name> implements Actor {
   }

3. Once this new Java class is ready, create a new Actor. Right click the Broadway folder and click New Actor.

4. Populate the Class with your Java class's path. For example, when the Java class is located under the Logical Unit, the class is:

   com.k2view.cdbms.usercode.lu.<lu_name>.<class_name>

5. Click Add Input and Add Output to define the Actor's input and output arguments according to the Java class definition.

Examples of New Actor Creation

New Actor Which Inherits from Existing Actor

Let's create a new CheckMaxVal Actor that inherits its properties and behaviors from a JavaScript Actor: It receives two integers and returns their maximum value. Do the following:

1. Right click the Broadway folder in the Project tree and click New Actor.
2. Populate the CheckMaxVal Actor's name and click OK.
3. Define the Actor as follows:
   • Set Badge to Max.
   • Clickin the Parent field to select the parent using the Add Actors window.
   • Populate the script input argument with the regex: a > b ? a : b.
   • Click Add Input to add two input arguments and update their names to a and b.
     
4. Set the values of an Actor's input parameters using the Debug / Run Arguments in the Main menu toolbar and debug the Actor.
5. Once the debug has finished, close the Actor Editor and add the Actor to the required flow.

New Actor Which Inherits from Custom Java Class

When creating a new Actor which inherits from custom Java class, do all the steps until the selection of Parent. Instead, populate the Class with your customer Java class name. Then define the required input and output arguments.

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