Programming Jabber

The Message Element

It’s obvious that in a messaging architecture such as Jabber, sending messages is fundamental. The <message/> element provides us with this facility. Any data, other than availability information or structured requests and responses (which are handled by the other two element types) sent from one Jabber entity to another, is sent in a <message/> element.

All things considered, the key word in that last sentence is “in.” It’s a good idea to regard Jabber elements as containers; the simile fits well as the elements themselves remain relatively static (save for the attributes) but the content can change to reflect the circumstances.