Coherence provides cache events using the JavaBean Event model. It is extremely simple to receive the events that you need, where you need them, regardless of where the changes are actually occurring in the cluster. Developers with any experience with the JavaBean model will have no difficulties working with events, even in a complex cluster.
In the JavaBeans Event model, there is an EventListener
interface that all listeners must extend. Coherence provides a MapListener
interface, which allows application logic to receive events when data in a Coherence cache is added, modified or removed.
Example 5-1 illustrates an excerpt from the com.tangosol.util.MapListener
API.
Example 5-1 Excerpt from the MapListener API
public interface MapListener extends EventListener { /** * Invoked when a map entry has been inserted. * * @param evt the MapEvent carrying the insert information */ public void entryInserted(MapEvent evt); /** * Invoked when a map entry has been updated. * * @param evt the MapEvent carrying the update information */ public void entryUpdated(MapEvent evt); /** * Invoked when a map entry has been removed. * * @param evt the MapEvent carrying the delete information */ public void entryDeleted(MapEvent evt); }
An application object that implements the MapListener
interface can sign up for events from any Coherence cache or class that implements the ObservableMap
interface, simply by passing an instance of the application's MapListener
implementation to one of the addMapListener()
methods.
The MapEvent
object that is passed to the MapListener
carries all of the necessary information about the event that has occurred, including the source (ObservableMap
) that raised the event, the identity (key) that the event is related to, what the action was against that identity (insert, update or delete), what the old value was and what the new value is:
Example 5-2 illustrates an excerpt from the com.tangosol.util.MapEvent
API.
Example 5-2 Excerpt from the MapEvent API
public class MapEvent extends EventObject { /** * Return an ObservableMap object on which this event has actually * occurred. * * @return an ObservableMap object */ public ObservableMap getMap() /** * Return this event's id. The event id is one of the ENTRY_* * enumerated constants. * * @return an id */ public int getId() /** * Return a key associated with this event. * * @return a key */ public Object getKey() /** * Return an old value associated with this event. * <p> * The old value represents a value deleted from or updated in a map. * It is always null for "insert" notifications. * * @return an old value */ public Object getOldValue() /** * Return a new value associated with this event. * <p> * The new value represents a new value inserted into or updated in * a map. It is always null for "delete" notifications. * * @return a new value */ public Object getNewValue() // ----- Object methods ------------------------------------------------- /** * Return a String representation of this MapEvent object. * * @return a String representation of this MapEvent object */ public String toString() // ----- constants ------------------------------------------------------ /** * This event indicates that an entry has been added to the map. */ public static final int ENTRY_INSERTED = 1; /** * This event indicates that an entry has been updated in the map. */ public static final int ENTRY_UPDATED = 2; /** * This event indicates that an entry has been removed from the map. */ public static final int ENTRY_DELETED = 3; }
All Coherence caches implement ObservableMap
; in fact, the NamedCache
interface that is implemented by all Coherence caches extends the ObservableMap
interface. That means that an application can sign up to receive events from any cache, regardless of whether that cache is local, partitioned, near, replicated, using read-through, write-through, write-behind, overflow, disk storage, and so on.
Note:
Regardless of the cache topology and the number of servers, and even if the modifications are being made by other servers, the events will be delivered to the application's listeners.In addition to the Coherence caches (those objects obtained through a Coherence cache factory), several other supporting classes in Coherence also implement the ObservableMap
interface:
ObservableHashMap
LocalCache
OverflowMap
NearCache
ReadWriteBackingMap
AbstractSerializationCache
, SerializationCache
, and SerializationPagedCache
WrapperObservableMap
, WrapperConcurrentMap
, and WrapperNamedCache
For a full list of published implementing classes, see the Coherence Javadoc for ObservableMap
.
To sign up for events, simply pass an object that implements the MapListener
interface to one of the addMapListener
methods on ObservableMap
. The addMapListener
methods are illustrated in Example 5-3.
Example 5-3 Methods on the ObservableMap API
public void addMapListener(MapListener listener); public void addMapListener(MapListener listener, Object oKey, boolean fLite); public void addMapListener(MapListener listener, Filter filter, boolean fLite);
Let's create an example MapListener
implementation. Example 5-4 illustrates a sample MapListener
implementation that prints each event as it receive.
Example 5-4 Sample MapListener Implementation
/** * A MapListener implementation that prints each event as it receives * them. */ public static class EventPrinter extends Base implements MapListener { public void entryInserted(MapEvent evt) { out(evt); } public void entryUpdated(MapEvent evt) { out(evt); } public void entryDeleted(MapEvent evt) { out(evt); } }
Using this implementation, it is extremely simple to print out all events from any given cache (since all caches implement the ObservableMap
interface):
cache.addMapListener(new EventPrinter());
Of course, to be able to later remove the listener, it is necessary to hold on to a reference to the listener:
Example 5-5 Holding a Reference to a Listener
Listener listener = new EventPrinter(); cache.addMapListener(listener); m_listener = listener; // store the listener in a field
Later, to remove the listener:
Example 5-6 Removing a Listener
Listener listener = m_listener; if (listener != null) { cache.removeMapListener(listener); m_listener = null; // clean up the listener field }
Each addMapListener
method on the ObservableMap
interface has a corresponding removeMapListener
method. To remove a listener, use the removeMapListener
method that corresponds to the addMapListener
method that was used to add the listener.
When creating an inner class to use as a MapListener
, or when implementing a MapListener
that only listens to one or two types of events (inserts, updates or deletes), you can use the AbstractMapListener
base class. For example, the anonymous inner class in Example 5-7 prints out only the insert events for the cache.
Example 5-7 Inner Class that Prints Only Cache Insert Events
cache.addMapListener(new AbstractMapListener() { public void entryInserted(MapEvent evt) { out(evt); } });
Another helpful base class for creating a MapListener
is the MultiplexingMapListener
, which routes all events to a single method for handling. This class would allow you to simplify the EventPrinter
example to the code illustrated in Example 5-8. Since only one method must be implemented to capture all events, the MultiplexingMapListener
can also be very useful when creating an inner class to use as a MapListener
.
If the listener should always be on a particular cache, then place it into the cache configuration using the <listener>
element and Coherence will automatically add the listener when it configures the cache.
Signing up for events that occur against specific identities (keys) is just as simple. For example, to print all events that occur against the Integer key 5
:
cache.addMapListener(new EventPrinter(), new Integer(5), false);
Thus, the code in Example 5-9 would only trigger an event when the Integer key 5
is inserted or updated:
Similar to listening to a particular key, it is possible to listen to particular events. In Example 5-10 a listener is added to the cache with a filter that allows the listener to only receive delete events.
Example 5-10 Adding a Listener with Filter for Deleted Events
// Filters used with partitioned caches must be // Serializable, Externalizable or ExternalizableLite public class DeletedFilter implements Filter, Serializable { public boolean evaluate(Object o) { MapEvent evt = (MapEvent) o; return evt.getId() == MapEvent.ENTRY_DELETED; } } cache.addMapListener(new EventPrinter(), new DeletedFilter(), false);
Note:
Filtering events versus filtering cached data:When building a Filter for querying, the object that will be passed to the evaluate method of the Filter will be a value from the cache, or - if the Filter implements the EntryFilter interface - the entire Map.Entry from the cache. When building a Filter for filtering events for a MapListener, the object that will be passed to the evaluate method of the Filter will always be of type MapEvent.
For more information on how to use a query filter to listen to cache events, see "Advanced: Listening to Queries".
If you then make the following sequence of calls:
cache.put("hello", "world"); cache.put("hello", "again"); cache.remove("hello");
The result would be:
CacheEvent{LocalCache deleted: key=hello, value=again}
For more information, see the "Advanced: Listening to Queries".
By default, Coherence provides both the old and the new value as part of an event. Consider the following example:
Example 5-11 Inserting, Updating, and Removing a Value from the Cache
MapListener listener = new MultiplexingMapListener() { public void onMapEvent(MapEvent evt) { out("event has occurred: " + evt); out("(the wire-size of the event would have been " + ExternalizableHelper.toBinary(evt).length() + " bytes.)"); } }; cache.addMapListener(listener); // insert a 1KB value cache.put("test", new byte[1024]); // update with a 2KB value cache.put("test", new byte[2048]); // remove the 2KB value cache.remove("test");
The output from running the test, illustrated inExample 5-12, shows that the first event carries the 1KB inserted value, the second event carries both the replaced 1KB value and the new 2KB value, and the third event carries the removed 2KB value.
event has occurred: CacheEvent{LocalCache added: key=test, value=[B@a470b8} (the wire-size of the event would have been 1283 bytes.) event has occurred: CacheEvent{LocalCache updated: key=test, old value=[B@a470b8, new value=[B@1c6f579} (the wire-size of the event would have been 3340 bytes.) event has occurred: CacheEvent{LocalCache deleted: key=test, value=[B@1c6f579} (the wire-size of the event would have been 2307 bytes.)
When an application does not require the old and the new value to be included in the event, it can indicate that by requesting only "lite" events. When adding a listener, you can request lite events by using one of the two addMapListener
methods that takes an additional boolean fLite parameter. In Example 5-11, the only change would be:
cache.addMapListener(listener, (Filter) null, true);
Note:
Obviously, a lite event's old value and new value may be null. However, even if you request lite events, the old and the new value may be included if there is no additional cost to generate and deliver the event. In other words, requesting that aMapListener
receive lite events is simply a hint to the system that the MapListener
does not need to know the old and new values for the event.All Coherence caches support querying by any criteria. When an application queries for data from a cache, the result is a point-in-time snapshot, either as a set of identities (keySet
) or a set of identity/value pairs (entrySet
). The mechanism for determining the contents of the resulting set is referred to as filtering, and it allows an application developer to construct queries of arbitrary complexity using a rich set of out-of-the-box filters (for example, equals, less-than, like, between, and so on), or to provide their own custom filters (for example, XPath
). For more information on querying by any criteria, see Chapter 3, "Provide a Queryable Data Fabric".
The same filters that are used to query a cache can be used to listen to events from a cache. For example, in a trading system it is possible to query for all open Order
objects for a particular trader:
Example 5-13 Listening for Events from a Cache
NamedCache mapTrades = ... Filter filter = new AndFilter(new EqualsFilter("getTrader", traderid), new EqualsFilter("getStatus", Status.OPEN)); Set setOpenTrades = mapTrades.entrySet(filter);
To receive notifications of new trades being opened for that trader, closed by that trader or reassigned to or from another trader, the application can use the same filter:
Example 5-14 Listening for Events on an Object
// receive events for all trade IDs that this trader is interested in trades.addMapListener(listener, new MapEventFilter(filter), true);
The MapEventFilter
converts a query filter into an event filter.
The MapEventFilter
has several very powerful options, allowing an application listener to receive only the events that it is specifically interested in. More importantly for scalability and performance, only the desired events have to be communicated over the network, and they are communicated only to the servers and clients that have expressed interest in those specific events. Example 5-15 illustrates these scenarios.
Example 5-15 Using MapEventFilter to Filter on Various Events
// receive all events for all trades that this trader is interested in nMask = MapEventFilter.E_ALL; trades.addMapListener(listener, new MapEventFilter(nMask, filter), true); // receive events for all this trader's trades that are closed or // re-assigned to a different trader nMask = MapEventFilter.E_UPDATED_LEFT | MapEventFilter.E_DELETED; trades.addMapListener(listener, new MapEventFilter(nMask, filter), true); // receive events for all trades as they are assigned to this trader nMask = MapEventFilter.E_INSERTED | MapEventFilter.E_UPDATED_ENTERED; trades.addMapListener(listener, new MapEventFilter(nMask, filter), true); // receive events only fornew trades assigned to this trader nMask = MapEventFilter.E_INSERTED; trades.addMapListener(listener, new MapEventFilter(nMask, filter), true);
For more information on the various options supported, see the API documentation for MapEventFilter
.
When building a Filter
for querying, the object that will be passed to the evaluate method of the Filter
will be a value from the cache, or if the Filter
implements the EntryFilter
interface, the entire Map.Entry
from the cache. When building a Filter
for filtering events for a MapListener
, the object that will be passed to the evaluate method of the Filter
will always be of type MapEvent
.
The MapEventFilter
converts a Filter
that is used to do a query into a Filter
that is used to filter events for a MapListener
. In other words, the MapEventFilter
is constructed from a Filter
that queries a cache, and the resulting MapEventFilter
is a filter that evaluates MapEvent
objects by converting them into the objects that a query Filter would expect.
Events usually reflect the changes being made to a cache. For example, one server is modifying one entry in a cache while another server is adding several items to a cache while a third server is removing an item from the same cache, all while fifty threads on each and every server in the cluster is accessing data from the same cache! All the modifying actions will produce events that any server within the cluster can choose to receive. We refer to these actions as client actions, and the events as being dispatched to clients, even though the "clients" in this case are actually servers. This is a natural concept in a true peer-to-peer architecture, such as a Coherence cluster: Each and every peer is both a client and a server, both consuming services from its peers and providing services to its peers. In a typical Java Enterprise application, a "peer" is an application server instance that is acting as a container for the application, and the "client" is that part of the application that is directly accessing and modifying the caches and listening to events from the caches.
Some events originate from within a cache itself. There are many examples, but the most common cases are:
When entries automatically expire from a cache;
When entries are evicted from a cache because the maximum size of the cache has been reached;
When entries are transparently added to a cache as the result of a Read-Through operation;
When entries in a cache are transparently updated as the result of a Read-Ahead or Refresh-Ahead operation.
Each of these represents a modification, but the modifications represent natural (and typically automatic) operations from within a cache. These events are referred to as synthetic events.
When necessary, an application can differentiate between client-induced and synthetic events simply by asking the event if it is synthetic. This information is carried on a sub-class of the MapEvent
, called CacheEvent
. Using the previous EventPrinter
example, it is possible to print only the synthetic events:
Example 5-16 Determining Synthetic Events
public static class EventPrinter extends MultiplexingMapListener { public void onMapEvent(MapEvent evt) { if (evt instanceof CacheEvent && ((CacheEvent) evt).isSynthetic()) { out(evt); ) } }
For more information on this feature, see the API documentation for CacheEvent
.
While it is possible to listen to events from Coherence caches, each of which presents a local view of distributed, partitioned, replicated, near-cached, continuously-queried, read-through/write-through and/or write-behind data, it is also possible to peek behind the curtains, so to speak.
For some advanced use cases, it may be necessary to "listen to" the "map" behind the "service". Replication, partitioning and other approaches to managing data in a distributed environment are all distribution services. The service still has to have something in which to actually manage the data, and that something is called a "backing map".
Backing maps are configurable. If all the data for a particular cache should be kept in object form on the heap, then use an unlimited and non-expiring LocalCache
(or a SafeHashMap
if statistics are not required). If only a small number of items should be kept in memory, use a LocalCache
. If data are to be read on demand from a database, then use a ReadWriteBackingMap
(which knows how to read and write through an application's DAO implementation), and in turn give the ReadWriteBackingMap
a backing map such as a SafeHashMap
or a LocalCache
to store its data in.
Some backing maps are observable. The events coming from these backing maps are not usually of direct interest to the application. Instead, Coherence translates them into actions that must be taken (by Coherence) to keep data synchronous and properly backed up, and it also translates them when appropriate into clustered events that are delivered throughout the cluster as requested by application listeners. For example, if a partitioned cache has a LocalCache
as its backing map, and the local cache expires an entry, that event causes Coherence to expire all of the backup copies of that entry. Furthermore, if any listeners have been registered on the partitioned cache, and if the event matches their event filter(s), then that event will be delivered to those listeners on the servers where those listeners were registered.
In some advanced use cases, an application must process events on the server where the data are being maintained, and it must do so on the structure (backing map) that is actually managing the data. In these cases, if the backing map is an observable map, a listener can be configured on the backing map or one can be programmatically added to the backing map. (If the backing map is not observable, it can be made observable by wrapping it in an WrapperObservableMap
.)
For more information on this feature, see the API documentation for BackingMapManager
.
Backing MapListener
events are returned from replicated caches in readable Java format. However, backing MapListener
events returned from distributed caches are in internal Coherence format. The current version of Coherence provides an AbstractMultiplexingBackingMapListener
class that enables you to obtain readable backing MapListener
events from distributed caches. follow these steps:
Implement the AbstractMultiplexingBackingMapListener
class.
Register the implementation in the <listener>
section of the backing-map-scheme
in the cache-config
file.
Start the cache server application file and the client file with the cacheconfig
Java property:
-Dtangosol.coherence.cacheconfig="cache-config.xml"
The AbstractMultiplexingBackingMapListener
class provides an onBackingMapEvent
method which you can override to specify how you would like the event returned. For a complete listing of the class, see Appendix B, "AbstractMultiplexingBackingMapListener Class Listing".
The following listing of the VerboseBackingMapListener
class is a sample implementation of AbstractMultiplexingBackingMapListener
. The onBackingMapEvent
method has been over-ridden to send the results to standard output.
Example 5-17 An AbstractMultiplexingBackingMapListener Implementation
import com.tangosol.net.BackingMapManagerContext; import com.tangosol.util.MapEvent; public class VerboseBackingMapListener extends AbstractMultiplexingBackingMapListener { public VerboseBackingMapListener(BackingMapManagerContext context) { super(context); } @Override protected void onBackingMapEvent(MapEvent mapEvent, Cause cause) { System.out.printf("Thread: %s Cause: %s Event: %s\n", Thread.currentThread().getName(), cause, mapEvent); try { Thread.currentThread().sleep(5000); } catch (InterruptedException e) { // TODO Auto-generated catch block e.printStackTrace(); } } }
Example 5-18 is a listing of a sample cache-config.xml
file. In the <listener>
section of the file, the VerboseBackingMapListener
is identified as being of type com.tangosol.net.BackingMapManagerContext
.
Example 5-18 Cache Configuration Specifying a Verbose Backing Map Listener
<cache-config> <distributed-scheme> <scheme-name>my-dist-scheme</scheme-name> <service-name>DistributedCache</service-name> <backing-map-scheme> <read-write-backing-map-scheme> <internal-cache-scheme> <local-scheme> <high-units>0</high-units> <expiry-delay>0</expiry-delay> </local-scheme> </internal-cache-scheme> <cachestore-scheme> <class-scheme> <class-name>CustomCacheStore</class-name> <init-params> <init-param> <param-type>java.lang.String</param-type> <param-value>{cache-name}</param-value> </init-param> </init-params> </class-scheme> </cachestore-scheme> <listener> <class-scheme> <class-name>VerboseBackingMapListener</class-name> <init-params> <init-param> <param-type>com.tangosol.net.BackingMapManagerContext</param-type> <param-value>{manager-context}</param-value> </init-param> </init-params> </class-scheme> </listener> </read-write-backing-map-scheme> </backing-map-scheme> <autostart>true</autostart> </distributed-scheme> ... </cache-config>
Some events are delivered asynchronously, so that application listeners do not disrupt the cache services that are generating the events. In some rare scenarios, asynchronous delivery can cause ambiguity of the ordering of events compared to the results of ongoing operations. To guarantee that the cache API operations and the events are ordered as if the local view of the clustered system were single-threaded, a MapListener must implement the SynchronousListener marker interface.
One example in Coherence itself that uses synchronous listeners is the Near Cache, which can use events to invalidate locally cached data ("Seppuku").
For more information on this feature, see the API documentation for SynchronousListener
.