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This edition of the RMI-IIOP User Guide applies to the RMI-IIOP, as described below, and to all subsequent releases, modifications, and Service Refreshes, until otherwise indicated in new editions.
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This document discusses how to write Java(TM) Remote Method Invocation (RMI) programs that can access remote objects by using the Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP). By making your RMI programs conform to a small set of restrictions (see Restrictions when running RMI programs over IIOP), your RMI programs can access CORBA objects. RMI-IIOP gives you RMI ease-of-use coupled with CORBA/IIOP language interoperability.
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With RMI, you can write distributed programs in the Java programming language. RMI is easy to use, you do not need to learn a separate interface definition language (IDL), and you get Java's inherent "write once, run anywhere" benefit. Clients, remote interfaces, and servers are written entirely in Java. RMI uses the Java Remote Method Protocol (JRMP) for remote Java object communication. To get a quick introduction to writing RMI programs, see the RMI tutorial web page, which describes writing a simple "Hello World" RMI program.
RMI lacks interoperability with other languages, and, because it uses a non-standard communication protocol, cannot communicate with CORBA objects.
IIOP is CORBA's communication protocol. It defines the way bits are sent over a wire between CORBA clients and servers. CORBA is a standard distributed object architecture developed by the Object Management Group (OMG). Interfaces to remote objects are described in a platform-neutral interface definition language (IDL). Mappings from IDL to specific programming languages are implemented, binding the language to CORBA/IIOP.
The Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) V5.0 CORBA/IIOP implementation is known as Java IDL. Along with the IDL to Java (idlj) compiler, Java IDL can be used to define, implement, and access CORBA objects from the Java programming language.
The Java IDL web page gives you a good, Java-centric view of CORBA/IIOP programming. To get a quick introduction to writing Java IDL programs, see the Getting Started: Hello World web page.
Previously, Java programmers had to choose between RMI and CORBA/IIOP (Java IDL) for distributed programming solutions. Now, by adhering to a few restrictions (see Restrictions when running RMI programs over IIOP), RMI server objects can use the IIOP protocol, and communicate with CORBA client objects written in any language. This solution is known as RMI-IIOP. RMI-IIOP combines RMI ease of use with CORBA cross-language interoperability.
The RMI-IIOP software comes with an rmic compiler that can generate IIOP stubs and ties and emit IDL, in accordance with the Java Language to OMG IDL Language Mapping Specification.
The rmic options that provide support for RMI-IIOP are:
Using rmic with the -iiop option generates stub and tie classes. A stub class is a local proxy for a remote object. Clients use stub classes to send calls to a server. Each remote interface requires a stub class, which implements that remote interface. The client's reference to a remote object is a reference to a stub. Tie classes are used on the server side to process incoming calls, and dispatch the calls to the proper implementation class. Each implementation class requires a tie class.
Stub classes are also generated for abstract interfaces. An abstract interface is an interface that does not extend java.rmi.Remote, but has methods that throw either java.rmi.RemoteException or a superclass of java.rmi.RemoteException. Interfaces that do not extend java.rmi.Remote and have no methods are also abstract interfaces.
Using the -iiop flag with the -poa option changes the inheritance from org.omg.CORBA_2_3.portable.ObjectImpl to org.omg.PortableServer.Servant. This type of mapping is nonstandard and is not specified by the Java Language to OMG IDL Mapping Specification.
The PortableServer module for the Portable Object Adapter (POA) defines the native Servant type. In the Java programming language, the Servant type is mapped to the Java org.omg.PortableServer.Servant class. It serves as the base class for all POA servant implementations and provides a number of methods that may be invoked by the application programmer, as well as methods that are invoked by the POA itself and may be overridden by the user to control aspects of servant behavior.
Using rmic with the -idl option generates OMG IDL for the classes specified and any classes referenced. This option is required only if you have a CORBA client written in another language that needs to talk to a Java RMI-IIOP server.
IDL provides a purely declarative, programming-language-independent means of specifying the API for an object. The IDL is used as a specification for methods and data that can be written in and invoked from any language that provides CORBA bindings. Java and C++ are such languages. For a complete description, see the Java Language to OMG IDL Mapping Specification.
Forces regeneration even when existing stubs, ties, or IDL are newer than the input class. Valid only when -iiop or -idl options are present.
The -noValueMethods option ensures that methods and initializers are not included in valuetypes emitted during IDL Generation. These are optional for valuetypes and are otherwise omitted. Only valid when used with -idl option.
-idlModule foo.bar my::real::idlmod
Only valid when used with -idl option.
-idlFile test.pkg.X TEST16.idl
Only valid when used with -idl option.
For more detailed information on the rmic compiler, refer to the RMIC tool page (Solaris Version/Windows version).
The RMI-IIOP software includes an IDL-to-Java compiler. This compiler supports the CORBA Objects By Value feature, which is required for interoperation with RMI-IIOP. It is written in Java, and so can run on any platform. See the IDL-to-Java Compiler User's Guide for details of how to use this compiler.
The following steps are a general guide to converting an RMI application to RMI-IIOP.
import javax.naming.*; ... Context ic = new InitialContext();
import java.rmi.*;
...
Naming.rebind("MyObject", myObj);use:
import javax.naming.*;
...
ic.rebind("MyObject", myObj);import java.util.*;
import javax.naming.*;
...
Hashtable env = new Hashtable();
env.put("java.naming.applet", this);
Context ic = new InitialContext(env);On the server side, use the PortableRemoteObject.toStub() call to obtain a stub, then use writeObject() to serialize this stub to an ObjectOutputStream. If necessary, use Stub.connect() to connect the stub to an ORB before serializing it. The code to do this looks something like:
org.omg.CORBA.ORB myORB = org.omg.CORBA.ORB.init(new String[0], null);
Wombat myWombat = new WombatImpl();
javax.rmi.CORBA.Stub myStub = (javax.rmi.CORBA.Stub)PortableRemoteObject.toStub(myWombat);
myStub.connect(myORB);
// myWombat is now connected to myORB. To connect other objects to the
// same ORB, use PortableRemoteObject.connect(nextWombat, myWombat);
FileOutputStream myFile = new FileOutputStream("t.tmp");
ObjectOutputStream myStream = new ObjectOutputStream(myFile);
myStream.writeObject(myStub);On the client side, use readObject() to deserialize a remote reference to the object from an ObjectInputStream. Before using the deserialized stub to call remote methods, it must be connected to an ORB. You could do this with code like:
FileInputStream myFile = new FileInputStream("t.tmp");
ObjectInputStream myStream = new ObjectInputStream(myFile);
Wombat myWombat = (Wombat)myStream.readObject();
org.omg.CORBA.ORB myORB = org.omg.CORBA.ORB.init(new String[0], null);
((javax.rmi.CORBA.Stub)myWombat).connect(myORB);
// myWombat is now connected to myORB. To connect other objects to the
// same ORB, use PortableRemoteObject.connect(nextWombat, myWombat);The JNDI approach is much simpler, so it is preferable to use it whenever possible.
_<implementationName>_Tie.class
_<interfaceName>_Stub.classtnameservThe CosNaming server uses the default port number of 2809. If you want to use a different port number, run tnameserv with the -ORBInitialPort parameter, for instance:
tnameserv -ORBInitialPort 1050
java -Djava.naming.factory.initial=com.sun.jndi.cosnaming.CNCtxFactory
-Djava.naming.provider.url=iiop://<hostname>:2809
<appl_class>This example uses the default name service port
number of 2809. If you specify a different port in the previous step, you
need to use the same port number in the provider URL here. The <hostname>
in the provider URL is the host name that was used to start the CosNaming
server in step 7.java.naming.factory.initial=com.sun.jndi.cosnaming.CNCtxFactory java.naming.provider.url=iiop://<hostname>:2809This example uses the default name service port number of 2809. If you specify a different port in the previous step, you must use the same port number in the provider URL here. The <hostname> in the provider URL is the host name that was used to start the CosNaming server in step 7.
When your application uses IIOP stubs, as opposed to JRMP stubs, you must properly connect the IIOP stubs with the ORB before invoking operations on the IIOP stubs (this is not necessary with JRMP stubs). This section discusses the extra 'connect' step required for the IIOP stub case.
The PortableRemoteObject.exportObject() call only creates a tie object and caches it for future usage. The created tie does not have a delegate or an ORB associated. This is known as explicit invocation.
The PortableRemoteObject.exportObject() happens automatically when the servant instance is created. The servant instance is created when a PortableRemoteObject constructor is called as a base class. This is known as implicit invocation.
Later, when the application calls PortableRemoteObject.toStub(), the ORB creates the corresponding Stub object and associates it with the cached Tie object. But because the Tie is not connected and does not have a delegate, the newly created stub also does not have a delegate or ORB.
The delegate is set for the stub only when the application calls Stub.connect(orb). Thus, any operations on the stub made before the ORB connection is made will fail.
The Java Language to OMG IDL Mapping Specification says this about the Stub.connect() method:
"The connect method makes the stub ready for remote communication using the specified ORB object orb. Connection normally happens implicitly when the stub is received or sent as an argument on a remote method call, but it is sometimes useful to do this by making an explicit call (e.g., following deserialization). If the stub is already connected to orb (i.e., has a delegate set for orb), then connect takes no action. If the stub is connected to some other ORB, then a RemoteException is thrown. Otherwise, a delegate is created for this stub and the ORB object orb."
For servants that are not POA-activated, Stub.connect(orb) is necessary as a required setup.
To make existing RMI programs run over IIOP, observe the following restrictions.
Because remote method invocations on the same remote object might execute concurrently, a remote object implementation must be thread-safe.
RMI-IIOP should interoperate with other ORBS that support the CORBA 2.3 specification. It will not interoperate with older ORBs, because older ORBs cannot handle the IIOP encodings for Objects By Value. This support is needed to send RMI value classes (including strings) over IIOP.
Use UnicastRemoteObject as the superclass for the object implementation in RMI programming. Use PortableRemoteObject in RMI-IIOP programming. If PortableRemoteObject is used, you can switch the transport protocol to either JRMP or IIOP during runtime.
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