Getting deep on Entities EJBs life-cicle... need some undertanding!

Question

Hi,
i got a question over an Entity EJB (BMP or CMP as they life-cicle is pretty much the same) life-cicle.
I've search over some books and there's a step that all of them seem to miss (or just don't be to explicit).
There are 3 stages for an entity EJB.
- no state
- pool
- ready
The transition i'd like some help is the pool -> ready transition.
When i use ejbCreate() is pretty simple, that's not the case.
Then, there're only left one more way, through the ejbActivate() -> ejbLoad() methods.
Here's my point...
All the books i read describe the ejbFind() methods being on the pool stage (an arrow coming from it and going to it). This is exactly where i disagree!
Suppose i have a CMPon pool rigth now and i also have a SessionBean holding a reference to that CMPLocalHome interface. Note that at this point, the CMP is still on pool.
Then, from my client, i call a method on SessionBean that does something like the following.
          try {
               CMPLocal cmpLocal = cmpLocalHome.findByPrimaryKey(addressID);
               if (cmpLocal != null){
                    String data = cmpLocal.getMyDataString();
          } catch (FinderException e) {
               System.out.println("Error: " + e);
               e.printStackTrace();
                                          }As u can see, i just obtained a Local interface from the LocalHome interface i had before.
After that, i called a getter method of the CMP bean, by that its pretty obvious that my CMP bean has got to be transitioned to the ready state, as it was associated with database data.
Here goes my question,
When exactly did the container called ejbActivate() -> ejbLoad()??? In other words, how exactly did my CMP bean get to the ready stage?
Thank you so much,
ltcmelo

Answer 1

First of all, what an example! Great!
But ... i still miss one little part of the process, actually the one i`m really interested to know!
Follow my thougths.
When i call the ejbFind() method, i call it on a bean that is on the pool. All the entities EJB life-cicle diagrams i`ve seen, show the bean still on the pool after the ejbFind() method, wich means that just AFTER the ejbFind() the beans is NOT yet associated to any database data. That`s what the literature says.
The point is... i got returned from ejbFind() method a LocalInterface for a Bean, wich means that the bean is NOW associated with database data, as i have NOW a local interfaces that i can call any business (or setter and getter ) method of that bean.
As you all said, the bean must have passed through the ejbActivate() -> ejbLoad() methods (supposing there was no other bean in the ready state).
One way i can think of that is that the container invoked ejbActivate() -> ejbLoad() just AFTER any invokation of any finder method. I cannot view it in other way ( is ther any other way??? ) ! So, why is it not part of the j2ee specification ( i mean, something that specifies to "always call ejbActivate() -> ejbLoad after any finder method"????
Thanks,
ltcmelo