Hi,
i am writing an application; a simulator of a p2p network. I have decided that the best way to go on is for the peers to exchange xml messages using nio.Channels. I have limited experience in both. The question is the following:
Say i have ByteBuffer of fixed size (say bbuffer) for reading the incoming xml messages from the source Channel. A bbuffer, after reading the channel, could contain any real number of messages, for example:
-0.x messages, because a message could not fit
-1.7 messages, because the first message does fit and we read 0.7 from the second one.
-etc.

All these are just series of bytes; how do i know where the first message stops, where the second starts and if the entire messages -all their bytes- are stored in the byte buffer? What if i reach the end of the buffer and find out, that not the entire message is contained there? Any help appreciated.

Thanks

It sounds like you are limiting the allowed message size. How come?

I am not limiting the allowed message size; it can be of any size. The ByteBuffer object is of fixed size (ByteBuffer bbuffer=ByteBuffer.allocate(aFixedSize)). ANY number of messages can fit inside the bbuffer.

Hmm...ok. I don't do much in the way of network-programming in Java (I keep to Lisp for that).