Download & installation instructions

This is the final 0.9.7. release, mainly a maintenance release. We are currently planning the next release which will be Castor 0.9.9, a feature release.

Changes

Moved key generators to jdo.keygen package

Whilst this change is non-intrusive per se, please note that you might have to change a local castor.properties file if you happened to re-specify key generators in there.

Fixed problem with multiple <database> configurations

Support for multiple database configurations has been re-enabled.

Download & installation instructions

Please note that we are providing the usual suspect (binaries, docs and sources) for this release at the Codehaus. We recommend, though, to download the complete package, as the HTML docs at the main Castor site has not been updated, and to build the documentation yourself.

Changes

Support for JDBC proxy classes

Proxy classes for java.sql.Connection and java.sql.PreparedStatement instances have been added, to allow for complete and better JDBC statements to be output to the log files. As this might impose a performance penalty at run-time, we have added a new property to the Castor property file (castor.properties) to allow configuration of this feature.

  # True if JDBC proxy classes should be used to enable more detailed logging output of SQL
  # statements; false otherwise (logging will be turned off completely).
  #
  org.exolab.castor.persist.useProxy=true

When disabled, no logging of SQL statements will occur al all.

Castor and Java 5

Several bugs have been fixed to allow use of Castor with a JDK 1.5. This mainly involved preventing compilation problems due to variable names et al. that were in conflict with new Java 5 naming conventions (e.g. use of enum as a variable name).

Renamed JDO2 to JDOManager

JDO2 has been renamed to JDOManager. Please change your source code accordingly. Please note that - going forward - any bug fixes/enhancements will be committed against JDOManager only.

Type of access mode constants changed

The type of the access mode constants (Shared / ReadOnly / Exclusive / DbLocked) defined in Database interface has changed from

short

org.exolab.castor.mapping.AccessMode

Default field types

It is possible again - after disabling this feature in 0.9.6 - to not specify a type in a field mapping. By default, a field defined as such will have a type of 'java.lang.String'.

Additions

Addition of RSS feed for announcements

An RSS feed has been added to the project documentation to allow users to be informed about additions/changes to Castor. This feed basically mirrors the news items posted to http://castor.codehaus.org/news.html

Specifying a binding file with the Source generator Ant task

Support for specifying a binding file with the Castor Source Generator Ant Task has been added. Below is the example as provided with the 0.9.6 release notes extended to cover the specification of a binding file:

  <target name="castor:gen:src" depends="init"
    description="Generate Java source files from XSD.">

    <taskdef name="castor-srcgen"
      classname="org.exolab.castor.tools.ant.taskdefs.CastorSourceGenTask"
      classpathref="castor.class.path" />
    <mkdir dir="${gen.src.d}" />
    <castor-srcgen file="${schema.d}/books2.xsd"
      todir="${gen.src.d}"
      package="com.sourcebeat.castorlive.xmodel"
      types="j2"
      bindingfile="custom-binding.xml"
      warnings="false" />
  </target>
                

Problems fixed

Since release 0.9.6, the following problem areas have been addressed.

Status

This is the final 0.9.6. release. We are currently planning the next milestone release which will be Castor 1.0.

New Documentation

- Creating Custom FieldHandlers

Summary

Final release. Since the third release candidate, the following problem areas have been addressed.

Preparations for the final release have started. Since the second release candidate, the following problem areas have been addressed.

Open issues:

There's an issue with Castor finding mapping files within JARs when the path to the mapping file is specified relatively to the JDO configuration file. We are working on this, but as there's a workaround (using InputSources as mentioned on the mailing lists recently), we have decided to go ahead and not hold back this second release candidate. Details on this bug can be found here.

Since the first release candidate, the following problem areas have been addressed.

Download & installation instructions

Please note that we are providing the usual suspect (binaries, docs and sources) for this release at the Exolab FTP server. We recommend, though, to download the complete package, as the HTML docs at the main Castor site have not been updated, and build the documentation yourself.

Changes

Format of the JDO configuration file

Due to various internal refactorings, we decide to change the syntax of the JDO configuration file, adding a new root element named <jdo-conf> and elements to declare transaction demarcation semantics. Here's a sample of Castor JDO running against mySQL (with local transactions).

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE jdo-conf PUBLIC
    "-//EXOLAB/Castor JDO Configuration DTD Version 1.0//EN"
    "http://castor.org/jdo-conf.dtd">

<jdo-conf>
    <database name="test" engine="mysql" >
        <driver url="jdbc:mysql://localhost/test"
                class-name="org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver">
            <param name="user" value="test" />
            <param name="password" value="test" />
        </driver>
        <mapping href="mapping.xml" />
    </database>
    <transaction-demarcation mode="local" />
</jdo-conf>
                

Configuration of JDBC Datasources

When setting up JDBC DataSources to be used with Castor JDO, configuration of parameters now needs to occur as a sequence of <param> elements rather than one <params> element. This is to stream-line the way these JDBC resources are configured.

What used to be

<data-source class-name="com.sybase.jdbc2.jdbc.SybDataSource">
    <params user="thomas"
            password="thomas"
            port-number="2048"
            server-name="Dual1"
            database-name="thomas" />
</data-source>
                

before this release, now needs to be specifed as follows:

<data-source class-name="com.sybase.jdbc2.jdbc.SybDataSource">
    <param name="user" value="thomas" />
    <param name="password" value="thomas" />
    <param name="port-number" value="2048" />
    <param name="server-name" value="Dual1" />
    <param name="database-name" value="thomas" />
</data-source>
                

Please note the use of hyphens in the naming of properties. In other words, in order for Castor to set the value of the portNumber property of the SybDataSource to '2048', please use the following <param> element

    <param name="port-number" value="2048" />
                

rather than

    <param name="portNumber" value="2048" />
                

as shown in the pooling documentation for previous releases.

Transaction demarcation

A new way of configuring transaction demarcation has been added. This configuration is now part of the main JDO configuration file (jdo-conf) and mandates the specification of the transaction demarcation used within your application.

As part of this configuration file, the user has to specify which transaction demarcation to use. This can either be 'local' or 'global', and is supplied by the use of a <transaction-demarcation> element.

Local Mode

When using Castor JDO stand-alone and you want Castor to control transaction demarcation ('local' mode), please use this element as follows:

<transaction-demarcation mode="local" />
                

Global Mode

When running inside a J2EE application server, and you want to use container managed transactions ('global' transactions), please make sure you use this element as follows:

  <transaction-demarcation mode="global">
    <transaction-manager name="jndi" />
  </transaction-demarcation>
                

In this mode, the XML element <transaction-manager> specifies the transaction manager that is used by your application server/web container to control these transactions.

The following transaction managers are supported in Castor at the time of the release of Castor 0.9.6:

In addition to specifying the transaction manager name, it is possible to pass arbitrary name/value pairs to the transaction manager instance.

Note:It should also be noted that "database pooling" must be enabled for the JDO instance when using the WAS v4 and v5 transaction managers, or the JDO "database" instance will fall outside the current transaction/thread, resulting in the error message "No transaction in progress for the current thread". For example:

JDO myJdo = new JDO();
myJdo.setDatabasePooling( true );
                

Note: At the moment, only the JNDI transaction manager factory supports such an attribute. In this context, the jndiEnc attribute can be used to specify what JNDI ENC to use to lookup the transaction manager as shown below:

  <transaction-demarcation mode="global">
    <transaction-manager name="jndi">
      <param name="jndiEnc" value="java:comp/env/TransactionManager" />
    </transaction-manager>
  </transaction-demarcation>
                

Using timezone information when accessing date/time/timestamp data

Castor will use the JDBC ResultSet.getDate(int, Calendar) and related methods which take a Calendar object to specify the timezone of the data retrieved from the database when the timezone information is not already specified in the data; this ensures that the 'current' timezone is applied.

The default time zone can be configured in the castor.properties file; see the configuration section for details on how to configure Castor with information about your default time zone. To change the timezone to a different timezone than the default, please set a (different) value on the org.exolab.castor.jdo.defaultTimeZone property:

# Default time zone to apply to dates/times fetched from database fields,
# if not already part of the data.  Specify same format as in
# java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone, or an empty string to use the computer's
# local time zone.
# org.exolab.castor.jdo.defaultTimeZone=
org.exolab.castor.jdo.defaultTimeZone=GMT+8:00
                

New features

JDO configuration without a file and JDoConfFactory

As part of this release, we have added a way to configure Castor JDO without the need to provide an XML configuration file. As such,

JDO.setConfiguration(JdoConf)
                

has been provided to pass in an instance of JdoConf. Too assist users of this new approach in creating JdoConf instances, please have a look at org.exolab.castor.jdo.util.JdoConfFactory.

Resetting database configurations

In order to clear all previously registered Castor Database configurations you can now call the new function org.exolab.castor.jdo.engine.DatabaseRegistry.clear(). This is for example usefull, if you want to log on using a user supplied login name and database connection. It is especially needed if it's possible to change the login password of the database login account in interactive applications.

CacheManager

With this release, we have decided to remove several methods related to clearing caches (partially) from Database(impl).java. Instead, we have created a new CacheManager class in the util package that can be obtained from a Database instance as follows:

Database db = jdo.getDatabase();
CacheManager manager = db.getCacheManager();
                

Once such an instance has been obtained, cache content can be cleared (partially) using one of several CacheManager?.clearCache() methods. In addition, users might inquire about whether an object is currently cached (or not) by using CacheManager.isCached (Class, Object).

Details about the functionality provided by this new class can be found in the HTML docs and/or Javadocs.

OQL - Support for LIMIT/OFFSET clauses

On a selected number of RDBMS, Castor JDO now supports the use of LIMIT (and OFFSET clauses) as follows:

OQLQuery query =
   db.getOQLQuery ("select a from Account order by id limit $1 offset $2");
query.bind (10);
query.bind (5);
OQLResults results = query.execute();
                

This will select accounts 6 to 15, given that numbers for account ids start at 1.

As per this release, the following RDBMS have full/partial support for this new feature.

1) Oracle has full support for LIMIT/OFFSET clauses for release 8.1.6 and later.

OQL - bind variables in combination with "IN" operators

Previously it was only possible to use OQL WHERE statements with "IN" operators of the following form:

"... WHERE DNAME in list(1, 2, 3)"
"... WHERE DNAME in list(\"SALES\", \"TEST\", \"ABC\")"
"... WHERE DNAME in list(\"ABC\", nil)"
                

To make it easier executing dynamic queries, it's now also allowed to use bind variables, for example:

"... WHERE DNAME in list($1, $2)"
                

Add your own cache implementation

If you are not satisfied with Castor's set of performance caches, we've added a way for you to provide you own cache implementationa and register it with Castor.

To provide a custom cache implementation, you need to

1. Create a class that implements org.exolab.castor.persist.cache.Cache (we have provided an abstract base class that you can use at your convenience).
2. Create a class that implements org.exolab.castor.persist.cache.CacheFactory (we have provided an abstract base class that you can use at your convenience).
3. Register your custom cache implementation with Castor JDO in the castor.properties file.

Detailed instructions can be found in the package.html file of the org.exolab.castor.persist.cache package.

Castor Source Generator Ant Task

The Castor Source Generator Ant Task has been added to the CVS tree. Below is an example of how to use it from within an Ant build descriptor:

  <target name="castor:gen:src" depends="init"
    description="Generate Java source files from XSD.">

    <taskdef name="castor-srcgen"
      classname="org.exolab.castor.tools.ant.taskdefs.CastorSourceGenTask"
      classpathref="castor.class.path" />
    <mkdir dir="${gen.src.d}" />
    <castor-srcgen file="${schema.d}/books2.xsd"
      todir="${gen.src.d}"
      package="com.sourcebeat.castorlive.xmodel"
      types="j2"
      warnings="false" />
  </target>
                

The only requirement is that the castor-srcgen-ant-task.jar must be on the CLASSPATH.

New features - experimental

JDO2 - a new approach

Due to a couple of inconsistencies in the interface of the JDO class, we have decided to refactor this class and provide users with a much improved way of configuring and instantiating JDO instances (as explained below). To provide backwards-compatibility, we have created a new JDO2 class and left the old untouched.

To create a Castor JDO instance (based upon a XML configuration file), users need to execute code similar to the following lines:

JDO2.loadConfiguration ("jdo-conf.xml");
JDO2 jdo = JDO2.createInstance ("test");
                

Similar to what the old interface used to be, a couple of overloaded loadConfiguration() methods are provided, to allow specification of class loaders and XML entity resolvers.