Library
Fieldpine Multicast Protocol
Fieldpine Applications use a multicast protocol to automatically discover and configure themselves in a store LAN environment. This allows a computer that joins the network to discover other peer systems on the same LAN. The multicast address used is an admin scoped multicast address.
Various structures are sent over this multicast channel. It is only control data not business data. It is not intended that client applications will directly use this protocol, it is documented for completeness purposes only.
All packets are sent as binary GNAP packets. Packet types can be identified by looking at the first 4 bytes of a packet
SRCH Packet
This packet is sent by a computer asking the other systems on the network to identify themselves. Programs that receive this packet should respond on the network unless they are in stealth mode.
| Field Name | Field# | Description |
| 99 | Ticker | Holds a random value that has meaning only to the sender of the packet. This is typically used so that programs can detect that they have received their own transmitted SRCH packet |
| 104 | SearchKey | A Physkey value to identify the senders request. |
| 105 | Route |
PROG Packet
This packet identifies a program that is running
| Field Name | Field# | Description |
| 101 | Responding Program |
Coded number indicating which program is technically responding:
|
| 102 | BuildDt | Date/time this code version was built. Allows receiving programs to detect how old the program responding is |
| 103 | ProcessId | Current ProcessId of responding program. It is possible that multiple copies of a program will respond from a single computer |
| 104 | InstanceId | Current Process Instance Id |
| 200 | SinAddr | This field is added by the receiver |
| 201 | ReceiveDt | Date/time this packet was received from the network |
| 202 | IP Address | IP Address and Port of sending computer. This field is not transmitted by the sender, rather the receiver adds this information by observing the network address the packet arrived from |
DBID Packet
This packet supplies overview information about the current database on a computer. If multiple databases are available, then multiple DBID packets will be sent.
| Field Name | Field# | Description |
| 101 | Responding Program | See details in the PROG packet |
| 102 | BuildDt | See details in the PROG packet |
| 103 | ProcessId | See details in the PROG packet |
| 104 | InstanceId | See details in the PROG packet |
| 120 | DatabaseId | |
| 121 | Rank | |
| 122 | Port | |
| 123 | RmSystem |
HOST Packet
Not documented at this stage
RMSY Packet
Not documented at this stage