Ponder2 Internal XML
PonderTalk is compiled to an intermediate XML. At run-time the XML is interpreted. The XML is taken as a series of XML elements, each one returning a Ponder2 managed object (P2Object). The XML elements comprise one of:
XML |
Tag Description |
ponder2 |
Dummy element used to enclose many elements into one to meet the XML document standard. Returns the result of the last element |
assign |
Used to assign an object to a variable. Returns the object assigned |
send |
Send one or more messages to a managed object. Returns the result of the last message sent |
use |
Uses a variable or resolves a path name. Returns the variable value or the object located |
string |
Returns an object containing a string value |
boolean |
Returns an object containing a Boolean value |
number |
Returns an object containing a numeric value. Java BigDecimal is used here to give accurate, arbitrary precision values |
block |
Returns an object containing a block of XML code for later execution |
array |
Returns an object representing an array of objects |
oid |
Returns an object located by its unique identifier and address. If the object is remote then a local External Managed Object is returned as a proxy |
Table of possible XML elements |
|
Send
The XML send structure essentially identifies a managed object and sends one or more messages to it. The result is the return values of the last message.
<send> <object/> <message name=“message_name” …> <argument/><argument/>… </message> <message …> … </message> … </send>
Where <object/> is one of the XML elements in the above table. Since everything returns an object in PonderTalk, the result of <send> is an object, thus allowing a <send> element to be used in place of <object/>. This gives a very simple yet very powerful XML structure that is general enough for all the decoding work to be done before handing the message to the Java managed object.
Block
OID
Array
Use