DataSource/ConnectionFactory programmatic deployment

[weston.price]

Ok, so I have been working on

http://jira.jboss.org/jira/browse/JBAS-1425

And I am starting to think about things (please note the date and the time because it doesn't happen very often).

Basically the structure, using XB, is there in the connector module on HEAD, the skeleton of the DsDeployer is also there, based upon the existing RARDeployer. XB ugliness aside, I am starting to wonder if this is really the way we want to go.

Currently, the XSLT deployer while strange, does a fairly good job in dynamically generating the MBeans to bind a ConnectionManager, Pool etc, etc to an 'OldRarDeployment' (stupid name, but there it is). Again, while this conceptually seems bizarre, it's working, manageable and seems to fit the model we currently employ in mapping a datasource file to our RAR set. This is largely a bi-product of the way we allow datasources/connection factories to be deployed and configured. A non-gui approach as it were.

The programmatic new stuff, bascially is going to be doing the same thing just with a known meta-model. Use of XB in this case is a bit challenging, since we are not using a predefined XSD for our DS deployments, but more than that, the programmatic process is just going to be doing the SAME thing that the XSLT does now.

I have been looking at the JCA POJO prototype, and it would seem to make more sense to sort of jump headfirst into generating deployment info that the MC/POJO JCA can understand, rather than trying to back-port something into the 4.x codebase. We know we need MBeans in 4.x anyway, why reinvent the wheel in this regard?

Any thoughts on this please let me know...I just get this sinking feeling that I am doing something wrong, or not understanding the scope of what this new *-ds.xml mechanism is supposed to provide.

[adrian.brock]

Don't take the RAR way of doing things to seriously.
It was one of the first things to use JBossXB which means it uses
a very old way of doing it and there are some mistakes in the way
it was done.

Yes, we want a POJO model for the connection factory.
This should be instantiatable programmatically and then passed to
a factory to create the real thing.

The POJO model is just metadata.

The XSL sucks.
1) I don't want to create an XML DOM so I can deploy a connection factory
2) I don't want to program configuration using XSL, I want to use java
3) The -ds.xml is practically unvalidatible

We should have:
Model -> Factory/Deployer -> The real service
no xml involved.

On top of that we can build a JBoss deployer that does:
xml -> model
somebody else can build
.properties -> model
or
my.xml -> model
or whatever they want

The XML->model should really be using a JBossXB SchemaBinding.
Which can either use a SchemaBindingInitializer or it can
use an annotated schema.

Eventually, this will just be an "ease of use" deployment in the
Microcontainer
xml -> model -> microcontainer metadata
with the model implementing BeanMetaDataFactory
http://jira.jboss.com/jira/browse/JBMICROCONT-73
which will mean that the model can be constructed and validated
outside JBoss (e.g. in a management tool) before somebody
attempts to deploy it (including calculating other dependencies).

[weston.price]

Ok, based upon this would it make sense to consider creating an XSD for our *-ds.xml deployments. This would make it much easier to deal with this stuff, especially, as you pointed out in terms of validation.

[vickyk]

So after going though the entire list of JCA/MC related posts I understand the
new flow to be implemented as

-ds.xml->Model(Using JAXB)->Factory/Deployer(based on jboss-jca)->(Deployed Service)

I have been interacting with Weston and I understand that he had started working on JCA/MC integration but I am not aware upto what level he has finished.

I am not sure from where to continue on this tasks as I don't want to write what probabily Weston would have done .

Adrain , can you give some directions from where to start it .

[adrian.brock]

"vickyk" wrote:

Adrain , can you give some directions from where to start it .

I am not "A drain' :-)

The answer is not really, because I don't know what Weston has done
either in JBoss5 or jboss-jca.

The main thing he seemed to be working on was the RARMetaDataRepository
and the Abstract support for the inflow (again see other posts).

OFFTOPIC
I do know there's some bugs missing from JBoss5 that are in JBoss4
in the old stylesheet, but that is going anyway.
The dtd is also not up-to-date, but that should get replaced by a schema.

[vickyk]

I am not "A drain' :-)

Ah ... Sorry about it , Adrian :)
Ok , let me get the jboss-jca project working on my local system , once it is done I will continue working on the JCA/AOP/MC stuff integration , this looks lot of rework ... will take in parts .
Why is jboss-jca not checked in the svn , later or soon this should be there , right ?

[adrian.brock]

Add it to jbossas/projects and create a maven build for it.

The whole build needs fixing to remove any dependencies on the appserver.
Its intended to be usable with JBoss Embedded, e.g. as a JCA container inside
a Tomcat application or a standalone unit test.

[vickyk]

Add it to jbossas/projects and create a maven build for it.

Ah , looks like Weston was almost done with it . So sort of rework
http://www.jboss.org/?module=bb&op=viewtopic&t=103220

[vickyk]

Its intended to be usable with JBoss Embedded, e.g. as a JCA container inside
a Tomcat application or a standalone unit test.

I am done with with Maven build and noticed that the Unit Test in the project are dependent on the AS.
I am going to checkin the code in svn anytime now .
BTW should we have created a JIRA for JCA/MC mavenization task?

[adrian.brock]

There's no reason why build related changes have to be in JIRA.
If it was a reminder/TODO then fair enough, but since it is done now,
I don't see the point.

[adrian.brock]

You need to add a FIXME task for the tests though.

[vickyk]

You need to add a FIXME task for the tests though.

Do you mean to say that I should raise the JIRA task for the test which are failing ?
Maven build for the jboss-jca is checked in at jbossas/projects/jboss-jca