JNDI Resources HOW-TO
Table of Contents
Introduction
Tomcat provides a JNDI InitialContext implementation
instance for each web application running under it, in a manner that is
compatible with those provided by a
Java Enterprise Edition application server. The Java EE standard provides
a standard set of elements in the /WEB-INF/web.xml
file to
reference/define resources.
See the following Specifications for more information about programming APIs for JNDI, and for the features supported by Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) servers, which Tomcat emulates for the services that it provides:
- Java Naming and Directory Interface (included in JDK 1.4 onwards)
- Java EE Platform Specification (in particular, see Chapter 5 on Naming)
web.xml configuration
The following elements may be used in the web application deployment
descriptor (/WEB-INF/web.xml
) of your web application to define
resources:
<env-entry>
- Environment entry, a single-value parameter that can be used to configure how the application will operate.<resource-ref>
- Resource reference, which is typically to an object factory for resources such as a JDBCDataSource
, a JavaMailSession
, or custom object factories configured into Tomcat.<resource-env-ref>
- Resource environment reference, a new variation ofresource-ref
added in Servlet 2.4 that is simpler to configure for resources that do not require authentication information.
Providing that Tomcat is able to identify an appropriate resource factory to
use to create the resource and that no further configuration information is
required, Tomcat will use the information in /WEB-INF/web.xml
to
create the resource.
Tomcat provides a number of Tomcat specific options for JNDI resources that
cannot be specified in web.xml. These include closeMethod
that
enables faster cleaning-up of JNDI resources when a web application stops and
singleton
that controls whether or not a new instance of the
resource is created for every JNDI lookup. To use these configuration options
the resource must be specified in a web application's
<Context>
element or in the
<GlobalNamingResources>
element of
$CATALINA_BASE/conf/server.xml
.
context.xml configuration
If Tomcat is unable to identify the appropriate resource factory and/or
additional configuration information is required, additional Tomcat specific
configuration must be specified before Tomcat can create the resource.
Tomcat specific resource configuration is entered in
the <Context>
elements that
can be specified in either $CATALINA_BASE/conf/server.xml
or,
preferably, the per-web-application context XML file
(META-INF/context.xml
).
Tomcat specific resource configuration is performed using the following
elements in the <Context>
element:
- <Environment> -
Configure names and values for scalar environment entries that will be
exposed to the web application through the JNDI
InitialContext
(equivalent to the inclusion of an<env-entry>
element in the web application deployment descriptor). - <Resource> -
Configure the name and data type of a resource made available to the
application (equivalent to the inclusion of a
<resource-ref>
element in the web application deployment descriptor). - <ResourceLink> - Add a link to a resource defined in the global JNDI context. Use resource links to give a web application access to a resource defined in the <GlobalNamingResources> child element of the <Server> element.
- <Transaction> -
Add a resource factory for instantiating the UserTransaction object
instance that is available at
java:comp/UserTransaction
.
Any number of these elements may be nested inside a
<Context>
element and will
be associated only with that particular web application.
If a resource has been defined in a
<Context>
element it is not
necessary for that resource to be defined in /WEB-INF/web.xml
.
However, it is recommended to keep the entry in /WEB-INF/web.xml
to document the resource requirements for the web application.
Where the same resource name has been defined for a
<env-entry>
element included in the web application
deployment descriptor (/WEB-INF/web.xml
) and in an
<Environment>
element as part of the
<Context>
element for the
web application, the values in the deployment descriptor will take precedence
only if allowed by the corresponding
<Environment>
element (by setting the override
attribute to "true").
Global configuration
Tomcat maintains a separate namespace of global resources for the
entire server. These are configured in the
<GlobalNamingResources>
element of
$CATALINA_BASE/conf/server.xml
. You may expose these resources to
web applications by using a
<ResourceLink> to
include it in the per-web-application context.
If a resource has been defined using a
<ResourceLink>, it is not
necessary for that resource to be defined in /WEB-INF/web.xml
.
However, it is recommended to keep the entry in /WEB-INF/web.xml
to document the resource requirements for the web application.
Using resources
The InitialContext
is configured as a web application is
initially deployed, and is made available to web application components (for
read-only access). All configured entries and resources are placed in
the java:comp/env
portion of the JNDI namespace, so a typical
access to a resource - in this case, to a JDBC DataSource
-
would look something like this:
// Obtain our environment naming context
Context initCtx = new InitialContext();
Context envCtx = (Context) initCtx.lookup("java:comp/env");
// Look up our data source
DataSource ds = (DataSource)
envCtx.lookup("jdbc/EmployeeDB");
// Allocate and use a connection from the pool
Connection conn = ds.getConnection();
... use this connection to access the database ...
conn.close();
Tomcat Standard Resource Factories
Tomcat includes a series of standard resource factories that can
provide services to your web applications, but give you configuration
flexibility (via the
<Context>
element)
without modifying the web application or the deployment descriptor. Each
subsection below details the configuration and usage of the standard resource
factories.
See Adding Custom Resource Factories for information about how to create, install, configure, and use your own custom resource factory classes with Tomcat.
NOTE - Of the standard resource factories, only the "JDBC Data Source" and "User Transaction" factories are mandated to be available on other platforms, and then they are required only if the platform implements the Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) specs. All other standard resource factories, plus custom resource factories that you write yourself, are specific to Tomcat and cannot be assumed to be available on other containers.
Generic JavaBean Resources
0. Introduction
This resource factory can be used to create objects of any
Java class that conforms to standard JavaBeans naming conventions (i.e.
it has a zero-arguments constructor, and has property setters that
conform to the setFoo() naming pattern. The resource factory will
only create a new instance of the appropriate bean class every time a
lookup()
for this entry is made if the singleton
attribute of the factory is set to false
.
The steps required to use this facility are described below.
1. Create Your JavaBean Class
Create the JavaBean class which will be instantiated each time
that the resource factory is looked up. For this example, assume
you create a class com.mycompany.MyBean
, which looks
like this:
package com.mycompany;
public class MyBean {
private String foo = "Default Foo";
public String getFoo() {
return (this.foo);
}
public void setFoo(String foo) {
this.foo = foo;
}
private int bar = 0;
public int getBar() {
return (this.bar);
}
public void setBar(int bar) {
this.bar = bar;
}
}
2. Declare Your Resource Requirements
Next, modify your web application deployment descriptor
(/WEB-INF/web.xml
) to declare the JNDI name under which
you will request new instances of this bean. The simplest approach is
to use a <resource-env-ref>
element, like this:
<resource-env-ref>
<description>
Object factory for MyBean instances.
</description>
<resource-env-ref-name>
bean/MyBeanFactory
</resource-env-ref-name>
<resource-env-ref-type>
com.mycompany.MyBean
</resource-env-ref-type>
</resource-env-ref>
WARNING - Be sure you respect the element ordering that is required by the DTD for web application deployment descriptors! See the Servlet Specification for details.
3. Code Your Application's Use Of This Resource
A typical use of this resource environment reference might look like this:
Context initCtx = new InitialContext();
Context envCtx = (Context) initCtx.lookup("java:comp/env");
MyBean bean = (MyBean) envCtx.lookup("bean/MyBeanFactory");
writer.println("foo = " + bean.getFoo() + ", bar = " +
bean.getBar());
4. Configure Tomcat's Resource Factory
To configure Tomcat's resource factory, add an element like this to the
<Context>
element for
this web application.
<Context ...>
...
<Resource name="bean/MyBeanFactory" auth="Container"
type="com.mycompany.MyBean"
factory="org.apache.naming.factory.BeanFactory"
bar="23"/>
...
</Context>
Note that the resource name (here, bean/MyBeanFactory
must match the value specified in the web application deployment
descriptor. We are also initializing the value of the bar
property, which will cause setBar(23)
to be called before
the new bean is returned. Because we are not initializing the
foo
property (although we could have), the bean will
contain whatever default value is set up by its constructor.
Some beans have properties with types that can not automatically be
converted from a string value. Setting such properties using the Tomcat
BeanFactory will fail with a NamingException. In cases were those beans
provide methods to set the properties from a string value, the Tomcat
BeanFactory can be configured to use these methods. The configuration is
done with the forceString
attribute.
Assume our bean looks like this:
package com.mycompany;
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;
public class MyBean2 {
private InetAddress local = null;
public InetAddress getLocal() {
return local;
}
public void setLocal(InetAddress ip) {
local = ip;
}
public void setLocal(String localHost) {
try {
local = InetAddress.getByName(localHost);
} catch (UnknownHostException ex) {
}
}
private InetAddress remote = null;
public InetAddress getRemote() {
return remote;
}
public void setRemote(InetAddress ip) {
remote = ip;
}
public void host(String remoteHost) {
try {
remote = InetAddress.getByName(remoteHost);
} catch (UnknownHostException ex) {
}
}
}
The bean has two properties, both are of type InetAddress
.
The first property local
has an additional setter taking a
string argument. By default the Tomcat BeanFactory would try to use the
automatically detected setter with the same argument type as the property
type and then throw a NamingException, because it is not prepared to convert
the given string attribute value to InetAddress
.
We can tell the Tomcat BeanFactory to use the other setter like that:
<Context ...>
...
<Resource name="bean/MyBeanFactory" auth="Container"
type="com.mycompany.MyBean2"
factory="org.apache.naming.factory.BeanFactory"
forceString="local"
local="localhost"/>
...
</Context>
The bean property remote
can also be set from a string,
but one has to use the non-standard method name host
.
To set local
and remote
use the following
configuration:
<Context ...>
...
<Resource name="bean/MyBeanFactory" auth="Container"
type="com.mycompany.MyBean2"
factory="org.apache.naming.factory.BeanFactory"
forceString="local,remote=host"
local="localhost"
remote="tomcat.apache.org"/>
...
</Context>
Multiple property descriptions can be combined in
forceString
by concatenation with comma as a separator.
Each property description consists of either only the property name
in which case the BeanFactory calls the setter method. Or it consist
of name=method
in which case the property named
name
is set by calling method method
.
For properties of types String
or of primitive type
or of their associated primitive wrapper classes using
forceString
is not needed. The correct setter will be
automatically detected and argument conversion will be applied.
UserDatabase Resources
0. Introduction
UserDatabase resources are typically configured as global resources for
use by a UserDatabase realm. Tomcat includes a UserDatabaseFactoory that
creates UserDatabase resources backed by an XML file - usually
tomcat-users.xml
The steps required to set up a global UserDatabase resource are described below.
1. Create/edit the XML file
The XML file is typically located at
$CATALINA_BASE/conf/tomcat-users.xml
however, you are free to
locate the file anywhere on the file system. It is recommended that the XML
files are placed in $CATALINA_BASE/conf
. A typical XML would
look like:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<tomcat-users>
<role rolename="tomcat"/>
<role rolename="role1"/>
<user username="tomcat" password="tomcat" roles="tomcat"/>
<user username="both" password="tomcat" roles="tomcat,role1"/>
<user username="role1" password="tomcat" roles="role1"/>
</tomcat-users>
2. Declare Your Resource
Next, modify $CATALINA_BASE/conf/server.xml
to create the
UserDatabase resource based on your XML file. It should look something like
this:
<Resource name="UserDatabase"
auth="Container"
type="org.apache.catalina.UserDatabase"
description="User database that can be updated and saved"
factory="org.apache.catalina.users.MemoryUserDatabaseFactory"
pathname="conf/tomcat-users.xml"
readonly="false" />
The pathname
attribute can be a URL, an absolute path or a
relative path. If relative, it is relative to $CATALINA_BASE
.
The readonly
attribute is optional and defaults to
true
if not supplied. If the XML is writeable then it will be
written to when Tomcat starts. WARNING: When the file is
written it will inherit the default file permissions for the user Tomcat
is running as. Ensure that these are appropriate to maintain the security
of your installation.
3. Configure the Realm
Configure a UserDatabase Realm to use this resource as described in the Realm configuration documentation.
JavaMail Sessions
0. Introduction
In many web applications, sending electronic mail messages is a required part of the system's functionality. The Java Mail API makes this process relatively straightforward, but requires many configuration details that the client application must be aware of (including the name of the SMTP host to be used for message sending).
Tomcat includes a standard resource factory that will create
javax.mail.Session
session instances for you, already
configured to connect to an SMTP server.
In this way, the application is totally insulated from changes in the
email server configuration environment - it simply asks for, and receives,
a preconfigured session whenever needed.
The steps required for this are outlined below.
1. Declare Your Resource Requirements
The first thing you should do is modify the web application deployment
descriptor (/WEB-INF/web.xml
) to declare the JNDI name under
which you will look up preconfigured sessions. By convention, all such
names should resolve to the mail
subcontext (relative to the
standard java:comp/env
naming context that is the root of
all provided resource factories. A typical web.xml
entry
might look like this:
<resource-ref>
<description>
Resource reference to a factory for javax.mail.Session
instances that may be used for sending electronic mail
messages, preconfigured to connect to the appropriate
SMTP server.
</description>
<res-ref-name>
mail/Session
</res-ref-name>
<res-type>
javax.mail.Session
</res-type>
<res-auth>
Container
</res-auth>
</resource-ref>
WARNING - Be sure you respect the element ordering that is required by the DTD for web application deployment descriptors! See the Servlet Specification for details.
2. Code Your Application's Use Of This Resource
A typical use of this resource reference might look like this:
Context initCtx = new InitialContext();
Context envCtx = (Context) initCtx.lookup("java:comp/env");
Session session = (Session) envCtx.lookup("mail/Session");
Message message = new MimeMessage(session);
message.setFrom(new InternetAddress(request.getParameter("from")));
InternetAddress to[] = new InternetAddress[1];
to[0] = new InternetAddress(request.getParameter("to"));
message.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO, to);
message.setSubject(request.getParameter("subject"));
message.setContent(request.getParameter("content"), "text/plain");
Transport.send(message);
Note that the application uses the same resource reference name
that was declared in the web application deployment descriptor. This
is matched up against the resource factory that is configured in the
<Context>
element
for the web application as described below.
3. Configure Tomcat's Resource Factory
To configure Tomcat's resource factory, add an elements like this to the
<Context>
element for
this web application.
<Context ...>
...
<Resource name="mail/Session" auth="Container"
type="javax.mail.Session"
mail.smtp.host="localhost"/>
...
</Context>
Note that the resource name (here, mail/Session
) must
match the value specified in the web application deployment descriptor.
Customize the value of the mail.smtp.host
parameter to
point at the server that provides SMTP service for your network.
Additional resource attributes and values will be converted to properties
and values and passed to
javax.mail.Session.getInstance(java.util.Properties)
as part of
the java.util.Properties
collection. In addition to the
properties defined in Annex A of the JavaMail specification, individual
providers may also support additional properties.
If the resource is configured with a password
attribute and
either a mail.smtp.user
or mail.user
attribute
then Tomcat's resource factory will configure and add a
javax.mail.Authenticator
to the mail session.
4. Install the JavaMail libraries
Unpackage the distribution and place mail.jar into $CATALINA_HOME/lib so that it is available to Tomcat during the initialization of the mail Session Resource. Note: placing this jar in both $CATALINA_HOME/lib and a web application's lib folder will cause an error, so ensure you have it in the $CATALINA_HOME/lib location only.
5. Restart Tomcat
For the additional JAR to be visible to Tomcat, it is necessary for the Tomcat instance to be restarted.
Example Application
The /examples
application included with Tomcat contains
an example of utilizing this resource factory. It is accessed via the
"JSP Examples" link. The source code for the servlet that actually
sends the mail message is in
/WEB-INF/classes/SendMailServlet.java
.
WARNING - The default configuration assumes that there
is an SMTP server listing on port 25 on localhost
. If this is
not the case, edit the
<Context>
element for
this web application and modify the parameter value for the
mail.smtp.host
parameter to be the host name of an SMTP server
on your network.
JDBC Data Sources
0. Introduction
Many web applications need to access a database via a JDBC driver, to support the functionality required by that application. The Java EE Platform Specification requires Java EE Application Servers to make available a DataSource implementation (that is, a connection pool for JDBC connections) for this purpose. Tomcat offers exactly the same support, so that database-based applications you develop on Tomcat using this service will run unchanged on any Java EE server.
For information about JDBC, you should consult the following:
- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/jdbc/index.html - Home page for information about Java Database Connectivity.
- http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/guide/jdbc/spec2/jdbc2.1.frame.html - The JDBC 2.1 API Specification.
- http://java.sun.com/products/jdbc/jdbc20.stdext.pdf -
The JDBC 2.0 Standard Extension API (including the
javax.sql.DataSource
API). This package is now known as the "JDBC Optional Package". - http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javaee/overview/index.htm - The Java EE Platform Specification (covers the JDBC facilities that all Java EE platforms must provide to applications).
NOTE - The default data source support in Tomcat
is based on the DBCP connection pool from the
Commons
project. However, it is possible to use any other connection pool
that implements javax.sql.DataSource
, by writing your
own custom resource factory, as described
below.
1. Install Your JDBC Driver
Use of the JDBC Data Sources JNDI Resource Factory requires
that you make an appropriate JDBC driver available to both Tomcat internal
classes and to your web application. This is most easily accomplished by
installing the driver's JAR file(s) into the
$CATALINA_HOME/lib
directory, which makes the driver
available both to the resource factory and to your application.
2. Declare Your Resource Requirements
Next, modify the web application deployment descriptor
(/WEB-INF/web.xml
) to declare the JNDI name under
which you will look up preconfigured data source. By convention, all such
names should resolve to the jdbc
subcontext (relative to the
standard java:comp/env
naming context that is the root of
all provided resource factories. A typical web.xml
entry
might look like this:
<resource-ref>
<description>
Resource reference to a factory for java.sql.Connection
instances that may be used for talking to a particular
database that is configured in the <Context>
configuration for the web application.
</description>
<res-ref-name>
jdbc/EmployeeDB
</res-ref-name>
<res-type>
javax.sql.DataSource
</res-type>
<res-auth>
Container
</res-auth>
</resource-ref>
WARNING - Be sure you respect the element ordering that is required by the DTD for web application deployment descriptors! See the Servlet Specification for details.
3. Code Your Application's Use Of This Resource
A typical use of this resource reference might look like this:
Context initCtx = new InitialContext();
Context envCtx = (Context) initCtx.lookup("java:comp/env");
DataSource ds = (DataSource)
envCtx.lookup("jdbc/EmployeeDB");
Connection conn = ds.getConnection();
... use this connection to access the database ...
conn.close();
Note that the application uses the same resource reference name that was
declared in the web application deployment descriptor. This is matched up
against the resource factory that is configured in the
<Context>
element for
the web application as described below.
4. Configure Tomcat's Resource Factory
To configure Tomcat's resource factory, add an element like this to the
<Context>
element for
the web application.
<Context ...>
...
<Resource name="jdbc/EmployeeDB"
auth="Container"
type="javax.sql.DataSource"
username="dbusername"
password="dbpassword"
driverClassName="org.hsql.jdbcDriver"
url="jdbc:HypersonicSQL:database"
maxTotal="8"
maxIdle="4"/>
...
</Context>
Note that the resource name (here, jdbc/EmployeeDB
) must
match the value specified in the web application deployment descriptor.
This example assumes that you are using the HypersonicSQL database
JDBC driver. Customize the driverClassName
and
driverName
parameters to match your actual database's
JDBC driver and connection URL.
The configuration properties for Tomcat's standard data source
resource factory
(org.apache.tomcat.dbcp.dbcp2.BasicDataSourceFactory
) are
as follows:
- driverClassName - Fully qualified Java class name of the JDBC driver to be used.
- username - Database username to be passed to our JDBC driver.
- password - Database password to be passed to our JDBC driver.
- url - Connection URL to be passed to our JDBC driver.
(For backwards compatibility, the property
driverName
is also recognized.) - initialSize - The initial number of connections that will be created in the pool during pool initialization. Default: 0
- maxTotal - The maximum number of connections that can be allocated from this pool at the same time. Default: 8
- minIdle - The minimum number of connections that will sit idle in this pool at the same time. Default: 0
- maxIdle - The maximum number of connections that can sit idle in this pool at the same time. Default: 8
- maxWaitMillis - The maximum number of milliseconds that the pool will wait (when there are no available connections) for a connection to be returned before throwing an exception. Default: -1 (infinite)
Some additional properties handle connection validation:
- validationQuery - SQL query that can be used by the pool to validate connections before they are returned to the application. If specified, this query MUST be an SQL SELECT statement that returns at least one row.
- validationQueryTimeout - Timeout in seconds for the validation query to return. Default: -1 (infinite)
- testOnBorrow - true or false: whether a connection should be validated using the validation query each time it is borrowed from the pool. Default: true
- testOnReturn - true or false: whether a connection should be validated using the validation query each time it is returned to the pool. Default: false
The optional evictor thread is responsible for shrinking the pool
by removing any connections which are idle for a long time. The evictor
does not respect minIdle
. Note that you do not need to
activate the evictor thread if you only want the pool to shrink according
to the configured maxIdle
property.
The evictor is disabled by default and can be configured using the following properties:
- timeBetweenEvictionRunsMillis - The number of milliseconds between consecutive runs of the evictor. Default: -1 (disabled)
- numTestsPerEvictionRun - The number of connections that will be checked for idleness by the evictor during each run of the evictor. Default: 3
- minEvictableIdleTimeMillis - The idle time in milliseconds after which a connection can be removed from the pool by the evictor. Default: 30*60*1000 (30 minutes)
- testWhileIdle - true or false: whether a connection should be validated by the evictor thread using the validation query while sitting idle in the pool. Default: false
Another optional feature is the removal of abandoned connections. A connection is called abandoned if the application does not return it to the pool for a long time. The pool can close such connections automatically and remove them from the pool. This is a workaround for applications leaking connections.
The abandoning feature is disabled by default and can be configured using the following properties:
- removeAbandoned - true or false: whether to remove abandoned connections from the pool. Default: false
- removeAbandonedTimeout - The number of seconds after which a borrowed connection is assumed to be abandoned. Default: 300
- logAbandoned - true or false: whether to log stack traces for application code which abandoned a statement or connection. This adds serious overhead. Default: false
Finally there are various properties that allow further fine tuning of the pool behaviour:
- defaultAutoCommit - true or false: default auto-commit state of the connections created by this pool. Default: true
- defaultReadOnly - true or false: default read-only state of the connections created by this pool. Default: false
- defaultTransactionIsolation - This sets the
default transaction isolation level. Can be one of
NONE
,READ_COMMITTED
,READ_UNCOMMITTED
,REPEATABLE_READ
,SERIALIZABLE
. Default: no default set - poolPreparedStatements - true or false: whether to pool PreparedStatements and CallableStatements. Default: false
- maxOpenPreparedStatements - The maximum number of open statements that can be allocated from the statement pool at the same time. Default: -1 (unlimited)
- defaultCatalog - The name of the default catalog. Default: not set
- connectionInitSqls - A list of SQL statements
run once after a Connection is created. Separate multiple statements
by semicolons (
;
). Default: no statement - connectionProperties - A list of driver specific
properties passed to the driver for creating connections. Each
property is given as
name=value
, multiple properties are separated by semicolons (;
). Default: no properties - accessToUnderlyingConnectionAllowed - true or false: whether accessing the underlying connections is allowed. Default: false
For more details, please refer to the commons-dbcp documentation.
Adding Custom Resource Factories
If none of the standard resource factories meet your needs, you can write
your own factory and integrate it into Tomcat, and then configure the use
of this factory in the
<Context>
element for
the web application. In the example below, we will create a factory that only
knows how to create com.mycompany.MyBean
beans from the
Generic JavaBean Resources example
above.
1. Write A Resource Factory Class
You must write a class that implements the JNDI service provider
javax.naming.spi.ObjectFactory
interface. Every time your
web application calls lookup()
on a context entry that is
bound to this factory (assuming that the factory is configured with
singleton="false"
), the
getObjectInstance()
method is called, with the following
arguments:
- Object obj - The (possibly null) object containing
location or reference information that can be used in creating an object.
For Tomcat, this will always be an object of type
javax.naming.Reference
, which contains the class name of this factory class, as well as the configuration properties (from the<Context>
for the web application) to use in creating objects to be returned. - Name name - The name to which this factory is bound
relative to
nameCtx
, ornull
if no name is specified. - Context nameCtx - The context relative to which the
name
parameter is specified, ornull
ifname
is relative to the default initial context. - Hashtable environment - The (possibly null) environment that is used in creating this object. This is generally ignored in Tomcat object factories.
To create a resource factory that knows how to produce MyBean
instances, you might create a class like this:
package com.mycompany;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.util.Hashtable;
import javax.naming.Context;
import javax.naming.Name;
import javax.naming.NamingException;
import javax.naming.RefAddr;
import javax.naming.Reference;
import javax.naming.spi.ObjectFactory;
public class MyBeanFactory implements ObjectFactory {
public Object getObjectInstance(Object obj,
Name name2, Context nameCtx, Hashtable environment)
throws NamingException {
// Acquire an instance of our specified bean class
MyBean bean = new MyBean();
// Customize the bean properties from our attributes
Reference ref = (Reference) obj;
Enumeration addrs = ref.getAll();
while (addrs.hasMoreElements()) {
RefAddr addr = (RefAddr) addrs.nextElement();
String name = addr.getType();
String value = (String) addr.getContent();
if (name.equals("foo")) {
bean.setFoo(value);
} else if (name.equals("bar")) {
try {
bean.setBar(Integer.parseInt(value));
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
throw new NamingException("Invalid 'bar' value " + value);
}
}
}
// Return the customized instance
return (bean);
}
}
In this example, we are unconditionally creating a new instance of
the com.mycompany.MyBean
class, and populating its properties
based on the parameters included in the <ResourceParams>
element that configures this factory (see below). You should note that any
parameter named factory
should be skipped - that parameter is
used to specify the name of the factory class itself (in this case,
com.mycompany.MyBeanFactory
) rather than a property of the
bean being configured.
For more information about ObjectFactory
, see the
JNDI Service Provider Interface (SPI) Specification.
You will need to compile this class against a class path that includes
all of the JAR files in the $CATALINA_HOME/lib
directory. When you are through,
place the factory class (and the corresponding bean class) unpacked under
$CATALINA_HOME/lib
, or in a JAR file inside
$CATALINA_HOME/lib
. In this way, the required class
files are visible to both Catalina internal resources and your web
application.
2. Declare Your Resource Requirements
Next, modify your web application deployment descriptor
(/WEB-INF/web.xml
) to declare the JNDI name under which
you will request new instances of this bean. The simplest approach is
to use a <resource-env-ref>
element, like this:
<resource-env-ref>
<description>
Object factory for MyBean instances.
</description>
<resource-env-ref-name>
bean/MyBeanFactory
</resource-env-ref-name>
<resource-env-ref-type>
com.mycompany.MyBean
</resource-env-ref-type>
</resource-env-ref>
WARNING - Be sure you respect the element ordering that is required by the DTD for web application deployment descriptors! See the Servlet Specification for details.
3. Code Your Application's Use Of This Resource
A typical use of this resource environment reference might look like this:
Context initCtx = new InitialContext();
Context envCtx = (Context) initCtx.lookup("java:comp/env");
MyBean bean = (MyBean) envCtx.lookup("bean/MyBeanFactory");
writer.println("foo = " + bean.getFoo() + ", bar = " +
bean.getBar());
4. Configure Tomcat's Resource Factory
To configure Tomcat's resource factory, add an elements like this to the
<Context>
element for
this web application.
<Context ...>
...
<Resource name="bean/MyBeanFactory" auth="Container"
type="com.mycompany.MyBean"
factory="com.mycompany.MyBeanFactory"
singleton="false"
bar="23"/>
...
</Context>
Note that the resource name (here, bean/MyBeanFactory
must match the value specified in the web application deployment
descriptor. We are also initializing the value of the bar
property, which will cause setBar(23)
to be called before
the new bean is returned. Because we are not initializing the
foo
property (although we could have), the bean will
contain whatever default value is set up by its constructor.
You will also note that, from the application developer's perspective, the declaration of the resource environment reference, and the programming used to request new instances, is identical to the approach used for the Generic JavaBean Resources example. This illustrates one of the advantages of using JNDI resources to encapsulate functionality - you can change the underlying implementation without necessarily having to modify applications using the resources, as long as you maintain compatible APIs.