Before You Start

Before writing your first programs, it helps to have an overview of the TIBCO SmartSockets Application Programming Interface.

You can use embedded calls to the TIBCO SmartSockets Application Programming Interface (API) directly in your source code. Once the calls to the TIBCO SmartSockets API have been added, you need to compile the program and then link it with the TIBCO SmartSockets libraries.

If you use C++, you can use the C API and/or the TIBCO SmartSockets C++ class library. The C++ class library simplifies the API and presents a more object-oriented view of TIBCO SmartSockets. For more details on the C++ class library, see the TIBCO SmartSockets C++ User’s Guide.

If you use Java, see the TIBCO SmartSockets Java Library User’s Guide and Tutorial.

The TIBCO SmartSockets API uses a consistent naming convention. To use the TIBCO SmartSockets API effectively, it is important that you understand these API conventions:

All TIBCO SmartSockets functions start with a T prefix (for TIBCO).

All IPC functions start with Tipc (the ipc is for interprocess communication).

All TIBCO SmartSockets message types start with T_MT_ (for TIBCO Message Type).

Most IPC typedefs, enumerated values, and defines start with T_IPC_.

All functions that work on messages start with TipcMsg.

All functions that work with message types start with TipcMt.

All functions that work with connections start with TipcConn.

All functions that communicate with RTserver start with TipcSrv.

All functions that are used in monitoring start with TipcMon.

All utility functions start with Tut.

Figure 2 shows the functional layers of the API. For more details on the TIBCO SmartSockets API, see the TIBCO SmartSockets Application Programming Interface reference and the TIBCO SmartSockets API Quick Reference.