Engine Description:

There are two types of storage for the Automation Engine:

The Automation Datastore is the persistent storage and it can be viewed/edited by the EVM Automate Object Explorer. The data lives in SQL Tables beginning with miq_ae: miq_ae_namespaces, miq_ae_classes, miq_ae_fields, miq_ae_values, miq_ae_instances, miq_ae_methods. The Automation Workspace is the transient storage of the in-memory object hierarchy. There is a SQL Table called miq_ae_workspaces, but it is not currently leveraged and can be ignored for now.

Each Automation Engine invocation runs in an isolated Workspace.

Automate Engine is invoked with a URI and leverages URIs throughout. So, a solid understandings of URIs is a must. A URI stands for Uniform Resource Identifier and can be read about here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier and http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986.

Here is a grammar for a URI:

 URI         = scheme ":" hier-part [ "?" query ] [ "#" fragment ]

 hier-part   = "//" authority path-abempty
             / path-absolute
             / path-rootless
             / path-empty

Here is a typical example:

foo://example.com:8042/over/there?name=ferret#nose _/ _____________/_/ _/ _/ | | | | | scheme authority path query fragment

The Automation Engine supports two schemes (currently):

miqaedb => get an object from the Automation Datastore miqaews => get an object from the Automation Workspace

Database Layout:

MIQ_AE_NAMESPACES Table (each row defines a NAMESPACE in the system) id ==> ID of the Namespace parent_id ==> ID of the parent Namespace (NULL if root) display_name ==> Display Name of the Namespace description ==> Description of the Namespace name ==> Name of the Namespace created_on ==> ctime (Creation Timestamp) updated_on ==> mtime (Modification Timestamp)

MIQ_AE_CLASSES Table (each row defines a CLASS in the system) id ==> ID of the Class display_name ==> Display Name of the Class description ==> Description of the Class namespace_id ==> ID of the Namespace name ==> Name of the Class type ==> Type of the Class (abstract ==> No Instances Allowed, ...) inherits ==> Name of the Inherited Class (NULL if no inheritance) visibility ==> Private ==> only visible within Resolution; Public ==> accessible to caller of Resolution owner ==> Owner of the Class created_on ==> ctime (Creation Timestamp) updated_on ==> mtime (Modification Timestamp)

MIQ_AE_FIELDS Table (each row defines a FIELD in the system) id ==> ID of the Field name ==> Name of the Field display_name ==> Display Name of the Field description ==> Description of the Field aetype ==> AE Type of the Field (assertion, attribute, relationship, method, state) datatype ==> Type of the Field Data (string, integer, boolean, ...) priority ==> Order of the Field (within the Class) owner ==> Owner of the Field scope ==> Scope of the Field default_value ==> Default of the Field (the default value) substitute ==> Substitution Enabled? message ==> Message that this Field responds to visibility ==> Private ==> only visible within Resolution; Public ==> accessible to caller of Resolution collect ==> Collection/Aggregation definition condition ==> Condition (IF/UNLESS) that indicates whether to process class_id ==> ID of the Class that this Field belongs to method_id ==> ID of the Method that this Field belongs to created_on ==> ctime (Creation Timestamp) updated_on ==> mtime (Modification Timestamp)

MIQ_AE_INSTANCES Table (each row defines an INSTANCE of a specific class) id ==> ID of the Instance name ==> Name of the Instance display_name ==> Display Name of the Instance description ==> Description of the Instance class_id ==> ID of the Class that this Instance belongs to inherits ==> Name of the Inherited Class (NULL if no inheritance) created_on ==> ctime (Creation Timestamp) updated_on ==> mtime (Modification Timestamp)

MIQ_AE_VALUES Table (each row defines a VALUE of a specific field in a specific instance) id ==> ID of the Value display_name ==> Display Name of the Value value ==> VALUE of the Value instance_id ==> ID of the Instance field_id ==> ID of the Field collect ==> Collection/Aggregation definition condition ==> Condition (IF/UNLESS) that indicates whether to process created_on ==> ctime (Creation Timestamp) updated_on ==> mtime (Modification Timestamp)

MIQ_AE_WORKSPACES Table (keeps instantiated trees) id ==> ID of the Workspace guid ==> GUID of the Workspace uri ==> URI of the Workspace workspace ==> Binary representation of the Workspace setters ==> Binary representation of attributes overridden externally created_on ==> ctime (Creation Timestamp) updated_on ==> mtime (Modification Timestamp)

Dynamic Instantion Process (AE_DIP)

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Add display_name for namespace and value (for STEP field and completeness) Add condition for field and value (IF/UNLESS) Add collect for value (overrides definition in FIELD) Define new type of field called STEP AE_DIP should process steps as follows:

1. Should convert steps to relationships appending #${#ae_message}
2. Dynamically call methods before_step and after_step (or on_state_change)
3. Should roughly internalize working of provision_state_machine to allow for others to be defined easier