VisiBroker for Java 3.2 Release Notes

[03.02.00.C2.05]

Table of Contents

Latest Information

Release Contents

• Development tools and libraries
• VisiBroker ORB (ORB runtime, services, and utilities)
• VisiBroker GateKeeper
• Documentation

Changes Since 3.1

Upgrading from 3.1

New Features in 3.2

• ORB Runtime
• Improved support for CORBA portability specification
• Support for Dynamic Anys (DynAnys)
• Native Windows Executables
• Updated Interface Repository (IR)
• Updated IDL Compiler
• Object Wrappers
• ORB Management Interfaces
• GateKeeper
• New GateKeeper GUI Configuration Tool
• Improved GateKeeper message handling
• Examples
• New Encryption Interceptor example
• New DynAny example

CORBA Portability

VisiBroker for Java currently supports several variations of the org.omg.CORBA.ORB.init() method.  The OMG specification states that the singleton ORB returned by the no argument ORB.init() can only be used to create TypeCodes and Anys.  VisiBroker for Java 3.2 now optionally provides compliant behavior by setting a Java system property in your application.  To obtain compliant behavior define the system property org.omg.CORBA.ORBSingletonClass to com.visigenic.vbroker.orb.ORBSingleton.  For example on a JavaSoft VM one would run the following command:

prompt> vbj -Dorg.omg.CORBA.ORBSingletonClass=com.visigenic.vbroker.orb.ORBSingleton Server

Dynamic Any Support

Native Windows Executables

Updated Interface Repository

Updated IDL Compiler

Object Wrappers

ORB Management Interfaces

GateKeeper

The GateKeeper internal architecture has also been improved to provide improved performance and transparency to clients and servers using the GateKeeper as a proxy.

Minor enhancements and bug fixes in 3.2

Incompatible changes

• The receive_reply method on the ClientInterceptor now is able to return an input stream, allowing a complete end-to-end encryption interceptor to be written.  This required a change in the return value for receive_reply.
• idl2java no longer generates deprecated skeleton classes by default (see -deprecated_skel option in documentation)
• The definition for Policy as it relates to activation has been moved from the CORBA package to the extensions package.  This was done because it interfered with the defintion of CORBA::Policy as written in the specification.
• Attempting to register a skeleton with the BOA which has the same name and type as a different skeleton that has already been registered with the BOA will no longer overwrite the existing registration. To register a new skeleton, one should first call BOA.deactivate_obj() on the original skeleton, before attempting to register a new skeleton with the same name/type.

ORB runtime

• Security exceptions from some third party products (e.g. Marimba Castinet Tuner) caused by the use getLocalHost() call are now handled properly.
• Incompatibilities between VisiBroker 3.0 and Netscape Enterprise Server 3.0 have been resolved.
• Illegal Access Errors running with jview under MS SDK for java 2.0 in certain situations have been resolved.
• Very large IORs are now received correctly from the osagent.
• New ORB option ORBconnectionCacheMax to limit the maximum number of connections for the connection cache. This works around problems in clients running out of file descriptors when they communicate with large numbers of servers.
• Thread Pooling performance has been improved.
• New ORB flag for AIX (ORBsyncgc) disables synchronous garbage collection invocation from ORB runtime to work around AIX VM bug.
• Extraneous messages in Resolver.locate() have been removed.
• vregedit has been updated to easily set the value of VBROKER_JAVAVM under windows.
• The VBROKER_TAG option has been added so the developer can specify the flag to use when passing properties to the VM.
• The OAD now attempts to further minimize its use of file descriptors.
• Removed unnecessary _portable_stub_ that was produced from the helper insert/extract for a local object using portable API
• ORBwarn option now provided to print warnings such as Java exceptions thrown by user code, but caught by the ORB.  Run "vbj -DORBwarn=1" to get level one warnings.  Run "vbj -DORBwarn=2" to get level two warnings.
• ORB.shutdown() now shutdowns the ORB completely.  Calling shutdown() on an ORB instance will do the following:  Close all listen sockets and listener threads, prevent new requests from being dispatched, wait for all currently dispatched requests to complete, shutdown all incoming connections, and finally cause all threads blocked on impl_is_ready() to return.

GateKeeper

• The ORBdisableAgentCache option has been added to disable caching of objects previously located. While normally this behavior is desirable, in the case where the "client" is the GateKeeper this feature interferes with the ability of applets to take advantage of the osagent load balancing feature. To allow all client requests to go through to the osagent and thus take advantage of the load balancing feature the GateKeeper can now be started with the option -ORBdisableAgentCache set to true. The default setting is set to true, but can be changed by setting to false explicitly in a properties file. This options will work with any VisiBroker client that desires all requests to go to the osagent, even when a suitable object has been previously located.
• ORB now obtains the original IOR before importing from GateKeeper even when ORBalwaysProxy is set.  This guarantees the object type and identity from end-to-end.
• Correct HTTP keep-alive header has been sent by GateKeeper when HTTP tunneling is involved.  But certain browsers, such as Internet Explorer, have short keep-alive time.  This could cause extra rebinds to happen between the applet and GateKeeper.
• Fixed 'osfind -LOCverify 1' when showing two servers running via Gatekeeper.  This is corrected by not registering proxy objects in the GateKeeper with the OSAgent.
• A warning log level has been added to GateKeeper.
• Gatekeeper now supports flag -quiet to suppress messages.
• GateKeeper transparency has been improved.
• ORBgatekeeperIOR property is now being checked when it was passed to ORB.init() in a properties object.
• Two new properties have been added to GateKeeper for supporting interior proxy configurations: interior_proxy_address and interior_proxy_port.
• Corrected the IP address reported by the GateKeeper to the applet for establishing a callback connection when the exterior proxy option (-proxyIP) is used with the GateKeeper. This allows callbacks to work properly when a proxy server is situated between the GateKeeper and the applet.

Compiler Tools

• idl2java no longer allows nested empty modules.
• idl2java now mangles all Java keywords to prevent name conflicts.
• idl2java now allows text after #endif.
• idl2java now generates default() method for unions as per spec.
• idl2java correctly maps IDL constants in interfaces as final class variables.
• idl2java generates correct code for unions with enum discriminators
• idl2java now accepts *.idl command line argument correctly under windows.
• java2iiop no longer generates Helpers and holders for system extensible structs.
• toString() method on extensible and recursive structs now work correctly
• idl2java code generation for recursive structs has been fixed
• idl2java now handles const wstring IDL statement
• Added a new flag -W for setting warning levels in java2iiop. -W0 suppresses all warnings.
• Fixed the pragma prefix directive problem. Reopening modules with a different prefix in effect, will cause the compiler to throw a redefinition error. To define new entities, with different prefix, place the prefix just before the new definitions.

Known Issues

• VisiBroker applets may hang when using Netscape Communicator 4.03 (or earlier) on Windows NT and the GateKeeper and servers are running on the same machine as Netscape.  Update to Communicator 4.04 if you are having this problem.
• Package import statements (e.g. import org.omg.CORBA.*) do not work with JAR files in JDK versions prior to JDK 1.1.2. If you import packages from the VisiBroker JAR files, you should use either JDK 1.1.2 or later, or unzip/unjar the JAR file(s) and set your CLASSPATH to the directory containing the unjarred distribution. (NOTE: this is a bug in the JDK javac [bug #1262375])
• When extracting files from vbjorb.jar using unzip, WinZip or other similar utility, you may get one or more checksum errors.  This is a side effect of the licensing software and not an actual corruption of the JAR file.  To extract the file use the jar command which is included in the JavaSoft JDK which ignores checksums.
• The file register.dll will remain in the VisiBroker bin directory after uninstalling the product on Windows.  The file must be removed manually to completely remove VisiBroker for Java from a Windows system.
• If you are using either HP-UX JDK 1.1.3 or JDK 1.1.3 that came with Solaris 2.6, there is a known bug which prevents the VisiBroker for Java ORB runtime from communicating with the osagent.  This bug has been fixed by SunSoft in the JDK 1.1.5 release and is available at http://www.sun.com/solaris/java. The instructions below may be used to patch the HP-UX JDK until a fix is available from HP.  To fix this problem, the class file java.net.PlainDatagramSocketImpl.class in the HP-UX JDK 1.1.3 must be replaced with the java.net.PlainDatagramSocketImpl.class from JavaSoft's JDK 1.1.3:
•         1.  Make a backup copy of the original HP-UX JDK 1.13 classes.zip file, usually found

             in the <JDKHOME>/lib directory.
        2.  In a temporary directory, copy and then unzip the HP-UX JDK 1.13 classes.zip file
             to obtain the full JDK package directory structure.
        3.  In another temporary directory, copy and unzip the JavaSoft JDK 1.1.3 classes.zip
             file to obtain the full JDK package directory structure.
        4.  Next, replace the HP-UX JDK 1.13 class file PlainDatagramSocketImpl.class,
             located in the sub-directory java/net, with the class file
             PlainDatagramSocketImpl.class from the JavaSoft JDK 1.1.3 temporary package
             directory structure.
        5.  Re-zip (without compression) the temporary HP-UX JDK 1.13 package directory
             structure back into a classes.zip file and move it back into the java system directory
             where the original classes.zip file exists.

NOTE:    This class file replacement does not fix a broadcast bug associated the HP-UX JDK 1.13.

Platform Certification

• Netscape Navigator 3.0/4.0.4
• JavaSoft JDK/JRE 1.1.5
• JavaSoft JDK 1.0.2
• Symantec Cafe 1.5
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0/4.0
• Microsoft SDK 2.0

• Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Windows NT 3.51, NT 4.0
• Sun Solaris 2.5, 2.5.1, 2.6 (with JavaSoft JDK 1.1.5 and SunSoft JDK 1.1.5)

Compatibility with JDK 1.0.2

• The vbj command no longer by default looks for an OSAgent as in previous versions of VisiBroker.  Java 1.1 now supports UDP broadcast, so OSAgents are now located directly by the Java ORB.  If you are running VisiBroker on a Java 1.0.x VM, then the "-VBJfindagent 1" flag should be used when running vbj or VisiBroker may be unable to locate an OSAgent.
• Caffeine pass-by-value semantics (and extensible structs) will not work since this feature depends on Java object serialization that is only supported in Java 1.1.
• The java2iiop and java2idl tools will not work since they depend on the Java 1.1 reflection API. However, applications developed using a Java 1.1-compatible development environment can still be deployed on a Java 1.0.x-compatible VM.
• The GateKeeper now makes use of certain features of Java 1.1 and will not run on a 1.0.x-compatible JVM.

Compatibility with JDK 1.2

• JDK 1.2 includes a minimal Java ORB which may interfere with VisiBroker for Java if it is present in your CLASSPATH before the VisiBroker classes.  It is recommended that all JDK classes be removed from your CLASSPATH, since they are automatically added by the VM when it is started.
• When running applets designed for VisiBroker for Java 3.2 in a JDK 1.2-based browser or appletviewer, there may be some loss in functionality.  In particular, certain methods on org.omg.CORBA.Object and org.omg.CORBA.ORB may not be available.  To workaround this problem, install VisiBroker for Java 3.2 in the browsers local environment, so the VisiBroker for Java classes are first in the CLASSPATH.
• The GateKeeper's HTTP support is not compatible with the HTTP Keep-Alive protocol used by JDK 1.2.   Support for HTTP-tunneling and HTTP file transfer support may not work correctly with a JDK 1.2 client applet or application.

Compatibility with other VisiBroker for Java Releases

Compatibility with VisiBroker for Java 2.5

• VisiBroker for Java 3.2 is fully compatible with VisiBroker for Java 2.5 at the application source and binary level.  When moving applications from version 2.5 to version 3.2 it is recommended (though not required) that you recompile your IDL or Java files using idl2java or java2iiop to take advantage of the latest compiler and runtime enhancements.

Compatibility with VisiBroker for Java 1.2

• VisiBroker for Java 3.2 is incompatible at the application source level with VisiBroker for Java 1.2. Changes must be made to an application's source code to conform to the new OMG IDL Java Language mapping. A UNIX sed script is provided that automatically converts code for all but the most complex cases.  This script will handle most of the common changes, but will not deal with more complex cases. For example, the sed script will convert all references from CORBA.Object to org.omg.CORBA.Object, but it will not remove all references to the CORBA.Exception class which has been removed. The sed script is called vbj_convert.  Note: Windows users must license MKS toolkit or a similar UNIX compatibility toolkit which includes sed support, if they wish to use vbj_convert.
• VisiBroker for Java 3.2 binaries (i.e. bytecode) are incompatible with 1.2 binaries.  Binaries compiled with version 1.2 cannot be intermixed with binaries compiled with 3.2.  Applications developed using 1.2 must be recompiled in order for them to run on 3.0. This includes recompiling all IDL definitions to generate new stubs and skeletons.

Interoperability with other VisiBroker Releases

• VisiBroker for Java 1.2 and 2.5
• VisiBroker for C++ 2.x

In environments where previous versions of VisiBroker for Java and VisiBroker for C++ are being used, it is necessary to enable backwards compatibility.  As described in the Programmer's Guide, to turn backwards compatibility on, the following runtime property (or Applet parameter) must be set to "true":

ORBbackcompat

prompt> vbj -DORBbackCompat=true Client

<param name=ORBbackCompat value=true>

Use with Netscape Communicator/Navigator 4.0

• The VisiBroker for Java 3.0 runtime is compatible with the VisiBroker ORB embedded in Netscape's Communicator product.  When using Communicator, you have two choices on how to program your applets.  You may use the ORB embedded in Communicator (which matches VisiBroker for Java 2.5), or you may download the VisiBroker for Java 3.0 ORB on top of the existing version in Communicator.  You should download the VisiBroker for Java 3.0 ORB if you are using features new to VisiBroker 3.0 such as interceptors, event handlers, or SSL.
• To use the ORB runtime that comes with Communicator, you must run your servers and the GateKeeper in backward compatibility mode and add the following param tag to your applet tag in your HTML file.
<param name=USE_ORB_LOCATOR value=true>
• To use VisiBroker for Java 3.0 instead of Communicator's version of VisiBroker, add the following param tag to your applet tag in your HTML file.  No special flags are required for the GateKeeper or servers.
<param name=org.omg.CORBA.ORBClass
value=com.visigenic.vbroker.orb.ORB>

Printing Version Information

Information for:        osagent.exe
Product Name:           VisiBroker Developer for Java
Version:                03.02.00.C2.01
Copyright:              (C) 1996, 1997
Company:                Visigenic Software, Inc.
Build Date:             02/10/1998 17:34:31

Information for:        vbjorb.jar
Product Name:           VisiBroker Developer for Java
Version:                03.02.00.C2.01
Copyright:              (C) 1996, 1997
Company:                Visigenic Software, Inc.
Build Date:             02/10/1998 19:41:13

VisiBroker Developer for Java [03.02.00.C2.01] (FEB 10 1998 20:13:42)
Java: Version 1.1.5 from Sun Microsystems Inc.
OS:   Solaris version 2.x; CPU: sparc