ToolTalk User's Guide

Preface

This manual describes the ToolTalk® service and how you modify your application to send and receive ToolTalk messages. Topics in this manual include:

General concepts of the ToolTalk service
What the ToolTalk service is and how it works
Requirements to set up and maintain the ToolTalk service
What is required to integrate your application with the ToolTalk service
How to modify your application to send messages addressed to processes or ToolTalk objects
How to register message pattern information for the messages your application wants to receive
How to receive and handle messages delivered to your application by the ToolTalk service
How to create and manage ToolTalk objects in your application data
How to maintain ToolTalk objects at the system administrator level and what users must do to maintain these objects and the files in which they are stored
How the ToolTalk service enables an application to communicate with other applications

Who Should Use this Book

This guide is for developers who create or maintain applications that use the ToolTalk service to inter-operate with other applications; it is also useful for system administrators who set up workstations. This guide assumes familiarity with Solaris operating environment commands, system administrator commands, and system terminology.

How This Manual Is Organized

This manual is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, Introducing the ToolTalk Service describes how the ToolTalk service works and how it uses information that your application supplies to deliver messages; and how applications use the ToolTalk service.

Chapter 2, An Overview of the ToolTalk Service describes new and changed features of this release; and application and ToolTalk components.

Chapter 3, Message Patterns describes message pattern attributes.

Chapter 4, Setting Up and Maintaining the ToolTalk Processes describes ToolTalk file locations, hardware and software requirements, how to find ToolTalk version information, and installation instructions for the ToolTalk database server.

Chapter 5, Maintaining Application Information describes how to maintain application information.

Chapter 6, Maintaining Files and Objects Referenced in ToolTalk Messages describes how to maintain files references in ToolTalk messages; how system administrators and users maintain ToolTalk objects; and how to perform maintenance on ToolTalk databases.

Chapter 7, Participating in ToolTalk Sessions describes the location of the ToolTalk API header file; how you initialize your application and start a session with the ToolTalk service; how you provide file and session information to the ToolTalk service; how to manage storage and handle errors; and how to unregister your message patterns and close your communication with the ToolTalk service when your process is ready to quit.

Chapter 8, Sending Messages explains how messages are routed, and describes the ToolTalk message attributes and algorithm. It also describes how to create messages, fill in message contents, attach callbacks to requests, and send messages.

Chapter 9, Dynamic Message Patterns describes how to create a dynamic message pattern and register it with the ToolTalk service; and how to add callbacks to your dynamic message patterns.

Chapter 10, Static Message Patterns describes how to provide process and object type information at installation time; how to make a static message pattern available to the ToolTalk Service; how to declare a ptype; and register it with the Sun Vendor Type Registration program.

Chapter 11, Receiving Messages describes how to retrieve messages delivered to your application; how to handle the message once you have examined it; how to send replies; and when to destroy messages.

Chapter 12, Objects describes how to create ToolTalk specification objects for the objects your process creates and manages.

Chapter 13, Managing Information Storage describes how to manage and remove objects.

Chapter 14, Handling Errors describes how to handle error conditions.

Appendix A, Migrating from the Classing Engine to the ToolTalk Types Database describes how to convert the Classing Engine databases to the ToolTalk Types database.

Appendix B, A Simple Demonstration of How the ToolTalk Service Works presents how the ToolTalk service can enable an application to communicate with other applications.

Appendix C, The ToolTalk Standard Message Sets describes the ToolTalk message sets that have been developed to help you develop applications that follow the same protocol as other applications with which your application wants to inter-operate.

Appendix D, Frequently Asked Questions provides the answers to some frequently asked questions about the ToolTalk service.

Accessing Sun Documentation Online

The docs.sun.com^SM Web site enables you to access Sun technical documentation online. You can browse the docs.sun.com archive or search for a specific book title or subject. The URL is http://docs.sun.com.

Typographic Conventions

The following table describes the typographic changes used in this book.

Table P–1 Typographic Conventions


Typeface or Symbol	Meaning	Example
`AaBbCc123`	The names of commands, files, and directories; on-screen computer output	Edit your `.login` file. Use `ls -a` to list all files. `machine_name% you have mail.`
`AaBbCc123`	What you type, contrasted with on-screen computer output	`machine_name%` `su` `Password:`
`AaBbCc123`	Command-line placeholder: replace with a real name or value	To delete a file, type `rm` `filename`.
AaBbCc123	Book titles, new words, or terms, or words to be emphasized.	Read Chapter 6 in User's Guide. These are called class options. You must be root to do this.

Shell Prompts in Command Examples

The following table shows the default system prompt and superuser prompt for the C shell, Bourne shell, and Korn shell.

Table P–2 Shell Prompts


Shell	Prompt
C shell prompt	`machine_name%`
C shell superuser prompt	`machine_name#`
Bourne shell and Korn shell prompt	`$`
Bourne shell and Korn shell superuser prompt	`#`