IBM SOMobjects Java Client
IBM SOMobjects Java Client

Contents


Welcome and Feedback

Thanks for your interest in our SOMobjects Java Client. We'd like to know what you think about this product, and you can send feedback to me personally. My internet address is: rschnier@vnet.ibm.com.

This address is only for feedback:
- do you like it?
- do you hate it?
- should it be more?
- should it be less?
- what would you like to see it do in the future?

For problems and bug reports, please use the normal SOM 3.0 support channels described at the bottom of this page. Please do not send bug reports or configuration questions to my e-mail address - we have a separate service group set up for these types of issues. Your cooperation and understanding are much appreciated.

I will read all mail, but cannot promise a response to all inquiries or suggestions.

And thanks again for giving our stuff a try! We think it's pretty cool, and hope you will too.

Regards,
The IBM SOMobjects Java Client Development Team:
Randy Schnier, Russell Butek, Joe Bockhold, Tony Bachand, Kim Fall


Documentation

The API documentation can either be found here or, once you've installed this package on your web server, at http://(server machine name)/(HTML directory)/docs/packages.html. A version of an OMG draft proposal for mapping IDL to Java, used as the basis for this product, is available here. That mapping specification was current at the time this product was developed. We have also included, hot off the press, the official proposal from IBM-Sun-Netscape-Visigenic et. al. that has been submitted in response to the OMG Request for Proposal (RFP) for mapping IDL to Java. This proposal is in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format...you can download an Acrobat reader for free from the Adobe Website. Note that even the official proposal is subject to change based on the OMG adoption process.

Running the Checkers Demo

You can run the Checkers demo to test your runtime installation. The demo code can also be used as a guide for writing your own Java applets and applications that interoperate with CORBA server objects. The following section details the requirements and instructions for running this demo.

Server Machine Prerequisites

Client Machine Prerequisites

Server-side Checkers Setup

Client-side Checkers Setup (Java Client)

Once the Checkers server is installed you can now play checkers.
  1. Start Checkers Player 1 from a Java client browser:
  2. Start Checkers Player 2 from a Java client browser:

  3. If everything is working correctly, you should be able to play checkers. To start a new game, type the letter 'r' (for reset) on each of the clients.

    When you are finished, you may exit the client applets. Once you have verified that this works, you can have multiple games going simultaneously on the same server - just choose a different server object name for each game.

NOTE: Due to a current limitation in the Checkers demo applet, you should not move to a different web page while running the demo. If you do, and then come back to the demo page, the server object will no longer be in the proper state.


Code Samples

The following samples are in the directory COM/ibm/samples:
CheckersApp.java
applet for checkers demo
CheckersRef.java
java code for checkers "ref" proxy interface
CheckersStub.java
java code for checkers "stub" proxy class

Generating Java Client proxy objects from IDL

  1. Run the IDL-to-Java compiler against your idl file. The compiler generates .java files in the manner specified by the Sun/IBM proposed OMG submission for IDL to Java mapping.

    The IDL compiler generates files in package directories under the current directory.

    Compiler Usage: java COM.ibm.idl.toJava.Compile <options> <idl file>

    where <idl file> is the name of a file containing IDL definitions, and <options> is any combination of the options listed below. The <idl file> must appear after all options.

    Options:

    -i <include path>
    By default, the current directory is scanned for included files. This option adds another directory.
    -d <symbol>
    This is equivalent to the following line in an IDL file: #define <symbol>
    -v
    Verbose mode.
    -SOM
    Parse the IDL file as SOM IDL rather than standard CORBA IDL.

  2. Compile the .java files generated by the compiler. Make sure the directory which contains the generated files is defined in the CLASSPATH environment variable.

Caveats and Limitations of this release


Problem Reporting

Your satisfaction is important to us. If you encounter a problem you believe to be a defect in the SOMobjects Developer Toolkit code or documentation, please submit a report to the technical support team. The problem submission form is located at: http://www.austin.ibm.com/somservice/supform.html.
© 1996 IBM Corp. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.