Messaging Basics

We begin by looking at some basics of messaging systems. The two areas of importance at this point are the differences between asynchronous and synchronous messaging, and between push and pull for message retrieval.

Asynchronous versus Synchronous Messaging

One of the fundamental benefits of messaging is its asynchronous nature. Asynchronous operations are nonblocking. This means that the sender of the message only initiates the operation, and does not have to wait for a response before he or she can continue working. If and when a response does appear, the application can then receive that message and respond to it appropriately. Even if the message takes some time to complete, the user does not notice the delay since he or she can continue to perform other tasks while waiting for a response.

This is the opposite of a synchronous operation, which blocks the process until the operation is completed. In these cases, the application is on hold until the operation is finished. Remote Procedure Call (RPC), a term used to describe the distributed computing model implemented by many middleware technologies such as CORBA, Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI), and Microsoft's Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), is synchronous in nature. These technologies wait for a response before they continue. An example of synchronous communication is wireless Internet applications. Once a Web page is requested, users have to wait until the content comes back before they can continue working. This can lead to a poor user experience if the application is not designed correctly or if the network has high latency or low bandwidth. Unfortunately, both are common in today's wireless networks.

Asynchronous execution of messages is usually superior to synchronous execution, even on unreliable networks; that said, there are times when a synchronous response is required. An example would be an application that requires credit approval before making a purchase. You do not want to continue the purchase until the credit card is confirmed, thereby making synchronous messaging better suited for the task. The point is, when you are looking at implementing messaging within your applications, it may be worthwhile to determine whether you will need either synchronous or asynchronous messaging, and choose a solution that will provide the capabilities you require.

Push versus Pull

One of the common uses of messaging technology is to disperse information, such as notifying a mobile user when a specific event has occurred in the enterprise. The goal is for this type of notification to happen seamlessly, without user interaction. This is often referred to as push messaging. A message is pushed from the enterprise to the mobile user without the client having to request the information manually. In practice, rarely is the information actually pushed to the user without the client doing some form of check to see if new data is present.

Most wireless networks and devices do not support true push technology, but instead use a polling mechanism on the client device. Instead of users requesting new information, as they would in many smart client and thin client applications, the client application periodically polls the server to see if there is a new message for this client. If there is, it will then retrieve the message and react accordingly, often displaying some information to the application user. From the user's perspective, the information was pushed from the server, when in reality a pull mechanism was used.

Using this technique, you can enhance many smart client applications. When a new set of data is available on the server, you can initiate the data synchronization procedure from the server, allowing the data to be updated on the client device without the user having to constantly check for updates. For thin client applications, you can send out HDML notifications or WAP Push messages to notify users of new information, or link them to a wireless Web site that will be of interest to them. (More information on push messaging can be found in the sections "HDML Notifications" and "WAP Push" later in the chapter.)