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The PropertiesAdmin Interface

An administrator may find it useful to be able to view or modify the configuration properties of a remote Ice application. For example, the IceGrid administrative tools allow you to query and update the properties of active servers. The Properties facet supplies this functionality.

The Ice::PropertiesAdmin interface provides access to the communicator's configuration properties:

{zcode:slice}
module Ice {
interface PropertiesAdmin {
    string getProperty(string key);
    PropertyDict getPropertiesForPrefix(string prefix);
    void setProperties(PropertyDict newProperties);
};
};
{zcode}

The getProperty operation retrieves the value of a single property, and the getPropertiesForPrefix operation returns a dictionary of properties whose keys match the given prefix. These operations have the same semantics as those in the Ice::Properties interface.

The setProperties operation merges the entries in newProperties with the communicator's existing properties. If an entry in newProperties matches the name of an existing property, that property's value is replaced with the new value. If the new value is an empty string, the property is removed. Any existing properties that are not modified or removed by the entries in newProperties are retained with their original values. If the Ice.Trace.Admin.Properties property is enabled, Ice logs a message if a call to setProperties results in any changes to the property set.

Property Update Notifications

The Ice run time can notify an application whenever its properties change due to invocations of the setProperties operation on the PropertiesAdmin interface. This section describes the native API for receiving property updates.

Implementing a Property Update Callback in C++

The Properties facet object provided by the Ice run time derives from the class NativePropertiesAdmin:

{zcode:cpp}
namespace Ice {
class NativePropertiesAdmin : virtual public IceUtil::Shared {
public:
    virtual void addUpdateCallback(const PropertiesAdminUpdateCallbackPtr& cb);
    virtual void removeUpdateCallback(const PropertiesAdminUpdateCallbackPtr& cb);
};
typedef IceUtil::Handle<NativePropertiesAdmin> NativePropertiesAdminPtr;
}
{zcode}

The application must supply an instance of PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback:

{zcode:cpp}
namespace Ice {
class PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback : virtual public Ice::LocalObject {
public:
    virtual void updated(const PropertyDict& changes) = 0;
};
typedef IceUtil::Handle<PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback> PropertiesAdminUpdateCallbackPtr;
}
{zcode}

The updated method receives a dictionary<string, string> value representing the properties that were added, changed or removed, with removed properties denoted by an entry whose value is an empty string. It is legal for the updated implementation to modify the set of callbacks, and Ice ignores any exceptions it might raise.

The following code demonstrates how to register a callback:

{zcode:cpp}
Ice::ObjectPtr obj = communicator->findAdminFacet("Properties");
if(obj) { // May be nil if the facet is not enabled
    Ice::NativePropertiesAdminPtr facet = Ice::NativePropertiesAdminPtr::dynamicCast(obj);
    Ice::PropertiesAdminUpdateCallbackPtr myCallback = new ...;
    facet->addUpdateCallback(myCallback);
}
{zcode}

Implementing a Property Update Callback in Java

The Properties facet object provided by the Ice run time derives from the class NativePropertiesAdmin:

{zcode:java}
package Ice;
 
public interface NativePropertiesAdmin {
    void addUpdateCallback(PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback callback);
    void removeUpdateCallback(PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback callback);
}
{zcode}

The application must supply an instance of PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback:

{zcode:java}
package Ice;
 
public interface PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback {
    void updated(java.util.Map<String, String> changes);
}
{zcode}

The updated method receives a dictionary<string, string> value representing the properties that were added, changed or removed, with removed properties denoted by an entry whose value is an empty string. It is legal for the updated implementation to modify the set of callbacks, and Ice ignores any exceptions it might raise.

The following code demonstrates how to register a callback:

{zcode:java}
Ice.Object obj = communicator.findAdminFacet("Properties");
if(obj != null) { // May be nil if the facet is not enabled
    Ice.NativePropertiesAdmin facet = (Ice.NativePropertiesAdmin)obj;
    Ice.PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback myCallback = new ...;
    facet.addUpdateCallback(myCallback);
}
{zcode}

Implementing a Property Update Callback in C#

The Properties facet object provided by the Ice run time derives from the class NativePropertiesAdmin:

{zcode:cs}
namespace Ice { 
    public interface NativePropertiesAdmin {
        void addUpdateCallback(PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback callback);
        void removeUpdateCallback(PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback callback);
    }
}
{zcode}

The application must supply an instance of PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback:

{zcode:cs}
namespace Ice {
    public interface PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback {
        void updated(System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary<string, string> changes);
    }
}
{zcode}

The updated method receives a dictionary<string, string> value representing the properties that were added, changed or removed, with removed properties denoted by an entry whose value is an empty string. It is legal for the updated implementation to modify the set of callbacks, and Ice ignores any exceptions it might raise.

The following code demonstrates how to register a callback:

{zcode:cs}
Ice.Object obj = communicator.findAdminFacet("Properties");
if(obj != null) { // May be nil if the facet is not enabled
    Ice.NativePropertiesAdmin facet = obj as Ice.NativePropertiesAdmin;
    Ice.PropertiesAdminUpdateCallback myCallback = new ...;
    facet.addUpdateCallback(myCallback);
}
{zcode}

See Also

• Properties and Configuration
• Facets and Versioning
• IceGrid