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398 changes: 398 additions & 0 deletions documentation.yaml
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extensionName: ls
icon: i-si-flow-parallel-duotone
filesToIncludeInManual:
- USING.md
- CITING.md
- primitives
markdownTemplate: |2+

# LS Extension for NetLogo

LevelSpace is an extension for NetLogo that allows you to run several models concurrently and have them "talk" with each other. LevelSpace models are hierarchical, in that models always belong hierarchically to another model. In this documentation, we will refer to models that have loaded LevelSpace and have opened models as 'parents', and to the models they have opened as 'children' or 'child models'.

{{> USING.md}}

{{> CITING.md}}

## Primitives

{{#contents}}
### {{fullCategoryName}}

{{#prims}}
[`{{name}}`](#{{primitive.extensionName}}{{primitive.name}})
{{/prims}}

{{/contents}}

{{#primitives}}
{{> primTemplate}}
{{/primitives}}

{{> LICENSE.md}}

primTemplate: |2

### `{{name}}`

```NetLogo
{{#examples}}
{{#isOptional}}({{/isOptional}}{{primitive.fullName}}{{#args}} *{{argumentPlaceholder}}*{{/args}}{{#isOptional}}){{/isOptional}}
{{/examples}}
```

{{{description}}}
primitives:
- alternateArguments:
- type: number
- name: path
type: string
- type: command
arguments:
- type: number
- name: path
type: string
description: |2

Create the specified number of instances of the given model. The path can be absolute, or relative to the main model. Compared with `ls:create-interactive-models`, this primitive creates lightweight models that are hidden by default. You should use this primitive if you plan on having many instances of the given model. The models may be shown using `ls:show`; when visible, they will have a view and command center, but no other widgets, e.g. plots or monitors.

If given a command, LevelSpace will call the command after loading each instance of the model with the `model-id` as the argument. This allows you to easily store model ids in a variable or list when loading models, or do other initialization. For example, to store a model id in a variable, you can do:

```NetLogo
let model-id 0
(ls:create-models "My-Model.nlogox" [ [id] -> set model-id id ])
```

Child model RNGs are seeded from the parent models RNG when they are created.
Thus, if you seed the parent's model RNG before child model before child models are created, the simulation as a whole will be reproducible.
Use the `ls:random-seed` primitive to seed the model system's RNGs after child models have been created.
name: create-models
tags:
- opening-closing
type: command
- alternateArguments:
- type: number
- name: path
type: string
- type: command
arguments:
- type: number
- name: path
type: string
description: |2

Like `ls:create-models`, creates the specified number of instances of the given model. Unlike `ls:create-models`, `ls:create-interactive-models` creates models that are visible by default, and have all widgets. You should use this primitive if you plan on having only a handful of instances of the given model, and would like to be able to interact with the instances through their interfaces during runtime.

Child model RNGs are seeded from the parent models RNG when they are created.
Thus, if you seed the parent's model RNG before child model before child models are created, the simulation as a whole will be reproducible.
Use the `ls:random-seed` primitive to seed the model system's RNGs after child models have been created.
name: create-interactive-models
tags:
- opening-closing
type: command
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
description: |2

Close the model or models with the given `model-id`.
name: close
tags:
- opening-closing
type: command
- description: |2

Close down all child models (and, recursively, their child models). You'll often want to call this in your setup procedure.

Note that `clear-all` does *not* close LevelSpace models.
name: reset
tags:
- opening-closing
type: command
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
- name: command
type: code-block
- name: argument
type: repeatable anything
description: |2

Ask the given child model or list of child models to run the given command. This is the primary of doing things with child models. For example:

```NetLogo
ls:ask model-id [ create-turtles 5 ]
```

You can also ask a list of models to all do the same thing:

```NetLogo
ls:ask ls:models [ create-turtles 5 ]
```

You may supply the command with arguments, just like you would with anonymous commands:

```NetLogo
let turtle-id 0
let speed 5
(ls:ask model-id [ [t s] -> ask turtle t [ fd s ] ] turtle-id speed)
```

Note that the commands cannot access variables in the parent model directly. You must either pass information in through arguments or using `ls:let`.
name: ask
tags:
- interaction
type: command
- arguments:
- name: reporter
type: code-block
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
description: |2

Run the given reporter in the given model and report the result.

`ls:of` is designed to work like NetLogo's inbuilt `of`: If you send `ls:of` a `model-id`, it will report the value of the reporter from that model. If you send it a list of model-ids, it will report a list of values of the reporter string from all models. You cannot pass arguments to `ls:of`, but you can use `ls:let`.

```NetLogo
[ count turtles ] ls:of model-id
```
infix: true
name: of
returns: anything
tags:
- interaction
type: reporter
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
- name: reporter
type: code-block
- name: argument
type: repeatable anything
description: |2

Run the given reporter in the given model and report the result. This form exists to allow you to pass arguments to the reporter.

```NetLogo
let turtle-id 0
(ls:report model-id [ [a-turtle] -> [ color ] of turtle a-turtle ] turtle-id)
```
name: report
returns: anything
tags:
- interaction
type: reporter
- arguments:
- name: list-of-models
type: list
- name: reporter
type: code-block
description: |2

Reports a new list of models containing only those models that report `true` when they run the reporter block.

```NetLogo
ls:models ls:with [ count turtles > 100 ]
```
infix: true
name: with
returns: list
tags:
- interaction
type: reporter
- arguments:
- name: variable-name
type: symbol
- name: value
type: anything
description: |2

Creates a variable containing the given data that can be accessed by the child models.

```NetLogo
ask turtles [
ls:let my-color color
ls:ask my-model [
ask turtles [ set color my-color ]
]
]
```

`ls:let` works quite similar to `let` in that the variable is only locally accessible:

```NetLogo
ask turtles [
ls:let my-color color
]
;; my-color is innaccessible here
```

`ls:let` is very similar to `let`, except in a few cases.

- `ls:let` will overwrite previous values in the variable

If you do

```NetLogo
ls:let my-var 5
ls:let my-var 6
```

`my-var` will be set equal to `6`. There is no `ls:set`.

- `ls:let` supports variable shadowing

If you do

```NetLogo
ls:let my-var 5
ask turtles [
ls:let my-var 6
ls:ask child-model [ show my-var ]
]
ls:ask child-model [ show my-var ]
```

`child-model` will show `6` and then `5`. This is known as [variable shadowing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_shadowing).

- The parent model cannot directly read the value of an ls variable

For example, this does *not* work.

```NetLogo
ls:let my-var 5
show my-var
```

This is intentional. ls variables are meant to be used for sharing data with child models. The parent model already has access to the data.

Furthermore, changing the value of an ls let variable in a child model will not affect it in any other model. For example:

```NetLogo
ls:let my-var 0
ls:ask ls:models [
set my-var my-var + 1
show my-var
]
```

All models will print `1`.
name: let
tags:
- interaction
type: command
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
- name: global-variable
type: symbol
- name: value
type: anything
description: |2

Sets the given global variable in child model to given value. For instance

```netlogo
ls:assign ls:models glob1 count turtles
```

sets the global variable `glob1` in all models to the parent's model `count turtles`.
name: assign
tags:
- interaction
type: command
- description: |2

Report a list of model-ids for all existing models.
name: models
returns: list
tags:
- logic
type: reporter
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
description: |2

Makes all of the given models visible.
name: show
tags:
- logic
type: command
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
description: |2

Makes all of the given models *and their descendents* visible.
name: show-all
tags:
- logic
type: command
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
description: |2

Hide all of the given models. Hiding models is a good way of making your simulation run faster.
name: hide
tags:
- logic
type: command
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
description: |2

Hide all of the given models *and their descendents*. Hiding models is a good way of making your simulation run faster.
name: hide-all
tags:
- logic
type: command
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
description: |2

Report the full path, including the file name of the model. If a list of models is given, a list of paths is reported.
name: path-of
returns: string
tags:
- logic
type: reporter
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
description: |2

Reports the name of the model file. This is the name of the window in which the model appears when visible. If a list of models is given, a list of names is reported.
name: name-of
returns: string
tags:
- logic
type: reporter
- arguments:
- name: model-or-list-of-models
type: number/list
description: |2

Report a boolean value for whether there is a model with that model-id. This is often useful when you are dynamically generating models, and want to ensure that you are not asking models that no longer exist to do stuff.
name: model-exists?
returns: boolean
tags:
- logic
type: reporter
- arguments:
- name: seed
type: number
description: |2

Behaves exactly like NetLogo's built-in primitive `random-seed`, except that child models have their RNGs seeded based on the given seed as well (as well their child models, and their child models' child models, and so forth).
This primitive should almost always be used instead of NetLogo's built-in one for seeding RNG when using LevelSpace.
name: random-seed
type: command
tableOfContents:
interaction: Commanding and Reporting
logic: Logic and Control
opening-closing: Opening and Closing Models