PAGEr <Pager ID>
The PAGEr command sets the pager ID (PID) number, for the
transaction, into the gateway. The PID used must reside in the TAP
terminal (and there is where it should be validated). Limited
validation may optionally be done on the server (such as all
numeric, and ID length), or it can all be done by the TAP terminal
at the time the page is sent. Duplicating the PAGEr command before
SENDing the message should produce an "!ERROR, Already Entered"
message, and allow the user to continue.
MESSage <Alpha or Numeric Message>
The MESSage command sets the numeric or alphanumeric message for
the transaction, into the gateway. Limited validation of the
message may be done on the SNPP server (such as length), but type-
of-message validation should be done on the TAP terminal.
Duplicating the MESSage command before SENDing the message should
produce an "!ERROR, Already Entered" message, and allow the user to
continue.
I would like to see the two system negotiate a connection. One
parameter I can think of is message limit. The server might only
want to accept messages up to say 200 characters (suppose by mistake
a user sends a 3 page email message to the user or even worse someone
who has it out for you sends to your beeper a Unix core dump :-)).
So I would like to see when the client says 'PAGE nnnnnnn' that the
server come back with 'Ok, limit=mmm'. This way the client can't
complain that he didn't know that some trailing characters were gonna
get lost. You allude to length but don't specify it clearly enough.
I would also like to see the ability to send multiline MESSages. You
don't specify what constitutes the end of the MESS - would it be
NL/CR?
I would also like to see mention of 7bit vs 8bit. As we know, the
older SMTP is 7bit limited. That means that national language
support has to go via MIME until everyone implements EHLO. Today,
places that speak languages other than English and US-ASCII, need
to use Base64 and Quoted-Printable to communicate. I would hope that
SNPP, starting from scratch would be 8bit and specified as such.
Let me add my vote that SNPP should not be batch, or store and
forward or email. It should be realtime/online/interactive. Paging
someone means *now*. Not in 30 minutes to be read, not the following
day, but now.
Hank Nussbacher
vm.biu.ac.il
Israel