Defining Output Variables

States return results as output variables, which are always session variables. Only states can set output variables, and only at runtime. Output-variable check boxes are always selected and cannot be modified.

To create an output variable, use the OutputAttribute constructor:

OutputAttribute("WEATHER", "Your Weather Synopsis")

Output Variables

By default, output session-variable names are not set, so text boxes are empty. You can set values by calling either of these two methods:

setValue – creates a session variable (if none exists), and saves the value immediately in the database, or,
setHoldValue – temporarily holds the value in the cache, until you explicitly call the SmappStatePlugin::saveOutputAttributes method.

The saveOutputAttributes method saves multiple session variables with a single database connection. If the state has only a few output variables, call the setValue method. If there are many output variables, call setHoldValue; this may impact the efficiency of the state at runtime.

To set output variables, call one of the methods in the OutputAttribute class:

public void setValue (String val)
public void setValue (Long val)
public void setValue (Integer val)
public void setValue (Boolean val)
public void setHoldValue (String val)
public void setHoldValue (Long val)
public void setHoldValue (Integer val)
public void setHoldValue (Boolean val)