Salutation APIs

The Application Programmer's Interface of the Salutation Architecture

The Salutation Architecture provides a simple, light-weight API set for accessing the Salutation functions. These APIs fall into 5 categories:

Initialization: There are two APIs for initialization of the Salutation Manager that receives and acts on the API calls. They are

• smlGetVersion(): Returns the Version Number of the Salutation Manager
• slmGetlocalSLMID(): Returns the ID for the local Salutation Manager. This ID is used in subsequent API calls.

Registration: There are two APIs for maintaining Functional Unit Registration. They are:

• slmRegisterCapabilities(): Allows user to register a local Functional Unit with the Salutation Manager. Other Salutation Managers will be able to 'see' this Functional Unit and learn about its capabilities.
• slmUnregisterCapabilities(): Allows the user to unregister a Functional Unit that was previously registered with the Salutation Manager. This effectively takes the Functional Unit 'off-line'.

Query: There are two APIs for locating other Salutation Managers and determining the Functional Units registered there. They are:

• slmSearchCapability(): Locates other Salutation Managers having specific Functional Units.
• SlmQueryCapability(): Determines if a Functional Unit supports a specific set of Capabilities.

Availability: There are two APIs for determining if a Functional Unit is available. They are:

• slmStartAvailabilityCheck(): Check the availability of a specific Functional Unit at a specified frequency.
• SlmCancelAvailabilityCheck(): Stop a previously started availability check.

Service: There are three APIs which control the movement of data between Salutation enabled entities. They are:

• slmOpenService(): Creates a virtual, bi-directional data pipe between the calling entity and a Function Unit specified in the call.
• SlmTransferData(): Places data on the data pipe form the calling entity to the specified Functional Unit.
• SlmCloseService(): Closes a virtual data pipe set up by the slmOpenService call.

That's it! Eleven API calls to initialize, register, find and use Salutation enabled devices, application and services. If you would like to learn more about the Salutation API calls, get a copy of the Salutation Specification from www.salutation.org/ordrspec.htm. You can also get a software simulator of the API calls by accessing www.salutation.org/simulate.htm.