Message types

The Aleph network supports various types of message that all have their

Message structure

All the messages follow this based structure:

// BaseMessage structure
type:    string | The type of the message, can be Post, Aggregate, Store, ...
channel: string | Channel of the message, ideally one application has one channel.
time:    float  | When the message was created.
size:    number | The size of the messages.

// Sender info
sender:     string | The address of the account that signed and sent the transaction.
chain:      string | The chain used by the sender: AVAX, ETH, DOT, SOL, ...
signature:  string | The sender's signature that authenticates his ownership.

// Content
item_hash:    string      | The sha256 of the item_content field.
item_content: JSON string | The stringified content of the message according to its type.
content:      Object      | The content of the message according to its type.
item_type:    string      | Where to store item_content: inline, IPFS, storage.
hash_type:    string      | The algorithm used for the item_hash.

content example

Each message has a different content. You can find their definition on their dedicated pages.

Item_content for a Post

content:
  type: // Type of the Post: blog, comment, ...
  address: // The account address associated with the post.
  content: // An object containing the content of the post.
  time: // When the object where created.
  ref: // A text that is linked to this post, another post for example.

Item_content for an Aggregate

content:
    key: // The indexed key under the content is stored.
    address: // The account address associated with the post.
    content: // An object containing the value associated with the key.
    time: // When the object where created. 

Item_type and storage

You can choose several ways to store your data on the Aleph network.

When you are uploading a message on Aleph you can use the inlineRequested boolean to ask the network to store the content of your message into a JSON string inside the item_content field.

If your data could fall under GDPR or you want to store them in a different file. set inlineRequested to false and use set the storageEngine field to storage or ifps.

• Storage - A non SQL database solution

• IPFS - The famous file storage decentralised protocol.