updating service action attributes at run time

[system.out]

I need to update the action attributes at run time. Does ESB api provide any means to update service actions at run time?
In Webinar Burr mentioned it is possible to do it through hot deployment of jboss-esb.xml using groovy. Hot deployment may interfer with active transactions already in place, isn't it? Plus it may cause a serious interruption in product availability in production.

One solution would be to read the attributes from database within action class. Any better solution?

[kurtstam]

Our actions have lifecycle support, so upon hot deployment it goes down gracefully, finishes active requests, and does not accept any more incoming messages until it is back up.

All of this can be done by simply redploying the .esb archive. If you want to update just one action, you can use groovy scripting to modify an action at runtime (see the groovy QuickStart) and then touch the jboss-esb.xml.

If your action is stateful then you will need to save of state in the 'destroy'method of your action, and you read it back in in 'initialise' (UK spelling)

--Kurt

[kconner]

'initialise' (UK spelling)

ROFL. We were first ;)

[tfennelly]

'initialise' (UK spelling)

ROFL. We were first ;)

Yeah... Kurt should have said "Original Spelling" lol

[system.out]

Thanks Kurt for the reply!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to run 4.2MR version, which comes with groovy quickstarts. Readme.txt refers to install directory which doesn't exist with this version!! Therefore a few variables are not set during ant run.
I was able to run jbossesb-4.0A-bundle without any problem.

Any suggestion/link for instruction?

[burrsutter]

What particular step are you stuck on for the 4.2MR2 quickstarts? The readme.txt files are slightly out of sync with how these guys actually function. However, once you get confident working on 4.0, you learn actions, services and ant then figuring out 4.2 will be a piece of cake. The real trick is knowing how ant is working so you can tweak it to your location settings.

And do try to use the new ESB Server with 4.2 at
http://labs.jboss.com/jbossesb/downloads

jbossesb-server-4.2MR2.zip

Burr

[system.out]

I tried jbossesb-server-4.2MR2.zip, and in ant xml file there is a reference to install directory that doesn't exist.
Here is one example of readme.txt in /config folder:

Before Running:
===============
Non Bundled:
1. Copy install/deployment.properties-example to install/deployment.properties and modify the
properties there to suit your environment

• .
  2. Run 'ant deploy' in the "install" folder of the distribution. This
  deploys the required SARs to your JBoss Application Server instance.
  3. Make sure the JBoss Application server is running.
  
  install folder doesn't exist !!
  
  It should be a matter of updating the ant script to find the properties. I'll take a look again.

[kurtstam]

The esb-sever is preconfigured. No need to install anything. You're ready to go.

Only when you want to install the JBossESB to JBossAS you need to run deploy from the install directory.

--Kurt

[system.out]

What are the steps to run lets say helloworld in standalone mode?

[system.out]

Here is the result of ant run for 'helloworld':

D:\backup\demo\jbossesb-server-4.2MR2\samples\quickstarts\helloworld>ant run
Buildfile: build.xml

qslib-dependencies:

non-qslib-dependencies:

dependencies:

compile:
[javac] Compiling 3 source files to D:\backup\demo\jbossesb-server-4.2MR2\samples\quickstarts\helloworld\build\classes
[javac] D:\backup\demo\jbossesb-server-4.2MR2\samples\quickstarts\helloworld\src\org\jboss\soa\esb\samples\quickstart\helloworld\MyJMSListenerAction.java:23: package org.jboss.soa.esb.actions does
not exist
[javac] import org.jboss.soa.esb.actions.AbstractActionLifecycle;
[javac] ^
[javac] D:\backup\demo\jbossesb-server-4.2MR2\samples\quickstarts\helloworld\src\org\jboss\soa\esb\samples\quickstart\helloworld\MyJMSListenerAction.java:24: package org.jboss.soa.esb.helpers does
not exist
[javac] import org.jboss.soa.esb.helpers.ConfigTree;
[javac] ^
[javac] D:\backup\demo\jbossesb-server-4.2MR2\samples\quickstarts\helloworld\src\org\jboss\soa\esb\samples\quickstart\helloworld\MyJMSListenerAction.java:25: package org.jboss.soa.esb.message does
not exist
[javac] import org.jboss.soa.esb.message.Message;
[javac] ^
[javac] D:\backup\demo\jbossesb-server-4.2MR2\samples\quickstarts\helloworld\src\org\jboss\soa\esb\samples\quickstart\helloworld\MyJMSListenerAction.java:27: cannot find symbol
[javac] symbol: class AbstractActionLifecycle
[javac] public class MyJMSListenerAction extends AbstractActionLifecycle
[javac] ^
[javac] D:\backup\demo\jbossesb-server-4.2MR2\samples\quickstarts\helloworld\src\org\jboss\soa\esb\samples\quickstart\helloworld\MyJMSListenerAction.java:30: cannot find symbol
[javac] symbol : class ConfigTree

[burrsutter]

Look at the quickstart.properties file in the "conf" directory. See if the "org.jboss.esb.server.home" is pointing at the correct location of your AS+ESB or the ESB Server.

It sounds like you have a classpath issue.

[system.out]

Hi Burr,
quickstarts.properties doesn't exist in conf folder. I copied quickstarts.properties-example and defined the var. you mentioned:
#org.jboss.esb.server.home=${product.dir}/build/jbossesb-server-4.2.MR1
org.jboss.esb.server.home=D:/backup/demo/jbossesb-server-4.2MR2

The same error !

[burrsutter]

What are the subdirectories to the ESB Server MR2?
bin
client
docs
javadocs
lib
samples
server
tools

Also try "ant echoPaths" from that helloworld directory. This will tell you the various paths that are in use. You might use "ant echoPaths > paths.txt" on windows to then scroll through the information.

It appears that you have classpath issue therefore the classes won't compile in the helloworld example.

[burrsutter]

We didn't quite get the ant scripts right to work with the binary distro. Worst case scenario is use the SRC distro for this moment.

Or manually tweak out the ant scripts so the paths are accurate.

Burr