How to Create Simple String and Primitive Resources in GlassFish

Sometimes you need to create simple resources in application server so that all deployed applications can look them up. Their types can be string, boolean, number, or any custom java bean types. In GlassFish CLI, they are created and managed with a set of generic commands,

asadmin create-custom-resource ...
asadmin list-custom-resources ...
asadmin delete-custom-resource ...
asadmin get 'resources.custom-resource.*'
asadmin set ...

GlassFish admin console provides GUI way of doing things but I found using CLI is a lot faster.

For example:

$ asadmin create-custom-resource --restype=java.lang.String --factoryclass=org.glassfish.resources.custom.factory.PrimitivesAndStringFactory --property value="http\://javahowto.blogspot.com" resource/javahowto

$ asadmin create-custom-resource --restype=java.lang.Double --factoryclass=org.glassfish.resources.custom.factory.PrimitivesAndStringFactory --property value=0.5 resource/rate

$ asadmin create-custom-resource --restype=java.lang.Boolean --factoryclass=org.glassfish.resources.custom.factory.PrimitivesAndStringFactory --property value=true resource/flag

To look up the custom resource created above, just perform the following in any web or EJB component classes, e.g., servlet, filter, interceptor, web listener, EJB bean class:

try {
   InitialContext ic = new InitialContext();
   String javahowto = (String)  ic.lookup("resource/javahowto");
   double rate      = (Double)  ic.lookup("resource/rate");
   boolean flag     = (Boolean) ic.lookup("resource/flag");
   System.out.printf(
      "custom resources from lookup: javahowto=%s, rate=%s, flag=%s%n",
       javahowto, rate, flag);
} catch (NamingException e) {
   throw new RuntimeException(e);
}

An easier way to obtain these resources is through @Resource injection in any web or EJB component class:

  @Resource(lookup="resource/javahowto")
 private String withLookup;

 @Resource(lookup="resource/rate")
 private double rate;

 @Resource(lookup="resource/flag")
 private boolean flag;

These custom resources can also be accessed from a remote Java SE client:

import javax.naming.*;

/**
 * A generic remote client for testing JNDI lookup.
 */
public class TestLookup {
    public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception { 
       InitialContext ic = new InitialContext();
       for(String name : args) {
           System.out.printf("Looked up jndi name %s, got %s%n", 
                              name, ic.lookup(name));
       }
   }
}

To compile and run the remote client:

javac TestLookup.java
java -cp "$GLASSFISH_HOME/modules/*:." TestLookup resource/javahowto resource/rate resource/flag

Feb 16, 2012 8:21:21 PM com.sun.enterprise.v3.server.CommonClassLoaderServiceImpl findDerbyClient
INFO: Cannot find javadb client jar file, derby jdbc driver will not be available by default.
Looked up jndi name resource/javahowto, got http://javahowto.blogspot.com
Looked up jndi name resource/rate, got 0.5
Looked up jndi name resource/flag, got true

The warning message "Cannot find javadb client jar file" can be safely ignored. To avoid this annoying message, just add command line system property AS_DERBY_INSTALL, pointing to a valid derby installation:

java -cp "$GLASSFISH_HOME/modules/*:." -DAS_DERBY_INSTALL=$GLASSFISH_HOME/../javadb TestLookup resource/javahowto resource/rate resource/flag

You can view all attributes and properties of a custom resource with asadmin get command:

asadmin get 'resources.custom-resource.resource/rate.*'

resources.custom-resource.resource/rate.property.value=0.6
resources.custom-resource.resource/rate.enabled=true
resources.custom-resource.resource/rate.factory-class=org.glassfish.resources.custom.factory.PrimitivesAndStringFactory
resources.custom-resource.resource/rate.jndi-name=resource/rate
resources.custom-resource.resource/rate.object-type=user
resources.custom-resource.resource/rate.res-type=java.lang.Double
Command get executed successfully.

To update the value of a custom resource with asadmin set command:

asadmin set 'resources.custom-resource.resource/rate.property.value'=0.6
resources.custom-resource.resource/rate.property.value=0.6
Command set executed successfully.