Class MetaMessage

All Implemented Interfaces:
Cloneable
public class MetaMessage
extends MidiMessage

A MetaMessage is a MidiMessage that is not meaningful to synthesizers, but that can be stored in a MIDI file and interpreted by a sequencer program. (See the discussion in the MidiMessage class description.) The Standard MIDI Files specification defines various types of meta-events, such as sequence number, lyric, cue point, and set tempo. There are also meta-events for such information as lyrics, copyrights, tempo indications, time and key signatures, markers, etc. For more information, see the Standard MIDI Files 1.0 specification, which is part of the Complete MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification published by the MIDI Manufacturer's Association (http://www.midi.org).

When data is being transported using MIDI wire protocol, a ShortMessage with the status value 0xFF represents a system reset message. In MIDI files, this same status value denotes a MetaMessage. The types of meta-message are distinguished from each other by the first byte that follows the status byte 0xFF. The subsequent bytes are data bytes. As with system exclusive messages, there are an arbitrary number of data bytes, depending on the type of MetaMessage.

See Also:
MetaEventListener

Field Summary

Fields
Modifier and Type Field Description
static int META

Status byte for MetaMessage (0xFF, or 255), which is used in MIDI files.

Fields declared in class javax.sound.midi.MidiMessage

data, length

Constructor Summary

Constructors
Modifier Constructor Description
MetaMessage()

Constructs a new MetaMessage.
protected MetaMessage​(byte[] data)

Constructs a new MetaMessage.
MetaMessage​(int type, byte[] data, int length)

Constructs a new MetaMessage and sets the message parameters.

Method Summary

All Methods Instance Methods Concrete Methods
Modifier and Type Method Description
Object clone()

Creates a new object of the same class and with the same contents as this object.
byte[] getData()

Obtains a copy of the data for the meta message.
int getType()

Obtains the type of the MetaMessage.
void setMessage​(int type, byte[] data, int length)

Sets the message parameters for a MetaMessage.

Methods declared in class javax.sound.midi.MidiMessage

getLength, getMessage, getStatus, setMessage

Methods declared in class java.lang.Object

equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

META

public static final int META

Status byte for MetaMessage (0xFF, or 255), which is used in MIDI files. It has the same value as ShortMessage.SYSTEM_RESET, which is used in the real-time "MIDI wire" protocol.

See Also:
MidiMessage.getStatus(), Constant Field Values

Constructor Detail

MetaMessage

public MetaMessage()

Constructs a new MetaMessage. The contents of the message are not set here; use setMessage to set them subsequently.

MetaMessage

public MetaMessage​(int type,
                   byte[] data,
                   int length)
            throws InvalidMidiDataException

Constructs a new MetaMessage and sets the message parameters. The contents of the message can be changed by using the setMessage method.

Parameters:
type - meta-message type (must be less than 128)
data - the data bytes in the MIDI message
length - an amount of bytes in the data byte array; it should be non-negative and less than or equal to data.length
Throws:
InvalidMidiDataException - if the parameter values do not specify a valid MIDI meta message
Since:
1.7
See Also:
setMessage(int, byte[], int), getType(), getData()

MetaMessage

protected MetaMessage​(byte[] data)

Constructs a new MetaMessage.

Parameters:
data - an array of bytes containing the complete message. The message data may be changed using the setMessage method.
See Also:
setMessage(int, byte[], int)

Method Detail

setMessage

public void setMessage​(int type,
                       byte[] data,
                       int length)
                throws InvalidMidiDataException

Sets the message parameters for a MetaMessage. Since only one status byte value, 0xFF, is allowed for meta-messages, it does not need to be specified here. Calls to getStatus return 0xFF for all meta-messages.

The type argument should be a valid value for the byte that follows the status byte in the MetaMessage. The data argument should contain all the subsequent bytes of the MetaMessage. In other words, the byte that specifies the type of MetaMessage is not considered a data byte.

Parameters:
type - meta-message type (must be less than 128)
data - the data bytes in the MIDI message
length - the number of bytes in the data byte array
Throws:
InvalidMidiDataException - if the parameter values do not specify a valid MIDI meta message

getType

public int getType()

Obtains the type of the MetaMessage.

Returns:
an integer representing the MetaMessage type

getData

public byte[] getData()

Obtains a copy of the data for the meta message. The returned array of bytes does not include the status byte or the message length data. The length of the data for the meta message is the length of the array. Note that the length of the entire message includes the status byte and the meta message type byte, and therefore may be longer than the returned array.

Returns:
array containing the meta message data
See Also:
MidiMessage.getLength()

clone

public Object clone()

Creates a new object of the same class and with the same contents as this object.

Specified by:
clone in class MidiMessage
Returns:
a clone of this instance
See Also:
Cloneable