Queued method invocations on distributed component applications

A process for a client to access object methods, the process comprising:

• designating whether an object is to receive method calls on a real-time or queued basis;
• calling methods of an object by a client in accordance with a call semantic of an object model;
• if the object is designated to receive method calls on a real-time basis, issuing the method call to the object and causing the client to block until the call returns from the method;
• if the object is designated to receive the method calls on a queued basis, performing the steps:
• recording the method call in a message;
• sending the message to a queue;
• causing the client to continue execution;
• after the client continues execution, retrieving the message from the queue;
• and
• issuing the method call recorded in the message to the object.

An object execution system supporting method invocation delivered via a queued message, the system comprising:

• an object configuration store containing object properties information representing properties of an object class executable in the system, the object properties information designating the object class as supporting queued method invocation;
• a method invocation recording facility operative responsive to request of a client program to supply method invocations recorders for object instances of object classes designated as supporting queued method invocations;
• a first method invocations recorder supplied by the method invocation recording facility at request of the client program for an instance of the object class, the first method invocations recorder operating in response to a plurality of method invocations by the client program for the object class instance to cause a data stream representation of the method invocations to be marshaled into a method invocations message for submission into a message queue associated with the object class;
• a method invocation play-back facility operative responsive to queued method invocations messages to supply method invocation players for object instances of object classes designated as supporting queued method invocations;
• a first method invocation player supplied by the method invocation play-back facility in response to the method invocations message queued to the message queue associated with the object class, the first method invocations player operating in response to the method invocations message to unmarshal the data stream representation and issue the method invocations to the object class instance.

In a computer system, a method of asynchronously remoting method invocations of a client program to a program component via a message queue, the method comprising:

• providing a reference for use by the client program to invoke methods on the program component;
• responsive to a client program issuing a set of method invocations for the queued component, marshaling data for the method invocations of the set into a message;
• upon release of the reference by the client program, submitting the message to the message queue associated with the program component;
• and
• at a later time of processing the message from the message queue, unmarshaling the data for the method invocations from the message, and issuing the set of method invocations to the queued component.

In a distributed computing system where a client program and a server queued component are run on at least one computing machine, a method of transactional queued invoking by the client program of methods on the server queued component, the method comprising:

• initiating a first transaction for encompassing processing of the client program;
• on request of the client program for a reference to the server queued component, creating a first method invocation recorder in the first transaction and returning a reference for invoking methods of the first method invocation recorder to the client program;
• on each of a set of method invocations of the client program made using the reference for invoking methods of the first method invocation recorder, recording by the first method invocation recorder data of the set of method invocations into a method invocations message;
• upon committal of the first transaction, submitting the method invocations message into a message queue associated with the server queued component;
• creating the server queued component for processing any method invocations recorded in the method invocations message in a second transaction;
• retrieving the method invocations message from the message queue within the second transaction;
• invoking a set of methods of the server queued component in the second transaction per the recorded set of method invocations.

A process for a client to access object methods, the process comprising:

• designating whether an interface is to receive method calls on a real-time or queued basis;
• calling methods of the interface by a client in accordance with a call semantic of an object model;
• if the interface is designated to receive method calls on a real-time basis, issuing the method call to the interface and causing the client to block until the call returns from the method;
• if the interface is designated to receive the method calls on a queued basis, performing the steps:
• recording the method call in a message;
• sending the message to a queue;
• causing the client to continue execution;
• after the client continues execution, retrieving the message from the queue;
• and
• issuing the method call recorded in the message to the interface.