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Accumulators

Accumulators are generic, on-the-fly, global variables. The accumulator tools on the tool palette allow the user to create and modify the behavior of accumulators and the types of information they accumulate. Accumulators provide a place to store an attribute. For example, accumulators provide a way for someone to gather (accumulate) a total number of calls. Accumulators are defined in Interaction Administrator. Interaction Designer users can decide when they want to gather the information that is stored in the accumulators.

While accumulators are defined in Interaction Administrator, the accumulator tools create instances of accumulators and modify the values of those instances.

Accumulator Tool Actions

Accumulators are not values themselves. They are definitions of types of data to be collected. An instance of an accumulator is an actual value being saved with the system. The value of the instance may be set, retrieved, incremented, or locked. These actions are described in the following list:

Set: They set the value of an instance (one for each data type: Boolean, DateTime, Integer, Number, String).
Increment: They increment or decrement the value of an instance (Integer or Number type only).
Get: They get a value from the accumulator and bring it to the handler (one for each data type: Boolean, DateTime, Integer, Double, String).
Lock/Unlock: They allow/deny access to the value of an instance. (One for each data type: Boolean, DateTime, Integer, Number, String). Locking is an advanced feature that might be needed if a new value for an accumulator must be calculated using multiple steps. There is a chance that a "Lost Update" could occur if another handler is allowed to change the accumulator value while these multiple steps are executing.