Oracle8i Java Tools Reference
Release 3 (8.1.7)

Part Number A83727-01

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Schema Object Tools

Unlike a conventional Java virtual machine, which compiles and loads Java files, the Aurora Java virtual machine compiles and loads schema objects. The three kinds of Java schema objects are:

To make a class file runnable by the Aurora Java virtual machine, you use the loadjava tool to create a Java class schema object from the class file or the source file and load it into a schema. To make a resource file accessible to the Aurora Java virtual machine, you use loadjava to create and load a Java resource schema object from the resource file.

The dropjava tool does the reverse of the loadjava tool; it deletes schema objects that correspond to Java files. You should always use dropjava to delete a Java schema object that was created with loadjava; dropping by means of SQL DDL commands will not update auxiliary data maintained by loadjava and dropjava.

What and When to Load

You must load resource files with loadjava. If you create .class files outside the database with a conventional compiler, then you must load them with loadjava. The alternative to loading class files is to load source files and let the Oracle8 i system compile and manage the resulting class schema objects. In the current Oracle8 i release, most developers will find that compiling and debugging most of their code outside the database and then loading .class files to debug those files which must be tested inside the database, is the most productive approach. For a particular Java class, you can load either its .class file or its .java file, but not both.

loadjava accepts JAR files that contain either source and resource files or class and resource files (recall that you can load a class's source or its class file but not both). When you pass loadjava a JAR file or a ZIP file, loadjava opens the archive and loads its members individually; there is no JAR or ZIP schema object. A file whose content has not changed since the last time it was loaded is not re-loaded, therefore there is little performance penalty for loading JARs. Loading JAR files is the simplest and most foolproof way to use loadjava.

It is illegal for two schema objects in the same schema to define the same class. For example, suppose a.java defines class x and you want to move the definition of x to b.java. If a.java has already been loaded, then loadjava will reject an attempt to load b.java (which also defines x). Instead, do either of the following:

Resolution

All Java classes contain references to other classes. A conventional Java virtual machine searches for classes in the directories, ZIP files, and JARs named in the CLASSPATH. The Aurora Java virtual machine, by contrast, searches schemas for class schema objects. Each Oracle8 i class has a resolver spec, which is the Oracle8 i counterpart to the CLASSPATH. For a hypothetical class alpha, its resolver spec is a list of schemas to search for classes alpha uses. Notice that resolver specs are per-class, whereas in a classic Java virtual machine, CLASSPATH is global to all classes.

In addition to a resolver spec, each class schema object has a list of interclass reference bindings. Each reference list item contains a reference to another class, and one of the following:

An Oracle8 i facility called the resolver maintains reference lists. For each interclass reference in a class, the resolver searches the schemas specified by the class's resolver spec for a valid class schema object that satisfies the reference. If all references are resolved, the resolver marks the class valid. A class that has never been resolved, or has been resolved unsuccessfully, is marked invalid. A class that depends on a schema object that becomes invalid is also marked invalid at the same time; in other words, invalidation cascades upward from a class to the classes that use it and the classes that use them, and so on. When resolving a class that depends on an invalid class, the resolver first tries to resolve the dependency because it may be marked invalid only because it has never been resolved. The resolver does not re-resolve classes that are marked valid.

A class developer can direct loadjava to resolve classes, or can defer resolution until run time. (The resolver runs automatically when a class tries to load a class that is marked invalid.) It is best to resolve before run time to learn of missing classes early; unsuccessful resolution at run time produces a "class not found" exception. Furthermore, run-time resolution can fail for lack of database resources if the tree of classes is very large.

The loadjava has two resolution modes:

  1. Load-and-resolve (-resolve option): Loads all classes you specify on the command line, marks them invalid, and then resolves them. Use this mode when initially loading classes that refer to each other, and in general when reloading isolated classes as well. By loading all classes and then resolving them, this mode avoids the error message that occurs if a class refers to a class that will be loaded later in the execution of the command.

  2. Load-then-resolve (no -resolve option): Resolves each class when compiled at runtime.


    Note:

    Like a Java compiler, loadjava resolves references to classes but not to resources; be sure to correctly load the resource files your classes need.  


If you can, it is best to defer resolution until all classes have been loaded; this technique avoids the situation in which the resolver marks a class invalid because a class it uses has not yet been loaded.

Digest Table

The schema object digest table is an optimization that is usually invisible to developers. The digest table enables loadjava to skip files that have not changed since they were last loaded. This feature improves the performance of makefiles and scripts that invoke loadjava for collections of files, only some of which need to be re-loaded. A re-loaded archive file might also contain some files that have changed since they were last loaded and some that have not.

The loadjava tool detects unchanged files by maintaining a digest table in each schema. The digest table relates a file name to a digest, which is a shorthand representation of the file's content (a hash). Comparing digests computed for the same file at different times is a fast way to detect a change in the file's content--much faster than comparing every byte in the file. For each file it processes, loadjava computes a digest of the file's content and then looks up the file name in the digest table. If the digest table contains an entry for the file name that has the identical digest, then loadjava does not load the file because a corresponding schema object exists and is up to date. If you invoke loadjava with the -verbose option, then it will show you the results of its digest table lookups.

Normally, the digest table is invisible to developers because loadjava and dropjava keep it synchronized with schema object additions, changes, and deletions. For this reason, always use dropjava to delete a schema object that was created with loadjava, even if you know how to drop a schema object with DDL. If the digest table becomes corrupted (loadjava does not update a schema object whose file has changed), use loadjava's -force option to bypass the digest table lookup.

Compilation

Loading a source file creates or updates a Java source schema object and invalidates the class schema object(s) previously derived from the source. (If the class schema objects don't exist, loadjava creates them.) loadjava invalidates the old class schema objects because they were not compiled from the newly loaded source. Compilation of a newly loaded source, called for instance A, is automatically triggered by any of the following conditions:

To force compilation when you load a source file, use loadjava -resolve.

The compiler writes error messages to the predefined USER_ERRORS view; loadjava retrieves and displays the messages produced by its compiler invocations. See the Oracle8i Reference for a description of this table.

The compiler recognizes compiler options. There are two ways to specify options to the compiler. If you run loadjava with the -resolve option (which may trigger compilation), you can specify compiler options on the command line.

You can additionally specify persistent compiler options in a per-schema database table called JAVA$OPTIONS which you create as described shortly. You can use the JAVA$OPTIONS table for default compiler options, which you can override selectively with a loadjava command-line option.


Note:

A command-line option both overrides and clears the matching entry in the JAVA$OPTIONS table.  


A JAVA$OPTIONS row contains the names of source schema objects to which an option setting applies; you can use multiple rows to set the options differently for different source schema objects. The compiler looks up options in the JAVA$OPTIONS table when it has been invoked without a command line (that is, by the class loader), or when the command line does not specify an option. When compiling a source schema object for which there is neither a JAVA$OPTIONS entry nor a command-line value for an option, the compiler assumes a default value as follows:

You can set JAVA$OPTIONS entries by means of the following functions and procedures, which are defined in the database package DBMS_JAVA:

The name parameter is a Java package name, or a fully qualified class name, or the empty string. When the compiler searches the JAVA$OPTIONS table for the options to use for compiling a Java source schema object, it uses the row whose name most closely matches the schema object's fully qualified class name. A name whose value is the empty string matches any schema object name.

The option parameter is either 'online' or 'encoding'. For the values you can specify for these options, see the Oracle8i SQLJ Developer's Guide and Reference .

A schema does not initially have a JAVA$OPTIONS table. To create a JAVA$OPTIONS table, use the DBMS_JAVA package's java.set_compiler_option procedure to set a value; the procedure will create the table if it does not exist. Specify parameters in single quotes. For example:

SQL> execute dbms_java.set_compiler_option('x.y', 'online', 'false');

Table 1-1 represents a hypothetical JAVA$OPTIONS database table. Because the table has no entry for the encoding option, the compiler will use the default or the value specified on the command line. The online options shown in the table match schema object names as follows:

loadjava

The loadjava tool creates schema objects from files and loads them into a schema. Schema objects can be created from Java source, class, and data files. loadjava can also create schema objects from SQLJ files; the Oracle8i SQLJ Developer's Guide and Reference describes how to use loadjava with SQLJ.

You must have the following SQL database privileges to load classes:

You can execute the loadjava tool either through the command line (as described below) or through the loadjava method contained within the DBMS_JAVA class. To execute within your Java application, do the following:

call dbms_java.loadjava('... options...');

where the options are the same as specified below. Each option should be separated by a blank. You should not separate the options with a comma. The only exception for this is the -resolver option, which contains blanks. For -resolver, you should specify all other options first, a comma, then the -resolver option with its definition. You should not specify the following options as they relate to the database connection for the loadjava command-line tool: -thin, -oci8, -user, -password. The output is directed to stderr. Set serveroutput on and call dbms_java.set_output as appropriate.


Note:

The loadjava tool is located in the bin subdirectory under $ORACLE_HOME.  


Syntax

loadjava {-user | -u} <user>/<password>[@<database>] [options] 
<file>.java | <file>.class | <file>.jar | <file>.zip |
<file>.sqlj | <resourcefile> ... 
  [-debug]
  [-d | -definer]
  [-e | -encoding <encoding_scheme>]
  [-f | -force]
  [-g | -grant <user> [, <user>]...]
  [-help]
  [-nohelp]
  [-o | -oci8] 
  [ -order ]
  [-noverify]
  [-r | -resolve] 
  [-R | -resolver "resolver_spec"]
  [-S | -schema <schema>] 
  [ -stdout ]
  [-s | -synonym]
  [-tableschema <schema>]
  [-t | -thin] 
  [-v | -verbose]

Argument Summary

Table 1-2 summarizes the loadjava arguments. If you execute loadjava multiple times specifying the same files and different options, the options specified in the most recent invocation hold. There are two exceptions:

  1. If loadjava does not load a file because it matches a digest table entry, most options on the command line have no effect on the schema object. The exceptions are -grant, and -resolve, which are always obeyed. Use the -force option to direct loadjava to skip the digest table lookup.

  2. The -grant option is cumulative; every user specified in every loadjava invocation for a given class in a given schema has the EXECUTE privilege. You cannot grant to a role; you can only grant to specified schemas or users.

    Table 1-2 loadjava Argument Summary
    Argument  Description 

    <filenames>  

    You can specify any number and combination of .java, .class, .sqlj, .ser, .jar .zip, and resource file name arguments in any order.  

    -debug  

    Turns on SQL logging and is equivalent to javac -g.  

    -definer  

    By default, class schema objects run with the privileges of their invoker. This option confers definer (the developer who invokes loadjava) privileges upon classes instead. (This option is conceptually similar to the UNIX setuid facility.)  

    -encoding  

    Identifies the source file encoding for the compiler, overriding the matching value, if any, in the JAVA$OPTIONS table. Values are the same as for the javac -encoding option. If you do not specify an encoding on the command line or in a JAVA$OPTIONS table, the encoding is assumed to be latin1. The -encoding option is relevant only when loading a source file.  

    -force  

    Forces files to be loaded even if they match digest table entries.  

    -grant  

    Grants the EXECUTE privilege on loaded classes to the listed users. (To call the methods of a class, users must have the EXECUTE privilege.) Any number and combination of user names can be specified, separated by commas but not spaces (-grant Bob,Betty not -grant Bob, Betty). Note: -grant is a "cumulative" option; users are added to the list of those with the EXECUTE privilege. To remove privileges, either drop and reload the schema object with the desired privileges or change the privileges with the SQL REVOKE command. Also, you cannot grant to a role. All grants must be explicit in granting to specific users.

    To grant the EXECUTE privilege on an object in someone else's schema requires that the original CREATE PROCEDURE privilege was granted with WITH GRANT options.

    Note: You must uppercase the schema name.  

    -help  

    Prints the usage message on how to use the loadjava tool and its options.  

    -nohelp  

    Suppresses the usage message that is given if either no option is specified or if the -help option is specified.  

    -noverify  

    Causes the classes to be loaded without bytecode verification. You must be granted oracle.aurora.security.JServerPermission(Verifier) to execute this option. In addition, this option must be used in conjunction with -r.  

    -oci8  

    Directs loadjava to communicate with the database using the OCI JDBC driver. -oci8 and -thin are mutually exclusive; if neither is specified -oci8 is used by default. Choosing -oci8 implies the syntax of the -user value. You do not need to provide the URL.  

    -order  

    Directs loadjava load the classes in an order that facilitates resolution of those classes. Classes are loaded in a manner where any dependent class is loaded before the class that includes it as a dependency.  

    -resolve  

    Compiles (if necessary) and resolves external references in classes after all classes on the command line have been loaded. If you do not specify -resolve, loadjava loads files but does not compile or resolve them.  

    -resolver  

    Specifies an explicit resolver spec, which is bound to the newly loaded classes. If -resolver is not specified, the default resolver spec, which includes current user's schema and PUBLIC, is used. See "resolver" in this section for details.  

    -schema  

    Designates the schema where schema objects are created. If not specified, the logon schema is used. To create a schema object in a schema that is not your own, you must have the CREATE PROCEDURE or CREATE ANY PROCEDURE privilege. You must have CREATE TABLE or CREATE ANY TABLE privilege. Finally, you must have the JServerPermission.loadLibraryInClass for the class.  

    -stdout  

    Causes the output to be directed to stdout, rather than to stderr.  

    -synonym  

    Creates a PUBLIC synonym for loaded classes making them accessible outside the schema into which they are loaded. To specify this option, you must have the CREATE PUBLIC SYNONYM privilege. If -synonym is specified for source files, classes compiled from the source files are treated as if they had been loaded with -synonym.  

    -tableschema <schema>  

    Creates the loadjava internal tables within this specified schema, rather than in the Java file destination schema.  

    -thin  

    Directs loadjava to communicate with the database using the thin JDBC driver. -oci8 and -thin are mutually exclusive; if neither is specified, then -oci8 is used by default. Choosing -thin implies the syntax of the -user value. You do need to specify the appropriate URL through the -user option.  

    -user  

    Specifies a user, password, and database connect string; the files will be loaded into this database instance. The argument has the form <username>/<password>[@<database>].  

    -verbose  

    Directs loadjava to emit detailed status messages while running. Use -verbose to learn when loadjava does not load a file because it matches a digest table entry.  

Argument Details

This section describes the details of loadjava arguments whose behavior is more complex than the summary descriptions contained in Table 1-2.

File Names

You can specify as many .class, .java, .sqlj, .jar, .zip, and resource files as you like, in any order. If you specify a JAR or ZIP file, then loadjava processes the files in the JAR or ZIP; there is no JAR or ZIP schema object. If a JAR or ZIP contains a JAR or ZIP, loadjava does not process them.

The best way to load files is to put them in a JAR or ZIP and then load the archive. Loading archives avoids the resource schema object naming complications described later in this section. If you have a JAR or ZIP that works with the JDK, then you can be sure that loading it with loadjava will also work, without having to learn anything about resource schema object naming.

Schema object names are slightly different from file names, and loadjava names different types of schema objects differently. Because class files are self-identifying (they contain their names), loadjava's mapping of class file names to schema object names is invisible to developers. Source file name mapping is also invisible to developers; loadjava gives the schema object the fully qualified name of the first class defined in the file. JAR and ZIP files also contain the names of their files; however, resource files are not self identifying. loadjava generates Java resource schema object names from the literal names you supply as arguments (or the literal names in a JAR or ZIP file). Because running classes use resource schema objects, it is important that you specify resource file names correctly on the command line, and the correct specification is not always intuitive. The surefire way to load individual resource files correctly is:

Run loadjava from the top of the package tree and specify resource file names relative to that directory. (The "top of the package tree" is the directory you would name in a Java CLASSPATH list.)

If you do not want to follow this rule, observe the details of resource file naming that follow. When you load a resource file, loadjava generates the resource schema object name from the resource file name as literally specified on the command line. Suppose, for example you type:

% cd /home/scott/javastuff
% loadjava options alpha/beta/x.properties
% loadjava options /home/scott/javastuff/alpha/beta/x.properties

Although you have specified the same file with a relative and an absolute path name, loadjava creates two schema objects, one called alpha/beta/x.properties, the other ROOT/home/scott/javastuff/alpha/beta/x.properties. (loadjava prepends ROOT because schema object names cannot begin with the "/" character; however, that is an implementation detail that is unimportant to developers.) The important point is that a resource schema object's name is generated from the file name as entered.

Classes can refer to resource files relatively (for example, b.properties) or absolutely (for example, /a/b.properties). To ensure that loadjava and the class loader use the same name for a schema object, follow this rule when loading resource files:

Enter the name on the command line that the class passes to getResource() or getResourceAsString().

Instead of remembering whether classes use relative or absolute resource names and changing directories so that you can enter the correct name on the command line, you can load resource files in a JAR as follows:

% cd /home/scott/javastuff
% jar -cf alpharesources.jar alpha/*.properties
% loadjava options alpharesources.jar

Or, to simplify further, put both the class and resource files in a JAR, which makes the following invocations equivalent:

% loadjava options alpha.jar 
% loadjava options /home/scott/javastuff/alpha.jar

The two loadjava commands in this example make the point that you can use any pathname to load the contents of a JAR file. Note as well that even if you did execute the redundant commands shown above, loadjava would realize from the digest table that it did not need to load the files twice. That means that re-loading JAR files is not as time-consuming as it might seem even when few files have changed between loadjava invocations.

definer
{-definer | -d}

The -definer option is identical to definer's rights in stored procedures and is conceptually similar to the UNIX setuid facility; however, whereas setuid applies to a complete program, you can apply -definer class by class. Moreover, different definers may have different privileges. Because an application may consist of many classes, you must apply -definer with care to achieve the results desired, namely classes that run with the privileges they need but no more. For more information on definer's rights, see the Oracle8i Java Stored Procedures Developer's Guide.

noverify
{-noverify]

Causes the classes to be loaded without bytecode verification. You must be granted oracle.aurora.security.JServerPermission(Verifier) to execute this option. In addition, this option must be used in conjunction with -r.

The verifier ensures that incorrectly formed Java binaries cannot be loaded for execution in the server. If you know that the JAR or classes you are loading are valid, use of this option will speed up the loadjava process. Some JServer-specific optimizations for interpreted performance are put in place during the verification process. Thus, interpreted performance of your application may be adversely affected by using this option.

resolve
{-resolve | -r}

Use -resolve to force loadjava to compile (if necessary) and resolve a class that has previously been loaded. It is not necessary to specify -force because resolution is performed after, and independently of, loading.

resolver
{-resolver | -R} "resolver spec"

This option associates an explicit resolver spec with the class schema objects that loadjava creates or replaces.

A resolver spec consists of one or more items, each of which consists of a name spec and a schema spec expressed in the following syntax:

"((name_spec schema_spec) [(name_spec schema_spec)] ...)"

The resolution operation interprets a resolver spec item as follows:

When looking for a schema object whose name matches the name spec, look in the schema named by the partner schema spec.

The resolution operation searches schemas in the order in which the resolver spec lists them. For example,

-resolver '((* SCOTT) (* PUBLIC))' 

means the following:

Search for any reference first in SCOTT and then in PUBLIC. If a reference is not resolved, then mark the referring class invalid and display an error message; in other words, call attention to missing classes.

The following example:

-resolver "((* SCOTT) (* PUBLIC) (my/gui/* -))" 

means the following:

Search for any reference first in SCOTT and then in PUBLIC. If the reference is not found, and is to a class in the package my.gui then mark the referring class valid, and do not display an error; in other words, ignore missing classes in this package. If the reference is not found and is not to a class in my.gui, then mark the referring class invalid and produce an error message.

user
{-user | -u} <user>/<password>[@<database>]

By default, loadjava loads into the login schema specified by the -user option. Use the -schema option to specify a different schema to load into. This does not involve a login into that schema, but does require that you have sufficient permissions to alter it.

The permissible forms of @<database> depend on whether you specify -oci8 or -thin; -oci8 is the default.

Here are examples of loadjava commands:

dropjava

The dropjava tool is the converse of loadjava. It transforms command-line file names and JAR or ZIP file contents to schema object names, then drops the schema objects and deletes their corresponding digest table rows. You can enter .java, .class, .sqlj, .ser, .zip, .jar, and resource file names on the command line in any order.

Alternatively, you can specify a schema object name (full name, not short name) directly to dropjava. A command-line argument that does not end in .jar, .zip, .class, .java, or .sqlj is presumed to be a schema object name. If you specify a schema object name that applies to multiple schema objects (such as a source schema object Foo and a class schema object Foo), all will be removed.

Dropping a class invalidates classes that depend on it, recursively cascading upwards. Dropping a source drops classes derived from it.


Note:

You must remove Java schema objects in the same way that you first loaded them. If you load a .sqlj source file and translate it in the server, you must run dropjava on the same source file. If you translate on a client and load classes and resources directly, run dropjava on the same classes and resources.  


You can execute the dropjava tool either through the command line (as described below) or through the dropjava method contained within the DBMS_JAVA class. To execute within your Java application, do the following:

call dbms_java.dropjava('... options...');

where the options are the same as specified below. Each option should be separated by a blank. You should not separate the options with a comma. The only exception for this is the -user option. The connection is always made to the current session, so you cannot specify another username through the -user option.

For -resolver, you should specify all other options first, a comma, then the -resolver option with its definition. You should not specify the following options as they relate to the database connection for the loadjava command-line tool: -thin, -oci8, -user, -password. The output is directed to stderr. Set serveroutput on and call dbms_java.set_output as appropriate.

Syntax

dropjava [options] {<file>.java | <file>.class | file.sqlj | 
<file>.jar | <file.zip> | <resourcefile>} ...
  -u | -user <user>/<password>[@<database>]
  [-o | -oci8]  
  [-S | -schema <schema>] 
  [ -stdout ]
  [-s | -synonym]
  [-t | -thin] 
  [-v | -verbose]

Argument Summary

Table 1-3 summarizes the dropjava arguments.

Table 1-3 dropjava Argument Summary
Argument  Description 

-user  

Specifies a user, password, and optional database connect string; the files will be dropped from this database instance.  

<filenames>  

You can specify any number and combination of .java, .class, .sqlj, .ser, .jar, .zip, and resource file names in any order.  

-oci8  

Directs dropjava to connect with the database using the oci8 JDBC driver. -oci8 and -thin are mutually exclusive; if neither is specified, then -oci8 is used by default. Choosing -oci8 implies the form of the -user value.  

-schema  

Designates the schema from which schema objects are dropped. If not specified, the logon schema is used. To drop a schema object from a schema that is not your own, you need the DROP ANY PROCEDURE and UPDATE ANY TABLE privileges.  

-stdout  

Causes the output to be directed to stdout, rather than to stderr.  

-synonym  

Drops a PUBLIC synonym that was created with loadjava.  

-thin  

Directs dropjava to communicate with the database using the thin JDBC driver. -oci8 and -thin are mutually exclusive; if neither is specified, then -oci8 is used by default. Choosing -thin implies the form of the -user value.  

-verbose  

Directs dropjava to emit detailed status messages while running.  

Argument Details

File Names

dropjava interprets most file names as loadjava does:

If a file name has another extension or no extension, then dropjava interprets the file name as a schema object name and drops all source, class, and resource objects that match the name. For example, the hypothetical file name alpha drops whichever of the following exists: the source schema object named alpha, the class schema object named alpha, and the resource schema object named alpha. If the file name begins with the "/" character, then dropjava prepends ROOT to the schema object name.

If dropjava encounters a file name that does not match a schema object, it displays a message and processes the remaining file names.

user
{-user | -u} <user>/<password>[@<database>]

The permissible forms of @<database> depend on whether you specify -oci8 or -thin; -oci8 is the default.

Here are some dropjava examples.

Dropping Resources

Care must be taken if you are removing a resource that was loaded directly into the server. This includes profiles if you translated on the client without using the -ser2class option. When dropping source or class schema objects, or resource schema objects that were generated by the server-side SQLJ translator, the schema objects will be found according to the package specification in the applicable .sqlj source file. However, the fully qualified schema object name of a resource that was generated on the client and loaded directly into the server depends on path information in the .jar file or on the command line at the time you loaded it. If you use a .jar file to load resources and use the same .jar file to remove resources, there will be no problem. If, however, you use the command line to load resources, then you must be careful to specify the same path information when you run dropjava to remove the resources.



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