Packaging and Deploying EclipseLink JPA Applications (ELUG)

For the latest EclipseLink documentation, please see http://www.eclipse.org/eclipselink/documentation/

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Packaging an EclipseLink JPA Application

Packaging means assembling all parts of the application in a way that can be correctly interpreted and used by the infrastructure when the application is deployed into an application server or run in a stand-alone JVM.

Once you chose a packaging strategy, place the persistence.xml file in the META-INF directory of the archive of your choice.

In a Java EE environment, the most efficient way to package your application is to use a tool, such as JDeveloper or Eclipse. Using OC4J, it is possible to skip the packaging step and deploy from your working directories using expanded deployment.

To package your EclipseLink JPA application, you need to configure the persistence unit during the creation of the persistence.xml file. Define each persistence unit in a persistence-unit element in the persistence.xml file.

For more information, see the following:

• Chapter 6 "Entity Packaging" of the JPA Specification
• Packaging an EclipseLink Application

How to Specify the Persistence Unit Name

If you are developing your application in a Java EE environment, ensure that the persistence unit name is unique within each module. For example, you can define only one persistence unit with the name "EmployeeService" in an emp_ejb.jar file. The following example shows how to define the name of the persistence unit:

 <persistence-unit name="EmployeeService">

For more information, see Section 6.2.1.1 "name" of the JPA Specification.

How to Specify the Transaction Type, Persistence Provider and Data Source

If you are developing your application in a Java EE environment, accept the default transaction type (see Section 6.2.1.2 "transaction-type" of the JPA Specification)–JTA (see JTA Transaction Management), and for the persistence provider setting, set the persistence provider in a provider element (see Section 6.2.1.2 "provider" of the JPA Specification). Specify the data source in a jta-data-source element, as the following example shows:

 <persistence-unit name="EmployeeService">
     <jta-data-source>jdbc/EmployeeServiceDS</jta-data-source>
 </persistence-unit>

Typically, you would use the JNDI access to the data source. Make this data source available by configuring it in a server-specific configuration file or management console.

For more information, see the following sections of the JPA Specification:

• Section 6.2.1.2 "transaction-type"
• Section 6.2.1.4 "provider"
• Section 6.2.1.5 "jta-data-source, non-jta-data-source"

How to Specify Mapping Files

Apply the metadata to the persistence unit. This metadata is a union of all the mapping files and the annotations (if there is no xml-mapping-metadata-complete element). If you use one mapping orm.xml file) for your metadata, and place this file in a META-INF directory on the classpath, then you do not need to explicitly list it, because the EclipseLink persistence provider will automatically search for this file and use it. If you named your mapping files differently or placed them in a different location, then you must list them in the mapping-file elements in the persistence.xml file, as the following example shows:

 <persistence-unit name="EmployeeService">
     <jta-data-source>jdbc/EmployeeServiceDS</jta-data-source>
     <mapping-file>META-INF/employee_service_queries.xml</mapping-file>
 </persistence-unit>

Note that the orm.xml file is not listed in the previous example, because the persistence provider finds it by default.

For more information, see the following:

• Section 6.2.1.6 "mapping-file, jar-file, class, exclude-unlisted-classes" of the JPA Specification

How to Specify Managed Classes

Typically, you put all of the entities and other managed classes in a single JAR file, along with the persistence.xml file in the META-INF directory, and one or more mapping files (when you use XML mapping).

At the time EclipseLink persistence provider processes the persistence unit, it determines which set of entities, mapped superclasses, and embedded objects each particular persistence unit will manage.

At deployment time, EclipseLink persistence provider may obtain managed classes from any of the four sources. A managed class will be included if it is one of the following:

• Local classes: the classes annotated with @Entity (see Section 8.1 "Entity" of the JPA Specification), @MappedSuperclass or @Embeddable in the deployment unit in which its persistence.xml file was packaged.
  

Note: If you are deploying your application in the Java EE environment, not EclipseLink persistence provider, but the application server itself will discover local classes. In the Java SE environment, you can use the exclude-unlisted-classes element (see Section 6.2.1.6 "mapping-file, jar-file, class, exclude-unlisted-classes" of the JPA Specification) to enable this functionality–EclipseLink persistence provider will attempt to find local classes if you set this element to false.

• Classes in mapping files: the classes that have mapping entries, such as entity (see Section 10.1.2.10 "entity" of the JPA Specification), mapped-superclass (see Section 10.1.2.11 "mapped-superclass" of the JPA Specification) or embeddable (see Section 10.1.2.12 "embeddable" of the JPA Specification), in an XML mapping file.
  If these classes are in the deployed component archive, then they will already be on the classpath. If they are not, you must explicitly include them in the classpath.
• Explicitly listed classes: the classes that are listed as class elements in the persistence.xml file.
  Consider listing classes explicitly if one of the following applies:
  • there are additional classes that are not local to the deployment unit JAR. For example, there is an embedded object class in a different JAR that you want to use in an entity in your persistence unit. You would list the fully qualified class in the class element in the persitence.xml file. You would also need to ensure that the JAR or directory that contains the class is on the classpath of the deployed component (by adding it to the manifest classpath of the deployment JAR, for example);
  • you want to exclude one or more classes that may be annotated as an entity. Even though the class may be annotated with the @Entity annotation, you do not want it treated as an entity in this particular deployed context. For example, you may want to use this entity as a transfer object and it needs to be part of the deployment unit. In this case, in the Java EE environment, you have to use the exclude-unlisted-classes element (see Section 6.2.1.6 "mapping-file, jar-file, class, exclude-unlisted-classes" of the JPA Specification) of the persistence.xml file–the use of the default setting of this element prevents local classes from being added to the persistence unit;
  • you plan to run your application in the Java SE environment, and you list your classes explicitly because that is the only portable way to do so in Java SE (see How to Perform an Application Bootstrapping).
• Additional JAR files of managed classes: the annotated classes in a named JAR file listed in a jar-file element (see Section 6.2.1.6 "mapping-file, jar-file, class, exclude-unlisted-classes" of the JPA Specification) in the persistence.xml file.
  You have to ensure that any JAR file listed in the jar-file element is on the classpath of the deployment unit. Do so by manually adding the JAR file to the manifest classpath of the deployment unit.
  Note that you must list the JAR file in the jar-file element relative to the parent of the JAR file in which the persistence.xml file is located. This matches what you would put in the classpath entry in the manifest file. The following example shows the structure of the emp.ear EAR file:

emp.ear
    emp-ejb.jar
        META-INF/persistence.xml
    employee/emp-classes.jar
        examples/model/Empoyee.class

The following example shows the contents of the persistence.xml file, with the jar-file element containing "employee/emp-classes.jar" to reference the emp-classes.jar in the employee directory in the EAR file:

 <persitence-unit name="EmployeeService">
     <jta-data-source>jdbc/EmployeeServiceDS</jta-data-source>
     <jar-file>employee/emp-classes.jar</jar-file>
 </persitence-unit>

You may choose to use any one or a combination of these mechanisms to include your managed classes in the persistence unit.

For more information, see How to Deploy an Application to Generic Java EE 5 Application Servers.

How to Add Vendor Properties

The last section in the persistence.xml file is the properties section. The properties element (see Section 6.2.1.7 "properties" of the JPA Specification) gives you the chance to supply EclipseLink persistence provider-specific settings for the persistence unit.

This example shows how to add EclipseLink-specific properties.

Using EclipseLink Persistence Provider Properties

 <persitence-unit name="EmployeeService">
     ...
     <properties>
         <property name="eclipselink.logging.level" value="FINE"/>
 
         <property name="eclipselink.cache.size.default" value="500"/>
     </properties>
 </persitence-unit>

For more information, see the following:

• What You May Need to Know About Using EclipseLink JPA Persistence Unit Properties
• Using EclipseLink JPA Extensions

How to Set Up the Deployment Classpath

To be accessible to the EJB JAR, WAR, or EAR file, a class or a JAR file must be on the deployment classpath. You can achieve this in one of the following ways:

• Put the JAR file in the manifest classpath of the EJB JAR or WAR file. Do this by adding a classpath entry to the META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file in the JAR or WAR file. You may specify one or more directories or JAR files, separating them by spaces. The following example shows how the manifest file classpath entry adds the employee/emp-classes.jar file and the employee/classes directory to the classpath of the JAR file that contains the manifest file:

Class-Path: employee/emp-classes.jar employee/classes

• Place the JAR file in the library directory of the EAR file–this will make this JAR file available on the application classpath and accessible by all of the modules deployed within the EAR file. By default, this would be the lib directory of the EAR file, although you may configure it to be any directory in the EAR file using the library-directory element in the application.xml deployment descriptor. The following example shows the application.xml file:

<application ...>
    ...
    <library-directory>myDir/jars</library-directory>
</application>

What You May Need to Know About Persistence Unit Packaging Options

Java EE allows for persistence support in a variety of packaging configurations. You can deploy your application to the following module types:

• EJB modules: you can package your entities in an EJB JAR. When defining a persistence unit in an EJB JAR, the persistence.xml file is not optional–you must create and place it in the META-INF directory of the JAR alongside the deployment descriptor, if it exists.
• Web modules: you can use WAR file to package your entities. In this case, place the persistence.xml file in the WEB-INF/classes/META-INF directory. Since the WEB-INF/classes directory is automatically on the classpath of the WAR, specify the mapping file relative to that directory.
• Persistence archives: a persistence archive is a JAR that contains a persistence.xml file in its META-INF directory and the managed classes for the persistence unit defined by the persistence.xml file. Use a persistence archive if you want to allow multiple components in different Java EE modules to share or access a persistence unit. The following example shows how to package entities in a persistence archive:

emp.ear
    emp-persitence.jar
        META-INF/persistence.xml
        META-INF/orm.xml
        examples/model/Employee.class
        examples/model/Phone.class
        examples/model/Address.class
        examples/model/Department.class
        examples/model/Project.class

Once you created a persistence archive, you can place it in either the root or the application library directory of the EAR. Alternatively, you can place the persistence archive in the WEB-INF/lib directory of a WAR. This will make the persistence unit accessible only to the classes inside the WAR, but it enables the decoupling of the definition of the persistence unit from the web archive itself.

For more information, see Section 6.2 "Persistence Unit Packaging" of the JPA Specification.

What You May Need to Know About the Persistence Unit Scope

You can define any number of persistence units in single persistence.xml file. The following are the rules for using defined and packaged persistence units:

• Persistence units are accessible only within the scope of their definition.
• Persistence units names must be unique within their scope.

For more information, see Section 6.2.2 "Persistence Unit Scope" of the JPA Specification.

How to Perform an Application Bootstrapping

Outside of a container, use the createEntityManagerFactory method of the javax.persistence.Persistence class to create an entity manager factory. This method accepts a Map of properties and the name of the persistence unit. The properties that you pass to this method are combined with those that you already specified in the persistence.xml file. They may be additional properties or they may override the value of a property that you specified previously.

Note: This is a convenient way to set properties obtained from a program input, such as the command line.

This example shows how to take the user name and password properties from the command line and pass them to the EclipseLink persistence provider when creating the EntityManagerFactory.

Using Command-Line Persistence Properties

 public class EmployeeService {
 
     public static void main (String[] args) {
         Map props = new HashMap();
         props.put("eclipselink.jdbc.user", args[0]);
         props.put("eclipselink.jdbc.password", args[1]);
         EntityManagerFactory emf = Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory("EmployeeService", props);
         ...
         emf.close();
     }
 }

For more information, see the following:

• Section 7.2 "Bootstrapping in Java SE Environments" of the JPA Specification
• Application-Managed Entity Manager

Deploying an EclipseLink JPA Application

Deployment is the process of getting the application into an execution environment and running it.

For more information, see the following:

• Packaging an EclipseLink JPA Application
• How to Specify Managed Classes
• Creating EclipseLink Files for Deployment
• Deploying an EclipseLink Application
• Chapter 7 "Container and Provider Contracts for Deployment and Bootstrapping" of the JPA Specification

How to Deploy an Application to OC4J

After packaging, you deploy your EclipseLink JPA application to OC4J to execute it and make it available to end users.

You can deploy from a Java EE development tool such as JDeveloper or Eclipse.

How to Deploy an Application to Generic Java EE 5 Application Servers

Each persistence unit deployed into a Java EE container consists of a single persistence.xml file, any number of mapping files, and any number of class files.

Note: If you are deploying to JBoss 4.2 server, refer to How to Configure JPA Application Deployment to JBoss 4.2 Application Server.

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