WFJSL Core Implementation

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Whiteflag Specification

Overview

The @whiteflagprotocol/core package provides the modules that define Whiteflag core protocol features as specified in the Whiteflag standard. As such, this package is not a fully functional implementation of the protocol, but separates core protocol functions from implementation-specific design decisions. Therefore, this package is not intended to be used directly by implementations of Whiteflag; instead, the @whiteflagprotocol/main should be used.

This description provides a generic overview of the Whiteflag core package. Please refer to the WFJSL TypeDoc documentation for a detailed description of all classes and functions.

Whiteflag message class

The Whiteflag message class WfCoreMessage defined in the message module represents a Whiteflag message. The class contains the methods to create, set field values, encode and encrypt a Whiteflag message. Please note that there normally is no need to use the WfCoreMessage directly. Instead, the WfMessage child class of the @whiteflagprotocol/main package is the main class to use for Whiteflag message, as this extended class provides methods to process the metadata required for full protocol functionality.

A new message may be created using the constructor, or by using a static factory method. For example, creating a new FreeText message (message code F) and set the Text field, may be done as follows:

let wfMessage = new WfCoreMessage('F');
WfCoreMessage.set('Text', 'Example text to be sent with the FreeText message');

The encode() method encodes the message. The WfCoreMessage class automatically verifies the fields and values when encoding and decoding. Encoding and decoding are asynchronous, meaning the functions return Promises. Once encoded, the methods toHex() and toU8a() may be used to obtain the encoded message as a hexadecimal string or a UInt8array, respectively.

await wfMessage.encode();
const hexMessage = wfMessage.toHex();

If a message is encoded, or decoded, the message is “final”, meaning its content cannot be changed. Decoding a message is done using a one of the static factory methods such as fromHex(...) or fromU8a(...), since the message type is probably not known before decoding.

wfMessage = await WfCoreMessage.fromHex(hexMessage);

Encryption and decryption is automatically performed upon encoding and decoding, based on the value of the EncryptionIndicator field in the message header. Since the WfCoreMessage class does not hold any metadata, all encryption and decryption parameters must be provided to the respective method when encoding or decoding a message.

The message module, also provides the following functions. These functions are used by the WfCoreMessage class, but may also be used for alternative processing of Whiteflag messages.

Function	Purpose
isValidMessage	Checks if an object is a valid Whiteflag message
validateMessage	Checks a message object for validation errors
encryptMessage	Encrypts a binary encoded message
decryptMessage	Decrypts an encrypted binary message

Both validation functions may be used for both plain JavaScript objects and objects of the WfCoreMessage class. The encryption and decryption functions work only on binary encoded messages provided as a BinaryBuffer.

Whiteflag encoding

The codec module provides the encoding and decoding for each field in a Whiteflag message i.a.w. the Whiteflag specification. The available field encodings are defined with the WfCodec enum. For the encoding, decoding, and verification of field values, the module provides the following functions.

Function	Purpose
encodeField	Encodes a Whiteflag message field
decodeField	Decodes a Whiteflag message field
isValidValue	Checks if the field value is valid

These functions are used by the WfCoreMessage class when encoding and decoding a message.

Whiteflag versions

Currently, only one version of the Whiteflag protocol has been developed. For ease of implementation of future Whiteflag versions, WFJSL functions and classes take the Whiteflag version into account. The versions module defines the available Whiteflag versions with the WfVersions enum.