Class Message
Abstract base class for messages to be sent via the circuit system.
To use the messaging system, message types must be created as classes that inherit from this base class. Instances of the concrete message types can then be sent and received through partition sets, just like regular beeps.
Messages use a priority system to solve conflicts: If multiple particles send different messages on a circuit in the same round, only the message with the highest priority is received by the particles on the circuit. Thus, the GreaterThan(Message) and Equals(Message) methods must be implemented such that they define a strict total order on the set of all possible messages.
To ensure that messages can be saved and loaded correctly,
every subclass must provide a parameterless default
constructor and may only have simple members of
primitive types like int, bool,
string, or enums. In particular, no reference
types or data structures like lists or arrays are
supported as members.
Namespace: AS2.Sim
Assembly: .dll
Syntax
public abstract class MessageMethods
| Edit this page View SourceCopy()
Creates a deep copy of this message.
The main purpose of this method is to prevent particles from sharing instances of messages due to reference semantics. Changing data in a message a particle has received (for example to forward the altered message later) can cause errors if this method does not create a deep copy of the original message.
Declaration
public abstract Message Copy()Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Message | A deep copy of this message. |
CreateFromSaveData(MessageSaveData)
Reconstructs a Message subclass instance from the given save data. Fields not stored in the save data will be left at the values set in the default constructor and fields stored in the save data that are not defined by the subclass will produce error messages.
Declaration
public static Message CreateFromSaveData(MessageSaveData data)Parameters
| Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| MessageSaveData | data | The serializable data storing a message's type and members. |
Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Message | An instance of a Message subclass with the member
values stored in |
Equals(Message)
Checks whether this message is equivalent to the given other message.
This method should only return true if the two
compared messages are equivalent in the sense that any
particle receiving one of the messages will behave
exactly as if it had received the other message.
In other words, the messages have to be equivalent
with respect to the total order defined on all
possible messages.
Note that this method and GreaterThan(Message)
must not both return true when comparing the
same instances.
Declaration
public abstract bool Equals(Message other)Parameters
| Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Message | other | The message that should be compared to this one. |
Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| bool |
|
GenerateSaveData()
Stores this instance's member variables in a serializable object.
Uses reflection to find the members' names, types and values and stores the non-null values by their string representation.
Declaration
public MessageSaveData GenerateSaveData()Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| MessageSaveData | A MessageSaveData instance storing the names, types and values of this message as strings. |
GreaterThan(Message)
Checks whether this message has a higher priority than the given other message.
This is the main comparison operator defining the total order on the set of all possible messages. If the order is not strict, the message that is received in the case that multiple messages are sent on the same circuit in the same round may not be well-defined.
Note that this method and Equals(Message)
must not both return true when comparing the
same instances.
Declaration
public abstract bool GreaterThan(Message other)Parameters
| Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Message | other | The message that should be compared to this one. |
Returns
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| bool |
|