Thanks for the comments so far (only received from John).
Recap: this is for an API to create a ConnectionFactory for Java SE clients and the Java EE container itself only:
When the class name is declared in the code:
Properties props = new Properties();
props.setProperty("javax.jms.url","jms://localhost:1234"};
props.setProperty("javax.jms.user","admin"};
props.setProperty("javax.jms.password",password);
ConnectionFactory cf = new com.acme.jms.AcmeConnectionFactory(properties props);
When the class name is a String:
Properties props = new Properties();
props.setProperty("javax.jms.connectionFactoryClassName","com.acmejms.AcmeConnectionFactory"};
props.setProperty("javax.jms.url","jms://localhost:1234"};
props.setProperty("javax.jms.user","admin"};
props.setProperty("javax.jms.password",password);
ConnectionFactory cf = javax.jms.ConnectionFactoryCreator.create(properties props);
I've discussed this in more detail here (within Oracle) and have made a few small changes to the proposal. Please see
http://java.net/jira/browse/JMS_SPEC-89 for the updated version.
1. I've stayed with using a java.util.Properties rather than a java.util.Map<String,String> because the Properties
object offers various useful methods for reading properties from a file. Although Properties pre-dates generics and is
not so typesafe it is a long-established part of Java SE, and has long been used in the JNDI API for a similar purpose.
This new feature could be criticising for encouraging applications to hard-code provider-specific properties in their
code which is why I want to make it as easy as possible for applications to read these properties from a file or from
some other central property storage.
2. I've kept the name of the method for creating a connection factory to "create" (as in
javax.jms.ConnectionFactoryCreator.create(properties props)). This reflects the fact that in most cases this method is
instantiating a lightweight object. I took advice from the WebLogic team who supported the use of "create" rather than
"getReference".
3. I've prefixed the property names with javax.jms to avoid any possible name clash with any other properties which may
be defined in the same file or property storage. I've also clarified the purpose of the user, password, clientId and url
properties.
4. I've defined string constants such as ConnectionFactoryCreator.USER for the cases where these properties are set in
the code, which hopefully will mostly apply to tools.
I've received suggestions for other standard connection factory properties, such as the default delivery mode and
priority. However I've kept the list of properties very short so we can focus on the API rather than get bogged down
discussing what properties we want to make standard. We can always add more properties later.
Further comments welcome.
Nigel