Document Information

Preface

Part I Introduction

1.  Overview

2.  Using the Tutorial Examples

Part II The Web Tier

3.  Getting Started with Web Applications

4.  JavaServer Faces Technology

5.  Introduction to Facelets

6.  Expression Language

7.  Using JavaServer Faces Technology in Web Pages

8.  Using Converters, Listeners, and Validators

9.  Developing with JavaServer Faces Technology

10.  JavaServer Faces Technology: Advanced Concepts

11.  Using Ajax with JavaServer Faces Technology

12.  Composite Components: Advanced Topics and Example

13.  Creating Custom UI Components and Other Custom Objects

14.  Configuring JavaServer Faces Applications

15.  Java Servlet Technology

16.  Uploading Files with Java Servlet Technology

17.  Internationalizing and Localizing Web Applications

Part III Web Services

18.  Introduction to Web Services

19.  Building Web Services with JAX-WS

20.  Building RESTful Web Services with JAX-RS

21.  JAX-RS: Advanced Topics and Example

Part IV Enterprise Beans

22.  Enterprise Beans

23.  Getting Started with Enterprise Beans

24.  Running the Enterprise Bean Examples

25.  A Message-Driven Bean Example

26.  Using the Embedded Enterprise Bean Container

27.  Using Asynchronous Method Invocation in Session Beans

Part V Contexts and Dependency Injection for the Java EE Platform

28.  Introduction to Contexts and Dependency Injection for the Java EE Platform

29.  Running the Basic Contexts and Dependency Injection Examples

30.  Contexts and Dependency Injection for the Java EE Platform: Advanced Topics

31.  Running the Advanced Contexts and Dependency Injection Examples

Part VI Persistence

32.  Introduction to the Java Persistence API

33.  Running the Persistence Examples

34.  The Java Persistence Query Language

35.  Using the Criteria API to Create Queries

36.  Creating and Using String-Based Criteria Queries

37.  Controlling Concurrent Access to Entity Data with Locking

38.  Using a Second-Level Cache with Java Persistence API Applications

Part VII Security

39.  Introduction to Security in the Java EE Platform

40.  Getting Started Securing Web Applications

41.  Getting Started Securing Enterprise Applications

42.  Java EE Security: Advanced Topics

Part VIII Java EE Supporting Technologies

43.  Introduction to Java EE Supporting Technologies

44.  Transactions

45.  Resources and Resource Adapters

46.  The Resource Adapter Example

47.  Java Message Service Concepts

Basic JMS API Concepts

JMS API Architecture

Messaging Domains

Point-to-Point Messaging Domain

Publish/Subscribe Messaging Domain

Programming with the Common Interfaces

Message Consumption

The JMS API Programming Model

JMS Administered Objects

JMS Connection Factories

JMS Destinations

JMS Connections

JMS Sessions

JMS Message Producers

JMS Message Consumers

JMS Message Listeners

JMS Message Selectors

JMS Messages

Message Headers

Message Properties

Message Bodies

JMS Queue Browsers

JMS Exception Handling

Creating Robust JMS Applications

Using Basic Reliability Mechanisms

Controlling Message Acknowledgment

Specifying Message Persistence

Setting Message Priority Levels

Allowing Messages to Expire

Creating Temporary Destinations

Using Advanced Reliability Mechanisms

Creating Durable Subscriptions

Using JMS API Local Transactions

Using the JMS API in Java EE Applications

Using @Resource Annotations in Enterprise Bean or Web Components

Using Session Beans to Produce and to Synchronously Receive Messages

Managing JMS Resources in Session Beans

Managing Transactions in Session Beans

Using Message-Driven Beans to Receive Messages Asynchronously

Managing Distributed Transactions

Using the JMS API with Application Clients and Web Components

Further Information about JMS

48.  Java Message Service Examples

49.  Bean Validation: Advanced Topics

50.  Using Java EE Interceptors

Part IX Case Studies

51.  Duke's Bookstore Case Study Example

52.  Duke's Tutoring Case Study Example

53.  Duke's Forest Case Study Example

Index

 

Overview of the JMS API

This overview defines the concept of messaging, describes the JMS API and when it can be used, and explains how the JMS API works within the Java EE platform.

What Is Messaging?

Messaging is a method of communication between software components or applications. A messaging system is a peer-to-peer facility: A messaging client can send messages to, and receive messages from, any other client. Each client connects to a messaging agent that provides facilities for creating, sending, receiving, and reading messages.

Messaging enables distributed communication that is loosely coupled. A component sends a message to a destination, and the recipient can retrieve the message from the destination. However, the sender and the receiver do not have to be available at the same time in order to communicate. In fact, the sender does not need to know anything about the receiver; nor does the receiver need to know anything about the sender. The sender and the receiver need to know only which message format and which destination to use. In this respect, messaging differs from tightly coupled technologies, such as Remote Method Invocation (RMI), which require an application to know a remote application’s methods.

Messaging also differs from electronic mail (email), which is a method of communication between people or between software applications and people. Messaging is used for communication between software applications or software components.

What Is the JMS API?

The Java Message Service is a Java API that allows applications to create, send, receive, and read messages. Designed by Sun and several partner companies, the JMS API defines a common set of interfaces and associated semantics that allow programs written in the Java programming language to communicate with other messaging implementations.

The JMS API minimizes the set of concepts a programmer must learn in order to use messaging products but provides enough features to support sophisticated messaging applications. It also strives to maximize the portability of JMS applications across JMS providers in the same messaging domain.

The JMS API enables communication that is not only loosely coupled but also:

  • Asynchronous: A JMS provider can deliver messages to a client as they arrive; a client does not have to request messages in order to receive them.

  • Reliable: The JMS API can ensure that a message is delivered once and only once. Lower levels of reliability are available for applications that can afford to miss messages or to receive duplicate messages.

The current version of the JMS specification is Version 1.1. You can download a copy of the specification from the JMS web site: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/index-jsp-142945.html.

When Can You Use the JMS API?

An enterprise application provider is likely to choose a messaging API over a tightly coupled API, such as a remote procedure call (RPC), under the following circumstances.

  • The provider wants the components not to depend on information about other components’ interfaces, so components can be easily replaced.

  • The provider wants the application to run whether or not all components are up and running simultaneously.

  • The application business model allows a component to send information to another and to continue to operate without receiving an immediate response.

For example, components of an enterprise application for an automobile manufacturer can use the JMS API in situations like these:

  • The inventory component can send a message to the factory component when the inventory level for a product goes below a certain level so the factory can make more cars.

  • The factory component can send a message to the parts components so the factory can assemble the parts it needs.

  • The parts components in turn can send messages to their own inventory and order components to update their inventories and to order new parts from suppliers.

  • Both the factory and the parts components can send messages to the accounting component to update budget numbers.

  • The business can publish updated catalog items to its sales force.

Using messaging for these tasks allows the various components to interact with one another efficiently, without tying up network or other resources. Figure 47-1 illustrates how this simple example might work.

Figure 47-1 Messaging in an Enterprise Application

Diagram showing messaging between various departments in an enterprise

Manufacturing is only one example of how an enterprise can use the JMS API. Retail applications, financial services applications, health services applications, and many others can make use of messaging.

How Does the JMS API Work with the Java EE Platform?

When the JMS API was introduced in 1998, its most important purpose was to allow Java applications to access existing messaging-oriented middleware (MOM) systems, such as MQSeries from IBM. Since that time, many vendors have adopted and implemented the JMS API, so a JMS product can now provide a complete messaging capability for an enterprise.

Beginning with the 1.3 release of the Java EE platform, the JMS API has been an integral part of the platform, and application developers have been able to use messaging with Java EE components.

The JMS API in the Java EE platform has the following features.

  • Application clients, Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) components, and web components can send or synchronously receive a JMS message. Application clients can in addition receive JMS messages asynchronously. (Applets, however, are not required to support the JMS API.)

  • Message-driven beans, which are a kind of enterprise bean, enable the asynchronous consumption of messages. A JMS provider can optionally implement concurrent processing of messages by message-driven beans.

  • Message send and receive operations can participate in distributed transactions, which allow JMS operations and database accesses to take place within a single transaction.

The JMS API enhances the Java EE platform by simplifying enterprise development, allowing loosely coupled, reliable, asynchronous interactions among Java EE components and legacy systems capable of messaging. A developer can easily add new behavior to a Java EE application that has existing business events by adding a new message-driven bean to operate on specific business events. The Java EE platform, moreover, enhances the JMS API by providing support for distributed transactions and allowing for the concurrent consumption of messages. For more information, see the Enterprise JavaBeans specification, v3.1.

The JMS provider can be integrated with the application server using the Java EE Connector architecture. You access the JMS provider through a resource adapter. This capability allows vendors to create JMS providers that can be plugged in to multiple application servers, and it allows application servers to support multiple JMS providers. For more information, see the Java EE Connector architecture specification, v1.6.