C2MS12 — Correct Final Message Construct

Some messages have a RESPONSE-STATUS that has a value of 6=Final Message. However, "Final Message" is not a response status, especially when compared to the other five possible values, but rather a qualifier about an individual response message. Further, there is no guarantee that a Final Message will be sent. For example, if a response message is marked with "Acknowledge", should there then be a separate "Final Message"? If a response message is marked with "Working / Keep Alive", should there then be a separate "Final Message"? In these cases, it is actually ambiguous. Table 6-11 Sequence of Response Status seems to indicate that a Final Message may follow an Acknowledge or Working/Keep Alive, but no others. Yet it seems possible to see an ACK followed by Working / Keep Alive, Followed by either Successful Completion or Failed Completion, and the concept of a Final Message is left hanging in those cases. It's just a bit strange.

A better way would be to allow any response message that supports sequences to indicate in a Boolean that it is the last message that will be received in a response, allowing both sequencing and single messages. In fact, many messages (like product message) that can be sent as part of a sequence do have a FINAL-MESSAGE Boolean field.

This RESPONSE-STATUS is described in section 6.4.2.2 C2MS RESP Message Type Details and is used in the following messages:

• Directive Response Message
• Replay Telemetry Data Response Message
• Archive Mnemonic Value Response Message
• Command Response Message
• Product Response Message
• Product Message (it is wholly unneeded here and likely caused by copy-paste from the wrong source... It should be deprecated)
• Simple Service Response Message

In all the response messages above, deprecate the use of 6=Final Message, add an optional Boolean (default to false) called FINAL-RESPONSE-MESSAGE. This allows FINAL-RESPONSE-MESSAGE to be set for all true statuses. Ensure that there is a FINAL-MESSAGE Boolean in all things that could be sent, like Product Message (which already has this Boolean).

Show an improved MEP (via C2MS12-5) that includes product messages (or the like) flowing within a response set.