com.lightstreamer.adapters.remote

Interface DataProvider

public interface DataProvider

Provides an interface to be implemented by a Remote Data Adapter in order to attach a Data Provider to Lightstreamer. An instance of a Remote Data Adapter is supplied to Lightstreamer through a DataProviderServer instance. After initialization, Lightstreamer sets itself as the Remote Data Adapter listener, by calling the setListener method.
Data Providers are used by Lightstreamer Kernel to obtain all data to be pushed to the Clients. Any Item requested by a Client must refer to one supplied by the configured Data Adapters.
A Data Provider supplies data in a publish/subscribe way. Lightstreamer asks for data by calling the subscribe and unsubscribe methods for various Items and the Data Adapter sends ItemEvents to its listener in an asynchronous way.
A Data Adapter can also support Snapshot management. Upon subscription to an Item, the current state of the Item data can be sent to the Server before the updates. This allows the Server to maintain the Item state, by integrating the new ItemEvents into the state (in a way that depends on the Item type) and to make this state available to the Clients.
Note that the interaction between the Server and the Data Adapter and the interaction between the Server and any Client are independent activities. As a consequence, the very first ItemEvents sent by the Data Adapter to the Server for an Item just subscribed to might be processed before the Server starts feeding any client, even the client that caused the subscription to the Item to be invoked; then, such events would not be forwarded to any client. If it is desirable that a client receives all the ItemEvents that have been produced for an Item by the Data Adapter since subscription time, then the support for the Item Snapshot can be leveraged.
Lightstreamer ensures that calls to subscribe and unsubscribe for the same Item will be interleaved, without redundant calls; whenever subscribe throws an exception, the corresponding unsubscribe call is not issued.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	init(java.util.Map<java.lang.String,java.lang.String> parameters, java.lang.String configFile) Called by the Remote Server to provide initialization information to the Data Adapter.
boolean	isSnapshotAvailable(java.lang.String itemName) Called by Lightstreamer Kernel through the Remote Server to know whether the Data Adapter, after a subscription for an Item, will send some Snapshot Item Events before sending the updates.
void	setListener(ItemEventListener eventListener) Called by the Remote Server to provide a listener to receive the Item Events carrying data and asynchronous error notifications for Lightstreamer Kernel.
void	subscribe(java.lang.String itemName) Called by Lightstreamer Remote Server to request data for an Item.
void	unsubscribe(java.lang.String itemName) Called by Lightstreamer Kernel through the Remote Server to end a previous request of data for an Item.

Method Detail

init

void init(java.util.Map<java.lang.String,java.lang.String> parameters,
          java.lang.String configFile)
   throws DataProviderException

Called by the Remote Server to provide initialization information to the Data Adapter. The call must not be blocking; any polling cycle or similar must be started in a different thread. If an exception occurs in this method, Lightstreamer Kernel can't complete the startup and must exit. The initialization information can be supplied in different ways, depending on the way the Remote Server is launched.
The call must not be blocking; any polling cycle or similar must be started in a different thread. Any delay in returning from this call will in turn delay the Server initialization. If an exception occurs in this method, Lightstreamer Server can't complete the startup and must exit.

Parameters:

parameters - a Map object that contains name-value pairs corresponding to the parameters elements supplied for the Data Adapter configuration. Both names and values are represented as String objects.
The parameters can be supplied through the DataProviderServer.setAdapterParams(java.util.Map<java.lang.String, java.lang.String>) method of the DataProviderServer instance. More parameters can be added by leveraging the "init_remote" parameter in the Proxy Adapter configuration.

configFile - The path on the local disk of the Data Adapter configuration file. Can be null if not specified.
The file path can be supplied by assigning the "AdapterConfig" property of the DataProviderServer instance used.

Throws:

DataProviderException - in case an error occurs that prevents the correct behavior of the Data Adapter.

setListener

void setListener(ItemEventListener eventListener)

Called by the Remote Server to provide a listener to receive the Item Events carrying data and asynchronous error notifications for Lightstreamer Kernel. The listener is set before any subscribe is called and is never changed.

Parameters:

eventListener - A listener.

subscribe

void subscribe(java.lang.String itemName)
        throws SubscriptionException,
               FailureException

Called by Lightstreamer Remote Server to request data for an Item. If the request succeeds, the Remote Data Adapter can start sending an ItemEvent to the listener for any update of the Item value. Before sending the updates, the Remote Data Adapter may optionally send one or more ItemEvents to supply the current Snapshot.
The general rule to be followed for event dispatching is:

     if IsSnapshotAvailable(itemName) == true
         SNAP* [EOS] UPD*
     else
         UPD*

where:

• SNAP represents an Update call with the isSnapshot flag set to true
• EOS represents an EndOfSnapshot call
• UPD represents an Update call with the isSnapshot flag set to false;
  in this case, the special clearSnapshot call can also be issued.

The composition of the snapshot depends on the Mode in which the Item is to be processed. In particular, for MERGE mode, the snapshot consists of one event and the first part of the rule becomes:

     [SNAP] [EOS] UPD*

where a missing snapshot is considered as an empty snapshot.
If an Item can be requested only in RAW mode, then isSnapshotAvailable should always return false; anyway, when an Item is requested in RAW mode, any snapshot is discarded.
Note that calling endOfSnapshot is not mandatory; however, not calling it in DISTINCT or COMMAND mode may cause the server to keep the snapshot and forward it to the clients only after the first non-snapshot event has been received. The same happens for MERGE mode if neither the snapshot nor the endOfSnapshot call are supplied.
Unexpected snapshot events are converted to non-snapshot events (but for RAW mode, where they are ignored); unexpected endOfSnapshot calls are ignored.
The method can be blocking, but, as the Proxy Adapter implements subscribe and unsubscribe asynchronously, subsequent subscribe-unsubscribe-subscribe-unsubscribe requests can still be issued by Lightstreamer Server to the Proxy Adapter. When this happens, the requests may be queued on the Remote Adapter, hence some Subscribe calls may be delayed.

Parameters:

itemName - Name of an Item.

Throws:

SubscriptionException - in case the request cannot be satisfied.

FailureException - in case the method execution has caused a severe problem that can compromise future operation of the Data Adapter.

unsubscribe

void unsubscribe(java.lang.String itemName)
          throws SubscriptionException,
                 FailureException

Called by Lightstreamer Kernel through the Remote Server to end a previous request of data for an Item. After the call has returned, no more ItemEvents for the Item should be sent to the listener until requested by a new subscription for the same Item.
The method can be blocking, but, as the Proxy Adapter implements subscribe and unsubscribe asynchronously, subsequent subscribe-unsubscribe-subscribe-unsubscribe requests can still be issued by Lightstreamer Server to the Proxy Adapter. When this happens, the requests may be queued on the Remote Adapter, hence some Subscribe calls may be delayed.

Parameters:

itemName - Name of an Item.

Throws:

SubscriptionException - in case the request cannot be satisfied.

FailureException - in case the method execution has caused a severe problem that can compromise future operation of the Data Adapter.

isSnapshotAvailable

boolean isSnapshotAvailable(java.lang.String itemName)
                     throws SubscriptionException

Called by Lightstreamer Kernel through the Remote Server to know whether the Data Adapter, after a subscription for an Item, will send some Snapshot Item Events before sending the updates. An Item Snapshot can be represented by zero, one or more Item Events, also depending on the Item type. The decision whether to supply or not to supply Snapshot information is entirely up to the Data Adapter.
The method should be nonblocking. The availability of the snapshot for an Item should be a known architectural property. When the snapshot, though expected, cannot be obtained at subscription time, then it can only be considered as empty.

Parameters:

itemName - Name of an Item.

Returns:

true if Snapshot information will be sent for this Item before the updates.

Throws:

SubscriptionException - in case the Data Adapter is unable to answer to the request.