Call Bean from normal java class

Question

Dear Friends,
Is it ok to call an entity bean or session bean frm normal Java class.
(Java class is in the same application as the beans).
Is there a special way to lookup the beans from normal java classes.
Thanking You,
Chamal.

Answer 1

it is ok and very commonly done.
Note that the simple java program must be running in the same local network. You cannot have the java program and EJBs distributed over internet. (I m not certain of it, but mostly I shoudl be correct. If you have the resources, try it out and let me know)
In most of the cases, EJBs are called by
1. A servlet
2. Another EJB
3. a simple java program.
In the first 2 cases, you can go for Local Interfaces (more so in the second case than the first). The reason being that the the client and server will be in the same JVM (typically the Application server). Thus, in the first case, if the Web container and the ejb container are in the same app server, EJBs can be local.
However, in the third case, it is unlikey that you will have the client runnng and the same jvm as the server, because the app server has its own jvm.
sample code (this method is being called from the main method of a simple java program. it is self explanatory):
public  void processRequestForSessionBean()
         System.out.println("REQUEST RECEIVED");
         try
               Hashtable nameHashtable = new Hashtable();
               nameHashtable.put( Context.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY, "weblogic.jndi.WLInitialContextFactory" );
               nameHashtable.put( Context.PROVIDER_URL, "t3://localhost:7001" );
               InitialContext context = new InitialContext(nameHashtable);
               System.out.println("created initial context");
               Object lookupObject = context.lookup("CustomerBean");
               System.out.println("Got the lookup object");
               CustomerDataHome home = (CustomerDataHome) PortableRemoteObject.narrow(lookupObject,
                         Class.forName("com.shiv.business.CustomerDataHome"));
               System.out.println("Home interface");
               customerData = home.create();
               System.out.println("Remote Interface");
               addDataToSB(customerData);
               ArrayList namesList = customerData.getNames();
               System.out.println(namesList.toString());
               //customerData.remove();             
          catch (Exception exception)
               System.out.println("FATAL ERRORS");
               exception.printStackTrace();
          }