<HTML>
<HEAD>
   <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
   <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Mozilla/4.04 [en]C-gatewaynet  (WinNT; U) 
[Netscape]">
   <TITLE>package</TITLE>
<!--
/*
* Copyright (c) 1998, 2006, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
* DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
*
* This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
* under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
* published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
* particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
* by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
*
* This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
* ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
* FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
* version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
* accompanied this code).
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
* 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
* Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
*
* Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
* or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
* questions.
*/  
-->
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
Provides the mapping of the OMG CORBA APIs to the Java<SUP><FONT 
SIZE=-2>TM</FONT></SUP>
programming language, including the class <TT>ORB</TT>, which is implemented
so that a programmer can use it as a fully-functional Object Request Broker
(ORB).

<P>For a precise list of supported sections of official CORBA specifications with which 
the Java[TM] Platform, Standard Edition 6 complies, see <A 
HREF="doc-files/compliance.html"><em>Official Specifications for CORBA support in 
Java[TM] SE 6</em></A>.


<H1>General Information</H1>
The information in this section is information relevant to someone who 
compiles Interface Definition Language (IDL) files and uses the
ORB to write clients and servers.

<P>The classes and interfaces described in this section can be put into 
four groups: <tt>ORB classes</tt>, Exceptions, <tt>Helper</tt> classes,
and <tt>Holder</tt> classes.

<H2>
The <tt>ORB</tt> Class</H2>

<P>An ORB handles (or brokers) method invocations between a client and
the method's implementation on a server. Because the client and server
may be anywhere on a network, and because the invocation and implementation
may be written in different programming languages, an ORB does a great
deal of work behind the scenes to accomplish this communication.

<P>Most of what an ORB does is completely transparent to the user, and a major
portion of the <TT>CORBA</TT> package consists of classes used by the ORB
behind the scenes. The result is that most programmers will use only a
small part of this package directly. In fact, most programmers will use
only a few methods from the <TT>ORB</TT> class, some exceptions, and 
occasionally,
a holder class. 
<H3>
<TT>ORB</TT> Methods</H3>

<P>Before an application can enter the CORBA environment, it must first: 
<P>
<UL>
<LI>Be initialized into the ORB and possibly the object adapter (POA) environments.
<LI>Get references to ORB object (for use in future ORB operations) 
and perhaps other objects (including the root POA or some Object Adapter objects). 
</UL>
<P>The following operations are provided to initialize applications and obtain
 the appropriate object references:
 <P>
 <UL>
 <LI>Operations providing access to the ORB, which are discussed in this
 section.
 <LI>Operations providing access to Object Adapters, Interface Repository, 
 Naming Service, and other Object Services. These operations are described 
 in <a href="#adv"><em>Other Classes</em></a>.
 </UL>
 <P>
When an application requires a CORBA environment it needs a mechanism to 
get an ORB object reference and possibly an OA object reference 
(such as the root POA). This serves two purposes. First, it initializes 
an application into the ORB and OA environments. Second, it returns the 
ORB object reference and the OA object reference to the application 
for use in future ORB and OA operations. 

<P>In order to obtain an ORB object reference, applications call 
the <tt>ORB.init</tt> operation. The parameters to the call can comprise an 
identifier for the ORB for which the object reference is required,
 and an arg_list, which is used to allow environment-specific data to be 
 passed into the call. 

<P>These are the <TT>ORB</TT> methods
 that provide access to the ORB:
<UL>
<LI>
<TT><bold>init</bold>()</TT> 

<LI>
<TT><bold>init</bold>(String [] args, Properties props)</TT>

<LI>
<TT><bold>init</bold>(Applet app, Properties props)</TT>
</UL>

<P>Using the <tt>init()</tt> method without parameters initiates 
a singleton ORB,  which can only
give typecode creation <tt>any</tt>s needed in code generated
in Helper classes by <tt>idlj</tt>.

<P>Applications require a portable means by which to obtain their 
initial object references. References are required for the root 
POA, POA Current, Interface Repository, and various Object Services 
instances.  The functionality required by the application is similar
 to that provided by the Naming Service. However, the OMG does not 
 want to mandate that the Naming Service be made available to all 
 applications in order that they may be portably initialized. 
 Consequently, the operations shown in this section provide a 
 simplified, local version of the Naming Service that applications 
 can use to obtain a small, defined set of object references which 
 are essential to its operation. Because only a small well-defined 
 set of objects are expected with this mechanism, the naming context
 can be flattened to be a single-level name space. This simplification
 results in only two operations being defined to achieve the functionality
  required.
  
<P>Initial references are obtained via two operations provided in 
the ORB object interface, providing facilities to list and 
resolve initial object references.  These are:
<UL>
<LI>
<TT><bold>resolve_initial_references</bold>(String name)</TT>
<LI>
<TT><bold>list_initial_services</bold>()</TT>
<LI>
<TT><bold>register_initial_reference</bold>(String id, 
org.omg.CORBA.Object obj)</TT>
</UL>

<P>An example that uses some of these methods is <A 
HREF="{@docRoot}/../technotes/guides/idl/GShome.html">
<em>Getting Started with Java IDL</em></A>.

<H2>
Exceptions</H2>
Exceptions in Java IDL are similar to those in any code written in the
Java programming language. If a method is defined to throw an exception,
then any code using that method must have a <TT>try</TT>/<TT>catch</TT>
block and handle that exception when it is thrown.

<P>The documentation on <A 
HREF="{@docRoot}/../technotes/guides/idl/jidlExceptions.html"><em>Java
IDL exceptions</em></A> has more information and explains the difference between
system exceptions and user-defined exceptions.

<P>The following is a list of the system exceptions (which are unchecked
exceptions inheriting through <TT><a href="SystemException.html">
org.omg.CORBA.SystemException</a></TT> from
<TT>java.lang.RuntimeException</TT>) that are defined in the package 
<TT>org.omg.CORBA</TT>:
<PRE><code>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; BAD_CONTEXT
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; BAD_INV_ORDER
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; BAD_OPERATION
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; BAD_PARAM
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; BAD_TYPECODE
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; COMM_FAILURE
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DATA_CONVERSION
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; FREE_MEM
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; IMP_LIMIT
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; INITIALIZE
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; INTERNAL
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; INTF_REPOS
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; INVALID_TRANSACTION
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; INV_FLAG
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; INV_IDENT
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; INV_OBJREF
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; INV_POLICY
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; MARSHAL
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="#NO_IMPLEMENT">NO_IMPLEMENT</a>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NO_MEMORY
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NO_PERMISSION
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NO_RESOURCES
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; NO_RESPONSE
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; OBJECT_NOT_EXIST
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; OBJ_ADAPTER
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PERSIST_STORE
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; TRANSACTION_REQUIRED
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; TRANSACTION_ROLLEDBACK
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; TRANSIENT
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UNKNOWN
</code></PRE>
<P>
The following is a list of user-defined exceptions defined in the package
<TT>org.omg.CORBA</TT>.
<PRE><code>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bounds
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; UnknownUserException
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; WrongTransaction&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; PolicyError
</code></PRE>

 <H2>Subpackages</H2>
There are some packages inside the <TT>CORBA</TT> package with
"Package" as part of their names. These packages are generally quite small
because all they do is provide exceptions or classes for use by interfaces
and classes in the <TT>CORBA</TT> package.

<P>For example, the package <TT><a href="TypeCodePackage/package-summary.html">
org.omg.CORBA.TypeCodePackage</a></TT> contains
two exceptions thrown by methods in the class <TT>TypeCode</TT>. These
exceptions are:
<UL>
<LI>
<TT>BadKind</TT>

<LI>
<TT>Bounds</TT>
</UL>
The package <TT><a href="ORBPackage/package-summary.html">
org.omg.CORBA.ORBPackage</a></TT> contains two exceptions:
<UL>
<LI>
<TT>InvalidName</TT>

<LI>
<TT>InconsistentTypeCode</TT>
</UL>

<P>Another package that is a subpackage of <tt>CORBA</tt> is the <tt>
<a href="portable/package-summary.html">portable</a></tt> package.  It 
provides a set of ORB APIs that makes it 
possible for code generated by one vendor's IDL compiler to run
on another vendor's ORB. 


<H2>
Holder classes</H2>
 

<P>Support for out and inout parameter passing modes requires the use of 
additional  <em><a href="doc-files/generatedfiles.html#holder">holder  
classes</a></em>. Because the Java programming language does not support out or 
inout parameters, holder classes are needed as a means of passing a parameter
that can be modified.   To support portable stubs and skeletons, holder classes also implement
 the <tt><a href="portable/Streamable.html">org.omg.CORBA.portable.Streamable</a>
 </tt> interface.
 
 <P>Holder classes are named by appending "Holder" to the name of the type.
 The name of the type refers to its name in the Java programming language.  For
 example, a holder class for the interface named <tt>Account</tt> in the Java programming
 language would be named <tt>AccountHolder</tt>.


<P>Holder classes are available for all of the basic IDL
 datatypes in the <tt>org.omg.CORBA</tt> package.  So, for example, 
  there are already-defined classes for <tt>LongHolder</tt>, <tt>ShortHolder</tt>,
 <tt>FloatHolder</tt>, and so on.  Classes are also generated for 
 all named user-defined IDL types except those defined by <tt>typedefs</tt>. 
 (Note that in this context user defined includes types that are 
 defined in OMG specifications such as those for the Interface
  Repository, and other OMG services.) 


<P>Each holder class has:
<P>
<UL>
<LI>a constructor from an instance
<LI>a default constructor
<LI>a public instance member, <tt>value</tt> which is the typed value. 
<LI>a method for reading an input stream and assigning the contents to the 
type's <tt>value</tt> field
<LI>a method for writing the value of the <tt>value</tt> field to an output stream
<LI>a method for getting the typecode of the type
</UL>

<P>The default constructor sets the value field to the default value for the 
type as defined by the Java language: 
<P>
<UL>
<LI><tt>false</tt> for boolean
<LI><tt>0</tt> for numeric and char types
<LI><tt>null</tt> for strings and object references
</UL>


<P>
As an example, if the interface <code>Account</code>, defined in OMG IDL,
were mapped to the Java programming language, the following holder class
would be generated:
<PRE>
public final class AccountHolder implements 
    org.omg.CORBA.portable.Streamable
{
  // field that holds an Account object
  public Account value = null;

  // default constructor
  public AccountHolder ()
  {
  }
  
  // creates a new AccountHolder from initialValue
  public AccountHolder (Account initialValue)
  {
    value = initialValue;
  }
  
  // reads the contents of i and assigns the contents to value
  public void _read (org.omg.CORBA.portable.InputStream i)
  {
    value = AccountHelper.read (i);
  }

  // writes value to o
  public void _write (org.omg.CORBA.portable.OutputStream o)
  {
    AccountHelper.write (o, value);
  }
 
  // returns the typecode for Account
  public org.omg.CORBA.TypeCode _type ()
  {
    return AccountHelper.type ();
  }

}
</PRE>

<P>For more information on Holder classes, see Chapter 1.4, <em>Mapping for
Basic Types</em> in the <a href="http://cgi.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?ptc/00-01-08">
<em>OMG IDL to Java Language Mapping</em></a>. The Holder classes defined 
in the package <TT>org.omg.CORBA</TT> are:
<PRE>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>AnyHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>AnySeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>BooleanHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>BooleanSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ByteHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>CharHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>CharSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>CurrentHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>DoubleHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>DoubleSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>FixedHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>FloatHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>FloatSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>IntHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>LongHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>LongLongSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>LongSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ObjectHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>OctetSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ParameterModeHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>PolicyErrorHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>PolicyListHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>PrincipalHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ServiceInformationHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ShortHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ShortSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>StringHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>StringSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>TypeCodeHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ULongLongSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ULongSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>UnknownUserExceptionHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>UShortSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ValueBaseHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>WCharSeqHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>WrongTransactionHolder
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>WStringSeqHolder</TT>

</PRE>

<h2>Helper Classes </h2>
<P>Helper files supply several static methods needed to manipulate the type.
 These include:
 <P>
 <UL>
 <LI><tt>Any</tt> insert and extract operations for the type
 <LI>getting the repository id
 <LI>getting the typecode
 <LI>reading and writing the type from and to a stream
 <LI>implement the <code>ValueHelper</code> interface (if it is  a user-defined
   value type)
 </UL> 

<P>The helper class for a mapped IDL interface or abstract interface
 also include narrow operation(s). The static narrow method allows 
 an <tt>org.omg.CORBA.Object</tt> to be narrowed to the object reference 
 of a more specific type. The IDL exception <tt>CORBA.BAD_PARAM</tt> 
 is thrown if the narrow fails because the object reference does not 
 support the requested type. A different system exception is raised 
 to indicate other kinds of errors. Trying to narrow a <tt>null</tt> will always
  succeed with a return value of <tt>null</tt>. Generally, the only helper method an application programmer uses is
the <code>narrow</code> method.  The other methods are normally used behind
the scenes and are transparent to the programmer.

<P>Helper classes
fall into two broad categories, <a href="#value">helpers for value types</a> and
<a href="#basic">helpers for non value types</a>. Because all of the helper 
classes in one category
provide the same methods, one generic explanation of each 
category of helper classes is presented here.

<P>
When OMG IDL is mapped to the Java programming language, 
a "helper" class is generated for each user-defined type.
This generated class will have the name of the user-defined type with
the suffix <code>Helper</code> appended.  For example, if the
interface <code>Account</code> is defined in OMG IDL, the
<code>idlj</code> compiler will automatically generate a class named
<code>AccountHelper</code>.  The <code>AccountHelper</code> class
will contain the static methods needed for manipulating instances of the type,
in this case, <code>Account</code> objects. 


<a name="narrow"></a>
<h3>The <code>narrow</code> Method</h3>
When an object is the return value for a method, it is returned in the
form of a generic object, either an <code>org.omg.CORBA.Object</code> object
or a <code>java.lang.Object</code> object. This object must be cast to its
more specific type before it can be operated on.  For example, an
<code>Account</code> object will be returned as a generic object and must
be narrowed to an <code>Account</code> object so that <code>Account</code>
methods may be called on it.
<P>
The <code>narrow</code> method has two forms, one that takes an
<code>org.omg.CORBA.Object</code> object and one that takes a
<code>java.lang.Object</code> object. Whether the interface is abstract or
not determines which <code>narrow</code> method its helper class will provide.
The helper class for an interface
that is not abstract will have a <code>narrow</code> method that takes a CORBA
object, whereas the <code>narrow</code> method for an interface that is abstract 
will
take an object in the Java programming language.  The helper class for a
non-abstract interface that has at least one abstract base interface will provide
both versions of the <code>narrow</code> method.
<P>The <A HREF="{@docRoot}/../technotes/guides/idl/jidlExample.html"><em>Hello World</em></A> 
tutorial uses a <tt>narrow</tt> method that looks 
like this:
<P>
<PRE>
        // create and initialize the ORB
	ORB orb = ORB.init(args, null);

        // get the root naming context
        org.omg.CORBA.Object objRef = 
	    orb.resolve_initial_references("NameService");
        // Use NamingContextExt instead of NamingContext. This is 
        // part of latest Inter-Operable naming Service.  
        NamingContextExt ncRef = NamingContextExtHelper.narrow(objRef);
 
        // resolve the Object Reference in Naming
        String name = "Hello";
        helloImpl = HelloHelper.narrow(ncRef.resolve_str(name));
</PRE>

<a name="basic"></a>
<h3>Example of a Basic Helper Class</h3>
A basic helper class, for purposes of this explanation, is one with
the methods that are provided by every helper class, plus a <code>narrow</code> 
method if the type defined in OMG IDL maps to an interface in the Java
programming language.  Types that are not value types will have a basic
helper class generated for them.
<P>
For example, assuming that the interface <code>Account</code> is not a
value type IDL type and is also not an abstract interface and has no
abstract base interfaces, its <code>AccountHelper</code> class will look
like this:
<PRE>
abstract public class AccountHelper
{
  private static String  _id = "IDL:Account:1.0";

  // inserts an Account object into an Any object
  public static void insert (org.omg.CORBA.Any a, Account that)
  {
    org.omg.CORBA.portable.OutputStream out = a.create_output_stream ();
    a.type (type ());
    write (out, that);
    a.read_value (out.create_input_stream (), type ());
  }

  // extracts an Account object from an Any object
  public static Account extract (org.omg.CORBA.Any a)
  {
    return read (a.create_input_stream ());
  }

  
  private static org.omg.CORBA.TypeCode __typeCode = null;
  // gets the typecode for this type
  synchronized public static org.omg.CORBA.TypeCode type ()
  {
    if (__typeCode == null)
    {
      __typeCode = org.omg.CORBA.ORB.init ().create_interface_tc (AccountHelper.id (), "Account");
    }
    return __typeCode;
  }

  // gets the repository id for this type
  public static String id ()
  {
    return _id;
  }

  // reads an Account object from an input stream
  public static Account read (org.omg.CORBA.portable.InputStream istream)
  {
    return narrow (istream.read_Object (_AccountStub.class));
  }

  // writes an Account object to an outputstream
  public static void write (org.omg.CORBA.portable.OutputStream ostream, Account value)
  {
    ostream.write_Object ((org.omg.CORBA.Object) value);
  }

  // converts (narrows) an Object to an Account object
  public static Account narrow (org.omg.CORBA.Object obj)
  {
    if (obj == null)
      return null;
    else if (obj instanceof Account)
      return (Account)obj;
    else if (!obj._is_a (id ()))
      throw new org.omg.CORBA.BAD_PARAM ();
    else
    {
      org.omg.CORBA.portable.Delegate delegate = ((org.omg.CORBA.portable.ObjectImpl)obj)._get_delegate ();
      _AccountStub stub = new _AccountStub ();
      stub._set_delegate(delegate);
      return stub;
    }
  }

}
</PRE>
<P>

<h3>Value Type Helper Classes</h3>
A helper class for a value type includes different renderings of
the same methods generated for non-value type methods. The main difference
 is that value types are types that can be
passed by value as parameters or return values of a method, which means that
they must be serializable.
<P>Assuming that <code>Address</code> is a value type, the
<code>AddressHelper</code> class will look like this:
<pre>
abstract public class AddressHelper
{
  private static String  _id = "IDL:Address:1.0";

  // same as for non-value type
  public static void insert (org.omg.CORBA.Any a, Address that)
  {
    org.omg.CORBA.portable.OutputStream out = a.create_output_stream ();
    a.type (type ());
    write (out, that);
    a.read_value (out.create_input_stream (), type ());
  }

  // same as for non-value type
  public static Address extract (org.omg.CORBA.Any a)
  {
    return read (a.create_input_stream ());
  }

  private static org.omg.CORBA.TypeCode __typeCode = null;
  private static boolean __active = false;
  
  // getting the typecode for the type
  synchronized public static org.omg.CORBA.TypeCode type ()
  {
    if (__typeCode == null)
    {
      synchronized (org.omg.CORBA.TypeCode.class)
      {
        if (__typeCode == null)
        {
          if (__active)
          {
            return org.omg.CORBA.ORB.init().create_recursive_tc ( _id );
          }
          __active = true;
          org.omg.CORBA.ValueMember[] _members0 = new org.omg.CORBA.ValueMember[0];
          org.omg.CORBA.TypeCode _tcOf_members0 = null;
          __typeCode = org.omg.CORBA.ORB.init ().create_value_tc (_id, "Address", org.omg.CORBA.VM_NONE.value, null, _members0);
          __active = false;
        }
      }
    }
    return __typeCode;
  }

  // same as for non-value type
  public static String id ()
  {
    return _id;
  }

  // reads a serializable instance of Address from the given input stream
  public static Address read (org.omg.CORBA.portable.InputStream istream)
  {
    return (Address)((org.omg.CORBA_2_3.portable.InputStream) istream).read_value (id ());
  }

  // writes a serializable instance of Address to the given output stream
  public static void write (org.omg.CORBA.portable.OutputStream ostream, Address value)
  {
    ((org.omg.CORBA_2_3.portable.OutputStream) ostream).write_value (value, id ());
  }


}
</pre>

<P>The Helper classes defined in the package <TT>org.omg.CORBA</TT> are:
<PRE><code>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>AnySeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>BooleanSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>CharSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>CompletionStatusHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>CurrentHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>DefinitionKindHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>DoubleSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>FieldNameHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>FloatSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>IdentifierHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>IDLTypeHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>LongLongSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>LongSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>NameValuePairHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ObjectHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>OctetSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ParameterModeHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>PolicyErrorCodeHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>PolicyErrorHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>PolicyHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>PolicyListHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>PolicyTypeHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>RepositoryIdHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ServiceDetailHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ServiceInformationHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>SetOverrideTypeHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ShortSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>StringSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>StringValueHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>StructMemberHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ULongLongSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ULongSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>UnionMemberHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>UnknownUserExceptionHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>UShortSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ValueBaseHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>ValueMemberHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>VersionSpecHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>VisibilityHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>WCharSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>WrongTransactionHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>WStringSeqHelper
</TT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <TT>WStringValueHelper</TT>

</code></PRE>
<a name="adv"></a>
<H1>
Other Classes</H1>
The other classes and interfaces in the <TT>CORBA</TT> package, which are
used behind the scenes, can be put into four groups. Three of the groups
are used with requests in some capacity, and the fourth group, concerning
the Interface Repository, is a category by itself.
<H2>
Classes Created by an ORB</H2>
The first group contains classes that are created by an ORB and contain
information used in request operations. 
<UL>
<LI>
<TT>TCKind</TT> -- indicates the kind (datatype) for a <TT>TypeCode</TT>
object

<LI>
<TT>TypeCode</TT> -- indicates a datatype and possibly other information

<LI>
<TT>Any</TT> -- contains a value and its typecode

<LI>
<TT>NamedValue</TT> -- contains a name, an <TT>Any</TT> object, and an
argument mode flag. <TT>NamedValue</TT> objects contain information about
method arguments, method return values, or a context.

<LI>
<TT>ContextList</TT> -- a list of strings that describe the contexts that
need to be resolved and sent with an invocation

<LI>
<TT>ExceptionList</TT> -- a list of <TT>TypeCode</TT>s for exceptions that
may be thrown by a method

<LI>
<TT>Environment</TT> -- a container for the exception thrown during a method
invocation

<LI>
<TT>Context</TT> -- a list of <TT>NamedValue</TT> objects used to pass
auxiliary information from client to server

<LI>
<TT>NVList</TT> -- a list of <TT>NamedValue</TT> objects, used to pass
arguments or get results
</UL>

<H2>
Classes That Deal with Requests</H2>
The second group of classes deals with requests:
<UL>
<LI>
<TT>Object</TT> -- the base class for all CORBA object references

<LI>
<TT>Request</TT> -- the main class in the DII, which contains methods for
adding arguments to the request, for accessing information about the method
being invoked (the method name, its arguments, exceptions it throws, and
so on), and for making invocations on the request

<LI>
<TT>DynamicImplementation</TT> -- the base class for server implementations
using the DSI. It has the method <TT>invoke</TT>, which is used by an 
implementation
of this class to determine the state of a <TT>ServerRequest</TT> object
and to set its result or exception

<LI>
<TT>ServerRequest</TT> -- captures the explicit state of a request for
the Dynamic Skeleton Interface
</UL>

<H2>
Interfaces That Serve as Constants</H2>
The third group contains interfaces that serve as constants. The IDL-to-Java
mapping mandates that IDL enums are mapped to a Java class with the enumerated
values represented as public static final fields in that class (e.g. 
DefinitionKind).
On the other hand IDL constants defined outside of an IDL interface are
mapped to a Java interface for each constant.

<P>This is why several interfaces in the <TT>org.omg.CORBA</TT> package
consist of a single field, <TT>value</TT>, which is a <TT>short</TT>. This
field is a constant used for such things as an error code or value modifier.
For example, the <TT>value</TT> field of the interface <TT>BAD_POLICY</TT>
is one of the possible reasons for the exception <TT>PolicyError</TT> to
be thrown. To specify this error code, you would use <TT>BAD_POLICY.value</TT>.

<P>The exception <TT>PolicyError</TT> uses the <TT>value</TT> field of
the following interfaces as its possible error codes.
<UL>
<LI>
<TT>BAD_POLICY</TT>

<LI>
<TT>BAD_POLICY_TYPE</TT>

<LI>
<TT>BAD_POLICY_VALUE</TT>

<LI>
<TT>UNSUPPORTED_POLICY</TT>

<LI>
<TT>UNSUPPORTED_POLICY_VALUE</TT>
</UL>
The method <TT>TypeCode.type_modifier</TT> returns the <TT>value</TT> field
of one of the following interfaces. The <TT>VM</TT> in the names of these
interfaces stands for "value modifier."
<UL>
<LI>
<TT>VM_NONE</TT>

<LI>
<TT>VM_ABSTRACT</TT>

<LI>
<TT>VM_CUSTOM</TT>

<LI>
<TT>VM_TRUNCATABLE</TT>
</UL>
The following constants are returned by a <code>ValueMember</code> object's
access method to denote the visibility of the <code>ValueMember</code> object.
<UL>
<LI>
<TT>PRIVATE_MEMBER</TT>

<LI>
<TT>PUBLIC_MEMBER</TT>
</UL>
These flags, used in <TT>NamedValue</TT> objects or as parameters to methods,
are defined in the following interfaces:
<UL>
<LI>
<TT>ARG_IN</TT>

<LI>
<TT>ARG_INOUT</TT>

<LI>
<TT>ARG_OUT</TT>

<LI>
<TT>CTX_RESTRICT_SCOPE</TT>
</UL>

<H2>
Interface Repository Interfaces and Classes</H2>
A fourth group contains the Interface Repository interfaces and classes,
which are generated by the <TT>idlj</TT> compiler from the OMG IDL
interface <TT>ir.idl</TT>. The purpose of the Interface Repository is to
identify the interfaces stored in it so that they can be accessed by an
ORB. Each module, type, interface, attribute, operation, parameter, exception,
constant, and so on is described completely by the Interface Repository
API.

<P>An ORB does not require that there be an interface repository, and Java
IDL does not include one. Even though this release does not include an
implementation of an interface repository, the following IR classes and
interfaces have been included for the purpose of creating typecodes (see
create_value_tc, create_struct_tc, create_union_tc and create_exception_tc
methods in interface org.omg.CORBA.ORB):
<BR>&nbs
<UL>
<LI>
IRObject

<LI>
IDLType

<LI>
DefinitionKind

<LI>
StructMember

<LI>
UnionMember

<LI>
ValueMember
</UL>
<!-- End Page Data -->
<HR>
<H1>
Related Documentation</H1>
For overviews, guides, and a tutorial, please see:
<UL>
<LI>
<A HREF="{@docRoot}/../technotes/guides/idl/index.html">Java IDL home page</A>
</UL>


<P><A NAME="unimpl"></A>
<H1>
CORBA Features Not Implemented in Java IDL</H1>

<P>Some of the API included in <TT>org.omg</TT> subpackages is provided for
conformance with the current OMG CORBA specification but is not implemented
in Sun's release of the JDK<SUP><FONT SIZE=-2>TM</FONT></SUP>. This enables
other JDK licensees to provide implementations of this API in standard
extensions and products.

<P><A NAME="NO_IMPLEMENT"></A>
<h2>Features That Throw NO_IMPLEMENT</h2>

<P>Some of the API included in <TT>org.omg</TT> subpackages throw 
<tt>NO_IMPLEMENT</tt> exceptions for various reasons.  Among these reasons
are:
<P>
	<UL>
	<LI>In some cases, for example <tt>LocalObject</tt>, the complete
	implementation according to the specification indicates that 
	these API should throw <tt>NO_IMPLEMENT</tt>.
	<P>
	<LI>In most cases, for example methods in <tt>ORB.java</tt>, 
	methods that throw  
	<tt>NO_IMPLEMENT</tt> are actually implemented in subclasses
	elsewhere in the ORB code.
	<P>
	<LI>In some cases, for example <tt>_get_interface_def()</tt> 
	and <tt>_get_interface</tt>, API are really not yet implemented.
	</UL>


<H2>
General Summary of Features or API Not Implemented in This Release:</H2>

<UL>
<LI>
Interface Repository. An Interface Repository is not required for normal
operation of Java IDL.

<LI>
Java IDL does not support <TT>long double</TT>.  


<LI>
Policies (<TT><a href="Policy.html">org.omg.CORBA.Policy</a></TT>) and methods for getting them are not implemented.

<LI>
Domain managers (<TT><a href="DomainManager.html">org.omg.CORBA.DomainManager</a></TT>) and methods for
getting them are not implemented.

<LI>
Service Information <TT><a href="ServiceInformation.html">org.omg.CORBA.ServiceInformation</a></TT> and ORB method <TT>public boolean get_service_information(short service_type, 
ServiceInformationHolder
service_info)</TT>  are not implemented.

<LI>ORB methods for supporting single-threading (<tt>perform_work</tt>, <tt>work_pending</tt>) are not implemented.

<LI>IDL contexts.
</UL>

<HR>
<H2>
Specific List of Unimplemented Features in Package <TT>org.omg.CORBA</TT></H2>


<H3>
Unimplemented Methods in package <TT>org.omg.CORBA</TT>:</H3>

<UL>
<LI>
<TT>ORB</TT>

<UL>
<LI>
<TT>public org.omg.CORBA.Policy create_policy(int type, org.omg.CORBA.Any
val)</TT>


<LI>
<TT>public void perform_work()</TT>

<LI>
<TT>public boolean work_pending()</TT>

<LI>
<TT>public org.omg.CORBA.Current get_current()</TT>

<LI>
<TT>create_operation_list</TT>

<LI>
<TT>get_default_context</TT>

<LI>
<TT>get_service_information</TT>

<LI>
obsolete <TT>DynAnys</TT> (deprecated in favor of <tt>DynamicAny</tt> package)


</UL>


</UL>
@since JDK1.2
@serial exclude
</BODY>
</HTML>