Re: Scheduling a Java PGM to run...

[Marc Logemann <spam1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Joe Pluta wrote:

> > From: Mike Burdette
> >
> > What is the best way to fire a servlet at a specified time?
>
>
> I haven't done this yet, Mike, but I've thought about it.  It seems to
> me that if you use a tool like Brad Stone's GETURI (I think Scott
> Klement may have an example of something similar) you could schedule an
> RPG program to run that would simply hit the servlet with an HTTP
> request of your choosing.

Timing Servlets is a problem in the J2EE world, because to my knowledge 
current J2EE appServers do have a Timer-Service (with current i mean 
j2ee 1.4 server, like the upcomming WAS 6), but this service only calls 
EJBs or in other words, TimerBeans.

To get an idea how the Timer Service works, see this:
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/downloads/WASTD6Support.html
(look at the Timer Tutorial at the bottom of the page)

Besides the timer service, which is a little bit too EJB centric, there 
is another interessting aspect. IBM and BEA working on an that spec: 
http://dev2dev.bea.com/technologies/commonj/index.jsp

So i cant give you a J2EE solution, there are some problems at the moment:

1. you need WAS 6.0 (which is IMO not available yet)
2. since you are on iSeries, you will have to wait even more for WAS6 ;)
3. you cant trigger Servlets

But perhaps it would be a good idea to implement that feature as a 
TimerBean someday, dont see a reason why this must be a Servlet, in fact 
it seems it doesnt make much sense to design it as a servlet. But i dont 
know the complete story of your task...


Marc Logemann
http://www.logemann.org