CDI + EJB 3 + EJB Transaction - ejb

Question

I need to audit invocations of ejb beans. Saying audit I mean write informations such as current logged user, method name, additional description to a database. I decided to do it by use of CDI decorator:
#Decorator
public class AccountServiceBeanDecorator implements AccountService {
#Inject
#Delegate
#Any
AccountService accountService;
#EJB
private AuditService auditService;
#Override
public Account createAccount(Account account) {
auditService.saveAudit("Method: createAccount", currentUser, "Creating account by admin");
return accountService.createAccount(account);
}
}
and the decorated class:
#Stateless
public class AccountServiceBean implements AccountService {
#Override
public Account createAccount(Account account) {
...
}
}
Now if I call AccountService from another ejb stateless bean, what will happen with transaction?:
#Stateless
public ApplicationFacadeBean implements ApplicationFacade {
#EJB
private AccountService accountService;
#Override
public Account createAccount(Account account) {
return accountService.createAccount(account);
}
}
I wanted to log transaction status in decorator (AccountServiceBeanDecorator) and decorated class (AccountServiceBean), so I injected TransactionSynchronizationRegistry as a resource in both classes:
#Decorator
public class AccountServiceBeanDecorator implements AccountService {
#Inject
#Delegate
#Any
AccountService accountService;
#EJB
private AuditService auditService;
#Resource
private TransactionSynchronizationRegistry reg;
#Override
public Account createAccount(Account account) {
log.info("%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%");
log.info("tx ({}): {}", new Object[] {reg.getTransactionStatus(), reg.getTransactionKey()});
log.info("%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%");
auditService.saveAudit("Method: createAccount", currentUser, "Creating account by admin");
return accountService.createAccount(account);
}
}
and
#Stateless
public class AccountServiceBean implements AccountService {
#Resource
private TransactionSynchronizationRegistry reg;
#Override
public Account createAccount(Account account) {
log.info("%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%");
log.info("tx ({}): {}", new Object[] {reg.getTransactionStatus(), reg.getTransactionKey()});
log.info("%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%");
...
}
}
I received strange behavior:
log from decorator
tx (0): JavaEETransactionImpl: txId=6 nonXAResource=null jtsTx=null localTxStatus=0 syncs=[com.sun.ejb.containers.ContainerSynchronization#68fb15d0]]]
NullPointerException on second log (reg is null).
Can anybody explain it to me? Wheter AccountServiceBean class is called within the same transaction as ApplicationFacade?
Thank you

Answer 1

first: i would not mixing ejbs with cdi interceptors. ejbs has it on interceptor implementations.
second: interceptors are executed in the same transaction as the ejb where the interceptor is around.
possible solution:
create a correct ejb interceptor
put the interceptor around the method / class
create a second ejb (MyLoggerBean) with a method like this logToDatabase(String message) and annotate this method with #TransactionAttribute(TransactionAttributeType.REQUIRES_NEW)
inside the interceptor create a class member like this: #EJB private MyLoggerBean loggerBean
inside your #AroundInvoke annotated method you could call loggerBean. logToDatabase(...)
this would create a new transaction from inside the current transaction of the ejb where the interceptor is around
--> i know my english is not very good. but i hope that you understand what i think should work. if i have the time, i make e example on github...

Answer 2

Hmm... what container are you using? Generally I wouldn't suspect a CDI decorator to work on an EJB... I can't think of anything in the JEE spec that I've encountered that would give evidence either way.
Faced with your problem though, I did this with an interceptor, not a decorator. These are supported by the EJB spec... Anyway, here's my code, you would need to grab the variables from the context in your case:
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import javax.inject.Inject;
import javax.interceptor.AroundInvoke;
import javax.interceptor.Interceptor;
import javax.interceptor.InvocationContext;
public class InvocationCountInterceptor {
#Inject
private InvocationCounter counter;
#AroundInvoke
public Object intercept(InvocationContext ctx) throws Exception {
Object returnValue = ctx.proceed();
Class<? extends Object> className = ctx.getTarget().getClass();
Method methodName = ctx.getMethod();
counter.incrementCounter(className, methodName);
return returnValue;
}
}
Then whatever EJB or EJB Method you want to audit, I just added this: #Interceptors(InvocationCountInterceptor.class)