Base class for all message types. Each message type has it's own id which is used to dispatch messages efficiently. More...

#include <Message.h>

Inheritance diagram for plMessage:

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Public Member Functions
virtual plInt32	GetSortingKey () const
	Derived message types can override this method to influence sorting order. Smaller keys are processed first.

PL_ALWAYS_INLINE plMessageId	GetId () const
	Returns the id for this message type.

PL_ALWAYS_INLINE plUInt16	GetSize () const
	Returns the size in byte of this message.

PL_ALWAYS_INLINE plUInt64	GetHash () const
	Calculates a hash of the message.

virtual void	Serialize (plStreamWriter &inout_stream) const
	Implement this for efficient transmission across process boundaries (e.g. network transfer etc.)

virtual void	Deserialize (plStreamReader &inout_stream, plUInt8 uiTypeVersion)

Public Member Functions inherited from plReflectedClass
virtual const plRTTI *	GetDynamicRTTI () const

bool	IsInstanceOf (const plRTTI *pType) const
	Returns whether the type of this instance is of the given type or derived from it.

template<typename T >
PL_ALWAYS_INLINE bool	IsInstanceOf () const
	Returns whether the type of this instance is of the given type or derived from it.

Static Public Member Functions
static void	PackageForTransfer (const plMessage &msg, plStreamWriter &inout_stream)
	Writes msg to stream in such a way that ReplicatePackedMessage() can restore it even in another process.

static plUniquePtr< plMessage >	ReplicatePackedMessage (plStreamReader &inout_stream)
	Restores a message that was written by PackageForTransfer()

Static Public Member Functions inherited from plNoBase
static const plRTTI *	GetStaticRTTI ()

Protected Member Functions
	plMessage (size_t messageSize)

Static Protected Member Functions
static PL_ALWAYS_INLINE plMessageId	GetNextMsgId ()

Protected Attributes
plMessageId	m_Id

plUInt16	m_uiSize

Static Protected Attributes
static plMessageId	s_NextMsgId = 0

Detailed Description

Base class for all message types. Each message type has it's own id which is used to dispatch messages efficiently.

To implement a custom message type derive from plMessage and add PL_DECLARE_MESSAGE_TYPE to the type declaration. PL_IMPLEMENT_MESSAGE_TYPE needs to be added to a cpp.

See also: plRTTI

For the automatic cloning to work and for efficiency the messages must only contain simple data members. For instance, everything that allocates internally (strings, arrays) should be avoided. Instead, such objects should be located somewhere else and the message should only contain pointers to the data.

Member Function Documentation

◆ Deserialize()

virtual void plMessage::Deserialize	(	plStreamReader &	inout_stream,
		plUInt8	uiTypeVersion )

inlinevirtual

See also: Serialize()

Reimplemented in plMsgSetColor, and plMsgSetMeshMaterial.

◆ PackageForTransfer()

void plMessage::PackageForTransfer	(	const plMessage &	msg,
		plStreamWriter &	inout_stream )

static

Writes msg to stream in such a way that ReplicatePackedMessage() can restore it even in another process.

For this to work the message type has to have the Serialize and Deserialize functions implemented.

Note: This is NOT used by plWorld. Within the same process messages can be dispatched more efficiently.

◆ ReplicatePackedMessage()

plUniquePtr< plMessage > plMessage::ReplicatePackedMessage ( plStreamReader & inout_stream )

static

Restores a message that was written by PackageForTransfer()

If the message type is unknown, nullptr is returned.

See also: PackageForTransfer()

◆ Serialize()

virtual void plMessage::Serialize ( plStreamWriter & inout_stream ) const

inlinevirtual

Implement this for efficient transmission across process boundaries (e.g. network transfer etc.)

If the message is only ever sent within the same process between nodes of the same plWorld, this does not need to be implemented.

Note that PackageForTransfer() will automatically include the plRTTI type version into the stream and ReplicatePackedMessage() will pass this into Deserialize(). Use this if the serialization changes.

Reimplemented in plMsgSetColor, and plMsgSetMeshMaterial.

The documentation for this class was generated from the following files:

Code/Engine/Foundation/Communication/Message.h
Code/Engine/Foundation/Communication/Implementation/Message.cpp

Public Member Functions

Static Public Member Functions

Protected Member Functions

Static Protected Member Functions