10/16/24, 10:35 PM EJB Life Cycle Example - Java Code Geeks

ejb3

EJB Life Cycle Example

Dhruv Gupta • March 1st, 2016 Last Updated: February 29th, 2016 1  1,739

 6 minutes read

1. The LifeCycle of EJB

The various stages through which an enterprise bean go through its lifetime
is known as the life cycle of EJB. Each type of enterprise bean (stateful
session, stateless session, singleton session, or message-driven) has a
different lifecycle.

2. Life Cycle of a Stateful Session Bean

The following figure shows the life cycle of a stateful session bean. It has
the following states:

Does not exist. In this state, the bean instance simply does not exist.
Ready state. A bean instance in the ready state is tied to particular
client and engaged in a conversation.

Passive state. A bean instance in the passive state is passivated to

conserve resource.

The various state transitions as well as the methods available during the
various states are discussed below.

Life Cycle of a Stateful Session Bean

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2.1 Moving from the Does Not Exist to the Ready State
When a client invokes a create method on a stateful session bean, the EJB
container creates a new instance and invokes the callback method public
void setSessionContext(SessionContext ctx). This method has the parameter
javax.ejb.SessionContext , which contains a reference to the session
context, that is, the interface to the EJB container, and can be used to self-
reference the session bean object.

After the callback method setSessionContext is called, the EJB container

calls the callback method ejbCreate that matches the signature of the create
method.

2.2 The Ready State

A stateful bean instance in the ready state is tied to a particular client for
the duration of their conversation. During this conversation the instance can
the execute component methods invoked by the client.

2.3 Activation and Passivation

To more optimally manage resources, the EJB container might passivate an
inactive stateful session bean instance by moving it from the ready state to
the passive state. When a session bean instance is passivated, its (non-
transient) data is serialized and written to disk, after which the bean
instance is purged from memory. Just prior to serialization, the callback
method ejbPassivate is invoked. If your session bean needs to execute
some custom logic prior to passivation, you can implement it using this
callback method.

If after passivation a client application continues the conversation by

invoking a business method, the passivated bean instance is reactivated; its
data stored on disk is used to restore the bean instance state. Right after
the state has been restored, the callback method ejbActivate is invoked. If
your session bean needs to execute some custom logic after activation, you
can implement it using this callback method. The caller (a client application
or another EJB) of the session bean instance will be unaware of passivation
(and reactivation) having taken place.

If a stateful session bean is set up to use the NRU(not recently used) cache-
type algorithm, the session bean can time out while in passivated state.
When this happens, it moves to the does not exist state; that is, it is
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removed. Prior to removal the EJB container will call the callback method
ejbRemove. If a stateful session bean is set up to use the LRU (least
recently used) algorithm, it cannot time out while in passivated state.
Instead this session bean is always moved from the ready state to the
passivated state when it times out.

The exact timeout can be set using the idleTimeoutSeconds attribute on the
@Session annotation. The cache-type algorithm can be set using the
attribute on the same annotation.

2.4 Moving from the Ready to the Does Not Exist State
When a client application invokes a remove method on the stateful session
bean, it terminates the conversation and tells the EJB container to remove
the instance. Just prior to deleting the instance, the EJB container will call
the callback method ejbRemove . If your session bean needs to execute
some custom logic prior to deletion, you can implement it using this callback
method.

An inactive stateful session bean that is set up to use the NRU (not recently
used) cache-type algorithm can time out, which moves it to the does not
exist state, that is, it is removed. Prior to removal the EJB container
will call the callback method ejbRemove . If a stateful session bean set up to
use the LRU (least recently used) algorithm times out, it always moves to
the passivated state, and is not removed.

The exact timeout can be set using the idleTimeoutSeconds attribute on the
@Session annotation. The cache-type algorithm can be set using the
cacheType attribute on the same annotation.

3. The Lifecycle of a Stateless Session Bean

The following figure shows the life cycle of a stateless session bean. A
stateless session bean has two states:

Does not exist. In this state, the bean instance simply does not exist.
Ready state. When WebLogic Server is first started, several bean instances
are created and placed in the Ready pool. More instances might be created
by the container as needed by the EJB container.
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The various state transitions as well as the methods available during the
various states are discussed below.

Life Cycle of a Stateless Session Bean

3.1 Moving from the Does Not Exist to the Ready State
When the EJB container creates a stateless session bean instance to be
placed in the ready pool, it calls the callback method public void
setSessionContext(SessionContext ctx) . This method has the parameter
javax.ejb.SessionContext, which contains a reference to the session context,
that is, the interface to the EJB container, and can be used to self-reference
the session bean object.

After the callback method setSessionContext is called, the EJB container

calls the callback method ejbCreate . You can implement this callback
method to, for instance, obtain the home interfaces of other EJBs invoked by
the session bean, as shown in Defining a Session Bean. The ejbCreate
method is only called once during the lifetime of a session bean, and is not
tied to the calling of the create method by a client application. For a
stateless session bean, calling the create method returns a reference to a
bean instance already in the ready pool; it does not create a new bean
instance. The management of stateless session bean instances is fully done
by the EJB container.

3.2 Ready State

When a bean instance is in the ready state, it can service client requests;
that is, execute component methods. When a client invokes a business
method, the EJB container assigns an available bean instance to execute the

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business method. Once execution has finished, the session bean instance is
ready to execute another business method.

3.3 Moving from the Ready to the Does Not Exist State
When the EJB container decides to reduce the number of session bean
instances in the ready pool, it makes the bean instance ready for garbage
collection. Just prior to doing this, it calls the callback method ejbRemove . If
your session bean needs to execute some cleanup action prior to garbage
collection, you can implement it using this callback method. The callback
method is not tied to the remove method invoked by a client. For a stateless
session bean, calling the remove method invalidates the reference to the
bean instance already in the ready pool, but it does not move a bean
instance from the ready to the does not exist state, as the management of
stateless session bean instances is fully done by the EJB container.

4. The Lifecycle of a Singleton Session Bean

A singleton session bean is never passivated and has only two stages, non
existent and ready for the invocation of business methods

Lifecycle of a Singleton Session Bean

The EJB container typically creates and maintains a pool of stateless session
beans, beginning the stateless session bean’s lifecycle. The container
performs any dependency injection and then invokes the method annotated
@PostConstruct , if it exists. The bean is now ready to have its business
methods invoked by a client.

At the end of the lifecycle, the EJB container calls the method annotated
@PreDestroy , if it exists. The bean’s instance is then ready for garbage
collection.

5. The Lifecycle of Message-Driven Bean

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Lifecycle of a Message-Driven Bean

The EJB container usually creates a pool of message-driven bean instances.

For each instance, the EJB container performs these tasks. If the message-
driven bean uses dependency injection, the container injects these
references before instantiating the instance.The container calls the method
annotated @PostConstruct , if any.

Like a stateless session bean, a message-driven bean is never passivated

and has only two states: nonexistent and ready to receive messages. At the
end of the lifecycle, the container calls the method annotated @PreDestroy ,
if any. The bean’s instance is then ready for garbage collection.

This type of bean follow three steps:

1. setMessageDrivenContext: This method is used to pass the context

object to the instance.

2. ejbCreate: This method is generated automatically whenever a new

enterprise bean is created.

3. ejbRemove: At this stage the bean instance is ready to move for the
garbage collection.

em.persist(newsEntity): This method makes an entity instance that

is managed and persistence.

em.merge(newsEntity): By using this method we can merge the

state of the given entity into the current persistence context.

em.remove(em.merge(newsEntity)): This method is used for

removing the entity instance.

Here is the program denoting life cycle of message driven bean:

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01 package ejb;
02
03 import java.util.List;
04 import javax.ejb.Stateless;
05 import javax.persistence.EntityManager;
06 import javax.persistence.PersistenceContext;
07
08 @Stateless
09 public class NewsEntityFacade implements NewsEntityFaca
10 @PersistenceContext
11 private EntityManager em;
12
13 public void create(NewsEntity newsEntity) {
14 em.persist(newsEntity);
15 }
16
17 public void edit(NewsEntity newsEntity) {
18 em.merge(newsEntity);
19 }
20
21 public void remove(NewsEntity newsEntity) {
22 em.remove(em.merge(newsEntity));
23 }
24 }

6. Conclusion
In this tutorial, we learn about various stages through which an enterprise
bean go through its lifetime. For more information on EJB technology, see
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/ejb-141389.html.

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1 COMMENT   Oldest 

M Chisty  6 years ago

Did not understand the text/grammar here: “During this

conversation the instance can the execute component methods
invoked by the client.”

Can you please edit or clarify this line?

2 Reply

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