TRANSFER Programming Manual

Agents
TRANSFER Application Components
40970 Tandem Computers Incorporated 2–5
Agents Agents are SCREEN COBOL requester programs or PATHWAY server classes that are
automatically invoked to handle packages received at a depot. Agents are invoked by
TRANSFER asynchronous requesters (TAREQs), which are responsible for actual
package delivery. A correspondent can receive packages from other correspondents
or from the TRANSFER delivery system itself. For example, the TRANSFER delivery
system can generate delivery certification packages and package expiration messages.
The capability of defining agents is an important feature of the TRANSFER delivery
system. Without an agent, a correspondent must check to determine whether
packages have arrived at the depot; with an agent, the package arrival can
automatically trigger some action. For example, an agent can react to a package
delivery by:
Informing the correspondent of the delivery
Saving the package automatically in a folder at the depot
Initiating a transaction, perhaps in response to a triggering
package
Creating a new package from the package received, adding items to that package,
and forwarding it to another correspondent
Arranging for packages to arrive in a certain order
Sorting packages according to type before presenting them to the
receiving correspondent
Filing packages from different applications separately, with the client then
allowing the correspondent to retrieve the packages selectively
Replying automatically to the sender
Displaying the package on a device
Deleting packages that are not meaningful to the receiver
An agent is selected for execution by criteria supplied in the agent profile associated
with the depot. The criteria can be established either by a client or by an operator
using the ADMIN application. ADMIN is a TRANSFER application, supplied by
Tandem, that provides a user interface to the administrative functions of the
TRANSFER delivery system.
A single agent can be associated with several depots. A single depot can have many
agents, each with different selection criteria, so different types of packages and
applications can be handled by different agents.