The VisualBots object model includes functionality for creating network-like structures in your simulations.
Setting up a Network with Links
A network is a set of connected or related objects, such as an electrical circuit or a series of stations in a transportation system. In VisualBots, a network connection is stored as a reference to another object. The Links property of a Bot or Cell object sets or returns a collection of object references that are stored with the Bot or Cell object. If applied to a Bot object, the Links property returns a Group collection object, and if applied to a Cell object, it returns a Region collection object. Object references can be added, removed, and manipulated through the properties and methods of the associated Group and Region objects that are accessed via the Links property.
Improving execution performance with Links
In certain situations, you can dramatically improve the efficiency of your simulations with the use of the Links property. In cases where object links remain constant over the life of a simulation, you can add these to an object's Links collection at the beginning of a simulation to avoid recalculation during each time step. For example, in the cellular automata Game of Life, a Cell object's adjacent neighbors are needed to calculate the Cell object's state. Rather than using the Adjacent8 method to return the neighboring cells during each simulation time step, store these references to the Links collection at the beginning of the simulation, and then use the Links property to access these references during each time step.
