Method for communicating between software entities via an API

A communication method for communication between software entities via an application programming interface that comprises at least one transaction, each transaction being defined by a set of messages, the communication method including a configuration stage comprising the following steps that are performed in each software entity and for each version of the transaction that is implemented by said software entity:

• producing a structure description of the version, which structure description includes an global structure for each message that can be exchanged in that version of the transaction;
• producing a signature that is representative of the structure description of the version of the transaction;
• defining and saving an object comprising the signature and the structure description of the version, each object comprising, in addition to the signature and the structure description of the version associated with said object, a preference indicator serving to evaluate a plurality of versions and to compare them with one another in order to select an optimum version for optimizing the performance of the communication;
• the communication method further comprising a sending stage comprising the step of:
• causing a sender software entity to send a current message in a current version of the transaction, together with a current signature of the current version;
• and a reception stage comprising the steps of:
• causing a receiver software entity to receive the current message and the current signature;
• and
• causing the receiver software entity to identify an object having the signature identical to the current signature, and to decode the current message by using the structure description of said object.