Method for efficient location of corba objects based on an unmarshaled object key in a request
View Patent ↗Disclosed are methods and threads for responding to a request to perform an operation on a server object as may be provided in software form within an object request broker (ORB) server library or an ORB server. The specified object is identified by a marshaled object key in a conventional manner. The method improves upon prior art techniques by directly locating the object using the marshaled object key free of any unmarshaling step. The specified operation can then be invoked on the located object. The method applies to both in-process and out-of-process requests. In a preferred implementation, the marshaled object key is utilized as a hash key to directly access a pointer to the object.
1. In an object request broker library of an object request broker server residing on a computer, a method for optimally responding to an out-of-process request by a remote client to perform an operation on a particular object selected from a plurality of objects each having an associated object key, the particular object residing on a computer-readable medium and being capable of being identified by an associated marshaled object key, wherein the associated marshaled object key includes a byte array computed by transforming the associated object key, comprising the steps of:
a) locating the particular object specified by the out-of-process request by an object request broker utilizing the associated marshaled object key free of any computation that would reverse the transformation of the associated object key and a mapping of a plurality of marshaled object keys to associated ones of the plurality of objects, the mapping generated by unmarshaling one or more of the plurality of marshaled object keys, locating the associated objects identified by the one or more unmarshaled object keys, and creating an association in the mapping between the one or more marshaled object keys and the associated located objects; and
b) invoking the requested operation on the located particular object by the object request broker.
2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the mapping includes a hash table and the locating step includes the step of applying the associated marshaled object key as a hash key to the hash table so as to directly locate the particular object.
3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by a server side library.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the request to perform an operation on an object is initiated by a process, and the object resides external to the process which initiated the request to perform an operation.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the object and the process which initiated the request to perform the operation reside on different computers.
6. An object request broker server residing on a computer having a computer readable medium, running a thread that executes instructions encoded in the computer readable medium, and being of the type which handles out-of-process requests to perform operations on server objects, each having an object key, the thread executed instructions comprising the steps of
a) responding to an out-of-process operation request from one of a client computer and a client computer sub-system;
b) matching a particular marshaled object key in the request against entries in a table associating marshaled object keys with server objects, each marshaled object key including a byte array computed by transforming the respective object key, and the table being generated by mapping a plurality of marshaled object keys to associated ones of the server objects, the mapping generated by unmarshaling one or more of the plurality of marshaled object keys, locating the associated server objects identified by the one or more unmarshaled object keys, and creating an association in the mapping between the one or more marshaled object keys and the associated located server objects; and
c) responding to any match by locating a particular server object associated with the particular marshaled object key, and invoking the requested operation on the particular located server object.
7. The thread as in claim 6 , wherein the particular server object is located free of any traversal of a portable object adapter hierarchy at the object request broker server.
8. A computer-implemented system for an object request broker server of the type which handles requests to perform operations on server objects, each having an object key, comprising:
a computer having a processor; and
a computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program being configured to:
a) receive a first request from one of a first client and a first client sub-system, the first request including a requested operation and a marshaled object key wherein at least a part of the marshaled object key includes a byte array computed by transforming the object key;
b) unmarshal the marshaled object key from the first request to compute an unmarshaled object key;
c) create an entry in a table using the unmarshaled object key to associate the marshaled object key with a server object;
d) receive a second request from one of a second client computer and a second client sub-system computer, the second request including the marshaled object key;
e) match the marshaled object key in the second request with the corresponding entry in the table;
f) locate the server object; and
g) invoke the requested operation on the located server object.