Intelligent Assistant

Using the Assistant

The following code fragment is an example of a

PostParse

method that tests for

the existence of the

value

slot and accesses its content:

PostParse: func()
begin
local thePhraseText;

// self is the task frame

if hasSlot(self, 'value) then

thePhraseText := self.value;

else

// handle missing input

end;
// display phrase text in task slip

end;
end;

Defining the Task Template

18

Your task template defines a primary action and its supporting data structures.

Take the following steps to define a task template:

1. Define a frame containing the

value

,

isa

,

primary_act

,

PostParse

,

signature

,

preConditions

, and

score

slots. Subsequent bullet items in

this section describe the contents of these slots.

2. Assign the frame to a slot, variable, or constant that is the name of the task

template.

3. Place a string in the

value

slot that identifies the task that this template defines.

4. Place the

'task_template

symbol in the

isa

slot.

5. Place the name of the slot or variable defining your primary action in the

primary_act

slot.

6. Place the name of the slot, variable or constant defining your

PostParse

method in the

PostParse

slot.

7. Place in the

signature

slot an array of the names of all action and target

templates required to complete this task.

8. Place an array of symbols in the

preConditions

slot that specifies the names

of slots the Assistant must create to hold frames built from the templates
specified in the

signature

array. The

preConditions

and

signature

arrays must have the same number of elements. Furthermore, the symbols in the

preConditions

array must appear in the same ordinal position as their

counterparts in the

signature

array; that is, the first element of the