1. A network apparatus, comprising: a document parser to parse a document having transaction information and to create a document object from said transaction information; a pattern parser to parse pattern information of a pattern for one or more elements according to a predefined pattern object data structure and to place said elements in appropriate blocks within said pattern object data structure; a pattern object generator to receive said pattern information of a pattern and to create a pattern object from said pattern information; and content based switching decision logic to make a switching decision for a message based upon a comparison of said document object with said pattern object, said pattern object contains at least one expression, and said content based switching logic evaluates said at least one expression for a match with said document object.