sub new {
   my ($class, $type, $id) = @_;
   die "You must construct a SharedObject with a type" unless $type;
   my $self = { TYPE     => $type,
                ID       => $id,
                MODIFIED => 0,
                RECORD   => {}
              };
   bless $self, $class;
   # retrieve data from the shared objects cache:
   if ($id) {
      my ($sock, $req, $res);
      $sock = IO::Socket::INET->new ( PeerAddr => $appdata{SOBJIP}, # 127.0.0.1
                                      PeerPort => $appdata{SOBJPORT}, # 8000
                                      Proto    => 'tcp',
                                      Type     => SOCK_STREAM,
                                      Reuse    => 1) || die $!;
      $req = SOD::Session::Client::Request->new($appdata{SOBJCOMMAND}, $appdata{SOBJCONTENT}); # SOBJCOMMAND == 6, SOBJCONTENT == 8
      $res = SOD::Session::Client::Response->new($appdata{SOBJCOMMAND}, $appdata{SOBJCONTENT});
      unless ($req->send($sock, 'get   ', { 'type' => $type, 
                                            'id'   => $id 
                                          })) {
         die SOD::Session::Error::get($req->error->get)."\t".$req->error->msg;
         $sock->close || die $!;
      }
      unless ($res->receive($sock)) {
         die SOD::Session::Error::get($res->error->get)."\t".$res->error->msg;
      }
      $sock->close || die $!;
      undef $sock;
      $self->{RECORD} = $res->content;
   }
   $self;
}