**Programatically** attach DataSource to JNDI

[themax]

Is it possible to **programatically** attach a Datasource instance (com.sybase.jdbc2.jdbc.SybDataSource, in my case) to JNDI in JBoss 3.2.2 (RC2, RC3 or RC4 using TomCat)?

I've tried the following code (reduced to the basics necessary to illustrate the point), and every time I do a lookup on the exact JNDI name I specified, it gets back a *null* object (no Exceptions thrown)..

Any ideas???

//instantiate the Datasource here..
try {
DataSource ds = new com.sybase.jdbc2.jdbc.SybDataSource ();
String jndiName = "java:jdbc/sybase-ks013-clientdb";

//get the initial JNDI context
InitialContext initialContext = new InitialContext();

//Bind the Datasource to JNDI so that we can access it from elsewhere later
initialContext.bind (jndiName, ds);

//now check the binding
if ( initialContext.lookup(jndiName) == null )
{
//AAGGGH!!!! the object came back null, even though it was NOT null when we bound it to JNDI
//log the error here using Log or whatever

System.err.println ("ERROR: the object came back from JNDI as NULL");
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
//just report the exception

System.err.println ("ERROR somewhere" );
e.printStackTrace();
}

[juha]

Just guessing, is that datasource implementation serializable?

-- Juha

[juha]

umm, nevermind the above, you're doing the lookup straight after you bound it in the same VM

[juha]

But still... you might have to use NonSerializableFactory.rebind() to bind the DS if it's not serializable, the JBoss naming is doing this with its bind() implementation:

 public void bind (Name name, Object obj)
 throws NamingException
 {
 Hashtable refEnv = getEnv (name);
 checkRef (refEnv);

 try
 {
 String className;

 // Referenceable
 if (obj instanceof Referenceable)
 obj = ((Referenceable)obj).getReference ();

 if (!(obj instanceof Reference))
 {
 className = obj.getClass ().getName ();

 // Normal object - serialize using a MarshalledValuePair
 obj = new MarshalledValuePair(obj);
 }
 else

that should have thrown an IO exception which in turn should have been converted to a Naming Exception...?

-- Juha

[themax]

The class is definitely Serializable alright.. I have a check for that in the original code:

if ( ! ( ds instanceof Serializable ))
{
if ( log.isErrorEnabled ())
log.error ("The Datasource class '" + ds.getClass().getName() + "' is NOT Serializable");
}

(using Commons logging, with the priority set to "Debug" or "info", so I always see "error")

I'm also seeing a *possible* explanation in a TomCat Servlet init bug (where my code is fired from).. will check this out, and report back..

http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=10948

[themax]

No joy.. I changed the code to be user-initiated (after the Servlet init), a new (non-null) Datasource was re-bound, but the same issue arose: the lookup (the next line of code after the bind) returned null.. so it look like the TomCat Servlet init bug is NOT my issue (or else there is a similar bug applicable to lookups outside the Servlet init).

Will check out the "Referenceable" references (forgive the pun) mentioned in earlier replies.

Thanks!

Colm

[themax]

If I switch the class being bound to a fairly straightforward Test class (implements EntityBean, Serializable), and try the rebind and lookup outside the init (haven't tried it from inside the init yet), it works (I get the actual instance back, as opposed to getting null back), which suggests that the issue is either related to the Sybase DataSource hierarchy, or that particular Sybase DataSource class itself.. will try a different type of DataSource (MySQL, or something), and see if the issue can be reproduced.