This page describes an older version of the product. The latest stable version is 16.4.

JMS-Space Interoperability


JMS-space interoperability allows JMS applications to communicate with non-JMS applications using the space, without having to know or deal with the space API.

XAP introduced the ability for JMS applications to write messages to the space by implementing them as Externalizable MetaDataEntries, thus allowing non-JMS applications (usually space API applications) to read these MetaDataEntries using a template.

Furthermore, since XAP, an application using the space API can write JMS messages of any type to the space, using the space API (without knowing JMS). Therefore, it is possible to handle JMS messages the same way as any other Entry type.

With XAP, it is possible for the JMS application to control and decide exactly which type of object is written to the space, as long as the written object is valid for the receiving/reading application. This is done using the new MessageConverter feature. A common use-case is writing a JMS message to the space, where the message is “stripped” on the space side, leaving only the message body, usually a POJO. The space application can then read the POJO using a template that includes only the POJO type.

To summarize, the table below shows which operations are supported, allowing interoperability between the JMS and space API.

Operation JMS Application Space Application
Write JMS messages to space
Write Entries to space
Write POJOs (or objects of any type) to space
Read JMS messages from space
Read Entries/POJOs from space
Note

As shown above, a JMS application cannot read POJOs/Entries from the space, unless they are part of a JMS message.

The following sections will show you how to use the MessageConverter to write objects to the space using the JMS API; and how to write JMS messages and read/take those messages using the space API.

See also:

To see how the MessageConverter is used with OpenSpaces, refer to the The OpenSpaces Data Example.

Writing POJOs/Entries to Space using JMS API – MessageConverter

This feature allows clients to define the outcome of JMS writes. By implementing a MessageConverter, you can convert JMS messages to a POJO before they are written to the space. The result of using a converter is that what is written to the space is not necessarily the JMS message (with all the headers, properties etc.), but the result of the message conversion.

A basic use-case of this feature might be writing POJOs to the space using standard JMS API, and not the space API.

A simple implementation of this conversion is the ObjectMessage2ObjectConverter class. When the MessageConverter is invoked by passing an ObjectMessage to its toObject method, it returns the contained POJO (message’s body). When using the MessageConverter to send ObjectMessages, what is actually written to the space is only the JMS message body, which contains the POJO. The ObjectMessage wrapper is not written.

You can create a custom implementation of the MessageConverter. The returned object can be an Entry, an object, an array of Entries, or an array of objects. The returned object can be the same JMS message passed as an argument, or a different one. Generally, the possibility of what can be returned from the conversion method are endless, however, the returned objects should be Entries or POJOs, valid for working with the space.

IMessageConverter Interface

This interface defines an API for message conversion:

interface IMessageConverter {
    Object toObject(javax.jms.Message m);
}

Implement the IMessageConverter interface to return the object required to be written to the space.

Following is the implementation code of ObjectMessage2ObjectConverter:

class ObjectMessage2ObjectConverter implements IMessageConverter {
    Object toObject(javax.jms.Message msg) {
        if (msg != null && msg instanceof javax.jms.ObjectMessage) {
            return ((javax.jms.ObjectMessage)msg).getObject();
        {
        return msg;
    }
}

When passing an ObjectMessage to this converter, it returns the message body, which is actually the POJO.

Setting MessageConverter for ConnectionFactory

You can configure a ConnectionFactory to use a MessageConverter.

Any MessageProducer created under this ConnectionFactory uses the converter automatically when sending messages.

Offline Configuration

You can configure a ConnectionFactory to use a MessageConverter in the Open Spaces Spring configuration:

<bean id="messageConverter" class="com.j_spaces.jms.utils.ObjectMessage2ObjectConverter" />

<os-jms:connection-factory id="connectionFactory" giga-space="gigaSpace" message-converter="messageConverter" />

In this example, a ConnectionFactory is configured, and an instance of ObjectMessage2ObjectConverter is injected into it.

Configuring MessageConverters During Runtime

You can use the GSJMSAdmin helper class to get a ConnectionFactory with a MessageConverter, by using one its methods. For the list of methods, see Javadoc.

Passing null as a MessageConverter means that the ConnectionFactory does not use a MessageConverter.

The following code uses the ObjectMessage2ObjectConverter to send instances of the MyPOJO class to the space:

ObjectMessage2ObjectConverter converter = new ObjectMessage2ObjectConverter();
ConnectionFactory connectionFactory = GSJMSAdmin.getInstance().getConnectionFactory(space, converter);
...
ObjectMessage msg = session.createObjectMessage(new MyPOJO());
producer.send(msg);

Setting MessageConverter per Message

It is possible to set a MessageConverter per sent message.

This is done by setting the JMS_GSMessageConverter property before calling MessageProducer.send().

For example, to use the ObjectMessage2ObjectConvertor on a specific message:

ObjectMessage2ObjectConverter converter = new ObjectMessage2ObjectConverter();
ObjectMessage msg = ...
msg.setObjectProperty("JMS_GSMessageConverter", converter);
producer.send(msg);
Note

In this case, the MessageConverter is used even if another MessageConverter is set in the ConnectionFactory.

MessageConverter Resolution

In case a MessageConverter is set for a ConnectionFactory, and another MessageConverter is set in a message, GigaSpaces resolves this in the following order:

  1. The MessageConverter is set in the message’s JMS_GSMessageConverter property.
  2. The MessageConverter is set in the ConnectionFactory.
Note

If no MessageConverter is set, the JMS message is written as-is.

Only one MessageConverter is used each time.

Considerations

  • Message conversion is performed before the space write action. When using transactions, the messages are written to the space only after the transaction is committed. Therefore, changing a MessageConverter during a transaction affects all conversions performed by this converter in this specific transaction. For example, a converter that returns an object of type A – during a transaction, a few messages are sent, and then the properties of the converter are changed to return an object of type B. When committing the transaction, all messages using this converter are converted to objects of type B.

  • Setting the JMS_GSMessageConverter property to null is the same as disabling the MessageConverter set in the ConnectionFactory. No conversion is performed and the JMS messages are written as-is.

  • TextMessage compression is still performed if the returned object is a TextMessage.

  • Setting the JMS_GSMessageConverter property with an object that doesn’t implement IMessageConverter throws a MessageFormatException.

  • After calling MessageProducer.send(), the message instance behaves as if no conversion occurred. The JMS_GSMessageConverter property in the returned object is unset.

  • A destination has to be created, even if it is not used in the converted object.

Writing and Reading JMS Messages using Space API

Writing JMS messages

1. Create JMS Message Instance

To create a JMS message, use the new operator as follows:

GSSimpleMessageImpl simpleMessage = new GSSimpleMessageImpl(null);
GSTextMessageImpl   textMessage   = new GSTextMessageImpl  (null);
GSObjectMessageImpl objectMessage = new GSObjectMessageImpl(null);
GSMapMessageImpl    mapMessage    = new GSMapMessageImpl   (null);
GSBytesMessageImpl  bytesMessage  = new GSBytesMessageImpl (null);
  • Use null for the session argument.
  • It is preferred not to use the default constructors, because they are meant to create null templates of the JMS messages.

2. Set Required Headers

Use the Message API to set the body, the header values, and the properties:

// create the message
GSTextMessage textMessage = new GSTextMessage(null);

// set the message's body
textMessage.setText("This is my message.");

// set the message's headers
textMessage.setJMSMessageID("message1");

// set the message's properties
textMessage.setBooleanProperty("processed", false);

3. Write Message to Space

Use the space API to write the message in an ordinary way:

spaceProxy.write(textMessage, null, Lease.Forever);

The SpaceWriter example that resides in <XAP Root>\examples\Basic\helloJMS uses this technique to write JMS messages to the space.

Reading/Taking JMS Messages

Like with any Entry/POJO type, to receive a JMS message from the space you need to create a template. The template is matched with the objects in the space, and matching objects are retrieved. All public members of the message class participate in the match process, including the properties map. Therefore, if you don’t know the exact content of a message properties map, it is better to set it to null in the JMS message template.

1. Create Template Based on JMS Message Classes

GSSimpleMessageImpl simpleMessageTemplate = new GSSimpleMessageImpl();
GSTextMessageImpl   textMessageTemplate   = new GSTextMessageImpl  ();
GSObjectMessageImpl objectMessageTemplate = new GSObjectMessageImpl();
GSMapMessageImpl    mapMessageTemplate    = new GSMapMessageImpl   ();
GSBytesMessageImpl  bytesMessageTemplate  = new GSBytesMessageImpl ();

To create a generic template for all kinds of JMS messages, create an instance of GSMessageImpl as follows:

GSMessageImpl genericMessageTemplate = new GSMessageImpl();

Using the default constructors creates a null template of the JMS message. This means that the properties map is also null. If you do not use the default constructor, you should set the properties map to null by invoking:

jsmMessageTemplate.setProperties(null);

2. Read/Take from the Space

You can use the template to read or take messages from the space. The following example takes a text message from the space:

GSTextMessageImpl msg = (GSTextMessageImpl ) spaceProxy.take(textMessageTemplate, null, 1000L);