need a thread to keep a socket connection alive?

[nephish at xit.net]

ok, every message starts with "ENX" and ends with "STX"
in between are several parts. the first is the message length sent as
an unsigned long int (according to the docs) this is four bytes. The
next is the message type - another 4 bytes that corrospond to a certain
chart. for example, the login is message type 200. Then there is the
message. different messages have different lengths and types.
the data part, i am still trying to break apart. Some of it (when
printed to the screen) is a string, then some very funny characters,
then another string, then more funny looking characters, then 'ETX'

up untill now, all i have had to process is the strings, so i split the
message up, and used the strings as my data. But now, i do need the
other info. -whew.

i guess i am learning a lot. i just ordered Python Essential Reference
from amazon. ;)

anyway. from what i have found on line, i am going to be using the
struct module.



oh, that was a typo earlier. not 34 bytes, but 14.
the data comming in is alway in 158 bytes though.

thanks guys.