Event

Event is a generic data structure used for communication and storage of relevant changes happening through time in a Hat system. For example, event can represent a data change triggered by a device outside of the system, or an inner notification created by a component inside the system. Each event is immutable and uniquely identified by its event id. Event Server is the only component responsible for creating events - all other components shall request Event Server to create a new event.

Event data structure:

• id

  A unique Event identifier always set by the server. It contains:

  • server

    Event Server unique identifier (defined in configuration as server_id).

  • session

    Unique identifier of event processing session (unique only on the server that creates it). It is sequential integer that starts from 1. Session of value 0 is never assigned to an event - it is reserved for identifier of non-existing session preceding first available session.

  • instance

    Unique identifier of an Event instance (unique only for the session and server that created it). It is sequential integer that starts from 1. Instance of value 0 is never assigned to an event, it is reserved for identifier of non-existing instance preceding first available instance in associated session.

• type

  Type is a user (client) defined list of strings. Semantics of the list’s elements and their position in the list is determined by the user and is not predefined by the Event Server. This list should be used as the main identifier of the occurred event’s type. Each component registering an event should have its own naming convention defined which does not collide with other components’ naming conventions. This property is set by the user while registering an event. Subtypes are arbitrary strings formed from valid utf-8 characters excluding characters ?, * and /.

  When used in querying and subscription, this property has additional semantics. Any string in the list can be replaced with ? while the last string can also be replaced with *. Replacements must substitute an entire string in the list. The semantics of these replacements are:

  • The string ?

    is matched with a single arbitrary string.

  • The string *

    is matched with any number (zero or more) of arbitrary strings.

• timestamp

  This property determines the moment when the event was registered on the server. It is always set by the server (that is by Engine).

• source timestamp

  This property is optional. It represents the moment the Event occurred as detected by the source of the Event. It is always set by the Eventer Client.

• payload

  This property is optional. It can be used to provide additional data bound to an event. The payload property is always set by the client registering the event. Its contents are determined by the Event’s type and can be decoded by clients who understand Events of that type. Payload can be encoded as binary data, JSON data or SBS encoded data. Event Server doesn’t decode payload while receiving event requests, storing events or providing query results. Payload can be optionally decoded by Event Server’s modules.