SysMLv1: Cameo Simulation Toolkit: HOWTO send a Signal via a nested Port using Action Language Helper (ALH) [with mini video]

If you've been following this tutorial trail you'll know that one can send a Signal via a nested Port in Magic Model Analyst^® (Cameo Simulation Toolkit^®) using «InvocationOnNestedPortAction» and 'onNestedPort' together with just basic SysML. However, sometimes it's handy be able to do this programmatically using the vendor-specific Action Language Helper (ALH) API, especially if you wish to parametrise the send logic for families of Signals. It turns out it's quite easy to do with a little trick:

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Watch simulation

Watch a high resolution version of the video on Vimeo.

The ALH API docs give this signature:

void sendSignal(String signalName, Object_ target, String portName)

To send via a nested Port, all you have to do is reference the outer Port as a property of the target, and then the inner Port name. So for the example in the Diagrams shown - and including the Sig instance creation using the String name "Sig" - an OpaqueAction uses this Groovy script in combination with ALH to send via a nested Port:

sig = ALH.createSignal("Sig");
ALH.sendSignal(sig, tx.outer, "o");

Note how the outer Port is accessed as tx.outer to specify the effective target

If you have caught a Signal instance upstream (before re-transmitting), you can use that to directly feed an InputPin of the OpaqueAction (instead of the String "Sig"), which approach can be used to nicely parametrise the Signal forwarding logic for a RoutingHub. And it also works well with "families" (inheritance hierarchies) of Signals!

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