Page History

...

In this example we create a client for the spell checker service we implemented in Example 6. This client monitors the dynamic availability of the spell check checker service using the Service Tracker and is very similar in structure to the dictionary client we implemented in Example 5. The functionality of the spell checker client reads passages from standard input and spell checks them using the spell checker service. Our bundle uses its bundle context to create a ServiceTracker object to monitor spell checker services. The source code for our bundle is as follows in a file called Activator.java:

/*
 * Apache Felix OSGi tutorial.
**/

package tutorial.example7;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.IOException;

import org.osgi.framework.BundleActivator;
import org.osgi.framework.BundleContext;
import org.osgi.framework.ServiceReference;
import org.osgi.framework.ServiceListener;
import org.osgi.framework.ServiceEvent;
import org.osgi.util.tracker.ServiceTracker;

import tutorial.example6.service.SpellChecker;

/**
 * This class implements a bundle that uses a spell checker
 * service to check the spelling of a passage. This bundle
 * is essentially identical to Example 5, in that it uses the
 * Service Tracker to monitor the dynamic availability of the
 * spell checker service. When starting this bundle, the thread
 * calling the start() method is used to read passages from
 * standard input. You can stop spell checking passages by
 * entering an empty line, but to start spell checking again
 * you must stop and then restart the bundle.
**/
public class Activator implements BundleActivator
{
    // Bundle's context.
    private BundleContext m_context = null;
    // The service tacker object.
    private ServiceTracker m_tracker = null;

    /**
     * Implements BundleActivator.start(). Creates a Service
     * Tracker object to monitor spell checker services. Enters
     * a spell check loop where it reads passages from standard
     * input and checks their spelling using the spell checker service.
     * (NOTE: It is very bad practice to use the calling thread
     * to perform a lengthy process like this; this is only done
     * for the purpose of the tutorial.)
     * @param context the framework context for the bundle.
    **/
    public void start(BundleContext context) throws Exception
    {
        m_context = context;

        // Create a service tracker to monitor dictionary services.
        m_tracker = new ServiceTracker(
            m_context,
            m_context.createFilter(
                "(objectClass=" + SpellChecker.class.getName() + ")"),
            null);
        m_tracker.open();

        try
        {
            System.out.println("Enter a blank line to exit.");
            String passage = "";
            BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));

            // Loop endlessly.
            while (true)
            {
                // Ask the user to enter a passage.
                System.out.print("Enter passage: ");
                passage = in.readLine();

                // Get the selected dictionary service, if available.
                SpellChecker checker = (SpellChecker) m_tracker.getService();

                // If the user entered a blank line, then
                // exit the loop.
                if (passage.length() == 0)
                {
                    break;
                }
                // If there is no spell checker, then say so.
                else if (checker == null)
                {
                    System.out.println("No spell checker available.");
                }
                // Otherwise check passage and print misspelled words.
                else
                {
                    String[] errors = checker.check(passage);

                    if (errors == null)
                    {
                        System.out.println("Passage is correct.");
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        System.out.println("Incorrect word(s):");
                        for (int i = 0; i < errors.length; i++)
                        {
                            System.out.println("    " + errors[i]);
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception ex) { }
    }

    /**
     * Implements BundleActivator.stop(). Does nothing since
     * the framework will automatically unget any used services.
     * @param context the framework context for the bundle.
    **/
    public void stop(BundleContext context)
    {
    }
}

The client listens for service events indicating that indicate the arrival or departure of spell check services. If a new spell check service arrives, then the bundle will start using that service if and only if it currently does not have a spell check service. If an existing spell check service disappears, then the bundle will check to see if the disappearing service is the one it is using; if it is it stops using it and tries to query for another spell check service, otherwise it ignores the event.uses the Service Tracker to listen for spell checker services. Like normal, we must create a manifest.mf file that contains the metadata meta-data for our bundle; the manifest file contains the following:Bundle-Activator: tutorial.example6.Activator
Import-Package: tutorial.example5.service

Bundle-Name: Spell

...

 checker client

...

Bundle-Description: A bundle that uses the spell

...

 checker service

...

Bundle-Vendor: Richard Hall

...

Bundle-Version: 1.0.0
Bundle-Activator: tutorial.example6.Activator
Import-Package: org.osgi.framework,
 org.osgi.util.tracker,
 tutorial.example6.service

We specify which class implements is used to activate the bundle via the Bundle-Activator interface attribute and also specify that our class bundle imports the shared package of the spell check service interface using OSGi core, OSGi Service Tracker, and spell checker service interface packages with the Import-Package attribute. This import clause will be fulfilled by the bundle in Example 5, which exports the package that this bundle is importing. The OSGi framework will automatically handle the details of resolving import packages.

To compile our source code, we need to have the osgi felix.jar file (found in OscarFelix' s lib bin directory) and the example5 example6.jar file in our class path. We compile the source file using a command like:

javac -d c:\classes *.java

This command compiles all source files and outputs the generated classes into a subdirectory of the c:\classes directory; this subdirectory is tutorial\example6example7, named after the package we specified in the source file. For the above command to work, the c:\classes directory must exist. After compiling, we need to create a JAR file containing the generated package directories. We will also add our manifest file that contains the bundle's metadata meta-data to the JAR file. To create the JAR file, we issue the command:

jar cfm

...

 example7.jar manifest.mf -C c:\classes tutorial\

...

example7

This command creates a JAR file using the manifest file we created and includes all of the classes in the tutorial\example6 directory inside of the c:\classes directory. Once the JAR file is created, we are ready to install and start the bundle.

To run OscarFelix, we follow the instructions described in usage.html. When we start OscarFelix, it asks for a profile name, we will put all of our bundles in a profile named tutorial. After running OscarFelix, we should stop all tutorial bundles except for the service bundles. Use the ps command to make sure that only the bundles from Example 2, Example 2b, and Example 5 6 are active; use the start and stop commands as appropriate to start and stop the various tutorial bundles, respectively. (Note: Oscar Felix uses some bundles to provide its command shell, so do not stop these bundles.) Now we can install and start our spell check checker client bundle. Assuming that we created our bundle in the directory c:\tutorial, we can install and start it in OscarFelix' s shell using the following command:

start file:/c:/tutorial/example6.jar

The above command installs and starts the bundle in a single step; it is also possible to install and start the bundle in two steps by using the Felix install and start Oscar shell commands. When we start the bundle, it will use the shell thread to prompt us for passages; a passage is a collection or words separate by spaces, commas, periods, exclamation points, question marks, colons, or semi-colons. Enter a passage and press the enter key to spell check the passage or enter a blank line to stop spell checking passages. To restart the bundle, we must use the Oscar Felix shell ps command to get the bundle identifier number for the bundle and first use the stop command to stop the bundle, then the start command to restart it.

Since this client monitors uses the Service Tracker to monitor the dynamic availability of the spell check checker service, it is robust in the scenario where the spell check checker service suddenly departs. Further, when a spell check checker service arrives, it automatically gets the service if it needs it and continues to function. These capabilities are a little difficult to demonstrate since we are using a simple single-threaded approach, but in a multi-threaded or GUI-oriented application this robustness is very useful.