Message Types

Each message has a type property that defines the purpose of the message. A message type can be thought of as a template (such as class) for a specific kind of message, and each message can be considered an instance of a message type. For example, NUMERIC_DATA is a message type with a predefined layout requiring a series of name-value pairs, with each string name followed immediately by a numeric value. To send numeric data to a process, the sending process constructs a message that uses the NUMERIC_DATA message type. A message type is created once and available for use as the type for any number of messages.

SmartSockets provides a large number of standard message types that you can use and that are also used internally by SmartSockets. When a standard message type does not satisfy a specific need, you can create a user-defined message type. Both standard and user-defined message types are handled in the same manner. Once the message type is created, messages can be constructed, sent, received, and processed through a variety of methods. Standard Message Types lists all of the standard message types.

Unlike the properties of a message, which can be changed dynamically, the properties of a message type are only set when the message type is created.

These properties are available for message types: