PlanetNTF

Instead of waiting for updates of the Domino HTTP task any longer I was thinking about how to use modern HTTP technologies on top of Domino. But instead of implementing it in the Domino stack, I think I found a new way for developing and running my Spring Boot applications: Why not using the existing JVM, and run my application directly on it? This means full access to the Domino objects, and allows access to the latest available technologies: No more limitations because of the provided tech stack, Websockets, Async HTTP Request Processing, full JEE support, modern and better development tools, …

I am not talking about DIIOP or RPC, that’s something different, and more a crutch as a solution. I need full access, especially to NAPI for C-API calls for running the code in the user context I want.

First thing to do is downloading and installing Maven and Git. I am using older versions on my Winows 7 VM, because I am to lazy to upgrade them. Then I have cloned the Websockets example from Spring as a starting point for a quick testing scenario.

I have choosen Jetty as the webserver to use by adding the dependencies to the pom.xml:

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.eclipse.jetty.websocket</groupId>
   <artifactId>websocket-client</artifactId>
   <version>9.4.11.v20180605</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.eclipse.jetty.websocket</groupId>
   <artifactId>websocket-server</artifactId>
   <version>9.4.11.v20180605</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.eclipse.jetty</groupId>
   <artifactId>jetty-client</artifactId>
   <version>9.4.11.v20180605</version>
</dependency>

Jetty provides support for WebSockets, http/2, the latest servlet container and many more features which on the wishlist of Domino developers for years.

For an easier maintainment, I am using properties in the pom.xml for referencing the Domino environment:

<properties>
   <java.version>1.8</java.version>
   <domino.directory>T:/IBM/Domino901</domino.directory>
   <domino.osgi.shared.directory>${domino.directory}/osgi/shared/eclipse/plugins</domino.osgi.shared.directory>
   <domino.osgi.rcp.directory>${domino.directory}/osgi/rcp/eclipse/plugins</domino.osgi.rcp.directory>
   <domino.version>9.0.1</domino.version>
   <domino.jarversion>9.0.1.20180115-1058</domino.jarversion>
</properties>

My installation of Domino server is on drive T, and the JAR version is the part of the file or folder name which depends on the current installation / feature pack.

Now, we can add the dependencies to the required Domino JARs:

<dependency>
   <groupId>com.ibm</groupId>
   <artifactId>domino-api-binaries</artifactId>
   <version>${domino.version}</version>
   <scope>system</scope>
   <systemPath>${domino.directory}/jvm/lib/ext/Notes.jar</systemPath>
</dependency>

<dependency>
   <groupId>com.ibm</groupId>
   <artifactId>commons</artifactId>
   <version>${domino.version}</version>
   <scope>system</scope>
   <systemPath>${domino.osgi.shared.directory}/com.ibm.commons_${domino.jarversion}/lwpd.commons.jar</systemPath>
</dependency>

<dependency>
   <groupId>com.ibm.domino</groupId>
   <artifactId>napi</artifactId>
   <version>${domino.version}</version>
   <scope>system</scope>
   <systemPath>${domino.osgi.shared.directory}/com.ibm.domino.napi_${domino.jarversion}/lwpd.domino.napi.jar</systemPath>
</dependency>

At this point it is time to start the project for the first time. To do this, it is required to use the Domino JVM instead of the installed one. And here comes a small drawback: When using the Server JVM you cannot run the Domino server in parallel. If so, the server will crash immediatly with a „PANIC!“ message. You could start every task manually – but not the database server itself (this means you can use replication and mail and everything, but you cannot connect to the server from another client).

So here is a workaround: Install the Notes client and use his JVM! Think as it of a massive Database driver to connect to the server (there is no need to start the client, we just need the JVM and the DLLs).

Start a console, and change the environment (dependent of your installation of Maven & the Notes client):

SET JAVA_HOME=T:\IBM\Notes901\jvm
SET Path=T:\IBM\Notes901;C:\apache-maven-3.3.9\bin;T:\IBM\Notes901\jvm\bin

Go to your project folder and start the server:

mvn spring-boot:run

After opening http://localhost:8080 in your browser and clicking the „Connect“ button, you can see the WebSocket connection in the Dev Console:

At this point, nothing really spectacular. But now let’s modify the GreetingController.java and add some Domino code:

@MessageMapping("/hello")
@SendTo("/topic/greetings")
public Greeting greeting(HelloMessage message) throws Exception {

   Thread.sleep(1000); // simulated delay

   // make to Domino Thread
   NotesThread.sinitThread();
   Session session = NotesFactory.createSession();

   return new Greeting("Hello, " + HtmlUtils.htmlEscape( session.getEffectiveUserName() ) + "!" );
}

Restart the Jetty server, and enter a name. Et voilà…

In the next post, let’s use the Java NAPI to create a „real“ Webserver.