NetBeans Architecture Answers for module

General Information

Question (arch-what): What is this project good for?
Answer:

WS Stack API provides the contract betwee J2EE Server plugin and web service functionality.
SPI should be implemented by J2EE Server plugin such as GlassFish, Tomcat, JBoss, ...
API should be implemented by IDE support for particular Web service stack, like JAX-WS support, JAX-RPC support, Axis support etc.

Question (arch-overall): Describe the overall architecture.
Answer:

WS Stack API provides the contract between J2EE Server and particular Web Service Stack technology.
WS Stack API describes WS Stack features supported by particular J2EE Server.
WS Stack API also provides the list of libraries - jar files - related to particular WS Stack that represents the subset of J2EE Server libraries included in J2EE Server classpath.
WS Stack API consists of SPI part (intended to implement by J2EE Server plugin) and API part (used by particular WS Stack support)

Question (arch-usecases): Describe the main use cases of the new API. Who will use it under what circumstances? What kind of code would typically need to be written to use the module?
Answer:

WS Stack API is a contract between J2EE Server and IDE support for particular Web Service technology. The API is used to separate web services capabilities, of J2EE Server, from other J2EE Server features.
On other side, a specific web service support in IDE doesn't have to comunicate with entire J2EE Server but only with the part describing the particular web service technology available in particular J2EE Server.
Use cases:

JAX-WS Stack in GlassFish

GlassFish supports JSR109 deployment style for JAX-WS technology. GlassFish plugin creates a WS Stack object for JAX-WS technology and sets JSR_109 feature to true.
The IDE support for JAX-WS obtains the WS Stack object from target J2EE Server lookup and knows that JSR109 deployment is supported.
(WSDL file is generated automatically by the server from WS Metadata annotations)

JAX-RPC Stack in GlassFish

GlassFish supports JAX-RPC 1.6 technology. GlassFish plugin creates a WS Stack object for JAX-RPC technology and provides information about jar files containing JAX-RPC runtime for wscompile tool. IDE support for JAX-RPC obtains this WS Stack object from J2EE Server lookup and uses those (server) jar files in wscompile ant tasks generated by this support.

JAX-WS Stack in Tomcat

Tomcat supports JAX-WS technology. However it doesn't support JSR109 deployment style. Tomcat plugin creates s WS Stack containing information that JSR109 is not suported.
Question (arch-time): What are the time estimates of the work?
Answer:

3 weeks

Question (arch-quality): How will the quality of your code be tested and how are future regressions going to be prevented?
Answer:

Unit test.

Question (arch-where): Where one can find sources for your module?
Answer:

The sources for the module are in the NetBeans Mercurial repositories.

Project and platform dependencies

Question (dep-nb): What other NetBeans projects and modules does this one depend on?
Answer:

These modules are required in project.xml:

• org.openide.filesystems - The module is needed for compilation. The module is used during runtime. Specification version 7.4 is required.
• org.openide.util - The module is needed for compilation. The module is used during runtime. Specification version 7.11 is required.
Question (dep-non-nb): What other projects outside NetBeans does this one depend on?
Answer:

no

Question (dep-platform): On which platforms does your module run? Does it run in the same way on each?
Answer:

all platforms

Question (dep-jre): Which version of JRE do you need (1.2, 1.3, 1.4, etc.)?
Answer:

1.5 or later

Question (dep-jrejdk): Do you require the JDK or is the JRE enough?
Answer:

JRE is enough

Deployment

Question (deploy-jar): Do you deploy just module JAR file(s) or other files as well?
Answer:

no

Question (deploy-nbm): Can you deploy an NBM via the Update Center?
Answer:

yes

Question (deploy-shared): Do you need to be installed in the shared location only, or in the user directory only, or can your module be installed anywhere?
Answer:

anywhere

Question (deploy-packages): Are packages of your module made inaccessible by not declaring them public?
Answer:

yes

Question (deploy-dependencies): What do other modules need to do to declare a dependency on this one, in addition to or instead of the normal module dependency declaration (e.g. tokens to require)?
Answer:

nothing

Compatibility with environment

Question (compat-i18n): Is your module correctly internationalized?
Answer:

not applicable

Question (compat-standards): Does the module implement or define any standards? Is the implementation exact or does it deviate somehow?
Answer:

no

Question (compat-version): Can your module coexist with earlier and future versions of itself? Can you correctly read all old settings? Will future versions be able to read your current settings? Can you read or politely ignore settings stored by a future version?
Answer:

Yes. The main API class is a final class (not interface) that can be extended easily.

Question (compat-deprecation): How the introduction of your project influences functionality provided by previous version of the product?
Answer:

Deprecate existing J2EE Server functionality related to WS functionality (in 6.5) release, then rmove that functionality later.

Access to resources

Question (resources-file): Does your module use java.io.File directly?
Answer:

yes - to describe jar files provided by J2EE Server for particular WS Stack

Question (resources-layer): Does your module provide own layer? Does it create any files or folders in it? What it is trying to communicate by that and with which components?
Answer:

no layer.xml

Question (resources-read): Does your module read any resources from layers? For what purpose?
Answer:

no

Question (resources-mask): Does your module mask/hide/override any resources provided by other modules in their layers?
Answer:

not applicable

Question (resources-preferences): Does your module uses preferences via Preferences API? Does your module use NbPreferences or or regular JDK Preferences ? Does it read, write or both ? Does it share preferences with other modules ? If so, then why ?
Answer:

no

Lookup of components

Question (lookup-lookup): Does your module use org.openide.util.Lookup or any similar technology to find any components to communicate with? Which ones?
Answer:

no

Question (lookup-register): Do you register anything into lookup for other code to find?
Answer:

Not directly, but J2EE Server plugin registers WS Stack objects to its lookup. No layer.xml used, no META-INF/services. WS Support in ide is retrievingWS Stack objects from J2EE Server lookup.

Question (lookup-remove): Do you remove entries of other modules from lookup?
Answer:

no

Execution Environment

Question (exec-property): Is execution of your code influenced by any environment or Java system (System.getProperty) property? On a similar note, is there something interesting that you pass to java.util.logging.Logger? Or do you observe what others log?
Answer:

no

Question (exec-component): Is execution of your code influenced by any (string) property of any of your components?
Answer:

no.

Question (exec-ant-tasks): Do you define or register any ant tasks that other can use?
Answer:

no

Question (exec-classloader): Does your code create its own class loader(s)?
Answer:

no

Question (exec-reflection): Does your code use Java Reflection to execute other code?
Answer:

no

Question (exec-privateaccess): Are you aware of any other parts of the system calling some of your methods by reflection?
Answer:

no

Question (exec-process): Do you execute an external process from your module? How do you ensure that the result is the same on different platforms? Do you parse output? Do you depend on result code?
Answer:

no

Question (exec-introspection): Does your module use any kind of runtime type information (instanceof, work with java.lang.Class, etc.)?
Answer:

no

Question (exec-threading): What threading models, if any, does your module adhere to? How the project behaves with respect to threading?
Answer:

The API is thread safe.

Question (security-policy): Does your functionality require modifications to the standard policy file?
Answer:

no

Question (security-grant): Does your code grant additional rights to some other code?
Answer:

no

Format of files and protocols

Question (format-types): Which protocols and file formats (if any) does your module read or write on disk, or transmit or receive over the network? Do you generate an ant build script? Can it be edited and modified?
Answer:

nothing

Question (format-dnd): Which protocols (if any) does your code understand during Drag & Drop?
Answer:

no D&D

Question (format-clipboard): Which data flavors (if any) does your code read from or insert to the clipboard (by access to clipboard on means calling methods on java.awt.datatransfer.Transferable?
Answer:

no

Performance and Scalability

Question (perf-startup): Does your module run any code on startup?
Answer:

no

Question (perf-exit): Does your module run any code on exit?
Answer:

no

Question (perf-scale): Which external criteria influence the performance of your program (size of file in editor, number of files in menu, in source directory, etc.) and how well your code scales?
Answer:

no

Question (perf-limit): Are there any hard-coded or practical limits in the number or size of elements your code can handle?
Answer:

not aware of any limits

Question (perf-mem): How much memory does your component consume? Estimate with a relation to the number of windows, etc.
Answer:

minimal

Question (perf-wakeup): Does any piece of your code wake up periodically and do something even when the system is otherwise idle (no user interaction)?
Answer:

no

Question (perf-progress): Does your module execute any long-running tasks?
Answer:

no

Question (perf-huge_dialogs): Does your module contain any dialogs or wizards with a large number of GUI controls such as combo boxes, lists, trees, or text areas?
Answer:

no

Question (perf-menus): Does your module use dynamically updated context menus, or context-sensitive actions with complicated and slow enablement logic?
Answer:

not aware of

Question (perf-spi): How the performance of the plugged in code will be enforced?
Answer:

not applicable