appStation, aims to make state machines easier to use in your applications.
Demo env http://esromlabs.github.io/appstation/editor.html?example=Turnstyle
- a visual editor lets you see the states and transitions in any layout (with multiple views)
- you can create and edit properies of the states in your machine
- allows hierarchical state (states can have a parent that provides a base set of properties)
- import and export your FSM for use in a state machine interpreter
A state machine is made of states and transition. States represent a resting state where properties are static and only a transition can change them. Transitions move the current state of the state machine interpretor to a new state. State Machines are
There are no "IF" or "WHILE" control structure in an FSM. The traversal from state to state is determined by transitions. Conditionals and loops are made by contructing branching or cyclical transitions.
Central to the appStation project is the ability to easily visualize, edit, share and debug FSMs (rendered as a graphs). A survey of available graph editor applications revealed a lack of web based tools that could be integrated into this pattern of programming. Several rendering libraries have been explored, and currently effort is being invested into integrating Cytoscape.js into the appStation environment. Modularity is also a focus of the design, so that alternate graph rendering options could be supported in the future.
Cytoscape.js is used to facilitate graph visualization. The goal is to present State Machines in a high cognitive-bandwidth format that combines graphics and text into diagrams that convey the structure and meaning of the FSM graph.