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Configuring Atomikos as the Spring JTA Transaction Manager

You basically have two big options: the basic case (with JTA property file lookup) or the advanced case (where everything is specified in the Spring configuration).

The Basic Case (Pre-3.3)

Atomikos can easily be configured as the Spring JTA transaction manager. The following code snippet shows how to specify this in your Spring configuration file:

<!-- 
     Construct Atomikos UserTransactionManager, 
     needed to configure Spring 
-->
<bean id="AtomikosTransactionManager" 
      class="com.atomikos.icatch.jta.UserTransactionManager" 
    init-method="init" destroy-method="close">

   <!--  
         when close is called, should we force 
         transactions to terminate or not? 
   -->
   <property name="forceShutdown" value="false" />
</bean>

<!-- 
     Also use Atomikos UserTransactionImp, 
     needed to configure Spring  
--> 
<bean id="AtomikosUserTransaction" 
   class="com.atomikos.icatch.jta.UserTransactionImp">

   <property name="transactionTimeout" value="300" />
</bean>

<!-- 
     Configure the Spring framework to use 
     JTA transactions from Atomikos 
-->
<bean id="JtaTransactionManager" 
      class="org.springframework.transaction.jta.JtaTransactionManager">
   <property name="transactionManager" ref="AtomikosTransactionManager" />
   <property name="userTransaction" ref="AtomikosUserTransaction" />
</bean>

The Advanced Case (As of 3.3)

The advanced case adds the possibility to specify everything, including JTA properties and optional log administrators to manage the transaction logs.

<bean id="userTransactionService" 
  class="com.atomikos.icatch.config.UserTransactionServiceImp" 
  init-method="init" destroy-method="shutdownForce">
    <constructor-arg>
        <!-- IMPORTANT: specify all Atomikos properties here -->
        <props>
            <prop key="com.atomikos.icatch.service">
              com.atomikos.icatch.standalone.UserTransactionServiceFactory
            </prop>
        </props>
    </constructor-arg>
</bean>

<!-- 
     Construct Atomikos UserTransactionManager, 
     needed to configure Spring 
-->
<bean id="AtomikosTransactionManager" 
      class="com.atomikos.icatch.jta.UserTransactionManager" 
      init-method="init" destroy-method="close" 
      depends-on="userTransactionService">

   <!-- IMPORTANT: disable startup because the userTransactionService above does this -->
   <property name="startupTransactionService" value="false"/>

   <!--  
         when close is called, 
         should we force transactions to terminate or not? 
   -->
   <property name="forceShutdown" value="false" />
</bean>

<!-- 
     Also use Atomikos UserTransactionImp, 
     needed to configure Spring  
--> 
<bean id="AtomikosUserTransaction" 
      class="com.atomikos.icatch.jta.UserTransactionImp"  
      depends-on="userTransactionService">
   <property name="transactionTimeout" value="300" />
</bean>

<!-- 
   Configure the Spring framework to use JTA transactions from Atomikos  
-->
<bean id="JtaTransactionManager" 
      class="org.springframework.transaction.jta.JtaTransactionManager" 
      depends-on="userTransactionService">
   <property name="transactionManager" ref="AtomikosTransactionManager" />
   <property name="userTransaction" ref="AtomikosUserTransaction" />
</bean>

Spring-Demarcated Transactions for POJOs

We support most of the Spring demarcation attributes except PROPAGATION_NESTED since that one depends on the Spring DataSourceTransactionManager strategy (incompatible with JTA/XA).

Receiving JMS Messages

You can receive messages either with the Atomikos receiver sessions, or with the Spring message listener containers.

With the Atomikos MessageDrivenContainer

See the examples in the free download for how to configure…

With Spring's MessageListenerContainer

You can also use Spring's message listener; the following XML fragment shows a complete example on how to configure this:

   <bean id="xaFactory" 
              class="org.apache.activemq.ActiveMQXAConnectionFactory">
      <property name="brokerURL" value="tcp://localhost:61616" />
   </bean>

   <!-- 
             Configure the JMS connector; 
             call init to register for recovery! 
        -->
   <bean id="ConnectionFactory" 
              class="com.atomikos.jms.AtomikosConnectionFactoryBean" 
              init-method="init" destroy-method="close">
      <property name="uniqueResourceName" value="amq1" />
      <property name="xaConnectionFactory" ref="xaFactory" />
   </bean>

   <!-- 
             Construct Atomikos UserTransactionManager, 
             needed to configure Spring 
        -->
   <bean id="AtomikosTransactionManager" 
              class="com.atomikos.icatch.jta.UserTransactionManager" 
              init-method="init" destroy-method="close">
      <!--  when close is called, should we force 
                      transactions to terminate or not? -->
      <property name="forceShutdown" value="false" />
   </bean>

   <!-- 
             Also use Atomikos UserTransactionImp, 
             needed to configure Spring  
        --> 
   <bean id="AtomikosUserTransaction" 
              class="com.atomikos.icatch.jta.UserTransactionImp">
       <property name="transactionTimeout" value="300" />
   </bean>

   <!-- 
           Configure the Spring framework to use JTA transactions from Atomikos 
        -->
   <bean id="JtaTransactionManager" 
              class="org.springframework.transaction.jta.JtaTransactionManager">
      <property name="transactionManager" ref="AtomikosTransactionManager" />
      <property name="userTransaction" ref="AtomikosUserTransaction" />
   </bean>

    <!-- a class that implements javax.jms.MessageListener -->
   <bean id="MessageListener" class="jtatest.TextOutputMessageListener" />

    <!-- 
         a kind of message listener pool that will listen to 
         messages posted to 'requestQueue' with 3 threads, 
         each one consuming a connection from bean 'ConnectionFactory' 
    -->
    <bean id="MessageListenerContainer"
          class="org.springframework.jms.listener.DefaultMessageListenerContainer">
        <property name="transactionManager" ref="JtaTransactionManager" />
        <property name="connectionFactory" ref="ConnectionFactory" />
        <property name="messageListener" ref="MessageListener" />
        <property name="destinationName" value="requestQueue" />
        <property name="concurrentConsumers" value="1" />
        <property name="receiveTimeout" value="3000" />
        <property name="sessionTransacted" value="true"/>
    </bean>

Sending JMS Messages

For sending, again you have the option to use either the Atomikos classes or the Spring facilities…

With the Atomikos JmsSenderTemplate

See the examples in the free download for how to configure…

With Spring's JmsTemplate

The following XML snippet shows how to configure the Spring JmsTemplate to work with Atomikos.

    <!-- 
         The underying JMS vendor's XA connection factory. 
         XA is required for transactional correctness. 
    -->
    <bean id="xaFactory" class="org.activemq.ActiveMQXAConnectionFactory">
        <property name="brokerURL">
            <value>tcp://localhost:61616</value>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <!-- 
         The Atomikos JTA-enabled TopicConnectionFactory, 
         configured with the vendor's XA factory. 
    -->
    <bean id="topicConnectionFactoryBean" 
          class="com.atomikos.jms.AtomikosConnectionFactoryBean" 
          init-method="init" destroy-method="close">
        <!-- 
             The unique resource name needed for recovery 
             by the Atomikos core. 
        -->
        <property name="uniqueResourceName">
            <value>TOPIC_BROKER</value>
        </property>
        <property name="xaConnectionFactory">
            <ref bean="xaFactory"/>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <!-- 
         Where do we send updated time table info to? 
         Note: this is a topic to allow multiple subscribers. 
    -->
    <bean id="topic" class="org.activemq.message.ActiveMQTopic">
        <property name="physicalName">
            <value>TIMETABLE_TOPIC</value>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <!-- 
      JMS template for easy sending of timetable update messages with Spring 
    -->
    <bean id="jmsTemplate" 
          class="org.springframework.jms.core.JmsTemplate">
        <property name="connectionFactory">
            <ref bean="topicConnectionFactoryBean"/>
        </property>
        <property name="defaultDestination">
            <ref bean="topic"/>
        </property>
        <property name="receiveTimeout" value="1000"/>
   <property name="sessionTransacted" value="true"/>
    </bean>

Accessing the Database

The database can be accessed in a variety of ways.

Configuring Atomikos DataSource

See the examples/demos included in the free download for how to configure a data source in Spring.

Spring's JdbcTemplate

It suffices to make sure that the template's datasource is an Atomikos instance…

Spring's HibernateTemplate

The following XML fragment shows how to configure the HibernateTemplate for JTA transactions with Atomikos.

<bean id="sessionFactory" 
      class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.LocalSessionFactoryBean">

   <property name="mappingResources">
   <list>
   <!-- list all your Hibernate mapping file locations here -->
   <value>...</value>
   ...
   </list>
   </property>

   <!-- 
        IMPORTANT: make sure to refer to an ATOMIKOS 
        JTA/XA datasource for the sessionFactory! 
   -->
   <property name="dataSource"><ref bean="datasource"/></property>

   <!-- IMPORTANT: make sure to tell Hibernate to use JTA -->
   <property name="hibernateProperties">
   <props>
   <prop key="hibernate.dialect">...</prop>
   <prop key="hibernate.connection.isolation">3</prop>
   <prop key="hibernate.current_session_context_class">jta</prop>
   <prop key="hibernate.transaction.factory_class">
       org.hibernate.transaction.JTATransactionFactory
   </prop>
   <prop key="hibernate.transaction.manager_lookup_class">
      com.atomikos.icatch.jta.hibernate3.TransactionManagerLookup
   </prop>
   </props>
   </property>

</bean>

<!-- 
     Configure the Hibernate template 
     with the resulting sessionFactory 
-->
<bean id="hibernateTemplate" 
   class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateTemplate">
   <property name="sessionFactory"><ref bean="sessionFactory"/></property>
</bean>

Spring JMS Pitfalls

You should take care to set sessionTransacted to true for the JmsTemplate and the listener containers.

JMX Administration of Atomikos Transactions

From release 3.3 on, Atomikos can be configured for administration in JMX. The following shows how this works with Spring and JDK 1.5 or higher.

<!-- 
     Configure the Atomikos JMX transaction 
     service to administer pending transactions 
-->
<bean id="jmxTransactionService" 
      class="com.atomikos.icatch.admin.jmx.JmxTransactionService">
    <!-- Optional: show only heuristic problem cases -->
    <property name="heuristicsOnly" value="true"/>
</bean>

<!-- Spring JMX config -->
<bean id="mbeanServer" 
      class="org.springframework.jmx.support.MBeanServerFactoryBean"/>

<!-- 
     Export the Atomikos JMX transaction service 
     to the local JMX service in the running VM (1.5 or higher) 
-->
<bean id="exporter" class="org.springframework.jmx.export.MBeanExporter">
        <property name="beans">
            <map>
                <entry key="atomikos:name=tx-service">
                    <ref bean="jmxTransactionService"/>
                </entry>
            </map>
        </property>
        <property name="server">
            <ref bean="mbeanServer"/>
        </property>
</bean>

Also see JMX Instrumentation of Active Transactions for additional VM settings.

Setting Atomikos System Properties in Spring

The Spring Bean configuration of the class UserTransactionServiceImp described above can be used to set the Atomikos JTA properties. However there are three JVM (or System) properties that cannot be set through the constructor of the UserTransactionServiceImp class or via any programmatic means. These properties are:

• com.atomikos.icatch.file
• com.atomikos.icatch.no_file
• com.atomikos.icatch.hide_init_file_path

Fortunately, it is possible to set the value of system properties within a Spring configuration file through the use of Spring's MethodInvokingFactoryBean class. For example:

<bean id="setMyAtomikosSystemProps"
      class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.MethodInvokingFactoryBean">
        <property name="targetObject">
            <!-- System.getProperties() -->
            <bean class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.MethodInvokingFactoryBean">
                <property name="targetClass" value="java.lang.System" />
                <property name="targetMethod" value="getProperties" />
            </bean>
        </property>
        <property name="targetMethod" value="putAll" />
        <property name="arguments">
            <!-- The new Properties -->
            <util:properties>
                <prop key="com.atomikos.icatch.file">/etc/myapp/jta.properties</prop>
                <prop key="com.atomikos.icatch.hide_init_file_path">true</prop>
            </util:properties>
        </property>
    </bean>

In order for this to work, the Atomikos beans must add the Spring attribute "depends-on=" and add the Id of this bean. This will ensure the system property values are set prior to the initialization of Atomikos.

Optimizing the Init and Close Order for Recovery

In order to maximize recovery and shutdown/restart ability, it is highly recommended that you configure your Spring configuration with the following init dependencies:

• Make the transaction manager depend on all your JDBC and JMS connection factories: this ensures that connections are kept until AFTER the transaction manager has terminated all transactions during shutdown.
• Make any MessageDrivenContainer depend on the transaction manager, to ensure that all JMS listener sessions have terminated before the transaction manager starts shutting down.

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