idlj(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   idlj(1)

NAME

       idlj - The IDL-to-Java Compiler (RMI-IIOP version)

       idlj generates Java bindings from a given IDL file.

SYNOPSIS

       idlj [ options ] idl-file

       where idl-file is the name of a file containing Interface Definition Language (IDL) definitions.  Options may appear in any order, but must
       precede the idl-file.

DESCRIPTION

       The IDL-to-Java Compiler generates the Java bindings for a given IDL file.  For binding details, see the OMG IDL to Java  Language  Mapping
       Specification. Some previous releases of the IDL-to-Java compiler were named idltojava.

Emitting Client and Server Bindings
       To generate Java bindings for an IDL file named My.idl:

	      idlj My.idl

       This generates the client-side bindings and is equivalent to:

	      idlj -fclient My.idl

       The client-side bindings do not include the server-side skeleton. If you want to generate the server-side bindings for the interfaces:

	      idlj -fserver My.idl

       Server-side bindings include the client-side bindings plus the skeleton, all of which are POA (that is, Inheritance Model) classes.  If you
       want to generate both client and server-side bindings, use one of the following (equivalent) commands:

	      idlj -fclient -fserver My.idl
	      idlj -fall My.idl

       There are two possible server-side models: the Inneritance Model and the Tie Model.

       The default server-side model is the Portable Servant Inheritance Model.  Given an interface My defined in My.idl, the file  MyPOA.java	is
       generated. You must provide the implementation for My and it must inherit from MyPOA.

       MyPOA.java is a stream-based skeleton that extends org.omg.PortableServer.Servant and implements the InvokeHandler interface and the opera-
       tions interface associated with the IDL interface the skeleton implements.

       The PortableServer module for the Portable Object Adapter (POA) defines the native Servant type. In the Java programming language, the Ser-
       vant  type  is mapped to the Java org.omg.PortableServer.Servant class. It serves as the base class for all POA servant implementations and
       provides a number of methods that may be invoked by the application programmer, as well as methods which are invoked by the POA itself  and
       may be overridden by the user to control aspects of servant behavior.

       Another option for the Inheritance Model is to use the -oldImplBase flag in order to generate server-side bindings that are compatible with
       older version of the Java programming language (prior to J2SE 1.4). To generate server-side bindings that are backwards compatible:

	      idlj -fclient -fserver -oldImplBase My.idl
	      idlj -fall -oldImplBase My.idl

       Given an interface My defined in My.idl, the file _MyImpleBase.java is generated. You must provide the implementation for My  and  it  must
       inherit from _MyImplBase.

       The  other server-side model is called the Tie Model. This is a delegation model. Because it is not possible to generate ties and skeletons
       at the same time, they must be generated separately.  The following commands generate the bindings for the Tie Model:

	      idlj -fall My.idl
	      idlj -fallTIE My.idl

       For the interface My, the second command generates MyPOATie.java.  The constructor to MyPOATie takes a  delegate.   You	must  provide  the
       implementation for delegate, but it does not have to inherit from any other class, only the interface MyOperations.  But to use it with the
       ORB, you must wrap your implementation within MyPOATie.	For instance:

	      MyImpl myImpl = new MyImpl ();
	      My POATie tie = new MyPOATie (myImpl);
	      orb.connect (tie);

       You might want to use the Tie model instead of the typical Inheritance model if your implementation must inherit from some other  implemen-
       tation.	Java  allows  any number of interface inheritance, but there is only one slot for class inheritance. If you the inheritance model,
       that slot is used up . By using the Tie Model, that slot is freed up for your own use. The drawback is that it introduces a level of  indi-
       rection: one extra method call occurs when invoking a method.

       To  generate server-side, Tie model bindings that are compatible with older version of the IDL to Java language mapping in versions of J2SE
       before 1.4.

	      idlj -oldImplBase -fall My.idl
	      idlj -oldImplBase -fallTIE My.idl

       For the interface My, this will generate My_Tie.java.  The constructor to My_Tie takes a impl.  You must  provide  the  implementation  for
       impl,  but it does not have to inherit from any other class, only the interface HelloOperations.  But to use it with the ORB, you must wrap
       your implementation within My_Tie.  For instance:

	      MyImpl myImpl = new MyImpl ();
	      My_Tie tie = new My_Tie (myImpl);
	      orb.connect (tie);

Specifying Alternate Locations for Emitted Files
       If you want to direct the emitted files to a directory other than the current directory, invoke the compiler as:

	      idlj -td /altdir My.idl

       For the interface My, the bindings will be emitted to /altdir/My.java, etc., instead of ./My.java.

Specifying Alternate Locations for Include Files
       If My.idl included another idl file, MyOther.idl, the compiler assumes that MyOther.idl resides in the local directory. If  it  resides	in
       /includes, for example, then you would invoke the compiler with the following command:

	      idlj -i /includes My.idl

       If  My.idl also included Another.idl that resided in /moreIncludes, for example, then you would invoke the compiler with the following com-
       mand:

	      idlj -i /includes -i /moreIncludes My.idl

       Since this form of include can become irritatingly long, another means of indicating to the compiler where to search for included files	is
       provided. This technique is similar to the idea of an environment variable. Create a file named idl.config in a directory that is listed in
       your CLASSPATH. Inside of idl.config, provide a line with the following form:

	      includes=/includes;/moreIncludes

       The compiler will find this file and read in the includes list. Note that in this example the separator character between the two  directo-
       ries  is a semicolon (;). This separator character is platform dependent. On NT it is a semicolon, on Solaris it is a colon, etc.  For more
       information on includes, read the CLASSPATH documentation.

Emitting Bindings for Include Files
       By default, only those interfaces, structs, etc, that are defined in the idl file on the command line  have  Java  bindings  generated  for
       them. The types defined in included files are not generated.  For example, assume the following two idl files:

       My.idl

	      #include <MyOther.idl>
	      interface My
	      {
	      };

       MyOther.idl

	      interface MyOther
	      {
	      };

       The following command will only generate the java bindings for My:

	      idlj My.idl

       To  generate all of the types in My.idl and all of the types in the files that My.idl includes (in this example, MyOther.idl), use the fol-
       lowing command:

	      idlj -emitAll My.idl

       There is a caveat to the default rule.  #include statements which appear at global scope are treated as described.  These  #include  state-
       ments  can  be  thought of as import statements.  #include statements which appear within some enclosing scope are treated as true #include
       statements, meaning that the code within the included file is treated as if it appeared in the original file and, therefore, Java  bindings
       are emitted for it. Here is an example:

       My.idl

	      #include <MyOther.idl>
	      interface My
	      {
		#include <Embedded.idl>
	      };

       MyOther.idl

	      interface MyOther
	      {
	      };

       Embedded.idl

	      enum E {one, two, three};

       Running the following command:

	      idlj My.idl

       will generate the following list of Java files:

       Notice  that  MyOther.java  was	not  generated	because it is defined in an import-like #include.  But E.java was generated because it was
       defined in a true #include.  Also notice that since Embedded.idl was included within the scope of the interface My, it appears  within  the
       scope of My (that is,in MyPackage).

       If the -emitAll flag had been used in the previous example, then all types in all included files would be emitted.

Inserting Package Prefixes
       Suppose that you work for a company named ABC that has constructed the following IDL file:

       Widgets. idl
	      module Widgets
	      {
		interface W1 {...};
		interface W2 {...};
	      };

       Running	this  file through the IDL-to-Java compiler will place the Java bindings for W1 and W2 within the package Widgets. But there is an
       industry convention that states that a company's packages should reside within a package named com.<companyname>.  The Widgets  package	is
       not  good  enough.  To  follow convention, it should be com.abc.Widgets.  To place this package prefix onto the Widgets module, execute the
       following:

	      idlj -pkgPrefix Widgets com.abc Widgets.idl

       If you have an IDL file which includes Widgets.idl, the -pkgPrefix flag must appear in that command also. If it does  not,  then  your  IDL
       file will be looking for a Widgets package rather than a com.abc.Widgets package.

       If  you	have  a number of these packages that require prefixes, it might be easier to place them into the idl.config file described above.
       Each package prefix line should be of the form:

	      PkgPrefix.<type>=<prefix>

       So the line for the above example would be:

	      PkgPrefix.Widgets=com.abc

       The use of this options does not affect the Repository ID.

Defining Symbols Before Compilation
       You may need to define a symbol for compilation that is not defined within the IDL file, perhaps to include debugging code in the bindings.
       The command

	      idlj -d MYDEF My.idl

       is the equivalent of putting the line #define MYDEF inside My.idl.

Preserving Pre-Existing Bindings
       If  the Java binding files already exist, the -keep flag will keep the compiler from overwriting them. The default is to generate all files
       without considering if they already exist. If you've customized those files (which you should not do unless you are very  comfortable  with
       their contents), then the -keep option is very useful. The command

	      idlj -keep My.idl

       emit all client-side bindings that do not already exist.

Viewing Progress of Compilation
       The IDL-to-Java compiler will generate status messages as it progresses through its phases of execution. Use the -v option to activate this
       "verbose" mode:

	      idlj -v My.idl

       By default the compiler does not operate in verbose mode.

Displaying Version Information
       To display the build version of the IDL-to-Java compiler, specify the -version option on the command-line:

	      idlj -version

       Version information also appears within the bindings generated by the compiler. Any additional options appearing on  the  command-line  are
       ignored.

OPTIONS

       -d symbol
	      This is equivalent to the following line in an IDL file:

	      #define symbol

       -emitAll
	      Emit all types, including those found in #include files.

       -fside Defines  what  bindings to emit.	side is one of client, server, serverTIE, all, or allTIE.The -fserverTIEand -fallTIE options cause
	      delegate model skeletons to be emitted. Assumes -fclient if the flag is not specified.

       -i include-path
	      By default, the current directory is scanned for included files. This option adds another directory.

       -keep  If a file to be generated already exists, do not overwrite it.  By default it is overwritten.

       -noWarn
	      Supresses warning messages.

       -oldImplBase
	      Generates skeletons compatible with old (pre-1.4) JDK ORBs. By default, the POA Inheritance Model server-side  bindings  are  gener-
	      ated.  This  option  provides  backward-compatibility with older versions of the Java programming language by generating server-side
	      bindings that are ImplBase Inheritance Model classes.

       -pkgPrefix type prefix
	      Wherever type is encountered at file scope, prefix the generated Java package name with prefix for  all  files  generated  for  that
	      type. The type is the simple name of either a top-level module, or an IDL type defined outside of any module.

       -pkgTranslate type package
	      Wherever	the  type  or module name type is encountered, replace it in the with package for all files in the generated Java package.
	      Note that pkgPrefix changes are made first.  type is the simple name of either a top-level module, or an IDL type defined outside of
	      any module, and must match the full package name exactly. Also note that the following package names cannot be translated:

	      o org

	      o org.omg or any subpackages of org.omg

	      Any  attempt to translate these packages will result in uncompilable code, and the use of these packages as the first argument after
	      -pkgTranslate will be treated as an error.

       -skeletonName xxx%yyy
	      Use xxx%yyy as the pattern for naming the skeleton. The defaults are

	      o %POA for the POA base class (
		-fserver or -fall)

	      o %ImplBase for the oldImplBase class (
		-oldImplBase and ( -fserver or -fall))

       -td dir
	      Use dir for the output directory instead of the current directory.

       -tieName xxx%yyy
	      Name the tie according to the pattern. The defaults are:

	      o %POATie for the POA tie base class (
		-fserverTie or -fallTie)

	      o %_Tie for the
		oldImplBase tie class ( -oldImplBase and ( -fserverTie or -fallTie))

       -nowarn,-verbose
	      Verbose mode.

       -version
	      Display version information and terminate.

       See the Description section for more option information.

Restrictions
       o Escaped identifiers in the global scope may not have the
	 same spelling as IDL primitive types, Object, or ValueBase.  This is because the symbol  table  is  pre-loaded  with  these  identifiers;
	 allowing them to be redefined would overwrite their original definitions. (Possible permanent restriction).

       o The fixed IDL type is not supported.

								   10 March 2001							   idlj(1)