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Some simple actions do not have the Using property. These actions run either natively within Continua or Windows and do not require an external tool to run. These actions include the Delay Actionaction, Tag Build Actionaction action and most File operation actions.
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In addition to the "Using" drop down list, you can manually specify property collector properties by using the Query Syntax in any action. Chances are at some point you will need to use an executable in your workflow that Continua doesn't have an action form, for example FTP. To do this, you would add a property collector for your FTP executable, then use the Execute Program Actionaction and specify the property using the Query Syntax. Accessing properties from property collectors using the query syntax is described below. Please note, when specifying properties manually there's no way for Continua to check if an Agent is compatible until the action is executed (at run time). If you want to manually specify a path and have the compatibility of an Agent detected before run time, then you would need to add a Stage Option that checks of the path exists. As an example, your stage option would look something like this: $Agent.MyFtpExecutable.Path$ with the condition drop down set to Exists.
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Actions
When creating an Action action in the Stage Editor, you may notice a "Using" field at the bottom of the dialog on the first tab for all actions that are backed by an executable. Obviously actions like Delay and Tag Build Actionaction don't require executables to perform their job so they won't have a "Using" drop down list. The "Using" list contains the property collectors that are of use to the Actionaction. Once a property collector is selected from this list and the Action action is saved to the Stage and subsequently the Configuration, a requirement is then set on the Configuration for that property needing to be available before the Configuration can execute. One common theme for all property collectors found in the "Using" drop down in Actions actions is they all use a property collector type that returns a Path property. By default, all Actions actions will take the property collector assigned to them and only use the Path property since that's all the Action action needs... the path to the executable to run the Actionaction.
Note: Currently all property collectors listed in the "Using" drop down in Actions actions are all default property collectors and all have their "Run On" attribute set to Agent. Since they're all set as Agent property collectors, we can construct an Agent Compatibility Matrix which allows the user to see why an Agent may not be compatible with a Configuration. Determining the compatibility of an Agent is as simple as scanning all Actions actions in a Configuration and seeing if the property collectors they specified to use can find those properties on an Agent.
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In addition to the "Using" drop down list, you can manually specify property collector properties by using the Query Syntax in any action. Chances are at some point you will need to use an executable in your workflow that Continua doesn't have an action form, for example FTP. To do this, you would add a property collector for your FTP executable, then use the Execute Program Actionaction and specify the property using the Query Syntax. Accessing properties from property collectors using the query syntax is described below. Please note, when specifying properties manually there's no way for Continua to check if an Agent is compatible until the action is executed (at run time). If you want to manually specify a path and have the compatibility of an Agent detected before run time, then you would need to add a Stage Option that checks of the path exists. As an example, your stage option would look something like this: $Agent.MyFtpExecutable.Path$ with the condition drop down set to Exists.
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Repositories are much like Actions actions with their "Using" field containing a list of property collectors. Like Actionsactions, Repository property collectors must have a Path property, currently only the Path Finder Plugin property collector type is used for Repository property collectors. What's important to note with Repository property collectors is they're required to run on the Server but not the Agent. The reason for this is, Continua manages your repository from the Continua Server and not Agents which means the Server is the only one that absolutely needs access to the executable that manages the Repository.
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Property Collector Namespaces may seem a bit redundant or verbose but they serve an important purpose. Each Action action and Repository which use property collectors also define a namespace pattern that is used to determine which property collectors it's interested in. When you create a property collector and give it a namespace which matches the pattern in an Actionaction/Repositoryrepository, it will show up in the "Using" list of that Actionaction/Repositoryrepository.
The tables below show the patterns for each Actionaction/Repository and Namespace examples which show up in the 'Using' drop down list of Actionsactions/Repositoriesrepositories.
Note: Patterns are case insensitive.
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