Dynamic message retrieval

A method for dynamically changing a message retrieval scheme during runtime in a client/server electronic messaging system in which the server executes a message retrieval component and incoming messages received from the client is stored in a message queue, the method comprising:

• accessing messaging business rules from a memory by the message retrieval component at runtime, wherein the messaging business rules define a primary retrieval scheme and a secondary retrieval scheme, and wherein a value provided for each of the primary retrieval scheme and the secondary retrieval scheme are selected from a combination of different message retrieval types including:
• First In First Out (FIFO), Last In First Out (LIFO), and random;
• subdividing the message queue into sub-queues based on at least one of a message quantity limit and a message received time limit specified in the messaging business rules;
• accessing each of the sub-queues using the value of the secondary retrieval scheme;
• and
• retrieving messages from each of the sub-queues using the value of the primary retrieval scheme.