[omniORB] General ORB questions

[baileyk@schneider.com]

I think you are confusing the abstract concept of "the ORB" with the
concrete naming service.  An ORB (whether OMG CORBA compliant or not) is an
abstraction which allows "Objects" to invoke methods across process
boundaries.  In your case, your ORB is the combination of Java and C++
middleware cooperating to allow your Java processes to invoke methods on
omniNames's objects (the NamingContext objects) and on each other.  It's an
implementation artifact that there are two languages and CORBA libraries
from two vendors involved in your setup.  There is only one abstraction
called "the ORB".

Some ORB implementations do involve daemon processes to coordinate
communications, launch services on demand, etc...  omniORB has no such
daemons.  omniNames isn't critical to the running of applications that use
omniORB so it does not qualify.

Go to the OMG web site.  I know they have tutorials with nice diagrams of
varying detail.

Choosing to use omniORB because the Java IDL ORB is inadequate is a bit
confusing to me.  Most folks would try to stick with a language homogeneous
solution, although not strictly necessary, and choose jacORB or another
Java ORB.  Then you'd get performance and standards compliance benefits in
all of your processes and not just in the Naming Service.  omniORB is a
great choice for an ORB when developing your own code in the C++ or Python
languages.  Your use of omniNames is perfectly legal though, so don't let
me discourage you.

Kendall




                                                                                                                          
                    "Kai Schofield"                                                                                       
                    <kaischofield@hotmail.com>         To:     omniorb-list@omniorb-support.com                           
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                    upport.com                         Subject:     Re: Re: [omniORB] General ORB questions               
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          
                    01/06/2003 10:54 AM                                                                                   
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                          




Hello Bjorn.

Thank you for your reply but Iīm still a bit confused. Maybe at first I
should outline what I actually want to achieve using omniORB and how I am
trying to approach the problem.

My preferred programming language for this project is Java and not C++.
Therefore I focused on RMI over IIOP. Pure Java RMI seemed to restricting
to
me because it could be that, at some point, I want my application to talk
to
other services (e.g. EJBīs or some kind of WebService developed in whatever

language).
As you stated in your reply, the ORB shipped with the JDK is not very
suitable for commercial, high-performance applications and so I decided to
try out omniORB.

For this reason I donīt use any of the omniORB libraries directly. I just
start onmiNames and bind my objects to the naming service using Java and an

URL like this: iiopname://localhost:2809/MyObject
This procedure works fine and I can also access the bound objects via my
Java-Client application.
(Note that I can use the same server and client applications when I start
the Java ORB instead of omniORB. Except for the execution performance there

is no difference in the behaviour of the two ORBs)

My main problem now is that, frankly, I donīt really know what exactly I am

doing and why it is working.
I read the OMG CORBA specification but this didnīt really help me. What
exactly happens when I bind an object in the naming service? Is my
Java-Server application which binds the objects the ORB?

I hope my questions donīt seem to dumb to you but this subject matter
starts
making me crazy...

Best regards,

Kai


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