Programming Stand-alone Clients

Overview of Stand-alone Clients

In the context of this document, a stand-alone client is a client that has a runtime environment independent of WebLogic Server. (Managed clients, such as Web Services, rely on a server-side container to provide the runtime necessary to access a server.) Stand-alone clients that access WebLogic Server applications range from simple command line utilities that use standard I/O to highly interactive GUI applications built using the Java Swing/AWT classes. The following sections provide an overview:

RMI-IIOP Clients

IIOP can be a transport protocol for distributed applications with interfaces written in Java RMI. For more information, see:

For more information, see “ Using RMI over IIOP” in Programming WebLogic RMI.

WebLogic Full Client (T3)

A WebLogic Full Client is a Java RMI client that uses BEA’s proprietary T3 protocol to communicate with WebLogic Server. The WebLogic Full Client requires the largest JAR file (wlfullclient.jar) among the various clients, but it has the most features and is the best overall performer. The wlfullclient.jar also provides IIOP support. See:

CORBA Clients

If you are not working in a Java-only environment, you can use IIOP to connect your Java programs with Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) clients and execute CORBA objects. IIOP can be a transport protocol for distributed applications with interfaces written in Interface Definition Language (IDL) or Java RMI. However, the two models are distinctly different approaches to creating an interoperable environment between heterogeneous systems. When you program, you must decide to use either IDL or RMI interfaces; you cannot mix them.WebLogic Server supports the following CORBA client models:

JMX Clients

You can use a JMX client to access WebLogic Server MBeans. See Accessing WebLogic Server MBeans with JMX in Developing Custom Management Utilities with JMX.

JMS Clients

WebLogic Server provides a number of JMS clients that provide Java EE and WebLogic JMS functionality using smaller client footprints than the WebLogic full client (wlfullclient.jar).

Web Services Clients

A stand-alone Web Services client uses WebLogic client classes to invoke a Web Service hosted on WebLogic Server or on other application servers. See Invoking a Web Service from a Stand-alone Client in Programming Web Services for WebLogic Server.

Client Types and Features

The following table lists the types of clients supported in a WebLogic Server environment, and their characteristics, features, and limitations.

When to Use the weblogic.jar and wlfullclient.jar Files

The following sections provide information on how to use the weblogic.jar and wlfullclient.jar files:

Client-side Applications

Prior to WebLogic Server 10.0, the weblogic.jar file was required for T3 and WLS-IIOP client applications to provide WebLogic Server-specific value-added features. For WebLogic Server 10.x and later releases, client applications requiring these features should use the wlfullclient.jar file instead of the weblogic.jar. See Client Types and Features for more information on client types, features, and class requirements.

You can generate the wlfullclient.jar file for client applications using the JarBuilder tool. See Using the WebLogic JarBuilder Tool.

Server-side Operations

Server-side operations continue to require a complete WebLogic Server installation, which includes the weblogic.jar. Typical operations requiring a complete WebLogic Server installation are: