Saving server information

Question

This is probably such an obvious answer because for me it is hard to see. I am running an RMI client/server package and everything works great. The problem is that i need to be able to save the data on the server end to a file, so that if the server goes down, i can retrieve the data. The code that I have below saves great on initiation, and will load the data back up when restarted, but it will not save again once it loads from a file. The saveBackend method in the RMIServer class never gets called once a saved file is reloaded. Please help on this. I am pasting the RMIServer class and the AttornFace class which holds all of the methods that are called. Thanks in advance!!
import java.rmi.*;
import java.rmi.server.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.Timer;
public class RMIServer extends AttornFace implements RemoteChatServer, ActionListener{
static RMIServer rmis;
Timer timer;
public static void main(String[]args) throws Exception{
boolean newFile = false;
try{
rmis = new RMIServer();
}catch(Exception e){}
File file = new File("c:\\database.dbb");
FileInputStream fiStream = null;
try{
fiStream = new FileInputStream (file);
ObjectInputStream oiStream = new ObjectInputStream(fiStream);
if ((AttornFace) oiStream.readObject() != null){
fiStream.close();
fiStream = new FileInputStream (file);
oiStream = new ObjectInputStream(fiStream);
rmis = (RMIServer) oiStream.readObject();
fiStream.close();
}catch(Exception e){newFile = true;}
if (newFile){
FileOutputStream foStream = new FileOutputStream(file);
ObjectOutputStream ooStream = new ObjectOutputStream (foStream);
ooStream.writeObject(rmis);
ooStream.close();
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
if (e.getSource().equals(timer)){
checkPing();
return;
public RMIServer() throws Exception{
UnicastRemoteObject.exportObject(this);
RemoteLogonManager rlm = new RemoteLogonManager();
Naming.bind("chat/LogonManager", rlm);
startTimer();
public synchronized void saveBackend(File file){
System.out.println("in the RMI save file method");
try{
FileOutputStream foStream = new FileOutputStream(file);
ObjectOutputStream ooStream = new ObjectOutputStream (foStream);
ooStream.writeObject((AttornFace)rmis);
foStream.close();
System.out.println("saved");
}catch(Exception e){}
//start the timer
public void startTimer(){
timer = new Timer(1000 * 30, this);
timer.start();
//start the timer
public void stopTimer(){
timer.stop();
public class RemoteLogonManager extends UnicastRemoteObject implements LogonManager{
public RemoteLogonManager() throws RemoteException {
public ChatServer performLogon(String userid, String password,
ChatClient client) throws RemoteException,
LogonFailedException{
if(checkAccess(userid, password)){
addClient(userid);
return (ChatServer)(rmis);
throw new LogonFailedException("Invalid userid and/or password");
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class AttornFace extends Object implements Serializable
static Thread theThread;
static Runnable r;
File file = new File("c:\\database.dbb");
public AttornFace() {
//variables
//misc methods in the database
public void addPerson(){
saveBackend(file);
//this method is overwritten by the one in the RMIServer
public void saveBackend(File files){

Answer 1

the only thing that i can think of is that the first time it is saving it is only saving the AttornFace info, but not the RMIServer stuff. So when the file is then loaded, there would be no reference to the RMIServer, only AttornFace. This would lead to the saveBackend method in RMIServer never being called. Since rmis is static in RMIServer, it would not be saved....is that right? If this is the case, how would i then save the information needed? I thought about specifying the exact stuff i wanted saved instead of just the calss itself, but in the whole class of AttornFace, there are ALOT of different variables that would need to be saved. Thanks again for any help
import java.rmi.*;
import java.rmi.server.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import javax.swing.Timer;
public class RMIServer extends AttornFace implements RemoteChatServer, ActionListener{
  static RMIServer rmis;
  Timer timer;
  public static void main(String[]args) throws Exception{
    boolean newFile = false;
    try{
      rmis = new RMIServer();
    }catch(Exception e){}
    File file = new File("c:\\database.dbb");
    FileInputStream fiStream = null;
    try{
      fiStream = new FileInputStream (file);
      ObjectInputStream oiStream = new ObjectInputStream(fiStream);
      if ((AttornFace) oiStream.readObject() != null){
        fiStream.close();
        fiStream = new FileInputStream (file);
        oiStream = new ObjectInputStream(fiStream);
        rmis = (RMIServer) oiStream.readObject();
      fiStream.close();
    }catch(Exception e){newFile = true;}
    if (newFile){
      FileOutputStream foStream = new FileOutputStream(file);
      ObjectOutputStream ooStream = new ObjectOutputStream (foStream);
      ooStream.writeObject(rmis);
      ooStream.close();
  public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
    if (e.getSource().equals(timer)){
      checkPing();
      return;
  public RMIServer() throws Exception{
    UnicastRemoteObject.exportObject(this);
    RemoteLogonManager rlm = new RemoteLogonManager();
    Naming.bind("chat/LogonManager", rlm);
    startTimer();
  public synchronized void saveBackend(File file){
    System.out.println("in the RMI save file method");
    try{
      FileOutputStream foStream = new FileOutputStream(file);
      ObjectOutputStream ooStream = new ObjectOutputStream (foStream);
      ooStream.writeObject((AttornFace)rmis);
      foStream.close();
      System.out.println("saved");
    }catch(Exception e){}
  //start the timer
  public void startTimer(){
    timer = new Timer(1000 * 30, this);
    timer.start();
  //start the timer
  public void stopTimer(){
    timer.stop();
  public class RemoteLogonManager extends UnicastRemoteObject implements LogonManager{
    public RemoteLogonManager() throws RemoteException {
    public ChatServer performLogon(String userid, String password,
                                   ChatClient client) throws RemoteException,
                                   LogonFailedException{
      if(checkAccess(userid, password)){
        addClient(userid);
        return (ChatServer)(rmis);
      throw new LogonFailedException("Invalid userid and/or password");
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class AttornFace extends Object implements Serializable
  private SystemUserInfoNode [] UserInfo;
  public AttornFace() {
  //other methods in here
  //add user to the system array
  public void addUser(SystemUserInfoNode current){
    SystemUserInfoNode [] temp = UserInfo;
    UserInfo = new SystemUserInfoNode[temp.length + 1];
    for (int i = 0; i < temp.length; i++){
      UserInfo[i] = temp;
UserInfo[UserInfo.length-1] = current;
//sort the array
UserInfo = sortUsers(UserInfo);
saveBackend(file);
public void saveBackend(){