Schema hierarchy for electronic messages

A computer program product for use in a computer system that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems to a network, the computer program product for implementing a method for creating an electronic message that can be sent via a plurality of different message protocols to a plurality of different message applications, can that be stored and accessed by any of the plurality of different message applications using any of the plurality of different messaging protocols, the computer program product comprising one or more computer storage devices having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the following:

• create a single message item representing the electronic message in accordance with a general message schema, the single message item creation including:
• populating one or more general data fields according to the general message schema that correspond to one or more general properties common to the plurality of different message protocols and common to the plurality of different message applications, including at least one data field corresponding to a primary type to the message item, the primary type indicating a primary behavior of a plurality of content portions linked to the message item;
• populating the single message item with data fields that make the single message item compatible with the plurality of different message protocols, including for each different message protocol in the plurality of different message protocols:
• snapping on protocol specific data fields from at least one protocol extension schema to the single message item itself, to make the plurality of linked portions of content compatible with the message protocol, each protocol specific extension schema accounting for any properties that are not common between the plurality of different message protocols;
• and
• assigning values to the protocol specific data fields of the at least one protocol specific extension within the single message item;
• populating the single message item with data fields that make the single message item compatible with the plurality of different message applications, including for each different message application in the plurality of different message applications:
• snapping on application specific data fields from at least one application specific extension to the message item itself, to make the plurality of linked content portions compatible with the message application, each application specific extension schema accounting for properties that are not common between the plurality of different message applications;
• and
• assigning values to the application specific data fields of the at least one application specific extension within the single message item;
• assigning values to one or more of the general data fields, thereby defining at least one general property that is common between two different messaging extensions;
• and
• send the single message item, which has been populated with the protocol specific data fields for each of the plurality of different message protocols and the application specific data fields for each of the plurality of different message applications, to two or more of the plurality of different message applications via two or more of the plurality of different message protocols.