Machine.initiate

Calling Pattern

Call

local m = sl.machine(a[,b])
-- later
local r = m.initiate([d[,...]])

Args

d1..dN optional are variadic arguments of any type

Results

r0..rN are values returned by the a.exit function

Example Usage

local s = {
 initiate = function(h,...) local a = {...} print('initiating '..a[1]) return 'a' end,
 a        = function(h) print('a')       return 'b'    end,
 b        = function(h) print('b')       return 'c'    end,
 c        = function(h) print('c')       return 'exit' end,
 exit     = function(h) print('exiting') return 999    end,
 monitor  = function(s,h,n,g) if g=='exit' then h[1]=h[1]+1; if h[1]<3 then g='a' end end; return g end,
 }

local h = {0}
local m = sl.machine(s,h)
local n = m.initiate('live')
print(tostring(n))

--> initiating live
    a
    b
    c
    a
    b
    c
    a
    b
    c
    exiting
    999

Description

Calling initiate begins the execution of a previously defined state machine object by calling the function associated with the 'initiate' key in the state table. If no errors are encountered during execution, initiate returns the results returned by the 'exit' state function.

Upon Error

Errors occurring in any of the state functions are reported and handled according to the operant error redirection mode.

See Also

• simplelib

• case
• chain
• iterator
• machine
• spin