Servlet starting a long process

Question

Good day!
          We have a servlet that starts a long process (potentially an hour). We dont
          want to keep the connection open that long however. Currently we solve this
          problem by starting a second thread from within the servlet, and letting it
          run.
          However, this has a problem. This thread uses EJBs that are passed from the
          original thread. Weblogic's 6.1 docs say "To avoid undesireable
          interactions with WebLogic Server threads, do not let your threads call into
          WebLogic Server components."
          We've noticed one such unpleasant interaction if the servlets and ejbs are
          on the same server, but in different apps.
          So I'm wondering:
          A) what do people do when using threads to avoid this issue
          B) what alternative to threading do other people use in situations like
          this
          

Answer 1

For example, you can do it like this (using time services):
          http://dima.dhs.org/misc/LongRunningTask.jsp
          deepak <[email protected]> wrote:
          > i also want to do something like this & thought of forwarding the
          > request to a JSP from servlet and then do the processing part below
          > the forward.
          > Is this a correct way ?
          > regards
          > deepak
          > Mark Spotswood <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
          >> Two possibilties I can think of are:
          >> 1. Use a timer (set to fire immediately) to fire the EJB (but be aware that
          >> our timer services have been deprecated in favor of the JMX timer
          >> service)
          >> For more info on this, look at:
          >> http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/docs70/time/index.html
          >> 2. Use a message driven bean.
          >> http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/docs70/ejb/message_beans.html#1050867
          >> Hope this is helpful.
          >> --
          >> mark
          >>
          >> Mark Birenbaum wrote:
          >>
          >> >Good day!
          >> >
          >> >We have a servlet that starts a long process (potentially an hour). We dont
          >> >want to keep the connection open that long however. Currently we solve this
          >> >problem by starting a second thread from within the servlet, and letting it
          >> >run.
          >> >
          >> >However, this has a problem. This thread uses EJBs that are passed from the
          >> >original thread. Weblogic's 6.1 docs say "To avoid undesireable
          >> >interactions with WebLogic Server threads, do not let your threads call into
          >> >WebLogic Server components."
          >> >
          >> >We've noticed one such unpleasant interaction if the servlets and ejbs are
          >> >on the same server, but in different apps.
          >> >
          >> >So I'm wondering:
          >> >A) what do people do when using threads to avoid this issue
          >> >B) what alternative to threading do other people use in situations like
          >> >this
          >> >
          >> >
          Dimitri