Previous Up Next

Chapter 10  Interceptors

omniORB 4.0 supports interceptors that allow the application to insert processing in various points along the call chain, and in various other locations. It does not support the standard Portable Interceptors API.

The interceptor interfaces are defined in a single header, include/omniORB4/omniInterceptors.h. Each interception point consists of a singleton object with add() and remove() methods, and the definition of an `interceptor info' class. For example: 
class omniInterceptors {
  ...
  class clientSendRequest_T {
  public:

    class info_T {
    public:
      giopStream&              giopstream;
      const omniIOR&           ior;
      const char*              opname;
      CORBA::Boolean           oneway;
      CORBA::Boolean           response_expected;
      IOP::ServiceContextList  service_contexts;

      info_T(giopStream& s, const omniIOR& i, const char* op,
      CORBA::Boolean ow, CORBA::Boolean re) :
 giopstream(s),ior(i),opname(op),oneway(ow),response_expected(re),
 service_contexts(5) {}

    private:
      info_T();
      info_T(const info_T&);
      info_T& operator=(const info_T&);
    };

    typedef CORBA::Boolean (*interceptFunc)(info_T& info);

    void add(interceptFunc);
    void remove(interceptFunc);
  };
  ...
};
You can see that the interceptors themselves are functions that take the info_T object as their argument and return boolean. Interceptors are called in the order they are registered; normally, all interceptor functions return true, meaning that processing should continue with subsequent interceptors. If an interceptor returns false, later interceptors are not called. You should only do that if you really know what you are doing.

Notice that the info_T contains references to several omniORB internal data types. The definitions of these can be found in other header files within include/omniORB4 and include/omniORB4/internal.

10.1  Interceptor registration

All the interceptor singletons are registered within another singleton object of class omniInterceptors. You retrieve a pointer to that singleton with the omniORB::getInterceptors() function, which must be called after CORBA::ORB_init(), but before the ORB is used. The code to register an interceptor looks, for example, like: 
omniInterceptors* interceptors = omniORB::getInterceptors();
interceptors->clientSendRequest.add(myInterceptorFunc);

10.2  Available interceptors

The following interceptors are available:
encodeIOR

Called when encoding an IOR to represent an object reference. This interception point allows the application to insert extra profile components into IORs. Note that you must understand and adhere to the rules about data stored in IORs, otherwise the IORs created may be invalid. omniORB itself uses this interceptor to insert various items, so you can see an example of its use in the insertSupportedComponents() function defined in src/lib/omniORB/orbcore/ior.cc.

decodeIOR

Called when decoding an IOR. The application can use this to get out whatever information they put into IORs with encodeIOR. Again, see extractSupportedComponents() in src/lib/omniORB/orbcore/ior.cc for an example.

clientSendRequest

Called just before a request header is sent over the network. The application can use it to insert service contexts in the header. See setCodeSetServiceContext() in src/lib/omniORB/orbcore/cdrStream.cc for an example of its use.

clientReceiveReply

Called as the client receives a reply, just after unmarshalling the reply header. Called for normal replies and exceptions.

serverReceiveRequest

Called when the server receives a request, just after unmarshalling the request header. See the getCodeSetServiceContext() function in src/lib/omniORB/orbcore/cdrStream.cc for an example.

serverSendReply

Called just before the server marshals a reply header.

serverSendException

Called just before the server marshals an exception reply header.

createIdentity

Called when the ORB is about to create an `identity' object to represent a CORBA object. It allows application code to provide its own identity implementations. It is very unlikely that an application will need to do this.

createORBServer

Used internally by the ORB to register different kinds of server. At present, only a GIOP server is registered. It is very unlikely that application code will need to do this.

createThread

Called whenever the ORB creates a thread. The info_T class for this interceptor is 
    class info_T {
    public:
      virtual void run() = 0;
    };
The interceptor function is called in the context of the newly created thread. The function must call the info_T's run() method, to pass control to the thread body. run() returns just before the thread exits. This arrangement allows the interceptor to initialise some per-thread state before the thread body runs, then release it just before the thread exits.

assignUpcallThread

The ORB maintains a general thread pool, from which threads are drawn for various purposes. One purpose is for performing upcalls to application code, in response to incoming CORBA calls. The assignUpcallThread interceptor is called when a thread is assigned to perform upcalls. In the thread per connection model, the thread stays assigned to performing upcalls for the entire lifetime of the underlying network connection; in the thread pool model, threads are assigned for upcalls on a per call basis, so this interceptor is triggered for every incoming call1. As with the createThread interceptor, the interceptor function must call the info_T's run() method to pass control to the upcall.

When a thread finishes its assignment of processing upcalls, it returns to the pool (even in thread per connection mode), so the same thread can be reassigned to perform more upcalls, or reused for a different purpose.

Unlike the other interceptors, the interceptor functions for createThread and assignUpcallThread have no return value. Interceptor chaining is performed by calls through the info_T::run() method, rather than by visiting interceptor functions in turn.
1
Except that with the threadPoolWatchConnection parameter set true, a thread can perform multiple upcalls even when thread pool mode is active.
Previous Up Next