[alf-dev] Re: Subversion Integration (was: Eclipse ALF Planning meeting

["Mark Phippard" <markp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mark Phippard wrote:

> I basically created a Java-bean type class that has the service
> methods and takes care of the details.  I then used the wizard to
> generate WSDL an a Web Service from this class.  I tested it using
> the Web Services Explorer.  The only thing I had trouble with is that
> I wanted to return a class that had a boolean and a String and I
> cannot make that work.  So for now, they all just return strings.
> 
> It would be easy to just put another layer in front of the class I
> wrote if you wanted to stick an ALF-specfic layer in front of it.  We
> can work out those details on the phone.  I can just zip up my WTP
> project and send it to you or post it for download.
> 
> My current service exposes the following options:
> 
> checkoutProject
> exportProject
> importProject
> updateProject
> createTag
> commitChanges

I was thinking about this service some more and was wondering if I
really did it right.  Should these services be asynchronous, so that
when ALF invokes them it is not waiting for them to complete?  If so,
then I would assume there must be some kind of callback service to
inform upon completion.  That would solve my problem of trying to
return this information.

Is there some standard WSDL I can use?  Both for my service, and the
reply I would send back?

Also, how does one make their service run asynchronous?  Can I just
spin off a thread that does the work?  I remember from writing Servlets
that you were not supposed to create your own threads, but I think that
might have meant not starting your own daemon-type threads.  I would
think it would be OK to spin-off a short-lived thread.

Since I am already working on this, it would be nice to just do it
right.  Any information you can provide would be appreciated.

One more thing...how does one test this?  If I code a callback web
service, how can I have an ALF service running to receive it?  I
realize this is probably fairly hard to do right now, but if you want
to spur on some open source activity, you are going to need to provide
some of these "bootstrap" details for us to get started with.

Thanks

Mark