Actor framework 2014

[lvrat]

Does Launch Root actor VI in LabVIEW 2014 replaces Lauch actor? If not when to use one over the other? Similarly what is the screnario to launch nested Actor? Don't beleive Lauch Nested Actor VI is same as Read Self enqueuer.

[tst · Accepted solution]

The new design is supposed to make it simpler to launch actors. Before, you had to create or get an enqueuer and pass it to the launcher and there was a lot of confusion about how to do it correctly. Now, you basically have two cases:

1. Root - this is an actor that has no calling actor. It is essentially the root of the actor tree, which is why it got that name and why it doesn't have an enqueuer for a caller. I think the expectation is that most people will have at least one (depending on the number of trees). You could also have zero if you want the root actor to report back to a non-actor which listens on an enqueuer, and then you do things like you did them until now - create an enqueuer and launch the actor using the old VI.
2. Nested - this is an actor launched by another actor. When it's launched, it gets the enqueuer from the caller and keeps it, so that it can report back to the caller. This is probably the VI you would use most of the time if you have an actual actor tree.

The basic concept of this design is that each actor creates an enqueuer when it's launched and that if A launches B, then B has A's enqueuer, so it can report back to it.

Also, I believe that an actor now collects the enqueuers of all the nested actors it launches, so that it can send a stop command to all of them when it terminates.