3.6.5 Using Guards

Guards are boolean expressions based on variables. The statement behind the guard is selected if the expression evaluates to true. If more than one guard evaluates to true, a non-deterministic choice for one of guards must be made. Guards can be nested.

3.6.5.1 Syntax

An expression between [ and ] is used to declare a guarded statement

[expression] statement;

Here the statement will only be executed when expression evaluates to true.

Expression can be a compound expression using the logic operators || (OR) and &&(AND):

[expression1 || expression2] statement;  // statement will be executed when expression1 or expression2 is true
[expression1 && expression2] statement;  // statement will be executed when exrpession1 and expression2 is true

The keyword ’otherwise’ defines a catch-all guard which is true only when none of the other guard expressions in a list of guarded statements evaluates to true.

[expression1] statement-true-1;
[expression2] statement-true-2;
[otherwise]   statement-false-1-2;

Here statement-true-1 will be executed when expression1 evaluates to true, statement-true-2 will be executed when expression2 evaluates to true and statement-false-1-2 will be executed when both expression1 and expression2 evaluate to false.

3.6.5.2 Examples

3.6.5.3 Simple state machine

This example shows a simple state machine for a siren where guards are used to select the correct actions based on the state.

interface Siren
{
  in void TurnOn();
  in void TurnOff();
  behaviour
  {
    enum State { SirenOff, SirenOn }; // type declaration
    State state = State.SirenOff;    // variable declaration
    [state.SirenOff] // if the Siren is off, only allow to turn it on
    {
      on TurnOn:  state = State.SirenOn;
      on TurnOff: illegal;
    }
    [state.SirenOn] // if the Siren is on, only allow to turn it off
    {
      on TurnOff: state = State.SirenOff;
      on TurnOn:  illegal;
    }
  }
}

See also:

• Actions,
• Using Conditional Statements,