Java Message Service

JMSisanAPIforaccessingenterprisemessagingsystemsfromJava
programs.

Version1.0.2 November9,1999

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jets-jms@eng.sun.com

Pleasesendproductandbusinessquestionsto:
jets-jms-business@eng.sun.com

MarkHapner,SeniorStaffEngineer
RichBurridge,StaffEngineer
RahulSharma,StaffEngineer
SunMicrosystems,JavaSoftware

JavaSoft
2550 Garcia Avenue
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Java Message Service Specification ("Specification")
Version: 1.0.2
Status: Final Release
Release: 12/17/99

Copyright 1999 Sun Microsystems, Inc.

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All rights reserved.

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Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.1 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.2 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.2.1 Is This a Mail API? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2.2 Existing Messaging Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2.3 JMS Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.2.3.1 JMS Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.2.3.2 JMS Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.2.3.3 JMS Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.2.3.4 Portability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.2.4 What JMS Does Not Include . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.3 What Is Required by JMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.4 Relationship to Other JavaSoft Enterprise APIs . . . . 18
1.4.1 JDBC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.4.2 JavaBeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.4.3 Enterprise Java Beans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.4.4 Java Transaction (JTA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.4.5 Java Transaction Service (JTS). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.4.6 Java Naming and Directory Service (JNDI) . . . . . . . . 19
2. Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.2 What is a JMS Application? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

vi
 2.4 Two Messaging Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.5 JMS Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.6 Developing a JMS Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.6.1 Developing a JMS Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.7 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.8 Multi-Threading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.9 Triggering Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.10 Request/Reply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3. JMS Message Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.2 Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.3 JMS Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.4 Message Header Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.4.1 JMSDestination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.4.2 JMSDeliveryMode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4.3 JMSMessageID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4.4 JMSTimestamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4.5 JMSCorrelationID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.4.6 JMSReplyTo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.4.7 JMSRedelivered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.4.8 JMSType. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.4.9 JMSExpiration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.4.10 JMSPriority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.4.11 How Message Header Values Are Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.4.12 Overriding Message Header Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.5 Message Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.5.1 Property Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.5.2 Property Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.5.3 Using Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.5.4 Property Value Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.5.5 Property Values as Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.5.6 Property Iteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.5.7 Clearing a Messages Property Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.5.8 Non-existent Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.5.9 JMS Defined Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.5.10 Provider-Specific Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.6 Message Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

vii Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 3.7 The Message Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.8 Message Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.8.1 Message Selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.8.1.1 Message Selector Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.8.1.2 Null Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.8.1.3 Special Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.9 Access to Sent Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.10 Changing the Value of a Received Message . . . . . . . . 44
3.11 JMS Message Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.11.1 Clearing a Message Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.11.2 Read-Only Message Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.11.3 Conversions Provided by StreamMessage and MapMes-
sage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.11.4 Messages for Non-JMS Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.12 Provider Implementations of JMS Message Interfaces 47
4. JMS Common Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2 Administered Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2.1 Destination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.2.2 ConnectionFactory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.3 Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.3.1 Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.3.2 Client Identifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.3.3 Connection Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.3.4 Pausing Delivery of Incoming Messages. . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.3.5 Closing a Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.3.6 Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.3.7 ConnectionMetaData . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.3.8 ExceptionListener. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.4 Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.4.1 Closing a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.4.2 MessageProducer and MessageConsumer Creation . 56
4.4.3 Creating TemporaryDestinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.4.4 Creating Destinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.4.5 Optimized Message Implementations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.4.6 Conventions for Using a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.4.7 Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Contents viii
 4.4.8 Distributed Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.4.9 Multiple Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.4.10 Message Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.4.10.1 Order of Message Receipt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.4.10.2 Order of Message Sends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.4.11 Message Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.4.12 Duplicate Delivery of Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.4.13 Duplicate Production of Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.4.14 Serial Execution of Client Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.4.15 Concurrent Message Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.5 MessageConsumer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.5.1 Synchronous Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.5.2 Asynchronous Delivery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.6 MessageProducer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.7 Message Delivery Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.8 Message Time-To-Live . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.9 Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.10 Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5. JMS Point-to-Point Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.2 Queue Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.3 Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.4 TemporaryQueue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.5 QueueConnectionFactory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.6 QueueConnection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.7 QueueSession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.8 QueueReceiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.9 QueueSender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.10 QueueBrowser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.11 QueueRequestor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.12 Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6. JMS Publish/Subscribe Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.2 Pub/Sub Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.3 Durable Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.4 Topic Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

ix Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 6.5 Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.6 TemporaryTopic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.7 TopicConnectionFactory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.8 TopicConnection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.9 TopicSession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.10 TopicPublisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.11 TopicSubscriber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.11.1 Durable TopicSubscriber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.12 Recovery and Redelivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.13 Administering Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.14 TopicRequestor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.15 Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
7. JMS Exceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7.2 The JMSException . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7.3 Standard Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
8. JMS Application Server Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
8.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
8.2 Concurrent Processing of a Subscriptions Messages 82
8.2.1 Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
8.2.2 ServerSession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
8.2.3 ServerSessionPool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
8.2.4 ConnectionConsumer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
8.2.5 How a ConnectionConsumer Uses a ServerSession . 84
8.2.6 How an App Server Implements a ServerSession . . . 85
8.2.7 The Result . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
8.3 XAConnectionFactory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
8.4 XAConnection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
8.5 XASession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
8.6 JMS Application Server Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
9. JMS Sample Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
9.1 Sample JMS Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
9.1.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
9.1.2 Point-to-Point Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
9.1.2.1 Getting a QueueConnectionFactory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Contents x
 9.1.2.2 Getting a Message Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9.1.2.3 Getting a QueueConnection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9.1.2.4 Getting a QueueSession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9.1.2.5 Getting a QueueSender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
9.1.2.6 Getting a QueueReceiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
9.1.2.7 Start Delivery of Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
9.1.3 Publish/Subscribe Messaging Domain Setup . . . . . . 92
9.1.3.1 Getting a TopicConnectionFactory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
9.1.3.2 Getting a Message Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
9.1.3.3 Getting a TopicConnection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
9.1.3.4 Getting a TopicSession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
9.1.3.5 Getting a TopicSubscriber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
9.1.3.6 Getting a TopicPublisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
9.1.3.7 Start Delivery of Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
9.1.4 JMS Message Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
9.1.4.1 Using a BytesMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
9.1.4.2 Using a TextMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
9.1.4.3 Using a MapMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
9.1.4.4 Using a StreamMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
9.1.4.5 Using an ObjectMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
9.1.5 Point-to-Point Sending and Receiving. . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9.1.5.1 Sending a Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9.1.5.2 Receiving a Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9.1.6 Publish/Subscribe Sending and Receiving . . . . . . . . . 98
9.1.6.1 Sending a Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9.1.6.2 Receiving a Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9.1.7 Unpacking messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9.1.7.1 Unpacking a BytesMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9.1.7.2 Unpacking a TextMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9.1.7.3 Unpacking a MapMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9.1.7.4 Unpacking a StreamMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
9.1.7.5 Unpacking an ObjectMessage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
9.1.8 Message Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
9.1.8.1 Point-To-Point QueueReceiver Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
9.1.8.2 Publish/Subscribe TopicSubscriber Setup . . . . . . . . . 101
10. Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
10.1 Resolved Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

xi Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 10.1.1 JDK 1.1.x Compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
10.1.2 Distributed Java Event Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
10.1.3 Should the Two JMS Domains, PTP and Pub/Sub, be
merged?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
10.1.4 Should JMS Specify a Set of JMS Java Beans? . . . . . . . 103
10.1.5 Alignment with the CORBA Notification Service . . . 103
10.1.6 Should JMS Provide End-to-end Synchronous Message
Delivery and Notification of Delivery? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
10.1.7 Should JMS Provide a Send-to-List Mechanism? . . . . 104
10.1.8 Should JMS Provide Subscription Notification?. . . . . 104
11. Change History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
11.1 Version 1.0.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
11.1.1 JMS Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
11.2 Version 1.0.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
11.2.1 The Multiple Topic Subscriber Special Case . . . . . . . . 106
11.2.2 Message Selector Comparison of Exact and Inexact Nu-
meric Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
11.2.3 Connection and Session Close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
11.2.4 Creating a Session on an Active Connection . . . . . . . 107
11.2.5 Delivery Mode and Message Retention. . . . . . . . . . . . 107
11.2.6 The single thread Use of Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
11.2.7 Clearing a Messages Properties and Body . . . . . . . . . 108
11.2.8 Message Selector Numeric Literal Syntax . . . . . . . . . . 108
11.2.9 Comparison of Boolean Values in Message Selectors 108
11.2.10 Order of Messages Read from a Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
11.2.11 Null Values in Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
11.2.12 Closing Constituents of Closed Connections and Sessions
108
11.2.13 The Termination of a Pending Receive on Close . . . . 108
11.2.14 Incorrect Entry in Stream and Map Message Conversion
Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
11.2.15 Inactive Durable Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
11.2.16 Read-Only Message Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
11.2.17 Changing Header Fields of a Received Message . . . . 109
11.2.18 Null/Missing Message Properties and Message Fields 109
11.2.19 JMS Source Errata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
11.2.20 JMS Source JavaDoc Errata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Contents xii
 11.2.21 JMS Source JavaDoc Clarifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

xiii Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 Introduction 1

1.1 Abstract
This specification describes the objectives and functionality of the Java
Message Service (JMS).

JMS provides a common way for Java programs to create, send, receive and
read an enterprise messaging systems messages.

1.2 Overview
Enterprise messaging products (or as they are sometimes called, Message
Oriented Middleware products) are becoming an essential component for
integrating intra-company operations. They allow separate business
components to be combined into a reliable, yet flexible, system.
In addition to the traditional MOM vendors, enterprise messaging products are
also provided by several database vendors and a number of internet related
companies.

Java language clients and Java language middle tier services must be capable
of using these messaging systems. JMS provides a common way for Java
language programs to access these systems.

JMS is a set of interfaces and associated semantics that define how a JMS client
accesses the facilities of an enterprise messaging product.

14
 1
Since messaging is peer-to-peer, all users of JMS are referred to generically as
clients. A JMS application is made up of a set of application defined messages
and a set of clients that exchange them.

Products that implement JMS do this by supplying a provider that implements

the JMS interfaces.

1.2.1 Is This a Mail API?

The term messaging is quite broadly defined in computing. It is used for
describing various operating system concepts; it is used to describe email and
fax systems; and here, it is used to describe asynchronous communication
between enterprise applications.

Messages, as described here, are asynchronous requests, reports or events that

are consumed by enterprise applications, not humans. They contain vital
information needed to coordinate these systems. They contain precisely
formatted data that describe specific business actions. Through the exchange of
these messages each application tracks the progress of the enterprise.

1.2.2 Existing Messaging Systems

Messaging systems are peer-to-peer facilities. In general, each client can send
messages to, and receive messages from any client. Each client connects to a
messaging agent which provides facilities for creating, sending and receiving
messages.

Each system provides a way of addressing messages. Each provides a way to

create a message and fill it with data.

Some systems are capable of broadcasting a message to many destinations.

Others only support sending a message to a single destination.

Some systems provide facilities for asynchronous receipt of messages

(messages are delivered to a client as they arrive). Others support only
synchronous receipt (a client must request each message).

Each messaging system typically provides a range of service that can be

selected on a per message basis. One important attribute is the lengths to
which the system will go to insure delivery. This varies from simple best effort
to guaranteed, only once delivery. Other important attributes are message
time-to-live, priority and whether a response is required.

15 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 1

1.2.3 JMS Objectives

If JMS provided a union of all the existing features of messaging systems it
would be much too complicated for its intended users. On the other hand, JMS
is more than an intersection of the messaging features common to all products.
It is crucial that JMS include the functionality needed to implement
sophisticated enterprise applications.

JMS defines a common set of enterprise messaging concepts and facilities. It

attempts to minimize the set of concepts a Java language programmer must
learn to use enterprise messaging products. It strives to maximize the
portability of messaging applications.

1.2.4 JMS Provider

As noted earlier, a JMS provider is the entity which implements JMS for a
messaging product.

Ideally, JMS providers will be written in 100% Pure Java so they can run in
applets; simplify installation; and, work across architectures and OSs.

An important goal of JMS is to minimize the work needed to implement a

provider.

1.2.5 JMS Messages

JMS defines a set of message interfaces.

Clients use the message implementations supplied by their JMS provider.

A major goal of JMS is that clients have a consistent API for creating and
working with messages which is independent of JMS provider.

1.2.6 JMS Domains

Messaging products can be broadly classified as either point-to-point or publish-
subscribe systems.

Point-to-point (PTP) products are built around the concept of message queues.
Each message is addressed to a specific queue; clients extract messages from
the queue(s) established to hold their messages.

IntroductionNovember 9, 1999 16
 1
Publish and subscribe (Pub/Sub) clients address messages to some node in a
content hierarchy. Publishers and subscribers are generally anonymous and
may dynamically publish or subscribe to the content hierarchy. The system
takes care of distributing the messages arriving from a nodes multiple
publishers to its multiple subscribers.

JMS provides client interfaces tailored for each domain.

1.2.7 Portability
The primary portability objective is that new, JMS only, applications are
portable across products within the same messaging domain.

This is in addition to the expected portability of a JMS client across machine

architectures and operating systems (when using the same JMS provider).

Although JMS is designed to allow clients to work with existing message

formats used in a mixed language application, portability of such clients is not
generally achievable (porting a mixed language application from one product
to another is beyond the scope of JMS).

1.2.8 What JMS Does Not Include

JMS does not address the following functionality:
Load Balancing/Fault Tolerance - Many products provide support for
multiple, cooperating clients implementing a critical service. The JMS API
does not specify how such clients cooperate to appear to be a single, unified
service.
Error/Advisory Notification - Most messaging products define system
messages that provide asynchronous notification of problems or system
events to clients. JMS does not attempt to standardize these messages. By
following the guidelines defined by JMS, clients can avoid using these
messages and thus prevent the portability problems their use introduces.
Administration - JMS does not define an API for administering messaging
products.
Security - JMS does not specify an API for controlling the privacy and
integrity of messages. It also does not specify how digital signatures or keys
are distributed to clients. Security is considered to be a JMS provider-
specific feature that is configured by an administrator rather than controlled
via the JMS API by clients.

17 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 1
Wire Protocol - JMS does not define a wire protocol for messaging.
Message Type Repository - JMS does not define a repository for storing
message type definitions and it does not define a language for creating
message type definitions.

1.3 What Is Required by JMS

The functionality discussed in the specification is required of all JMS providers
unless it is explicitly noted otherwise.

Providers of JMS point-to-point functionality are not required to provide

publish/subscribe functionality and vice versa.

1.4 Relationship to Other JavaSoft Enterprise APIs

1.4.1 JDBC
JMS clients may also use JDBC. They may desire to include the use of both
JDBC and JMS in the same transaction. In most cases, this will be achieved
automatically by implementing these clients as Enterprise JavaBeans. It will
also be possible to do this directly with JTA.

1.4.2 JavaBeans
JavaBeans can use a JMS session to send/receive messages. JMS itself is an API
and the interfaces it defines are not designed to be used directly as Java beans.

1.4.3 Enterprise Java Beans

JMS will be an important resource available to EJB component developers. It
can be used in conjunction with other resources like JDBC to implement
enterprise services.

The current EJB specification defines beans that are invoked synchronously via
method calls from EJB clients. A future release of EJB will add a form of
asynchronous bean that is invoked when a JMS client sends it a message.

IntroductionNovember 9, 1999 18
 1

1.4.4 Java Transaction (JTA)

The java transaction package provides a client API for delimiting distributed
transactions and an API for accessing a resources ability to participate in a
distributed transaction.

A JMS client may use JTA to delimit distributed transactions; however, this is a
function of the transaction environment the client is running in. It is not a
feature of JMS per se.

A JMS provider can optionally support distributed transactions via JTA.

1.4.5 Java Transaction Service (JTS)

JMS can be used in conjunction with JTS to form distributed transactions that
combine message sends and receives with database updates and other JTS
aware services. This should be handled automatically when a JMS client is run
from within an application server such as an Enterprise JavaBeans server;
however, it is also possible for JMS clients to program this explicitly.

1.4.6 Java Naming and Directory Service (JNDI)

JMS clients look up configured JMS objects using JNDI. JMS administrators use
provider specific facilities for creating and configuring these objects.

This division of work maximizes the portability of clients by delegating

provider specific work to the administrator. It also leads to more administrable
applications because clients do not need to embed administrative values in
their code.

19 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 Architecture 2

2.1 Overview
This chapter describes the environment of message based applications and the
role JMS plays in this environment.

2.2 What is a JMS Application?

A JMS application is composed of the following parts:
JMS Clients - These are the Java language programs that send and receive
messages.
Non-JMS Clients - These are clients that use a message systems native client
API instead of JMS. If the application predated the availability of JMS it is
likely that it will include both JMS and non-JMS clients.
Messages - Each application defines a set of messages that are used to
communicate information between its clients.
JMS Provider - This is a messaging system that implements JMS in addition
to the other administrative and control functionality required of a full
featured messaging product.
Administered Objects - Administered objects are preconfigured JMS objects
created by an administrator for the use of clients.

20
 2

2.3 Administration
It is expected that each JMS provider will differ significantly in their
underlying messaging technology. It is also expected there will be major
differences in how a providers system is installed and administered.

If JMS clients are to be portable, they must be isolated from these proprietary
aspects of a provider. This is done by defining JMS administered objects that
are created and customized by a providers administrator and later used by
clients. The client uses them through JMS interfaces that are portable. The
administrator creates them using provider-specific facilities.

There are two types of JMS administered objects:

ConnectionFactory - This is the object a client uses to create a connection
with a provider.
Destination - This is the object a client uses to specify the destination of
messages it is sending and the source of messages it receives.

Administered objects are placed in a JNDI namespace by an administrator. A

JMS client typically notes in its documentation the JMS administered objects it
requires and how the JNDI names of these objects should be provided to it.

2.4 Two Messaging Styles

A JMS application either uses the point-to-point (PTP) or publish-and-
subscribe (Pub/Sub) style of messaging. Nothing prevents these styles from
being combined in a single application; however, JMS focuses on applications
that use one or the other.

JMS defines these two styles because they represent the two dominant
approaches to messaging currently in use. Since many messaging systems only
support one of these styles, JMS provides a separate domain for each and
defines compliance for each domain.

2.5 JMS Interfaces

21 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 2
JMS is based on a set of common messaging concepts. Each JMS messaging
domain - PTP and Pub/Sub - define their customized set of interfaces for these
concepts.

Table 0-1 Relationship of PTP and Pub/Sub interfaces

JMS Parent PTP Domain Pub/Sub Domain

ConnectionFactory QueueConnectionFactory TopicConnectionFactory
Connection QueueConnection TopicConnection
Destination Queue Topic
Session QueueSession TopicSession
MessageProducer QueueSender TopicPublisher
MessageConsumer QueueReceiver, QueueBrowser TopicSubscriber

The following provides a brief definition of these JMS concepts. See the PTP
and Pub/Sub chapters for more information.
ConnectionFactory - an administered object used by a client to create a
Connection
Connection - An active connection to a JMS provider
Destination - encapsulates the identity of a message destination
Session - a single threaded context for sending and receiving messages
MessageProducer - an object created by a Session that is used for sending
messages to a destination
MessageConsumer - an object created by a Session that is used for receiving
messages sent to a destination

The term consume is used in this document to mean the receipt of a message by
a JMS client, i.e. a JMS provider has received a message and has given it to its
client. Since JMS supports both synchronous and asynchronous receipt of
messages, the term consume is used when there is no need to make a distinction
between them.

The term produce is used as the most general term for sending a message. It
means giving a message to a JMS provider for delivery to a destination.

ArchitectureNovember 9, 1999 22
 2

2.6 Developing a JMS Application

Broadly speaking, a JMS application is one or more JMS clients that exchange
messages. The application may also involve non-JMS clients; however, these
clients use the JMS providers native API in place of JMS.

A JMS application can be architected and deployed as a unit. In many cases,

JMS clients are added incrementally to an existing application.

The message definitions used by an application may originate with JMS or they
may have been defined by the non-JMS part of the application.

2.6.1 Developing a JMS Client

A typical JMS client executes the following JMS setup procedure:
Use JNDI to find a ConnectionFactory object
Use JNDI to find one or more Destination objects
Use the ConnectionFactory to create a JMS Connection with message
delivery inhibited
Use the Connection to create one or more JMS Sessions
Use a Session and the Destinations to create the MessageProducers and
MessageConsumers needed
Tell the Connection to start delivery of messages

At this point a client has the basic JMS setup needed to produce and consume
messages.

2.7 Security
JMS does not provide features for controlling or configuring message integrity
or message privacy.

It is expected that many JMS providers will provide such features. It is also
expected that configuration of these services will be handled by provider-
specific administration tools. Clients will get the proper security configuration
as part of the administered objects they use.

23 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 2

2.8 Multi-Threading
JMS could have required that all its objects support concurrent use. Since
support for concurrent access typically adds some overhead and complexity,
the JMS design restricts its requirement for concurrent access to those objects
that would naturally be shared by a multi-threaded client. The remainder are
designed to be accessed by one logical thread of control at a time.

Table 0-2 JMS objects that support concurrent use

JMS Object Supports Concurrent Use

Destination YES
ConnectionFactory YES
Connection YES
Session NO
MessageProducer NO
MessageConsumer NO

JMS defines some specific rules that restrict the concurrent use of Sessions.
Since they require more knowledge of JMS specifics than we have presented at
this point, they will be described later. Here we will describe the rationale for
imposing them.

There are two reasons for restricting concurrent access to Sessions. First,
Sessions are the JMS entity that supports transactions. It is very difficult to
implement transactions that are multi-threaded. Second, Sessions support
asynchronous message consumption. It is important that JMS not require that
client code used for asynchronous message consumption be capable of
handling multiple, concurrent messages. In addition, if a Session has been set
up with multiple, asynchronous consumers, it is important that the client is not
forced to handle the case where these separate consumers are concurrently
executing. These restrictions make JMS easier to use for typical clients. More
sophisticated clients can get the concurrency they desire by using multiple
sessions.

ArchitectureNovember 9, 1999 24
 2

2.9 Triggering Clients

Some clients are designed to periodically wake up and process messages
waiting for them. A message-based application triggering mechanism is often
used with this style of client. The trigger is typically a threshold of waiting
messages, etc.

JMS does not provide a mechanism for triggering the execution of a client.
Some providers may supply such a triggering mechanism via their
administrative facilities.

2.10 Request/Reply
JMS provides the JMSReplyTo message header field for specifying the
Destination where a reply to a message should be sent. The JMSCorrelationID
header field of the reply can be used to reference the original request. See
Section 3.4, Message Header Fields for more information.

In addition, JMS provides a facility for creating temporary queues and topics
that can be used as a unique destination for replies.

There are many styles of request/reply supported by enterprise messaging

products. From simple one message request yields a one message reply to
one message request yields streams of messages from multiple respondents.
Rather than architect a specific JMS request/reply abstraction, JMS provides
the basic facilities on which many can be built.

For convenience, JMS defines request/reply helper classes (classes written

using JMS) for both the PTP and Pub/Sub domains that implement a basic
form of request/reply. JMS providers and clients may provide more specialized
implementations.

25 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 JMS Message Model 3

3.1 Background
Enterprise messaging products treat messages as lightweight entities that
consist of a header and a body. The header contains fields used for message
routing and identification; the body contains the application data being sent.

Within this general form, the definition of a message varies significantly across
products. There are major differences in the content and semantics of headers.
Some products use a self describing, canonical encoding of message data;
others treat data as completely opaque. Some products provide a repository for
storing message descriptions that can be used to identify and interpret
message content; others dont.

It would be quite difficult for JMS to capture the breadth of this, sometimes
conflicting, union of message models.

3.2 Goals
The JMS message model has the following goals:
Provide a single, unified message API
Provide an API suitable for creating messages that match the format used by
existing, non-JMS applications
Support the development of heterogeneous applications that span operating
systems, machine architectures, and computer languages
Support messages containing Java objects

26
 3
Support messages containing Extensible Markup Language pages (see
http://www.w3.org/XML).

3.3 JMS Messages

JMS messages are composed of the following parts:
Header - All messages support the same set of header fields. Header fields
contain values used by both clients and providers to identify and route
messages.
Properties - In addition to the standard header fields, messages provide a
built-in facility for adding optional header fields to a message.
Application-specific properties - In effect, this provides a mechanism for
adding application specific header fields to a message.
Standard properties - JMS defines some standard properties that are, in
effect, optional header fields.
Provider-specific properties - Integrating a JMS client with a JMS
provider native client may require the use of provider-specific properties.
JMS defines a naming convention for these.
Body - JMS defines several types of message body which cover the majority
of messaging styles currently in use.

3.4 Message Header Fields

The following subsections describe each JMS message header field. A
messages complete header is transmitted to all JMS clients that receive the
message. JMS does not define the header fields transmitted to non-JMS clients.

3.4.1 JMSDestination
The JMSDestination header field contains the destination to which the message
is being sent.

When a message is sent this value is ignored. After completion of the send it
holds the destination object specified by the sending method.

When a message is received, its destination value must be equivalent to the

value assigned when it was sent.

27 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 3

3.4.2 JMSDeliveryMode
The JMSDeliveryMode header field contains the delivery mode specified when
the message was sent.

When a message is sent this value is ignored. After completion of the send it
holds the delivery mode specified by the sending method.

See Section 4.7, Message Delivery Mode for more information.

3.4.3 JMSMessageID
The JMSMessageID header field contains a value that uniquely identifies each
message sent by a provider.

When a message is sent, JMSMessageID is ignored. When the send method

returns it contains a provider-assigned value.

A JMSMessageID is a String value which should function as a unique key for

identifying messages in a historical repository. The exact scope of uniqueness is
provider defined. It should at least cover all messages for a specific installation
of a provider where an installation is some connected set of message routers.

All JMSMessageID values must start with the prefix ID:. Uniqueness of
message ID values across different providers is not required.

Since message IDs take some effort to create and increase a messages size,
some JMS providers may be able to optimize message overhead if they are
given a hint that message ID is not used by an application. JMS
MessageProducer provides a hint to disable message ID. When a client sets a
producer to disable message ID it is saying that it does not depend on the
value of message ID for the messages it produces. These messages must either
have message ID set to null or, if the hint is ignored, message ID must be set to
its normal unique value.

3.4.4 JMSTimestamp
The JMSTimestamp header field contains the time a message was handed off to
a provider to be sent. It is not the time the message was actually transmitted
because the actual send may occur later due to transactions or other client side
queueing of messages.

JMS Message ModelNovember 9, 1999 28

 3
When a message is sent, JMSTimestamp is ignored. When the send method
returns it contains a a time value somewhere in the interval between the call
and the return. It is in the format of a normal Java millis time value.

Since timestamps take some effort to create and increase a messages size, some
JMS providers may be able to optimize message overhead if they are given a
hint that timestamp is not used by an application. JMS MessageProducer
provides a hint to disable timestamps. When a client sets a producer to disable
timestamps it is saying that it does not depend on the value of timestamp for
the messages it produces. These messages must either have timestamp set to
zero or, if the hint is ignored, timestamp must be set to its normal value.

3.4.5 JMSCorrelationID
A client can use the JMSCorrelationID header field to link one message with
another. A typically use is to link a response message with its request message.

JMSCorrelationID can hold one of the following:

A provider-specific message ID
An application-specific String
A provider-native byte[] value.

Since each message sent by a JMS provider is assigned a message ID value it is

convenient to link messages via message ID. All message ID values must start
with the ID: prefix.

In some cases, an application (made up of several clients) needs to use an

application specific value for linking messages. For instance, an application
may use JMSCorrelationID to hold a value referencing some external
information. Application specified values must not start with the ID: prefix;
this is reserved for provider-generated message ID values.

If a provider supports the native concept of correlation ID, a JMS client may
need to assign specific JMSCorrelationID values to match those expected by
non-JMS clients. A byte[] value is used for this purpose. JMS providers without
native correlation ID values are not required to support byte[] values*. The use
of a byte[] value for JMSCorrelationID is non-portable.

* Their implementation of setJMSCorrelationIDAsBytes() and getJMSCorrela-

tionIDAsBytes() may throw java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException.

29 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

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3.4.6 JMSReplyTo
The JMSReplyTo header field contains a Destination supplied by a client when
a message is sent. It is the destination where a reply to the message should be
sent.

Messages sent with a null JMSReplyTo value may be a notification of some

event or they may just be some data the sender thinks is of interest.

Messages sent with a JMSReplyTo value are typically expecting a response. A

response may be optional, it is up to the client to decide.

3.4.7 JMSRedelivered
If a client receives a message with the JMSRedelivered indicator set, it is likely,
but not guaranteed, that this message was delivered to the client earlier but the
client did not acknowledge its receipt at that earlier time. See Section 4.4.13,
Message Acknowledgment for more information.

This header field has no meaning on send and is left unassigned by the
sending method.

3.4.8 JMSType
The JMSType header field contains a message type identifier supplied by a
client when a message is sent.

Some JMS providers use a message repository that contains the definition of
messages sent by applications. The type header field may reference a messages
definition in the providers repository.

JMS does not define a standard message definition repository nor does it
define a naming policy for the definitions it contains.

Some messaging systems require that a message type definition for each
application message be created and that each message specify its type. In order
to work with such JMS providers, JMS clients should assign a value to JMSType
whether the application makes use of it or not. This insures that it is properly
set for those providers that require it.

To insure portability, JMS clients should use symbolic values for JMSType that
can be configured at installation time to the values defined in the current

JMS Message ModelNovember 9, 1999 30

 3
providers message repository. If string literals are use they may not be valid
type names for some JMS providers.

3.4.9 JMSExpiration
When a message is sent, its expiration time is calculated as the sum of the time-
to-live value specified on the send method and the current GMT. On return
from the send method, the messages JMSExpiration header field contains this
value. When a message is received its JMSExpiration header field contains this
same value.

If the time-to-live is specified as zero, expiration is set to zero which indicates

the message does not expire.

When GMT is later than an undelivered messages expiration time, the

message should be destroyed. JMS does not define a notification of message
expiration.

Clients should not receive messages that have expired; however, JMS does not
guarantee that this will not happen.

3.4.10 JMSPriority
The JMSPriority header field contains the messages priority.

When a message is sent this value is ignored. After completion of the send it
holds the value specified by the method sending the message.

JMS defines a ten level priority value with 0 as the lowest priority and 9 as the
highest. In addition, clients should consider priorities 0-4 as gradations of
normal priority and priorities 5-9 as gradations of expedited priority.

JMS does not require that a provider strictly implement priority ordering of
messages; however, it should do its best to deliver expedited messages ahead
of normal messages.

31 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

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3.4.11 How Message Header Values Are Set

Table 0-3 Message Header Field Value Sent

Header Fields Set By

JMSDestination Send Method
JMSDeliveryMode Send Method
JMSExpiration Send Method
JMSPriority Send Method
JMSMessageID Send Method
JMSTimestamp Send Method
JMSCorrelationID Client
JMSReplyTo Client
JMSType Client
JMSRedelivered Provider

3.4.12 Overriding Message Header Fields

JMS permits an administrator to configure JMS to override the client specified
values for JMSDeliveryMode, JMSExpiration and JMSPriority. If this is done, the
header field value must reflect the administratively specified value.

JMS does not define specifically how an administrator overrides these header
field values. A JMS provider is not required to support this administrative
option.

3.5 Message Properties

In addition to the header fields defined here, Message contains a built-in facility
for supporting property values. In effect, this provides a mechanism for adding
optional header fields to a message.

Properties allow a client, via message selectors (see Section 3.8, Message
Selection), to have a JMS provider select messages on its behalf using
application-specific criteria.

JMS Message ModelNovember 9, 1999 32

 3

3.5.1 Property Names

Property names must obey the rules for a message selector identifier. See
Section 3.8.1.1, Message Selector Syntax for more information.

3.5.2 Property Values

Property values can be boolean, byte, short, int, long, float, double, and String.

3.5.3 Using Properties

Property values are set prior to sending a message. When a client receives a
message, its properties are in read-only mode. If a client attempts to set
properties at this point, a MessageNotWriteableException is thrown.

A property value may duplicate a value in a messages body or it may not.

Although JMS does not define a policy for what should or should not be made
a property, application developers should note that JMS providers will likely
handle data in a messages body more efficiently than data in a messages
properties. For best performance, applications should only use message
properties when they need to customize a messages header. The primary
reason for doing this is to support customized message selection.

See Section 3.8, Message Selection for more information about JMS message
properties.

3.5.4 Property Value Conversion

Properties support the following conversion table. The marked cases must be
supported. The unmarked cases must throw the JMS MessageFormatException.
The String to numeric conversions must throw the
java.lang.NumberFormatException if the numerics valueOf() method does not
accept the String value as a valid representation. Attempting to read a null
value as a Java primitive type must be treated as calling the primitives
corresponding valueOf(String) conversion method with a null value.

33 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

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Table 0-4 A value set as the row type can be read as the column type

boolean byte short int long float double String

boolean X X
byte X X X X X
short X X X X
int X X X
long X X
float X X X
double X X
String X X X X X X X X

3.5.5 Property Values as Objects

In addition to the type-specific set/get methods for properties, JMS provides
the setObjectProperty/getObjectProperty methods. These support the same set of
property types using the objectified primitive values. Their purpose is to allow
the decision of property type to made at execution time rather than at compile
time. They support the same property value conversions.

The setObjectProperty method accepts values of Boolean, Byte, Short, Integer,

Long, Float, Double and String. An attempt to use any other class must throw a
JMS MessageFormatException.

The getObjectProperty method only returns values of null, Boolean, Byte, Short,
Integer, Long, Float, Double and String. A null value is returned if a property by
the specified name does not exist.

3.5.6 Property Iteration

The order of property values is not defined. To iterate through a messages
property values, use getPropertyNames to retrieve a property name enumeration
and then use the various property get methods to retrieve their values.

The getPropertyNames method does not return the names of the JMS standard
header fields.

JMS Message ModelNovember 9, 1999 34

 3

3.5.7 Clearing a Messages Property Values

A messages properties are deleted by the clearProperties method. This leaves
the message with an empty set of properties. New property entries can then be
both created and read.

Clearing a messages property entries does not clear the value of its body.

JMS does not provide a way to remove an individual property entry once it has
been added to a message.

3.5.8 Non-existent Properties

Getting a property value for a name which has not been set is handled as if the
the property exists with a null value.

3.5.9 JMS Defined Properties

JMS reserves the JMSX property name prefix for JMS defined properties. The
full set of these properties is provided below. New JMS defined properties may
be added in later versions of JMS.

Unless noted otherwise, support for these properties is optional. The String[]
ConnectionMetaData.getJMSXPropertyNames() method returns the names of the
JMSX properties supported by a connection.

JMSX properties may be referenced in message selectors whether or not they

are supported by a connection. If they are not present in a message, they are
treated like any other absent property.

The existence, in a particular message, of JMS defined properties that are set by
a JMS Provider depends on how a particular provider controls use of the

35 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 3
property. It may choose to include them in some messages and omit them in
others depending on administrative or other criteria.

Table 0-5

Name Type Set By Use

JMSXUserID String Provider on The identity of the user sending the
Send message
JMSXAppID String Provider on The identity of the application
Send sending the message
JMSXDeliveryCount int Provider on The number of message delivery
Receive attempts; the first is 1, the second 2,...
JMSXGroupID String Client The identity of the message group
this message is part of
JMSXGroupSeq int Client The sequence number of this message
within the group; the first message is
1, the second 2,...
JMSXProducerTXID String Provider on The transaction identifier of the
Send transaction within which this
message was produced
JMSXConsumerTXID String Provider on The transaction identifier of the
Receive transaction within which this
message was consumed
JMSXRcvTimestamp long Provider on The time JMS delivered the message
Receive to the consumer
JMSXState int Provider Assume there exists a message
warehouse that contains a separate
copy of each message sent to each
consumer and that these copies exist
from the time the original message
was sent.
Each copys state is one of:
1(waiting), 2(ready), 3(expired) or
4(retained)
Since state is of no interest to
producers and consumers it is not
provided to either. It is only of
relevance to messages looked up in a
warehouse and JMS provides no API
for this.

JMS Message ModelNovember 9, 1999 36

 3
JMSX properties set by provider on send are available to both the producer
and the consumers of the message. JSMX properties set by provider on
receive are only available to the consumers.

JMSXGroupID and JMSXGroupSeq are standard properties clients should use if

they want to group messages. All providers must support them.

The case of these JMSX property names must be as defined in the table above.

Unless specifically noted, the values and semantics of the JMSX properties are
undefined.

3.5.10 Provider-Specific Properties

JMS reserves the JMS_<vendor_name> property name prefix for provider-
specific properties. Each provider defines their own value of <vendor_name>.
This is the mechanism a JMS provider uses to make its special per message
services available to a JMS client.

The purpose of provider-specific properties is to provide special features needed to

support JMS use with provider-native clients. They should not be used for JMS to JMS
messaging.

3.6 Message Acknowledgment

All JMS messages support the acknowledge method for use when a client has
specified that a JMS consumers messages are to be explicitly acknowledged.

If a client uses automatic acknowledgment, calls to acknowledge are ignored.

See Section 4.4.13, Message Acknowledgment for more information.

3.7 The Message Interface

The Message interface is the root interface for all JMS messages. It defines the
JMS message header fields, property facility and the acknowledge method
used for all messages.

37 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 3

3.8 Message Selection

Many messaging applications need to filter and categorize the messages they
produce.

In the case where a message is sent to a single receiver, this can be done with
reasonable efficiency by putting the criteria in the message and having the
receiving client discard the ones its not interested in.

When a message is broadcast to many clients, it becomes useful to place the

criteria into the message header so that it is visible to the JMS provider. This
allows the provider to handle much of the filtering and routing work that
would otherwise need to be done by the application.

JMS provides a facility that allows clients to delegate message selection to their
JMS provider. This simplifies the work of the client and allows JMS providers
to eliminate the time and bandwidth they would otherwise waste sending
messages to clients that dont need them.

Clients attach application-specific selection criteria to messages using message

properties. Clients specify message selection criteria using JMS message selector
expressions.

3.8.1 Message Selector

A JMS message selector allows a client to specify, by message header, the
messages its interested in. Only messages whose headers and properties
match the selector are delivered. The semantics of not delivered differ a bit
depending on the MessageConsumer being used. See Section 5.8,
QueueReceiver and Section 6.11, TopicSubscriber for more details.

Message selectors cannot reference message body values.

A message selector matches a message when the selector evaluates to true

when the messages header field and property values are substituted for their
corresponding identifiers in the selector.

JMS Message ModelNovember 9, 1999 38

 3

3.8.1.1 Message Selector Syntax

A message selector is a String whose syntax is based on a subset of the SQL92*
conditional expression syntax.

The order of evaluation of a message selector is from left to right within

precedence level. Parentheses can be used to change this order.

Predefined selector literals and operator names are written here in upper case;
however, they are case insensitive.

A selector can contain:

Literals:
A string literal is enclosed in single quotes with an included single quote
represented by doubled single quote such as literal and literals; like
Java String literals these use the unicode character encoding.
An exact numeric literal is a numeric value without a decimal point such
as 57, -957, +62; numbers in the range of Java long are supported. Exact
numeric literals use the Java integer literal syntax.
An approximate numeric literal is a numeric value in scientific notation
such as 7E3, -57.9E2 or a numeric value with a decimal such as 7., -95.7,
+6.2; numbers in the range of Java double are supported. Approximate
literals use the Java floating point literal syntax.
The boolean literals TRUE and FALSE.
Identifiers:
An identifier is an unlimited length character sequence that must begin
with a Java identifier start character and all following characters must be
Java identifier part characters. An identifier start character is any
character for which the method Character.isJavaIdentifierStart returns true.
This includes _ and $. An identifier part character is any character for
which the method Character.isJavaIdentifierPart returns true.
Identifiers cannot be the names NULL, TRUE, or FALSE.
Identifiers cannot be NOT, AND, OR, BETWEEN, LIKE, IN, and IS.
Identifiers are either header field references or property references.

* See X/Open CAE Specification Data Management: Structured Query Language (SQL), Version 2, ISBN: 1-
85912-151-9 March 1996.

39 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 3
Identifiers are case sensitive.
Message header field references are restricted to JMSDeliveryMode,
JMSPriority, JMSMessageID, JMSTimestamp, JMSCorrelationID, and
JMSType. JMSMessageID, JMSCorrelationID, and JMSType values may be
null and if so are treated as a NULL value.
Any name beginning with JMSX is a JMS defined property name.
Any name beginning with JMS_ is a provider-specific property name.
Any name that does not begin with JMS is an application-specific
property name. If a property is referenced that does not exist in a
message its value is NULL. If it does exist, its value is the corresponding
property value.
Whitespace is the same as that defined for Java: space, horizontal tab, form
feed and line terminator.
Expressions:
A selector is a conditional expression; a selector that evaluates to true
matches; a selector that evaluates to false or unknown does not match.
Arithmetic expressions are composed of themselves, arithmetic
operations, identifiers with numeric values and numeric literals.
Conditional expressions are composed of themselves, comparison
operations, logical operations, identifiers with boolean values and
boolean literals.
Standard bracketing () for ordering expression evaluation is supported.
Logical operators in precedence order: NOT, AND, OR
Comparison operators: =, >, >=, <, <=, <> (not equal)
Only like type values can be compared. One exception is that it is valid to
compare exact numeric values and approximate numeric values (the type
conversion required is defined by the rules of Java numeric promotion). If
the comparison of non-like type values is attempted, the selector is
always false.
String and Boolean comparison is restricted to = and <>. Two strings are
equal if and only if they contain the same sequence of characters.
Arithmetic operators in precedence order:
+, - unary

JMS Message ModelNovember 9, 1999 40

 3
*, / multiplication and division
+, - addition and subtraction
Arithmetic operations must use Java numeric promotion.
arithmetic-expr1 [NOT] BETWEEN arithmetic-expr2 and arithmetic-expr3
comparison operator
age BETWEEN 15 and 19 is equivalent to age >= 15 AND age <= 19
age NOT BETWEEN 15 and 19 is equivalent to age < 15 OR age > 19
identifier [NOT] IN (string-literal1, string-literal2,...) comparison operator
where identifier has a String or NULL value.
Country IN ( UK, US, France) is true for UK and false for Peru it is
equivalent to the expression (Country = UK) OR (Country = US) OR
(Country = France)
Country NOT IN ( UK, US, France) is false for UK and true for
Peru it is equivalent to the expression NOT ((Country = UK) OR
(Country = US) OR (Country = France))
If identifier of an IN or NOT IN operation is NULL the value of the
operation is unknown.
identifier [NOT] LIKE pattern-value [ESCAPE escape-character] comparison
operator, where identifier has a String value; pattern-value is a string literal
where _ stands for any single character; % stands for any sequence of
characters (including the empty sequence); and all other characters stand for
themselves. The optional escape-character is a single character string literal
whose character is used to escape the special meaning of the _ and % in
pattern-value.
phone LIKE 12%3 is true for 123 12993 and false for 1234
word LIKE l_se is true for lose and false for loose
underscored LIKE \_% ESCAPE \ is true for _foo and false for bar
phone NOT LIKE 12%3 is false for 123 and 12993 and true for 1234
If identifier of a LIKE or NOT LIKE operation is NULL the value of the
operation is unknown.
identifier IS NULL comparison operator tests for a null header field value, or
a missing property value.
prop_name IS NULL

41 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

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identifier IS NOT NULL comparison operator tests for the existence of a non
null header field value or property value.
prop_name IS NOT NULL

JMS providers are required to verify the syntactic correctness of a message

selector at the time it is presented. A method providing a syntactically
incorrect selector must result in a JMS InvalidSelectorException.

The following message selector selects messages with a message type of car
and color of blue and weight greater than 2500 lbs:

JMSType = car AND color = blue AND weight > 2500

3.8.1.2 Null Values

As noted above, header fields and property values may be NULL. The
evaluation of selector expressions containing NULL values is defined by SQL
92 NULL semantics. A brief description of these semantics is provided here.

SQL treats a NULL value as unknown. Comparison or arithmetic with an

unknown value always yields an unknown value.

The IS NULL and IS NOT NULL operators convert an unknown header or

property value into the respective TRUE and FALSE values.

The boolean operators use three valued logic as defined by the following
tables:

Table 0-6 The definition of the AND operator

AND T F U
T T F U
F F F F
U U F U

JMS Message ModelNovember 9, 1999 42

 3
:

Table 0-7 The definition of the OR operator

OR T F U
T T T T
F T F U
U T U U

Table 0-8 The definition of the NOT operator

NOT
T F
F T
U U

3.8.1.3 Special Notes

When used in a message selector JMSDeliveryMode is treated as having the
values PERSISTENT and NON_PERSISTENT.

Date and time values should use the standard Java long millis value. When
including a date or time literal in a message selector, it should be an integer
literal for a millis value. The standard way to produce millis values is to use
java.util.Calendar.

Although SQL supports fixed decimal comparison and arithmetic, JMS

message selectors do not. This is the reason for restricting exact numeric
literals to those without a decimal (and the addition of numerics with a
decimal as an alternate representation for an approximate numeric values).

SQL comments are not supported.

3.9 Access to Sent Messages

After sending a message, a client may retain and modify it without affecting
the message that has been sent. The same message object may be sent multiple
times.

43 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 3
During the execution of its sending method, the message must not be changed
by the client. If it is modified, the result of the send is undefined.

3.10 Changing the Value of a Received Message

When a message is received, its header field values can be changed; however,
its property entries and its body are read-only as specified in this chapter.

The rationale for the read-only restriction is that it gives JMS Providers more
freedom in how they implement the management of received messages. For
instance, they may return a message object that references property entries and
body values that reside in an internal message buffer rather than being forced
to make a copy.

3.11 JMS Message Body

JMS provides five forms of message body. Each form is defined by a message
interface:
StreamMessage - a message whose body contains a stream of Java primitive
values. It is filled and read sequentially.
MapMessage - a message whose body contains a set of name-value pairs
where names are Strings and values are Java primitive types. The entries can
be accessed sequentially by enumerator or randomly by name. The order of
the entries is undefined.
TextMessage - a message whose body contains a java.lang.String. The
inclusion of this message type is based on our presumption that String
messages will be used extensively. One reason for this is that XML will
likely become a popular mechanism for representing the content of JMS
messages.
ObjectMessage - a message that contains a Serializable Java object. If a
collection of Java objects is needed, one of the collection classes provided in
JDK 1.2 can be used.
BytesMessage - a message that contains a stream of uninterpreted bytes.
This message type is for literally encoding a body to match an existing
message format. In many cases, it will be possible to use one of the other,
self-defining, message types instead. Although JMS allows the use of message

JMS Message ModelNovember 9, 1999 44

 3
properties with byte messages it is typically not done since the inclusion of
properties may affect the format.

3.11.1 Clearing a Message Body

The clearBody method of Message resets the value of the message body to the
empty initial message value as set by the message types create method
provided by Session. Clearing a messages body does not clear its property
entries.

3.11.2 Read-Only Message Body

When a message is received its body is read only. If an attempt is made to
change the body a MessageNotWriteableException must be thrown. If its body is
subsequently cleared, the body is in the same state as an empty body in a
newly created message.

3.11.3 Conversions Provided by StreamMessage and MapMessage

Both StreamMessage and MapMessage support the same set of primitive data
types.

The types can be read or written explicitly using methods for each type. They
may also be read or written generically as objects. For instance, a call to
MapMessage.setInt(foo, 6) is equivalent to MapMessage.setObject(foo, new
Integer(6)). Both forms are provided because the explicit form is convenient for
static programming and the object form is needed when types are not known
at compile time.

Both StreamMessage and MapMessage support the following conversion table.

The marked cases must be supported. The unmarked cases must throw a JMS
MessageFormatException. The String to numeric conversions must throw a
java.lang.NumberFormatException if the numerics valueOf() method does not
accept the String value as a valid representation.

StreamMessage and MapMessage must implement the String to boolean

conversion as specified by the valueOf(String) method of Boolean as defined by
the Java language.

Attempting to read a null value as a Java primitive type must be treated as

calling the primitives corresponding valueOf(String) conversion method with a

45 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 3
null value. Since char does not support a String conversion, attempting to read
a null value as a char must throw NullPointerException.

Getting a MapMessage field for a field name which has not been set is handled
as if the field exists with a null value.

If a read method of StreamMessage or BytesMessage throws a

MessageFormatException or NumberFormatException the current position of the
read pointer must not be incremented. A subsequent read must be capable of
recovering from the exception by rereading the data as a different type.

Table 0-9 A value written as the row type can be read as the column type

boolean byte short char int long float double String byte[]
boolean X X
byte X X X X X
short X X X X
char X X
int X X X
long X X
float X X X
double X X
String X X X X X X X X
byte[] X

3.11.4 Messages for Non-JMS Clients

A number of enterprise messaging systems support some form of self-defining
stream and/or map native message type. Although clients could use
BytesMessages to construct native messages of this form, JMS provides the
StreamMessage and MapMessage types as a more convenient API.

For instance, when a client is using a JMS provider that supports a native map
message; and, it wishes to send a map message that can be read by both JMS
and native clients, it uses a MapMessage. When the message is sent, the
provider translates it into its native form. Native clients can then receive it. If a
JMS provider receives it, the provider translates it back into a MapMessage.

JMS Message ModelNovember 9, 1999 46

 3
Even when a new JMS application with newly defined messages is written, the
application may choose to use StreamMessage and MapMessage to insure that
later, non-JMS clients will be able to read them.

If a JMS client sends a StreamMessage or MapMessage, it must be translated by a

receiving JMS provider into an equivalent StreamMessage or MapMessage. When
passed between JMS clients, a message must always retain its full form. For
instance, a message sent as MapMessage must not arrive at a JMS client as a
BytesMessage.

If a JMS provider receives a message created by a native client, the provider

should do its best to transform it into the best JMS message type. For
instance, if it is a native stream message it should be transformed into a
StreamMessage. If this is not possible, the provider is always able to transform it
into a BytesMessage.

3.12 Provider Implementations of JMS Message Interfaces

JMS provides a set of message interfaces that define the JMS message model. It
does not provide implementations of these interfaces.

Each JMS provider provides its own implementation of its Sessions message
creation methods. This allows a provider to use message implementations that
are tailored to its needs.

A provider must be prepared to accept, from a client, a message whose

implementation is not one of its own. A message with a foreign
implementation may not be handled as efficiently as a providers own
implementation; however, they must be handled.

The JMS message interfaces provide write/set methods for setting object
values in a message body and message properties. All of these methods must
be implemented to copy their input objects into the message. The value of an
input object is allowed to be null and will return null when accessed. One
exception to this is that BytesMessage does not support the concept of a null
stream and attempting to write a null into it must throw
java.lang.NullPointerException.

The JMS message interfaces provide read/get methods for accessing objects in
a message body and message properties. All of these methods must be
implemented to return a copy of the accessed message objects.

47 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 JMS Common Facilities 4

4.1 Overview
This chapter describes the JMS facilities that are shared by both the PTP and
Pub/Sub domains.

4.2 Administered Objects

JMS administered objects are objects containing JMS configuration information
that are created by a JMS administrator and later used by JMS clients. They
make it practical to administer JMS applications in the enterprise.

Although the interfaces for administered objects do not explicitly depend on JNDI,
JMS establishes the convention that JMS clients find them by looking them up in a
namespace using JNDI.
An administrator can place an administered object anywhere in a namespace.
JMS does not define a naming policy.

This strategy of partitioning JMS and administration provides several benefits:

It hides provider-specific configuration details from JMS clients.
It abstracts JMS administrative information into Java objects that are easily
organized and administered from a common management console.
Since there will be JNDI providers for all popular naming services, this
means JMS providers can deliver one implementation of administered
objects that will run everywhere.

48
 4
An administered object should not hold on to any remote resources. Its lookup
should not use remote resources other than those used by JNDI itself.

Clients should think of administered objects as local Java objects. Looking

them up should not have any hidden side affects or use surprising amounts of
local resources.

JMS defines two administered objects, Destination and ConnectionFactory.

It is expected that JMS providers will provide the tools an administrator needs
to create and configure administered objects in a JNDI namespace. JMS
provider implementations of administered objects should be both
javax.naming.Referenceable and java.io.Serializable so that they can be stored in all
JNDI naming contexts. In addition, it is recommended that these
implementations follow the JavaBeansTM design patterns.

4.2.1 Destination
JMS does not define a standard address syntax. Although this was considered,
it was decided that the differences in address semantics between existing
enterprise messaging products was too wide to bridge with a single syntax.
Instead, JMS defines the Destination object which encapsulates provider-specific
addresses.

Since Destination is an administered object it may also contain provider-specific

configuration information in addition to its address.

JMS also supports a clients use of provider-specific address names. See

Section 4.4.4, Creating Destinations for more information.

Destination objects support concurrent use.

4.2.2 ConnectionFactory
A ConnectionFactory encapsulates a set of connection configuration parameters
that has been defined by an administrator. A client uses it to create a
Connection with a JMS provider.

ConnectionFactory objects support concurrent use.

49 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

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4.3 Connection
A JMS Connection is a clients active connection to its JMS provider. It will
typically allocate provider resources outside the Java virtual machine.

Connections support concurrent use.

A Connection serves several purposes:

It encapsulates an open connection with a JMS provider. It typically
represents an open TCP/IP socket between a client and a providers service
daemon.
Its creation is where client authenticating takes place.
It can specify a unique client identifier.
It creates Sessions.
It provides ConnectionMetaData.
It supports an optional ExceptionListener.

Due to the authentication and communication setup done when a Connection is

created, a Connection is a relatively heavy-weight JMS object. Most clients will
do all their messaging with a single Connection. Other more advanced
applications may use several Connections. JMS does not architect a reason for
using multiple connections (other than when a client acts as a gateway
between two different providers); however, there may be operational reasons
for doing so.

4.3.1 Authentication
When creating a connection, a client may specify their credentials as
name/password.

If no credentials are specified, the current threads credentials are used. At this
point, the JDK does not define the concept of a threads default credentials;
however, it is likely this will be defined in the near future. For now, the
identity of the user under which the JMS client is running should be used.

4.3.2 Client Identifier

The preferred way to assign a clients client identifier is for it to be configured
in a client-specific ConnectionFactory and transparently assigned to the

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connection it creates. Alternatively, a client can set a connectionss client
identifier using a provider-specific value. The facility to explicitly set a
connections client identifier is not a mechanism for overriding the identifier
that has been administratively configured. It is provided for the case where no
administratively specified identifier exists. If one does exist, an attempt to
change it by setting it must throw a IllegalStateException.

If a client explicitly does the set it must do this immediately after creating the
connection and before any other action on the connection is taken. After this
point, setting the client identifier is a programming error that should throw an
IllegalStateException.

The purpose of client identifier is to associate a connection and its objects with
a state maintained on behalf of the client by a provider. By definition, the client
state identified by a client identifier can only be in use by one client at a time.
A JMS provider must prevent concurrently executing clients from using it.

This prevention may take the form of JMSExceptions thrown when such use is
attempted; it may result in the offending client being blocked; or some other
solution. A JMS provider must insure that such attempted sharing of an
individual client state does not result in messages being lost or doubly
processed.

The only individual client state identified by JMS is that required to support
durable subscriptions, see Section 6.3, Durable Subscription for more
information.

4.3.3 Connection Setup

A JMS client typically creates a Connection; one or more Sessions; and a number
of MessageProducers and MessageConsumers. When a Connection is created it is in
stopped mode. That means that no messages are being delivered to it.

It is typical to leave the Connection in stopped mode until setup is complete. At

that point the Connections start() method is called and messages begin arriving
at the Connections consumers. This setup convention minimizes any client
confusion that may result from asynchronous message delivery while the client
is still in the process of setting itself up.

A Connection can immediately be started and the setup can be done afterwards.
Clients that do this must be prepared to handle asynchronous message
delivery while they are still in the process of setting up.

A MessageProducer can send messages while a Connection is stopped.

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It is important to note that clients rely on the fact that no messages are
delivered by a connection until it has been started. JMS Providers must insure
that this is the case.

4.3.4 Pausing Delivery of Incoming Messages

A connections delivery of incoming messages can be temporarily stopped
using its stop() method. It can be restarted using its start() method. When
stopped, delivery to all the connections MessageConsumers is inhibited:
synchronous receives block and messages are not delivered to
MessageListeners.

Stopping a connection has no affect on its ability to send messages. Stopping a

stopped connection and starting a started connection is ignored.

A stop method call must not return until delivery of messages has paused. This
means a client can rely on the fact that none of its message listeners will be
called and all threads of control waiting for receive to return will not return
with a message until the connection is restarted. The receive timers for a
stopped connection continue to advance so receives may time out and return a
null message while the connection is stopped.

If MessageListeners are running when stop is invoked, stop must wait until all
of them have returned before it may return. While these MessageListeners are
completing they must have the full services of the connection available to
them.

4.3.5 Closing a Connection

Since a provider typically allocates significant resources outside the JVM on
behalf of a connection, clients should close them when they are not needed.
Relying on garbage collection to eventually reclaim these resources may not be
timely enough.

A close terminates all pending message receives on the connections sessions

consumers. The receives may return with a message or null depending on
whether there was a message or not available at the time of the close.

Note that in this case, the message consumer will likely get an exception if it is
attempting to use the facilities of the now closed connection while processing
its last message. A developer must take this last message case into account

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when writing a message consumer. It bears repeating that the message
consumer cannot rely on a null return value to indicate this last message case.

If one or more of the connections sessions message listeners is processing a

message at the point connection close is invoked, all the facilities of the
connection and its sessions must remain available to those listeners until they
return control to the JMS provider.

When connection close is invoked it should not return until message

processing has been orderly shut down. This means that all message listeners
that may have been running have returned and that all pending receives have
returned.

If a connection is closed, there is no need to close its constituent objects. The

connection close is sufficient to signal the JMS provider that all resources for
the connection should be released.

Closing a connection must rollback the transactions in progress on its

transacted sessions*. Closing a connection does NOT force an acknowledge of
client acknowledged sessions. Invoking the acknowledge method of a received
message from a closed connections sessions must throw an
IllegalStateException. These semantics insure that closing a connection does not
cause messages to be lost for queues and durable subscriptions which require
reliable processing by a subsequent execution of their JMS client.

Once a connection has been closed an attempt to use it or its sessions or their
message consumers and producers must throw an IllegalStateException (calls to
the close method of these objects must be ignored). It is valid to continue to use
message objects created or received via the connection with the exception of a
received messages acknowledge method.

Closing a closed connection must NOT throw an exception.

4.3.6 Sessions
A Connection is a factory for Sessions that use its underlying connection to a
JMS provider for producing and consuming messages.

* The term transacted session refers to the case where a sessions commit and rollback methods are used to
demarcate a transaction local to the session. In the case where a sessions work is coordinated by an external
transaction manager, a sessions commit and rollback methods are not used and the result of a closed ses-
sions work is determined later by the transaction manager.

53 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

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4.3.7 ConnectionMetaData
A Connection provides a ConnectionMetaData object. This object provides the
latest version of JMS supported by the provider as well as the providers
product name and version.

It also provides a list of the JMS defined property names supported by the
connection.

4.3.8 ExceptionListener
If a JMS provider detects a problem with a connection it will inform the
connections ExceptionListener if one has been registered. It does this by calling
the listeners onException() method passing it a JMSException describing the
problem.

This allows a client to be asynchronously notified of a problem. Some

connections only consume messages so they would have no other way to learn
their connection has failed.

A Connection serializes execution of its ExceptionListener.

A JMS provider should attempt to resolve connection problems itself prior to

notifying the client of them.

The exceptions delivered to ExceptionListener are those which dont have any
other place to be reported. If an exception is thrown on a JMS call it, by
definition, must not be delivered to an ExceptionListener (i.e. ExceptionListener is
not for the purpose of monitoring all exceptions thrown by a connection).

4.4 Session
A JMS Session is a single threaded context* for producing and consuming
messages. Although it may allocate provider resources outside the Java virtual
machine, it is considered a light-weight JMS object.

A Session serves several purposes:

* There are no restrictions on the number of threads that can use a Session object or those it creates. The restric-
tion is that the resources of a Session should not be used concurrently by multiple threads. It is up to the user
to insure that this concurrency restriction is met. The simplest way to do this is to use one thread. In the case
of asynchronous delivery, use one thread for setup in stopped mode and then start asynchronous delivery.
In more complex cases the user must provide explicit synchronization.

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It is a factory for its MessageProducers and MessageConsumers.
It is a factory for temporary destinations.
It provides a way to create Destination objects for those clients that need to
dynamically manipulate provider-specific destination names.
It supplies provider-optimized message factories.
It supports a single series of transactions that combine work spanning this
sessions producers and consumers into atomic units.
A Session defines a serial order for the messages it consumes and the
messages it produces.
A Session retains messages it consumes until they have been acknowledged.
A Session serializes execution of MessageListeners registered with it.

4.4.1 Closing a Session

Since a provider may allocate some resources on behalf of a session outside the
JVM, clients should close them when they are not needed. Relying on garbage
collection to eventually reclaim these resources may not be timely enough. The
same is true for the MessageProducers and MessageConsumers created by a
session.

Session close terminates all message processing on the session. It must handle
the shutdown of pending receives by the sessions consumers or a running
message listener as described in Section 4.3.5, Closing a Connection.

Session close is the only session method that may be invoked from a thread of
control separate from the one which is currently controlling the session.

When session close is invoked it should not return until its message processing
has been orderly shut down. This means that none of its message listeners are
running and that if there is a pending receive it has returned with either null or
a message.

When a session is closed there is no need to close its constituent message

producers and consumers. The session close is sufficient to signal the JMS
provider that all resources for the session should be released.

Closing a transacted session must rollback its transaction in progress. Closing a

client acknowledged session does NOT force an acknowledge.

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Once a session has been closed an attempt to use it or its message consumers
and producers must throw an IllegalStateException (calls to the close method of
these objects must be ignored). It is valid to continue to use message objects
created or received via the session with the exception of a received messages
acknowledge method.

Closing a closed session must NOT throw an exception.

4.4.2 MessageProducer and MessageConsumer Creation

A session can create and service multiple MessageProducers and
MessageConsumers. See Section 4.5, MessageConsumer and Section 4.6,
MessageProducer for information on their creation and use.

Although a session may create multiple producers and consumers, they are
restricted to serial use. In effect, only a single logical thread of control can use
them. This is explained in more detail later.

4.4.3 Creating TemporaryDestinations

Although sessions are used to create temporary destinations, this is only for
convenience. Their scope is actually the entire connection. Their lifetime is that
of their connection and any of the connections sessions are allowed to create a
MessageConsumer for them.

TemporaryDestinations are destinations that are system generated uniquely for

their connection. Only their own connection is allowed to create
MessageConsumers for them.

One typical use for a TemporaryDestination is as the JMSReplyTo destination for

service requests.

Each TemporaryDestination object is unique. It cannot be copied.

Since TemporaryDestinations may allocate resources outside the JVM they

should be deleted if they are no longer needed. They will be automatically
deleted when they are garbage collected or when their connection is closed.

4.4.4 Creating Destinations

Most clients will use Destinations that are JMS administered objects that they
have looked up via JNDI. This is the most portable approach.

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Some specialized clients may need to create Destinations by dynamically
manufacturing one using a provider specific destination name. Sessions
provide a JMS provider-specific method for doing this.

4.4.5 Optimized Message Implementations

A session provides message create methods that use provider-optimized
implementations. This allows a provider to minimize its overhead for handling
messages.

Sessions must be capable of sending all JMS messages regardless of how they
may be implemented.

4.4.6 Conventions for Using a Session

Sessions are designed for serial use by one thread at a time. The only exception
to this occurs during the orderly shutdown of the session or its connection. See
Section 4.3.5, Closing a Connection and Section 4.4.1, Closing a Session for
further details.

One typical use is to have a thread block on a synchronous MessageConsumer

until a message arrives. The thread may then use one or more of the sessions
MessageProducers.

It is erroneous for a client to use a thread of control to attempt to

synchronously receive a message if there is already a client thread of control
waiting to receive a message in the same session.

Another typical use is to have one thread set up a session by creating its
producers and one or more asynchronous consumers. In this case, the message
producers are exclusively for the use of the consumers message listeners.
Since the session serializes execution of its consumers MessageListeners, they
can safely share the resources of their session.

If a connection is left in stopped mode while its sessions are being set up, a
client does not have to deal with messages arriving before the client is fully
prepared to handle them. This is the preferred strategy because it eliminates
the possibility of unanticipated conflicts between setup and message
processing. It is possible to create and set up a session while a connection is
receiving messages. In this case, more care is required to insure that a sessions
MessageProducers, MessageConsumers and MessageListeners are created in the
right order. For instance, a bad order may cause a MessageListener to use a

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MessageProducer that has yet to be created; or, messages may arrive in the
wrong order due to the order MessageListeners are registered.

If a client desires to have one thread producing messages while others

consume them, the client should use a separate session for its producing
thread.

Once a connection has been started, all its sessions with a registered message
listener are dedicated to the thread of control that delivers messages to them. It
is erroneous for client code to use such a session from another thread of
control. The only exception to this is the use of the session or connection close
method.

One consequence of the sessions single-thread-of-control restriction is that a

session with message listeners cannot also be used to synchronously receive
messages. Either the session is dedicated to the thread of control used for
delivery to message listeners or it is dedicated to a thread of control initiated
by client code. It is erroneous to attempt to combine both in the same session.

Another consequence is that a connection must be in stopped mode to setup a

session with more than one message listener. The reason is that when a
connection is actively delivering messages, once the first message listener for a
session has been registered, the session is now controlled by the thread of
control that delivers messages to it. At this point a client thread of control
cannot be used to further configure the session.

It should be natural for most clients to partition their work into sessions. This
model allows clients to start simply and incrementally add message processing
complexity as their need for concurrency grows.

4.4.7 Transactions
A Session may be optionally specified as transacted. Each transacted session
supports a single series of transactions. Each transaction groups a set of
produced messages and a set of consumed messages into an atomic unit of
work. In effect, transactions organize a sessions input message stream and
output message stream into series of atomic units. When a transaction
commits, its atomic unit of input is acknowledged and its associated atomic
unit of output is sent. If a transaction rollback is done, its produced messages
are destroyed and its consumed messages are automatically recovered. For
more information on session recovery see Section 4.4.13, Message
Acknowledgment

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A transaction is completed using either its sessions commit() or rollback()
method. The completion of a sessions current transaction automatically begins
the next. The result is that a transacted session always has a current transaction
within which its work is done.

JTS or some other transaction monitor facility may be used to combine a

sessions transaction with transactions on other resources (databases, other JMS
Sessions, etc.). Since Java distributed transactions are controlled via the JTA
transaction demarcation API, use of the sessions commit and rollback methods
in this context throws a JMS TransactionInProgressException.

4.4.8 Distributed Transactions

JMS does not require that a provider support distributed transactions;
however, it does define that if a provider supplies this support it should be
done via the JTA XAResource API.

A JMS provider may also be a distributed transaction monitor. If it is, it should

provide control of the transaction via the JTA API.

Although it is possible for a JMS client to handle distributed transactions

directly, it is unlikely that many JMS clients will do this. Support for JTA in
JMS is targeted at systems vendors who will be integrating JMS into their
application server products. See Chapter 8, JMS Application Server Facilities
for more information.

4.4.9 Multiple Sessions

A client may create multiple sessions. Each session is an independent producer
and consumer of messages.

For Pub/Sub, if two sessions each have a subscriber that subscribes to the same
Topic, each Subscriber is given each message. Delivery to one Subscriber does
not block if the other gets behind.

For PTP, JMS does not specify the semantics of concurrent QueueReceivers for
the same queue; however, JMS does not prohibit a provider from supporting
this.

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4.4.10 Message Order

JMS clients need to understand when they can depend on message order and
when they cannot.

4.4.11 Order of Message Receipt

Messages consumed by a session define a serial order. This order is important
because it defines the effect of message acknowledgment. See Section 4.4.13,
Message Acknowledgment for more details. The messages for each of a
sessions consumers are interleaved in a sessions input message stream.

JMS defines that messages sent by a session to a destination must be received

in the order they were sent (see below for a few qualifications). This defines a
partial ordering constraint on a sessions input message stream.

JMS does not define order of message receipt across destinations or across a
destinations messages sent from multiple sessions. This aspect of a sessions
input message stream order is timing dependent. It is not under application
control.

4.4.12 Order of Message Sends

Although clients loosely view the messages they produce within a session as
forming a serial stream of sent messages, the total ordering of this stream is not
significant. The only ordering that is visible to receiving clients is the order of
messages a session sends to a particular destination. Several things can affect
this order:
Messages of higher priority may jump ahead of prior, lower priority
messages.
There is also the possibility that a client may not receive a
NON_PERSISTENT message due to a JMS provider failure.
If both PERSISTENT and NON_PERSISTENT messages are sent to a
destination, order is only guaranteed within delivery mode. That is, a later
NON_PERSISTENT message may arrive ahead of an earlier PERSISTENT
message; however, it will never arrive ahead of an earlier
NON_PERSISTENT message with the same priority.
A client may use a transacted session to group its sent messages into atomic
units (the producer component of a JMS transaction). A transactions order
of messages to a particular destination is significant. The order of sent

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messages across destinations is not significant. See Section 4.4.7,
Transactions for more information.

4.4.13 Message Acknowledgment

If a session is transacted, message acknowledgment is handled automatically
by commit and recovery is handled automatically by rollback.

If a session is not transacted, there are three acknowledgment options and

recovery is handled manually:
DUPS_OK_ACKNOWLEDGE - This option instructs the session to lazily
acknowledge the delivery of messages. This is likely to result in the delivery
of some duplicate messages if JMS fails, it should only be used by
consumers that are tolerant of duplicate messages. Its benefit is the
reduction of session overhead achieved by minimizing the work the session
does to prevent duplicates.
AUTO_ACKNOWLEDGE - With this option, the session automatically
acknowledges a clients receipt of a message when it has either successfully
returned from a call to receive or the MessageListener it has called to process
the message successfully returns.
CLIENT_ACKNOWLEDGE - With this option, a client acknowledges a
message by calling the messages acknowledge method. Acknowledging a
consumed message automatically acknowledges the receipt of all messages
that have been delivered by its session.

When CLIENT_ACKNOWLEDGE mode is used, a client may build up a large

number of unacknowledged messages while attempting to process them. A
JMS provider should provide administrators with a way to limit client over-
run so that clients are not driven to resource exhaustion and ensuing failure
when some resource they are using is temporarily blocked.

A sessions recover method is used to stop a session and restart it with its first
unacknowledged message. In effect, the sessions series of delivered messages
is reset to the point after its last acknowledged message. The messages it now
delivers may be different from that which were originally delivered due to
message expiration and the arrival of higher priority messages.

A session must set the redelivered flag of messages it redelivers due to a

recovery.

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4.4.14 Duplicate Delivery of Messages

A JMS provider must never deliver a second copy of an acknowledged
message.

When a client uses the AUTO_ACKNOWLEDGE mode it is not in direct

control of message acknowledgment. Since such clients cannot know for
certain if a particular message has been acknowledged, they must be prepared
for re-delivery of the last consumed message. This can be caused by the client
completing its work just prior to a failure that prevents the message
acknowledgment from occurring. Only a sessions last consumed message is
subject to this ambiguity.

4.4.15 Duplicate Production of Messages

JMS providers must never produce duplicate messages. This means that a
client that produces a message can rely on its JMS provider to insure the
consumers of the message will only receive it once. No client error can cause a
provider to duplicate a message.

If a failure occurs between the time a client commits its work on a Session and
the commit method returns, the client cannot determine if the transaction was
committed or rolled back. The same ambiguity exists when a failure occurs
between the non-transactional send of a PERSISTENT message and the return
from the sending method.

It is up to a JMS application to deal with this ambiguity. In some cases, this

may cause a client to produce functionally duplicate messages.

A message that is redelivered due to session recovery is not considered a

duplicate message.

4.4.16 Serial Execution of Client Code

Even though the Java language provides built-in support for multi-threading,
writing multi-threaded programs is still more difficult than writing single
threaded ones.

For this reason, JMS does not cause concurrent execution of client code unless
a client explicitly requests it. One way this is done is to define that a session
serializes all asynchronous delivery of messages.

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To receive messages asynchronously, a client registers an object that
implements the JMS MessageListener interface with a MessageConsumer. In effect,
a Session uses a single thread to run all its MessageListeners. While the thread is
busy executing one listener, all other messages to be asynchronously delivered
to the session must wait.

4.4.17 Concurrent Message Delivery

Clients which desire concurrent delivery can use multiple sessions. In effect,
each sessions listener thread runs concurrently. While a listener on one session
is executing, a listener on another session may also be executing.

Note that JMS itself does not provide the facilities for concurrently processing
a topics message set (the messages delivered to a single consumer). A client
could use a single consumer and implement all the multi threading logic
needed to concurrently process them; however, it is not possible to reliably do
this because JMS does not have the transaction facilities needed to handle the
concurrent transactions this would require.

4.5 MessageConsumer
A client uses a MessageConsumer to receive messages from a destination. It is
created by passing a destination to a sessions createMessageConsumer method.

A consumer can be created with a message selector. This allows the client to
restrict the messages delivered to the consumer to those that match the
selector. See Section 3.8.1, Message Selector for more information.

A client may either synchronously receive a consumers messages or have the

provider asynchronously deliver them as they arrive.

4.5.1 Synchronous Delivery

A client can request the next message from a MessageConsumer using one of its
receive methods. There are several variations of receive that allow a client to
poll or wait for the next message.

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4.5.2 Asynchronous Delivery

A client can register an object that implements the JMS MessageListener
interface with a MessageConsumer. As messages arrive for the consumer, the
provider delivers them by calling the listeners onMessage method.

It is possible for a listener to throw a RuntimeException; however, this is

considered a client programming error. Well behaved listeners should catch
such exceptions and attempt to divert messages causing them to some form of
application-specific unprocessable message destination.

The result of a listener throwing a RuntimeException depends on the sessions

acknowledgment mode.
AUTO_ACKNOWLEDGE - the message will be immediately redelivered.
The number of times a JMS provider will redeliver the same message before
giving up is provider dependent.
CLIENT_ACKNOWLEDGE - the next message for the listener is delivered.
If a client wishes to have the previous unacknowledged message redelivered
it must manually recover the session.
Transactional Session - the next message for the listener is delivered. The
client can either commit or rollback the Session (i.e. a RuntimeException does
not automatically rollback the session).

JMS providers should flag clients with message listeners that are throwing
RuntimeExceptions as possibly malfunctioning.

See Section 4.4.16, Serial Execution of Client Code for information about how
onMessage calls are serialized by a session.

4.6 MessageProducer
A client uses a MessageProducer to send messages to a Destination. It is created
by passing a destination to a sessions createMessageProducer method.

A client also has the option of creating a producer without supplying a

destination. In this case, a destination must be input on every send operation.
A typical use for this style of producer is to send replies to requests using the
requests JMSReplyTo destination.

A client can specify a default delivery mode, priority, and time-to-live for
messages sent by a producer. It can also specify delivery mode, priority, and
time-to-live per message.

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Each time a client creates a MessageProducer, it defines a new sequence of
messages that have no ordering relationship with the messages it has
previously sent.

See Section 3.4.9, JMSExpiration for more information on time-to-live. See

Section 3.4.10, JMSPriority for more information on priority.

4.7 Message Delivery Mode

JMS supports two modes of message delivery.
The NON_PERSISTENT mode is the lowest overhead delivery mode
because it does not require that the message be logged to stable storage. A
JMS provider failure can cause a NON_PERSISTENT message to be lost.
The PERSISTENT mode instructs the JMS provider to take extra care to
insure the message is not lost in transit due to a JMS provider failure.

A JMS provider must deliver a NON_PERSISTENT message at-most-once. This

means it may lose the message but it must not deliver it twice.

A JMS provider must deliver a PERSISTENT message once-and-only-once. This

means a JMS provider failure must not cause it to be lost and it must not
deliver it twice.

PERSISTENT (Once-and-only-once) and NON_PERSISTENT (at-most-once)

message delivery are a way for a JMS client to select between message deliver
techniques that may lose a messages if a JMS provider dies and those which
take extra effort to insure that messages can survive such a failure. There is
typically a performance/reliability trade-off implied by this choice. When a
client selects the NON_PERSISTENT delivery mode it is indicating that it
values performance over reliability; a selection of PERSISTENT reverses the
requested trade-off.

The use of PERSISTENT messages does not guarantee that all messages are always
delivered to every eligible consumer. See Section 4.10, Reliability for further
discussion on this topic.

4.8 Message Time-To-Live

A client can specify a time-to-live value in milliseconds for each message it
sends. This value defines a message expiration time which is the sum of the

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messages time-to-live and the GMT it is sent (for transacted sends, this is the
time the client sends the message, not the time the transaction is committed).

A JMS provider should do its best to accurately expire messages; however, JMS
does not define the accuracy provided. It is not acceptable to simply ignore
time-to-live.

For more information on message expiration, see Section 3.4.9,

JMSExpiration.

4.9 Exceptions
JMSException is the base class for all JMS exceptions. See Chapter 7, JMS
Exceptions for more information.

4.10 Reliability
Most clients should use producers that produce PERSISTENT messages. This
insures once-and-only-once message delivery.

In some cases, an application may only require at-most-once message delivery

for some of its messages. This is accomplished by publishing
NON_PERSISTENT messages. These messages typically have lower overhead;
however, they may be lost if a JMS provider fails. Both PERSISTENT and
NON_PERSISTENT messages can be published to the same destination.

Normally, a consumer fully processes each message before acknowledging its

receipt to JMS. This insures that JMS does not discard a partially processed
message due to machine failure, etc. A consumer accomplishes this by using
either a transacted or CLIENT_ACKNOWLEDGEed session.

It is expected that important messages will be produced with a PERSISTENT delivery

mode within a transaction; and, consumed within a transaction.

When this is done, applications have the highest level of assurance that a
message has been properly produced; reliably delivered; and, accurately
consumed. Non-transactional production and consumption can also achieve
the same level of assurance; however, this requires careful programming.

A JMS provider may have resource restrictions that limit the number of
messages that can be held for high volume destinations or non-responsive
clients. If messages are dropped due to resource limits this is usually a serious
administrative issue that needs attention. Correct functioning of JMS requires

JMS Common FacilitiesNovember 9, 1999 66

 4
that clients are responsive and adequate resources to service them are
available.

Once-and-only-once message delivery as described in this specification has the

important caveat that it does not cover message destruction due to message expiration
or other administrative destruction criteria. It also does not cover loss due to resource
restrictions. Configuration of adequate resources and processing power for JMS
applications is the job of an administrator who must be aware of their JMS Providers
reliability features.

67 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 JMS Point-to-Point Model 5

5.1 Overview
Point-to-point systems are about working with queues of messages. They are
point-to-point in that a client sends a message to a specific queue. Some PTP
systems blur the distinction between PTP and Pub/Sub by providing system
clients that automatically distribute messages.

It is common for a client to have all its messages delivered to a single queue.

Like any generic mailbox, a queue can contain a mixture of messages. And, like
real mailboxes, creating and maintaining each queue is somewhat costly. Most
queues are created administratively and are treated as static resources by their
clients.

The JMS PTP model defines how a client works with queues. How it finds
them; how it sends messages to them; and, how it receives messages from
them.

5.2 Queue Management

JMS does not define facilities for creating, administering, or deleting long lived
queues (it does provide such a mechanism for TemporaryQueues). Since most
clients use statically defined queues this is not a problem.

68
 5

5.3 Queue
A Queue object encapsulates a provider-specific queue name. It is the way a
client specifies the identity of queue to JMS methods.

The actual length of time messages are held by a queue and the consequences
of resource overflow are not defined by JMS.

See Section 4.2, Administered Objects for more information about JMS
Destination objects.

5.4 TemporaryQueue
A TemporaryQueue is a unique Queue object created for the duration of a
QueueConnection. It is a system defined queue that can only be consumed by
the QueueConnection that created it.

See Section 4.4.3, Creating TemporaryDestinations for more information.

5.5 QueueConnectionFactory
A client uses a QueueConnectionFactory to create QueueConnections with a JMS
PTP provider.

See Section 4.2, Administered Objects for more information about JMS
ConnectionFactory objects.

5.6 QueueConnection
A QueueConnection is an active connection to a JMS PTP provider. A client uses
a QueueConnection to create one or more QueueSessions for producing and
consuming messages.

See Section 4.3, Connection for more information.

5.7 QueueSession
A QueueSession provides methods for creating QueueReceivers, QueueSenders,
QueueBrowsers and TemporaryQueues.

69 Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 5
If there are messages that have been received but not acknowledged when a
QueueSession terminates, these messages must be retained and redelivered
when a consumer next accesses the queue.

See Section 4.4, Session for more information.

5.8 QueueReceiver
A client uses a QueueReceiver for receiving messages that have been delivered
to a queue.

Although is possible to have two sessions with a QueueReceiver for the same
queue, JMS does not define how messages are distributed between the
QueueReceivers.

If a QueueReceiver specifies a message selector, the messages that are not

selected remain on the queue. By definition, a message selector allows a
QueueReceiver to skip messages. This means that when the skipped messages
are eventually read, the total ordering of the reads does not retain the partial
order defined by each message producer. Only QueueReceivers without a
message selector will read messages in message producer order.

For more information see Section 4.5, MessageConsumer.

5.9 QueueSender
A client uses a QueueSender to send messages to a queue.

For more information see Section 4.6, MessageProducer.

5.10 QueueBrowser
A client uses a QueueBrowser to look at messages on a queue without removing
them.

The browse methods return a java.util.Enumeration that is used to scan the

queues messages. It may be an enumeration of the entire content of a queue or
it may only contain the messages matching a message selector.

Messages may be arriving and expiring while the scan is done. JMS does not
require the content of an enumeration to be a static snapshot of queue content.
Whether these changes are visible or not depends on the JMS provider.

JMS Point-to-Point ModelNovember 9, 1999 70

 5

5.11 QueueRequestor
JMS provides a QueueRequestor helper class to simplify making service
requests.

The QueueRequestor constructor is given a QueueSession and a destination

queue. It creates a TemporaryQueue for the responses and provides a request
method that sends the request message and waits for its reply.

This is a basic request/reply abstraction that should be sufficient for most uses.
JMS providers and clients can create more sophisticated versions.

5.12 Reliability
A queue is typically created by an administrator and exists for a long time. It is
always available to hold messages sent to it whether or not the client that
consumes its messages is active. For this reason, a client does not have to take
any special precautions to insure it does not miss messages.

71 Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 JMS Publish/Subscribe Model 6

6.1 Overview
The JMS Pub/Sub model defines how JMS clients publish messages to, and
subscribe to messages from a well known node in a content based hierarchy.
JMS calls these nodes topics.

In this section, the terms publish and subscribe are used in place of the more
generic terms produce and consume used previously.

A topic can be thought of as a mini message broker that gathers and distributes
messages addressed to it. By relying on the topic as an intermediary, message
publishers are kept independent of subscribers and vice versa. The topic
automatically adapts as both publishers and subscribers come and go.

Publishers and subscribers are active when the Java objects that represent them
exist. JMS also supports the optional durability of subscribers that remembers
the existence of them while they are inactive.

6.2 Pub/Sub Latency

Since there is typically some latency in all pub/sub systems, the exact
messages seen by a subscriber may vary depending on how quickly a JMS
provider propagates the existence of a new subscriber and the length of time a
provider retains messages in transit.

For instance, some messages from a distant publisher may be missed because it
may take a second for the existence of a new subscriber to be propagated

72
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system wide. When a new subscriber is created, it may receive messages sent
earlier because a provider may still have them available.

JMS does not define the exact semantics that apply during the interval when a
pub/sub provider is adjusting to a new client. JMS semantics only apply once
the provider has reached a steady state with respect to a new client.

6.3 Durable Subscription

Non-durable subscriptions last for the lifetime of their subscriber object. This
means that a client will only see the messages published on a topic while its
subscriber is active. If the subscriber is not active, it is missing messages
published on its topic.

At the cost of higher overhead, a subscriber can be made durable. A durable

subscriber registers a durable subscription with a unique identity that is retained
by JMS. Subsequent subscriber objects with the same identity resume the
subscription in the state it was left by the prior subscriber. If there is no active
subscriber for a durable subscription, JMS retains the subscriptions messages
until they are received by the subscription or until they expire.

All JMS providers must be able to run JMS applications that dynamically create
and delete durable subscriptions. Some JMS providers may, in addition,
provide facilities to administratively configure durable subscriptions. If a
durable subscription has been administratively configured it is valid for it to
silently override the subscription specified by the client.

An inactive durable subscription is one that exists but does not currently have a
message consumer subscribed to it.

6.4 Topic Management

Some products require that topics be statically defined with associated
authorization control lists, etc.; others dont even have the concept of topic
administration.

JMS does not define facilities for creating, administering, or deleting topics.

A special type of topic called a TemporaryTopic is provided for creating a Topic

that is unique to a TopicConnection. See Section 6.6, TemporaryTopic for
more details.

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 6

6.5 Topic
A Topic object encapsulates a provider-specific topic name. It is the way a
client specifies the identity of a topic to JMS methods.

Many Pub/Sub providers group topics into hierarchies and provide various
options for subscribing to parts of the hierarchy. JMS places no restriction on
what a Topic object represents. It might be a leaf in a topic hierarchy or it might
be a larger part of the hierarchy (for subscribing to a general class of
information).

The organization of topics and the granularity of subscriptions to them is an

important part of a Pub/Sub applications architecture. JMS does not specify a
policy for how this should be done. If an application takes advantage of a
provider-specific topic grouping mechanism, it should document this. If the
application is installed using a different provider, it is the job of the
administrator to construct an equivalent topic architecture and create
equivalent Topic objects.

6.6 TemporaryTopic
A TemporaryTopic is a unique Topic object created for the duration of a
TopicConnection. It is a system defined Topic that can only be consumed by the
TopicConnection that created it.

By definition, it does not make sense to create a durable subscription to a

temporary topic. To do this is a programming error that may or may not be
detected by a JMS Provider.

See Section 4.4.3, Creating TemporaryDestinations for more information.

6.7 TopicConnectionFactory
A client uses a TopicConnectionFactory to create TopicConnections with a JMS
Pub/Sub provider.

See Section 4.2, Administered Objects for more information about JMS
ConnectionFactorys.

JMS Publish/Subscribe ModelNovember 9, 1999 74

 6

6.8 TopicConnection
A TopicConnection is an active connection to a JMS Pub/Sub provider. A client
uses a TopicConnection to create one or more TopicSessions for producing and
consuming messages.

See Section 4.3, Connection for more information.

6.9 TopicSession
A TopicSession provides methods for creating TopicPublishers,
TopicSubscribers and TemporaryTopics. It also provides the unsubscribe
method for deleting its clients durable subscriptions.

See Section 4.4, Session for more information.

6.10 TopicPublisher
A client uses a TopicPublisher for publishing messages on a topic. TopicPublisher
is the Pub/Sub variant of a JMS MessageProducer. See Section 4.6,
MessageProducer for a description of its common features.

6.11 TopicSubscriber
A client uses a TopicSubscriber for receiving messages that have been published
to a topic. TopicSubscriber is the Pub/Sub variant of a JMS MessageConsumer. For
more information see Section 4.5, MessageConsumer.

Regular TopicSubscribers are not durable. They only receive messages that are
published while they are active.

Messages filtered out by a subscribers message selector will never be

delivered to the subscriber. From the subscribers perspective they simply
dont exist.

In some cases, a connection may both publish and subscribe to a topic. The
subscriber NoLocal attribute allows a subscriber to inhibit the delivery of
messages published by its own connection.

A TopicSession allows the creation of multiple TopicSubscribers per destination,

it will deliver each message for a destination to each TopicSubscriber eligible to
receive it. Each copy of the message is treated as a completely separate

75 Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 6
message. Work done on one copy has no affect on the other; acknowledging
one does not acknowledge the other; one message may be delivered
immediately while another waits for its consumer to process messages ahead
of it.

6.11.1 Durable TopicSubscriber

If a client needs to receive all the messages published on a topic including the
ones published while the subscriber is inactive, it uses a durable
TopicSubscriber. JMS retains a record of this durable subscription and insures
that all messages from the topics publishers are retained until they are either
acknowledged by this durable subscriber or they have expired.

Sessions with durable subscribers must always provide the same client
identifier. In addition, each client must specify a name which uniquely
identifies (within client identifier) each durable subscription it creates. Only
one session at a time can have a TopicSubscriber for a particular durable
subscription. See Section 4.3.2, Client Identifier for more information.

A client can change an existing durable subscription by creating a durable

TopicSubscriber with the same name and a new topic and/or message selector.
Changing a durable subscription is equivalent to deleting and recreating it.

TopicSessions provide the unsubscribe method for deleting a durable

subscription created by their client. This deletes the state being maintained on
behalf of the subscriber by its provider. It is erroneous for a client to delete a
durable subscription while it has an active TopicSubscriber for it or while a
message received by it is part of a current transaction or has not been
acknowledged in the session.

6.12 Recovery and Redelivery

Due to the temporary nature of non-durable subscriptions, attempting to
recover ones unacknowledged messages may drop messages. When a non-
durable subscriber terminates, messages waiting for it will likely be dropped
whether or not they have been acknowledged.

Only durable subscriptions are reliably able to recover unacknowledged

messages.

JMS Publish/Subscribe ModelNovember 9, 1999 76

 6

6.13 Administering Subscriptions

Ideally, publishers and subscribers are dynamically registered by a provider
when they are created. From the client viewpoint this is always the case. From
the administrators viewpoint, there may be other tasks need to support their
creation.

The amount of resources allocated for message storage and the consequences
of resource overflow are not defined by JMS.

6.14 TopicRequestor
JMS provides a TopicRequestor helper class to simplify making service requests.

The TopicRequestor constructor is given a TopicSession and a destination topic. It

creates a TemporaryTopic for the responses and provides a request() method that
sends the request message and waits for its reply.

This is a basic request/reply abstraction that should be sufficient for most uses.
JMS providers and clients are free to create more sophisticated versions.

6.15 Reliability
When all messages for a topic must be received, a durable subscriber should be
used. JMS insures that messages published while a durable subscriber is
inactive are retained by JMS and delivered when the subscriber subsequently
becomes active.

Non-durable subscribers should only be used when missed messages are

tolerable.

Table 0-10 Pub/Sub Reliability

How Published Non-Durable Subscriber Durable Subscriber

NON_PERSISTENT at-most-once at-most-once
(missed if inactive)
PERSISTENT once-and-only-once once-and-only-once
(missed if inactive)

77 Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 JMS Exceptions 7

7.1 Overview
This chapter provides an overview of JMS exception handling and defines the
standard JMS exceptions.

7.2 The JMSException

JMS defines JMSException as the root interface for exceptions thrown by JMS
methods. JMSException is a checked exception and catching it provides a
generic way of handling all JMS related exceptions. JMSException provides the
following information:
A provider-specific string describing the error - This string is the standard
Java exception message, and is available via getMessage().
A provider-specific, string error code
A reference to another exception - Often a JMS exception will be the result of
a lower level problem. If appropriate, this lower level exception can be
linked to the JMS exception.

JMS methods only include JMSException in their signatures. JMS methods can
throw any JMS standard exception as well as any JMS provider specific
exception. The javadoc for JMS methods documents only the mandatory
exception cases.

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7.3 Standard Exceptions

In addition to JMSException, JMS defines several additional exceptions that
standardize the reporting of basic error conditions.

There are only a few cases where JMS mandates that a specific JMS exception
must be thrown. These cases are indicated by the words must be in the
exception description. These cases are the only ones on which client logic
should depend on a specific problem resulting in a specific JMS exception being
thrown.

In the remainder of cases, it is strongly suggested that JMS providers use one
of the standard exceptions where possible. JMS providers may also derive
provider specific exceptions from these if needed.

JMS defines the following standard exceptions:

IllegalStateException: This exception is thrown when a method is invoked at
an illegal or inappropriate time or if the provider is not in an appropriate
state for the requested operation. For example, this exception should be
thrown if Session.commit() is called on a non-transacted session.
JMSSecurityException: This exception must be thrown when a provider
rejects a user name/password submitted by a client. It may also be thrown
for any case where a security restriction prevents a method from
completing.
InvalidClientIDException: This exception must be thrown when a client
attempts to set a connections client id to a value that is rejected by a
provider.
InvalidDestinationException: This exception must be thrown when a
destination is either not understood by a provider or is no longer valid.
InvalidSelectorException: This exception must be thrown when a JMS client
attempts to give a provider a message selector with invalid syntax.
MessageEOFException: This exception must be thrown when an unexpected
end of stream has been reached when a StreamMessage or BytesMessage is
being read.
MessageFormatException: This exception must be thrown when a JMS client
attempts to use a data type not supported by a message or attempts to read
data in a message as the wrong type. It must also be thrown when
equivalent type errors are made with message property values. For example,
this exception must be thrown if StreamMessage.setObject() is given an

79 Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 7
unsupported class or if StreamMessage.getShort() is used to read a boolean
value. This exception also must be thrown if a provider is given a type of
message it cannot accept. Note that the special case of a failure caused by
attempting to read improperly formatted String data as numeric values
should throw the java.lang.NumberFormatException.
MessageNotReadableException: This exception must be thrown when a JMS
client attempts to read a write-only message.
MessageNotWriteableException: This exception must be thrown when a JMS
client attempts to write to a read-only message.
ResourceAllocationException: This exception is thrown when a provider is
unable to allocate the resources required by a method. For example, this
exception should be throw when a call to createTopicConnection fails due to
lack of JMS Provider resources.
TransactionInProgressException: This exception is thrown when an operation
is invalid because a transaction is in progress. For instance, attempting to
call Session.commit() when a session is part of a distributed transaction
should throw a TransactionInProgressException.
TransactionRolledBackException: This exception must be thrown when a call to
Session.commit results in a rollback of the current transaction.

JMS ExceptionsNovember 9, 1999 80

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81 Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 JMS Application Server Facilities 8

8.1 Overview
This chapter describes JMS facilities for concurrent processing of a
subscriptions messages. It also defines how a JMS provider supplies JTS aware
sessions. These facilities can also be used by expert JMS clients.

These facilities are a special category of JMS. They will only be supported by
the more sophisticated JMS providers.

8.2 Concurrent Processing of a Subscriptions Messages

JMS provides a special facility for creating a MessageConsumer that can
concurrently consume messages.

This facility partitions the work into three roles:

JMS provider - its role is to deliver the messages.
Application Server - its role is to create the consumer and manage the
threads used by the concurrent MessageListener objects.
Application - its role is to define a subscription with a destination and
optionally a message selector and provide a single threaded MessageListener
class to consume its messages. An application server will construct multiple
objects of this class to concurrently consume messages.

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8.2.1 Session
Sessions provide three methods for use by application servers:
setMessageListener() and getMessageListener() - a sessions MessageListener
consumes messages that have been assigned to the session by a
ConnectionConsumer, see below.
run() - causes the messages assigned to its session by a ConnectionConsumer
to be serially processed by the sessions MessageListener. When the listener
returns from processing the last message, run() returns.

An application server would typically be given a MessageListener class which

contains the single threaded code written by an application programmer to
process messages. It would also be given the destination and message selector
that specified the messages the listener was to consume.

An application server would take care of creating the JMS Connection,

ConnectionConsumer, and Sessions it needs to handle message processing. It
would create as many MessageListener instances as it needed and register each
with its own session.

Since many listeners will need to use the services of its session, the listener is
likely to require that its session be passed to it as a constructor parameter.

8.2.2 ServerSession
A ServerSession is an object implemented by an application server. It is used by
an application server to associate a thread with a JMS session.

A ServerSession implements two methods:

getSession() - returns the ServerSessions JMS Session.
start() - starts the execution of the ServerSession thread and results in the
execution of the associated JMS Sessions run method.

8.2.3 ServerSessionPool
A ServerSessionPool is an object implemented by an application server to
provide a pool of ServerSessions for processing the messages of a
ConnectionConsumer.

83 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 8
Its only method is getServerSession(). This removes a ServerSession from the pool
and gives it to the caller (which is assumed to be a ConnectionConsumer) to use
for consuming one or more messages.

JMS does not architect how the pool is implemented. It could be a static pool of
ServerSessions or it could use a sophisticated algorithm to dynamically create
ServerSessions as needed.

If the ServerSessionPool is out of ServerSessions, the getServerSession() method

may block. If a ConnectionConsumer is blocked, it cannot deliver new messages
until a ServerSession is eventually returned.

8.2.4 ConnectionConsumer
For application servers, connections provide a special facility for creating a
ConnectionConsumer. The messages it is to consume are specified by a
destination and a message selector. In addition, a ConnectionConsumer must be
given a ServerSessionPool to use for processing its messages. A maxMessages
value is specified to limit the number of messages a ConnectionConsumer may
load at one time into a ServerSessions Session.

Normally, when traffic is light, a ConnectionConsumer gets a ServerSession from

its pool; loads its Session with a single message; and, starts it. As traffic picks
up, messages can back up. If this happens, a ConnectionConsumer can load each
Session with more than one message. This reduces the thread context switches
and minimizes resource use at the expense of some serialization of a message
processing.

8.2.5 How a ConnectionConsumer Uses a ServerSession

A ConnectionConsumer implemented by a JMS provider uses a ServerSession to
process one or more messages that have arrived. It does this as follows:
It gets a ServerSession from the its ServerSessionPool
It gets the ServerSessions Session
It loads the Session with one or more messages
It then starts the ServerSession to consume these messages

A ConnectionConsumer for a QueueConnection will expect to load its messages

into a QueueSession; as would one for a TopicConnection expect to load a
TopicSession.

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 8
Note that JMS does not architect how the ConnectionConsumer loads the Session
with messages. Since both the ConnectionConsumer and Session are
implemented by the same JMS provider, they can accomplish the load using a
private mechanism.

8.2.6 How an App Server Implements a ServerSession

JMS does not architect the implementation of a ServerSession. A typical
implementation is presented here to illustrate the concept:
An app server creates a Thread for a ServerSession registering the
ServerSessions runObject. The implementation of this runObject is private to
the app server.
The ServerSessions start method calls its Threads start method. Like all Java
threads, a call to start initiates execution of the started thread and calls the
threads runObject. The caller to ServerSession.start (the ConnectionConsumer)
and the ServerSession runObject are now running in different threads.
The runObject will do some housekeeping and then call its Sessions run()
method. On return, the runObject puts its ServerSession back into its
ServerSessionPool and returns. This terminates execution of the
ServerSessions thread and the cycle starts again.

8.2.7 The Result

JMS has defined a flexible mechanism that partitions the job of concurrent
message consumption into roles that are well suited for each participant.

The application programmer provides a simple to write, single threaded

implementation of MessageListener.

The JMS provider retains control of its messages until they are delivered to the
MessageListener. This insures it is under direct control of message
acknowledgment.

The application server is in control of setting up the ConnectionConsumer and

managing all the threads used for executing its MessageListeners.

85 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 8
The following diagram illustrates the relationship between the three roles and
the objects they implement.

JMS App
Provider implements Server
ServerSession

implements controls
thread for
Manages a implements
pool of
implements
Session

delivers
messages
gets a ServerSessionPool
to
ServerSession
Connection from
Consumer delivers
messages
to
is delivered
messages for

Destination with
optional message Message
selector Listener

supplies implements

App

JMS Application Server FacilitiesNovember 9, 1999 86

 8
The following diagram illustrates the process a ConnectionConsumer uses to
deliver a message to a MessageListener.

ServerSessionPool

getServerSession
Destination with
optional message
selector ServerSession
getSession

assign one or more

ConnectionConsumer messages

Session
start

ServerSession

run

Session

onMessage

Message
Listener

87 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

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8.3 XAConnectionFactory
Some application servers provide support for grouping resource use into a
distributed transaction. To include JMS transactions in a distributed
transaction, an application server requires a Java Transaction API (JTA) capable
JMS provider. A JMS provider exposes its JTA support using a JMS
XAConnectionFactory which an application server uses to create XAConnections.

XAConnectionFactory provides the same authentication options as

ConnectionFactory.

XAConnectionFactorys are JMS administered objects just like

ConnectionFactorys. It is expected that application servers will find them using
JNDI.

8.4 XAConnection
XAConnection extends the capability of Connection by providing the ability to
create XASessions.

8.5 XASession
XASession provides access to what looks like a normal Session object and a
javax.transaction.xa.XAResource object which controls the sessions transaction
context. The functionality of XAResource closely resembles that defined by the
standard X/Open XA Resource interface.

An application server controls the transactional assignment of an XASession by

obtaining its XAResource. It uses the XAResource to assign the session to a
distributed transaction; prepare and commit work on the transaction; etc.

An XAResource provides some fairly sophisticated facilities for interleaving

work on multiple transactions; recovering a list of transactions in progress; etc.
A JTA aware JMS provider must fully implement this functionality. This could
be done by using the services of a database that supports XA or a JMS provider
may choose to implement this functionality from scratch.

A client of the application server is given the XASessions Session. Behind the
scenes, the application server controls the transaction management of the
underlying XASession.

JMS Application Server FacilitiesNovember 9, 1999 88

 8
It is important to note that a distributed transaction context does not flow with
a message; and, the receipt of the message cannot be part of the same
transaction that produced the message. This is the fundamental difference
between messaging and synchronized processing. Message producers and
consumers use an alternative approach to reliability that is built upon a JMS
providers ability to supply a once-and-only-once message delivery guarantee.

To reiterate, the act of producing and/or consuming messages in a Session can

be transactional. The act of producing and consuming a specific message across
different sessions cannot.

8.6 JMS Application Server Interfaces

Both PTP and Pub/Sub domains provide their own versions of JTS aware JMS
facilities.

Table 0-11 Relationship of PTP and Pub/Sub expert interfaces

JMS Root PTP Interface Pub/Sub Interface

ServerSessionPool
ServerSession
ConnectionConsumer
XAConnectionFactory XAQueueConnectionFactory XATopicConnectionFactory
XAConnection XAQueueConnection XATopicConnection
XASession XAQueueSession XATopicSession

89 Java Message Service November 9, 1999

 JMS Sample Code 9

9.1 Sample JMS Code

9.1.1 Background
The following code examples show several ways a client could use the various
JMS API message types with both the Point-to-Point and Publish/Subscribe
messaging, to obtain stock quote information.

Note that no exception handling code is included. This makes it easier to see
what's happening.

Lets assume that there is a stock quote service which sends out the stock quote
messages. This could be done in many different ways, and as will be shown
below, the construction of these messages is the same for both PTP and
Pub/Sub messaging.
Before we can send and receive message, the client application needs to do
some initial setup.

9.1.2 Point-to-Point Setup

Here is an example that shows how to send and receive messages using Point-
to-Point messaging.

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9.1.2.1 Getting a QueueConnectionFactory

Both the message sender and receiver need to get a queue connection factory
and use it to setup both a queue connection and a queue session.

An administrator typically has created and configured a

QueueConnectionFactory for our use. We typically get it by looking it up using
JNDI.
QueueConnectionFactory queueConnectionFactory;

Context messaging = new InitialContext();

queueConnectionFactory = (QueueConnectionFactory)
messaging.lookup(QueueConnectionFactory);

9.1.2.2 Getting a Message Queue

An administrator has created and configured "StockQueue" for our use. Again,
we use JNDI to look it up.
Queue stockQueue;

stockQueue = (Queue) messaging.lookup("StockQueue");

9.1.2.3 Getting a QueueConnection

Having obtained the QueueConnectionFactory, we use it to create a
QueueConnection.
QueueConnection queueConnection;

queueConnection = queueConnectionFactory.createQueueConnection();

9.1.2.4 Getting a QueueSession

Having obtained the QueueConnection, we use it to create a QueueSession.
This will be used to create a QueueSender (if we want to send messages) or a
QueueReceiver (if we want to receive messages).

We use the QueueConnection.createQueueSession method to do this,

supplying two parameters:
A boolean indicating whether this queue session will be transacted on not
The mode of acknowledging message receipt

QueueSession session;

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session = queueConnection.createQueueSession(false,
Session.AUTO_ACKNOWLEDGE);

9.1.2.5 Getting a QueueSender

Having obtained the QueueSession, we use it to create a QueueSender, if we
are going to be sending messages to the queue. This is achieved with the
QueueSession.createSender method. We supply one parameter; the queue we
are going to be sending messages to.

QueueSender sender;

sender = session.createSender(queue);

9.1.2.6 Getting a QueueReceiver

In a similar fashion, we get a QueueReceiver if we are going to be receiving
messages from the queue. This is achieved with the
QueueSession.createReceiver method. We supply one parameter; the queue we
are going to be receiving messages from.

QueueReceiver receiver;

receiver = session.createReceiver(queue);

9.1.2.7 Start Delivery of Messages

Up until this point, delivery of messages has been inhibited so that the
preceding setup could be done without being interrupted with asynchronously
delivered messages. Now that the setup is complete, the connection is told to
begin the delivery of messages to its message consumers.
queueConnection.start();

9.1.3 Publish/Subscribe Messaging Domain Setup

Here is an equivalent example that shows how to send and receive messages
using Pub/Sub messaging:

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9.1.3.1 Getting a TopicConnectionFactory

Both the message publisher and subscriber need to get a topic connection
factory and use it to setup a connection and a topic session.

An administrator typically has created and configured a

TopicConnectionFactory for our use. We typically get it by looking it up using
JNDI.
TopicConnectionFactory topicConnectionFactory;

Context messaging = new InitialContext();

topicConnectionFactory = (TopicConnectionFactory)
messaging.lookup("TopicConnectionFactory");

9.1.3.2 Getting a Message Topic

An administrator has created and configured "StockQueue" for our use. Again,
we use JNDI to look it up.

Topic stockTopic;

stockTopic = (Topic) messaging.lookup("StockTopic");

9.1.3.3 Getting a TopicConnection

Having obtained the TopicConnectionFactory, we use it to create a
TopicConnection.
TopicConnection topicConnection;

topicConnection = topicConnectionFactory.createTopicConnection();

9.1.3.4 Getting a TopicSession

Having obtained the TopicConnection, we use it to create a TopicSession. This
will be used to create a TopicPublisher (if we want to publish messages) or a
TopicSubscriber (if we want to receive messages).

We use the TopicConnection.createTopicSession method to do this, supplying

two parameters:
A boolean indicating whether this topic session will be transacted on not;
The mode of acknowledging message receipt

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TopicSession session;

session = topicConnection.createTopicSession(false,
Session.CLIENT_ACKNOWLEDGE);

9.1.3.5 Getting a TopicSubscriber

Having obtained the TopicSession, we use it to obtain a TopicSubscriber if we
are going to subscribe to the topic in order to receive messages. This is
achieved with the TopicSession.createSubscriber method. We supply the topic
we wish to subscribe to.

First we create a topic subscriber:

TopicSubscriber subscriber;

subscriber = session.createSubscriber(stockTopic);

In order to asynchronously receive messages as they are delivered to our

subscriber, we need to create a message listener which implements the
javax.jms.MessageListener interface.

Our listener class (lets call it StockListener.java) would look something like:

public class StockListener implements javax.jms.MessageListener {

void
onMessage(Message message) {

// unpack and handle the messages we receive.

}
}

Next we register this message listener with our subscriber:

StockListener myListener;
subscriber.setMessageListener(myListener);

9.1.3.6 Getting a TopicPublisher

Having obtained the TopicSession, we use it to create a TopicPublisher if we
are going to be publishing messages to the topic. This is achieved with the

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TopicSession.createPublisher method. We supply one parameter; the topic we
are going to be publishing messages to.

TopicPublisher publisher;

publisher = session.createPublisher(stockTopic);

9.1.3.7 Start Delivery of Messages

Up until this point, delivery of messages has been inhibited so that the
preceding setup could be done without being interrupted with asynchronously
delivered messages. Now that the setup is complete, the connection is told to
begin the delivery of messages to its message consumers.
topicConnection.start();

9.1.4 JMS Message Types

We now need to put the stock information into one of the JMS message types.
Our queue or topic session has all the methods needed for creating a message
of the type we want.

9.1.4.1 Using a BytesMessage

The stock quote information could be in a binary format that the server knows
how to construct, and the client knows how to interpret and display as a stock
quote.

Such a message could be constructed with:

byte[] stockData; // stock information as a byte array

BytesMessage message;

message = session.createByteMessage();
message.writeBytes(stockData);

9.1.4.2 Using a TextMessage

The stock quote information could be sent as a human-readable text string
which is just read and displayed by the client.

We can create such a message with:

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String stockData; // stock information as a String
TextMessage message;

message = session.createTextMessage();
message.setText(stockData);

9.1.4.3 Using a MapMessage

Each stock message sent by the server could be a map of various stock quote
name/value pairs. For example, it could contain entries for:
stock quote name - String
current value - double
time of quote - long
last change - double
stock information - String

The client would receive the whole map message, but might only be interested
in displaying part of this information. It could extract the required fields from
the message, ignoring the rest.

Construction of a stock MapMessage would be something like:

String stockName; // the name of the stock quote.

double stockValue; // the current value of the stock.
long stockTime; // the time of the stock quote.
double stockDiff; // the +/- change in the stock quote.
String stockInfo; // information on this stock.
MapMessage message;

message = session.createMapMessage();

Note that the following can be set in any order.

message.setString("Name", stockName);
message.setDouble("Value", stockValue);
message.setLong("Time", stockTime);
message.setDouble("Diff", stockDiff);
message.setString("Info", stockInfo);

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9.1.4.4 Using a StreamMessage

In a similar fashion to the map message, the server could send out a message
consisting of various fields written in sequence to the message, each in their
own primitive type:
stock quote name - String
current value - double
time of quote - long
last change - double
stock information - String.

The client might be only interested in some of the message field, but in the case
of a stream message, it has to read (and potentially throw away) each field in
turn.

The stock StreamMessage could be created with:

String stockName; // the name of the stock quote.

double stockValue; // the current value of the stock.
long stockTime; // the time of the stock quote.
double stockDiff; // the +/- change in the stock quote.
String stockInfo; // information on this stock.
StreamMessage message;

message = session.createStreamMessage();

Note that the following have to be written in the order they will be read.

message.writeString(stockName);
message.writeDouble(stockValue);
message.writeLong(stockTime);
message.writeDouble(stockDiff);
message.writeString(stockInfo);

9.1.4.5 Using an ObjectMessage

The stock information could be sent in the form of a special Stock Java object,
which the client extracts, then uses its methods to obtain the stock information
it requires.

Construction of such an object message could look like:

String stockName; // the name of the stock quote.

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double stockValue; // the current value of the stock.
long stockTime; // the time of the stock quote.
double stockDiff; // the +/- change in the stock quote.
String stockInfo; // information on this stock.
StockObject stockObject = new StockObject();
ObjectMessage message;

These values could have been passed in when the stock object was constructed.

stockObject.setName(stockName);
stockObject.setValue(stockValue);
stockObject.setTime(stockTime);
stockObject.setDiff(stockDiff);
stockObject.setInfo(stockInfo);

message = session.createObjectMessage();
message.setObject(stockObject);

9.1.5 Point-to-Point Sending and Receiving

Here's how to send and receive messages in the Point-To-Point messaging
domain:

9.1.5.1 Sending a Message

Sending of all of these message types is done in the same way:

sender.send(message);

9.1.5.2 Receiving a Message

Receiving of all of these message types is done in the same way. Here is how to
receive the next message in the queue. Note that this call will block indefinitely
until a message arrives on the queue.

StreamMessage stockMessage;
stockMessage = (StreamMessage)receiver.receive();

9.1.6 Publish/Subscribe Sending and Receiving

Here's how to send and receive messages in the Publish/Subscribe messaging
domain:

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9.1.6.1 Sending a Message

Sending (publishing) of all of these message types is done in the same way:

publisher.publish(message);

9.1.6.2 Receiving a Message

Receiving of all of these message types is done in the same way. When the
client subscribed to the topic, it registered a message listener. This listener
will be asynchronously notified whenever a message has been published to the
topic. This is done via the onMessage() method in that listener class. It is up to
the client to process the message there.

void
onMessage(Message message) {

// unpack and handle the messages we receive.

9.1.7 Unpacking messages

Unpacking of a message is different for each message type, but works the same
way in both the Point-To-Point and the Publish/Subscribe messaging domains.

9.1.7.1 Unpacking a BytesMessage

byte[] stockData; // stock information as a byte array
int length;

length = message.readBytes(stockData);

9.1.7.2 Unpacking a TextMessage

String stockData; // stock information as a String

stockData = message.getText();

9.1.7.3 Unpacking a MapMessage

Note that the following can be gotten in any order.

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String stockName; // the name of the stock quote.
double stockValue; // the current value of the stock.
long stockTime; // the time of the stock quote.
double stockDiff; // the +/- change in the stock quote.
String stockInfo; // information on this stock.

stockName = message.getString("Name");
stockValue = message.getDouble("Value");
stockTime = message.getLong("Time");
stockDiff = message.getDouble("Diff");
stockInfo = message.getString("Info");

9.1.7.4 Unpacking a StreamMessage

Note that the following have to be read in the order they were written.

String stockName; // the name of the stock quote.

double stockValue; // the current value of the stock.
long stockTime; // the time of the stock quote.
double stockDiff; // the +/- change in the stock quote.
String stockInfo; // information on this stock.

stockName = message.readString();
stockValue = message.readDouble();
stockTime = message.readLong();
stockDiff = message.readDouble();
stockInfo = message.readString();

9.1.7.5 Unpacking an ObjectMessage

String stockName; // the name of the stock quote.
double stockValue; // the current value of the stock.
long stockTime; // the time of the stock quote.
double stockDiff; // the +/- change in the stock quote.
String stockInfo; // information on this stock.
StockObject stockObject = new StockObject();

stockObject = message.getObject();
stockName = stockObject.getName();
stockValue = stockObject.getValue();
stockTime = stockObject.getTime();
stockDiff = stockObject.getDiff();
stockInfo = stockObject.getInfo();

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9.1.8 Message Selection

We might be interested in only certain stock quotes. We can create a message
selector to achieve this. For this example, we will assume that we only want to
receive stock quotes for Sun MicroSystems (SUNW) and IBM (IBM), and that
the stock name has been set in a property called name.

Our message selector String would look like this:

String selector;

selector = new String((name = SUNW) OR (name = IBM)");

9.1.8.1 Point-To-Point QueueReceiver Setup

When we create our QueueReceiver, we pass in the message selector String:

QueueReceiver receiver;

receiver = session.createReceiver(queue, selector);

9.1.8.2 Publish/Subscribe TopicSubscriber Setup

When we create our TopicSubscriber, we pass in the message selector String.

TopicSubscriber subscriber;

subscriber = session.createSubscriber(topic, selector);

Now we will only receive the stock quotes we are interested in.

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 Issues 10

10.1 Resolved Issues

10.1.1 JDK 1.1.x Compatibility

JMS is compatible with JDK 1.1.x.

10.1.2 Distributed Java Event Model

JMS can be used, in general, as a notification service; however, it does not
define a distributed version of Java Events.

One alternative for implementing distributed Java Events would be as

JavaBeans that transparently, to the event producer and listener beans,
distribute the events via JMS.

10.1.3 Should the Two JMS Domains, PTP and Pub/Sub, be merged?
Even though there are many similarities, providing separate domains still seem
to be important.

It means that vendors aren't forced to support facilities out of their domain and
client code can be a bit more portable because products more fully support a
domain (as opposed to supporting less defined subsets of a merged domain).

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10.1.4 Should JMS Specify a Set of JMS Java Beans?

JMS is a low level API and like other Java low level API's it doesn't lend itself
to direct representation as JavaBeans.

10.1.5 Alignment with the CORBA Notification Service

The Notification service adds filtering, delivery guarantee semantics, durable
connections, and the assembly of event networks to the CORBA Event Service.
It gets its delivery guarantee semantics from the CORBA Messaging Service
(which defines asynchronous CORBA method invocation).

Java technology is well integrated with CORBA. It provides Java IDL and COS
Naming. In addition, OMG has recently defined RMI over IIOP.

It is expected that most use of IIOP from Java will be via RMI. It is expected
that most use of COS Naming from Java with be via JNDI (Java Naming and
Directory Service). JMS is a Java specific API designed to be layered over a
wide range of existing and future MOM systems (just like JNDI is layered over
existing name and directory services).

10.1.6 Should JMS Provide End-to-end Synchronous Message Delivery and

Notification of Delivery?
Some messaging systems provide synchronous delivery to destinations as a
mechanism for implementing reliable applications. Some systems provide
clients with various forms of delivery notification so that the clients can detect
dropped or ignored messages. This is not the model defined by JMS.

JMS messaging provides guaranteed delivery via the once-and-only-once

delivery semantics of PERSISTENT messages. In addition, message consumers
can insure reliable processing of messages by using either
CLIENT_ACKNOWLEDGE mode or transactional Sessions.

This achieves reliable delivery with minimum synchronization and is the

enterprise messaging model most vendors and developers prefer.

JMS does not define a schema of systems messages (such as delivery

notifications). If an application requires acknowledgment of message receipt, it
can define an application level acknowledgment message.

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These issues are more clearly understood when they are examined in the
context of Pub/Sub applications. In this context, synchronous delivery and/or
system acknowledgment of receipt are not an effective mechanism for
implementing reliable applications (because producers by definition are not,
and dont want to be, responsible for end-to-end message delivery).

10.1.7 Should JMS Provide a Send-to-List Mechanism?

Currently JMS provides a number of message send options; however, messages
can only be sent to one Destination at a time.

The benefit of send-to-list is slightly less work for the programmer and the
potential for the JMS provider to optimize the fact that several destinations are
being sent the same message.

The down side of a send-to-list mechanism is that the list is, in effect, a group
that is implemented and maintained by the client. This would complicate the
administration of JMS clients.

Instead of JMS providing a send-to-list mechanism, it is recommended that

providers support configuring destinations that represent a group. This allows
a client to reach all consumers with a single send while insuring that groups
are properly administrable.

10.1.8 Should JMS Provide Subscription Notification?

If it were possible for a publisher to detect when subscribers for a topic existed,
it could inhibit publication on unsubscribed topics.

Although there may be some benefit in providing publishers with a

mechanism for inhibiting publication to unsubscribed topics, the complexity
this would add to JMS and the additional provider overhead it would require
is not justified by its potential benefits. Instead, JMS providers should insure
that they minimize the overhead for handling messages published to an
unsubscribed topic.

IssuesNovember 9, 1999 104

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105 Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

 Change History 11

11.1 Version 1.0.1

11.1.1 JMS Exceptions

A new JMS Exception chapter was added and it contains the following new
information:
Two fields were added to JMSException - a vendor error code and an
Exception reference.
In version 1.0, JMSException was the only JMS exception specified. Version
1.0.1 adds a list of standard exceptions derived from JMSException and
describes when each should be thrown by JMS providers.

11.2 Version 1.0.2

The objective of JMS 1.0.2 is to correct errata in the JMS 1.0.1 specification and
code that have been uncovered by implementors and users. It also contains
many clarifications that resolve ambiguities found in the previous versions.

11.2.1 The Multiple Topic Subscriber Special Case

JMS 1.0.1 specified that in the special case of two topic subscribers on a session
with overlapping subscriptions, a message that was selected by both would
only be delivered to one. Implementation experience revealed that this case

106
 11
was better handled in the same way that overlapping subscriptions from
different sessions are treated, so this special case has been removed.

11.2.2 Message Selector Comparison of Exact and Inexact Numeric Values

JMS 1.0.1 specified that message selectors did not support the comparison of
exact and inexact numeric values. This conflicted with the requirement to
support numeric promotion. This has been changed to support exact and
inexact comparison.

11.2.3 Connection and Session Close

JMS 1.0.1 did not fully specify the sequence for closing a connection and its
sessions. This sequence is now fully specified.

JMS 1.0.1 was ambiguous about whether or not calls to connection and session
close returned immediately. Connection and session close now explicitly state
that they block until message processing has been orderly shutdown.

11.2.4 Creating a Session on an Active Connection

When a session is created on an active (as opposed to stopped) connection it is
only possible to create at most a single asynchronous consumer for it. A more
detail discussion of this case is provided.

11.2.5 Delivery Mode and Message Retention

The effect that delivery mode has on message retention for a consumer has
been clarified.

11.2.6 The single thread Use of Sessions

Sessions are designed to minimize the need to write for multi-threaded code in
order to support the asynchronous consumption of messages. Clarification on
the benefits and the programming model of this design have been added.

107 Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

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11.2.7 Clearing a Messages Properties and Body

A clarification has been added that notes that clearing a messages properties
and clearing its body are independent.

11.2.8 Message Selector Numeric Literal Syntax

A note has been added that states that the numeric literal syntax is that
specified by the Java language.

11.2.9 Comparison of Boolean Values in Message Selectors

A note has been added that only equality and inequality comparisons are
supported.

11.2.10 Order of Messages Read from a Queue

A note has been added that explains that a client can read messages from a
destination in an order different from the order they have been sent by using a
selector that matches a later message and then using a selector that matches an
earlier message.

11.2.11 Null Values in Messages

A note has been added that message values are allowed to be null.

11.2.12 Closing Constituents of Closed Connections and Sessions

There was some ambiguity about whether or not close needed to be called on
all JMS objects. A note has been added that states that there is no need to close
the sessions of a closed connection; and, there is no need to close the producers
and consumers of a closed session.

11.2.13 The Termination of a Pending Receive on Close

JMS 1.0.1 did not describe how a pending message receive is terminated if its
session or connection is closed. It is now specified that in this case receive
returns a null message.

Change HistoryNovember 9, 1999 108

 11

11.2.14 Incorrect Entry in Stream and Map Message Conversion Table

This table erroneously included a required conversion between char and
String. This has been removed.

11.2.15 Inactive Durable Subscription

A note explaining that an inactive durable subscription is one that exists but
does not at the time have a TopicSubscriber created for it.

11.2.16 Read-Only Message Body

The read-only semantics of received message bodies was documented in the
Message javadoc but was not included in the spec. It has been added.

11.2.17 Changing Header Fields of a Received Message

When a message is received, its header field values may be changed; however,
its property entries and its body are read-only. A note clarifying this has been
added.

11.2.18 Null/Missing Message Properties and Message Fields

The result of accessing a null/missing value as a Java primitive type was
previously not fully specified. This has clarified.

11.2.19 JMS Source Errata

Two methods required by the spec were left out of the source, the
getJMSXPropertyNames method of ConnectionMetaData and the
getExceptionListener method of Connection. These have been added.

The type of the time-to-live parameter of setTimeToLive and getTimeToLive

methods of MessageProducer and the type of the default time-to-live constant
were int and have been changed to long.

The close sequence of TopicRequestor and QueueRequestor did not agree with
the order specified in the specification and this has been corrected.

109 Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

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The type of the parameter of the createTextMessage method that takes an input
value was changed from StringBuffer to String.

The subscription name parameter was missing from the

createDurableSubscription method of TopicConnection. It has been added.

11.2.20 JMS Source JavaDoc Errata

The correct end-of-message indicator for the readBytes method of
BytesMessage is a return value of -1.

The setPriority method of MessageProducer should have a parameter named

priority not deliveryMode.

11.2.21 JMS Source JavaDoc Clarifications

Note that byte values are returned as byte[] not Byte[] by the readObject method
of StreamMessage and the getObject method of MapMessage.

Note that the acknowledge method of Message acknowledges all messages

received on that messages session.

Note that the InvalidClientIDException is used for any client id value that a JMS
provider considers invalid. Since client id value is JMS provider specific the
criteria for determining a valid value is provider specific.

A note has been added to the readBytes method of StreamMessage and

BytesMessage to describe how values that overflow the size of the input buffer
are handled.

A note has been added that clarifies when setClientID method of Connection
should be used.

Note that calling the setMessageListener method of MessageConsumer with a null

value is equivalent to unsetting the MessageListener.

Note that the unsubscribe method of TopicSession should not be called to delete
a durable subscription if there is a TopicConsumer currently consuming it.

Note that result of calling the setMessageListener method of MessageConsumer

while messages are being consumed by an existing listener or the consumer is
being used to synchronously consume messages is undefined.

Change HistoryNovember 9, 1999 110

 11
Note the createTopic method of TopicSession and the createQueue method of
QueueSession are used for converting a JMS provider specific name into a Topic
or Queue object that represents an existing topic or queue by that name. These
methods are not for creating the physical topic or queue. The physical creation
of topics and queues are administrative tasks and are not done by JMS. The
one exception is the creation of temporary topics and queues which is done
using the createTemporaryTopic and createTemporaryQueue methods.

Note that the setObject method of ObjectMessage places a copy of the input
object in a message.

Note that a connection is created in stopped mode and, for incoming messages
to be delivered to the message listeners of its sessions, its start method must be
called.

Documentation of Message default constants has been added.

Note the result of readBytes method of StreamMessage when the callers byte[]
buffer is smaller than the byte[] field value being read.

The documentation of QueueRequestor and TopicRequestor has been improved.

The IllegalStateException has been noted as a required exception for several

more error conditions. they are acknowledging a message received from a
closed session; attempting to call the recover method of a transacted session;
attempting to call any method of a closed connection, session, consumer or
producer (with the exception of the close method itself); attempting to set a
connections client identifier at the wrong time or when it has been
administratively configured.

111 Java Message ServiceNovember 9, 1999

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