Programming Jabber

Name

to — Optional

Synopsis

<presence to='sabine@yak'/>

The to attribute is optional; if, as a user, you are just announcing availability (with the intention of having that announcement reflected to the appropriate members of your roster), then specifying a to attribute is not appropriate.^[8] If you want to send your availability to a specific entity, then do so using this to attribute, specifying that entity’s JID. Why might you want to do this? See Section 5.4.2.4 for an answer.

^[8] In fact, as in the cases for the other two elements, <message/> and <iq/>, not specifying a to attribute will cause the <presence/> packet to be sent to the sender. However, in the case of the presence handler mechanism, the packet is swallowed before it can reach its destination, to prevent reflective presence problems.