Using Activation: Not Extending
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Documentation Contents |
This tutorial describes how to implement an activatable remote object, but differs
from the tutorial Using Activation: Extending
Activatable
in that the implementation for the remote object
does not extend the class java.rmi.activation.Activatable
. Instead,
the implementation uses a static method of the class Activatable
to export an activatable remote object. This tutorial uses a Setup
program (described in the tutorial Using Activation: the
Setup
Program) that registers information about an activatable
remote object with the JavaTM Remote Method Invocation (Java RMI) activation system daemon (rmid
)
and then binds a stub for that remote object in an rmiregistry
so that clients can look it up. You may want to read that tutorial before this
one.
This tutorial has the following steps:
Setup
programThe files needed for this tutorial are:
MyRemoteInterface.java
- a
simple remote interface DoesNotExtendActivatable.java
- an "activatable" implementation of the remote interfaceClient.java
- a client that uses the remote interfaceclient.policy
- the security policy
file for the client There are a few basic ways to implement an activatable remote object. This tutorial describes how to implement an activatable remote object by using a static method of the class
java.rmi.activation.Activatable
to export an activatable remote object.A remote object is activated when a client invokes a remote method on a stub for an activatable remote object. A stub for an activatable remote object contains the remote object's activation ID and information on how to contact the Java RMI activation system daemon (
rmid
) for the remote object. If the stub cannot connect to the last-known address (i.e., host/port) for the remote object, the stub will contact the remote object's activator (rmid
) to activate the object. Whenrmid
receives an activation request, it starts the remote object's activation group (or container) VM if the group is not already executing, and thenrmid
asks the group to make an instance of the remote object. Once the group constructs the remote object, it returns the remote object's stub tormid
which, in turn, returns the actual stub to the initiating stub so that the initiating stub can update its information on how to contact the remote object in the future.Before any of this activation can take place, an application must register information about the activatable remote objects it needs to use. The following separate tutorial describes the information needed to activatate a remote object and how to register this information with
rmid
:In this example, the activatable remote object implements the following remote interface
examples.activation.MyRemoteInterface
:package examples.activation; import java.rmi.*; public interface MyRemoteInterface extends Remote { Object remoteMethod(Object obj) throws RemoteException; }The implementation class,
examples.activation.DoesNotExtendActivatable
, for the activatable remote object is as follows:package examples.activation; import java.rmi.*; import java.rmi.activation.*; public class DoesNotExtendActivatable implements MyRemoteInterface { private final ActivationID id; public DoesNotExtendActivatable(ActivationID id, MarshalledObject data) throws RemoteException { this.id = id; Activatable.exportObject(this, id, 0); } public Object remoteMethod(Object obj) { return obj; } }The class
DoesNotExtendActivatable
implements the remote interfaceMyRemoteInterface
, but does not extend any class.The class
DoesNotExtendActivatable
declares a special "activation" constructor that an activation group calls to construct an instance during the activation process. This special constructor takes two parameters:
- The first parameter,
ActivationID
, is an identifier for the activatable remote object. When an application registers an activation descriptor withrmid
,rmid
assigns it an activation ID, which refers to the information associated with the descriptor. This same activation ID (also contained in the remote object's stub) is passed to this constructor when the remote object is activated.- The second parameter is a
MarshalledObject
that contains initialization data pre-registered withrmid
. This initialization data may be a filename for the object's persistent state, for example. This example does not require any initialization data to construct the remote object.The constructor saves the activation ID in a private field, and then calls the static method
Activatable.exportObject
, passing the implementation itself (this
), the activation ID, and the port number0
, indicating that the object should be exported on an anonymous TCP port. While this implementation does not actually use the activation ID it stores, this example saves the activation ID to demonstrate what a typical implementation of an activatable object might do. Such an implementation may need the activation ID in the future, in order to deactivate the object, for example.Finally, the class implements the remote interface's single method,
remoteMethod
to return the object passed as an argument.
The
Client
program looks up a remote object's stub (one that implements the remote interfaceMyRemoteInterface
) in the registry on the host supplied as the optional first argument, and then invokes the stub'sremoteMethod
method. The client program is the same as the one described in the tutorial Using Activation: ExtendingActivatable
. For details, see the following section of that tutorial
The source files for this example can be compiled as follows:
javac -d implDir MyRemoteInterface.java DoesNotExtendActivatable.java javac -d clientDir MyRemoteInterface.java Client.javawhere implDir is the destination directory to put the implementation's class files the class files in, and clientDir is the destination directory to put the client's class files in.
Setup
programOnce your implementation phase is complete, you need to register information about the activatable object so a client can use it. The
Setup
program, described by the tutorial Using Activation: theSetup
Program, registers an activation descriptor for an activatable object withrmid
, and then binds the remote object's stub in anrmiregistry
so that clients can look it up.To run the
Setup
program for this example, see the section Startrmid
,rmiregistry
, and theSetup
program in the setup program tutorial, which describes how to startrmid
,rmiregistry
, and theSetup
program itself.After you run
rmid
andrmiregistry
as instructed in theSetup
tutorial, you will need to run theSetup
program to register an activation descriptor for an activatable object that implements the classexamples.activation.DoesNotExtendActivatable
. The following command line runs theSetup
program, supplying an appropriate file URL for each codebase used:java -cp setupDir:implDir \ -Djava.security.policy=setup.policy \ -Djava.rmi.server.codebase=file:/implDir/ \ -Dexamples.activation.setup.codebase=file:/setupDir/ \ -Dexamples.activation.impl.codebase=file:/impDir/ \ -Dexamples.activation.name=examples.activation.MyRemoteInterface \ -Dexamples.activation.policy=group.policy \ examples.activation.Setup examples.activation.DoesNotExtendActivatablewhere:
- setupDir is the root directory for the
Setup
program's class- implDir is the root directory for the implementation's classes
- setup.policy is the security policy file for the
Setup
program- group.policy is the security policy file for the activation group
Note that the
examples.activation.file
system property does not need to be specified, because theDoesNotExtendActivatable
implementation class does not use it. Also note that each file URL above has the required trailing slash. Examples of group and setup policy files, suitable for this tutorial, are described in the setup tutorial, and are also listed below:The output from the
Setup
program should look like this:Activation group descriptor registered. Activation descriptor registered. Stub bound in registry.
Once you have successfully registered an activation descriptor for a
DoesNotExtendActivatable
implementation, you can run the client program, which, during its first execution, will cause the activatable object to activate.The client program is the same as the one described in the tutorial Using Activation: Extending
Activatable
. For details, see the following section of that tutorial:
Copyright 2004
Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights燫eserved.
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