Module java.naming
Package javax.naming

Class InitialContext

java.lang.Object
javax.naming.InitialContext
All Implemented Interfaces:
Context
Direct Known Subclasses:
InitialDirContext
public class InitialContext
extends Object
implements Context
This class is the starting context for performing naming operations.

All naming operations are relative to a context. The initial context implements the Context interface and provides the starting point for resolution of names.

When the initial context is constructed, its environment is initialized with properties defined in the environment parameter passed to the constructor, and in any application resource files.

JNDI determines each property's value by merging the values from the following two sources, in order:

  1. The first occurrence of the property from the constructor's environment parameter and system properties.
  2. The application resource files (jndi.properties).
For each property found in both of these two sources, or in more than one application resource file, the property's value is determined as follows. If the property is one of the standard JNDI properties that specify a list of JNDI factories (see Context), all of the values are concatenated into a single colon-separated list. For other properties, only the first value found is used.

The initial context implementation is determined at runtime. The default policy uses the environment property "java.naming.factory.initial", which contains the class name of the initial context factory. An exception to this policy is made when resolving URL strings, as described below.

When a URL string (a String of the form scheme_id:rest_of_name) is passed as a name parameter to any method, a URL context factory for handling that scheme is located and used to resolve the URL. If no such factory is found, the initial context specified by "java.naming.factory.initial" is used. Similarly, when a CompositeName object whose first component is a URL string is passed as a name parameter to any method, a URL context factory is located and used to resolve the first name component. See NamingManager.getURLContext() for a description of how URL context factories are located.

This default policy of locating the initial context and URL context factories may be overridden by calling NamingManager.setInitialContextFactoryBuilder().

NoInitialContextException is thrown when an initial context cannot be instantiated. This exception can be thrown during any interaction with the InitialContext, not only when the InitialContext is constructed. For example, the implementation of the initial context might lazily retrieve the context only when actual methods are invoked on it. The application should not have any dependency on when the existence of an initial context is determined.

When the environment property "java.naming.factory.initial" is non-null, the InitialContext constructor will attempt to create the initial context specified therein. At that time, the initial context factory involved might throw an exception if a problem is encountered. However, it is provider implementation-dependent when it verifies and indicates to the users of the initial context any environment property- or connection- related problems. It can do so lazily--delaying until an operation is performed on the context, or eagerly, at the time the context is constructed.

An InitialContext instance is not synchronized against concurrent access by multiple threads. Multiple threads each manipulating a different InitialContext instance need not synchronize. Threads that need to access a single InitialContext instance concurrently should synchronize amongst themselves and provide the necessary locking.

Since:
1.3, JNDI 1.1
See Also:
Context, NamingManager.setInitialContextFactoryBuilder

  • Field Details

  • Constructor Details

    • InitialContext

      protected InitialContext​(boolean lazy) throws NamingException
      Constructs an initial context with the option of not initializing it. This may be used by a constructor in a subclass when the value of the environment parameter is not yet known at the time the InitialContext constructor is called. The subclass's constructor will call this constructor, compute the value of the environment, and then call init() before returning.
      Parameters:
      lazy - true means do not initialize the initial context; false is equivalent to calling new InitialContext()
      Throws:
      NamingException - if a naming exception is encountered
      Since:
      1.3
      See Also:
      init(Hashtable)

    • InitialContext

      public InitialContext() throws NamingException
      Constructs an initial context. No environment properties are supplied. Equivalent to new InitialContext(null).
      Throws:
      NamingException - if a naming exception is encountered
      See Also:
      InitialContext(Hashtable)

    • InitialContext

      public InitialContext​(Hashtable<?,​?> environment) throws NamingException
      Constructs an initial context using the supplied environment. Environment properties are discussed in the class description.

      This constructor will not modify environment or save a reference to it, but may save a clone. Caller should not modify mutable keys and values in environment after it has been passed to the constructor.

      Parameters:
      environment - environment used to create the initial context. Null indicates an empty environment.
      Throws:
      NamingException - if a naming exception is encountered

  • Method Details

    • init

      protected void init​(Hashtable<?,​?> environment) throws NamingException
      Initializes the initial context using the supplied environment. Environment properties are discussed in the class description.

      This method will modify environment and save a reference to it. The caller may no longer modify it.

      Parameters:
      environment - environment used to create the initial context. Null indicates an empty environment.
      Throws:
      NamingException - if a naming exception is encountered
      Since:
      1.3
      See Also:
      InitialContext(boolean)

    • doLookup

      public static <T> T doLookup​(Name name) throws NamingException
      A static method to retrieve the named object. This is a shortcut method equivalent to invoking:

      InitialContext ic = new InitialContext(); Object obj = ic.lookup();

      If name is empty, returns a new instance of this context (which represents the same naming context as this context, but its environment may be modified independently and it may be accessed concurrently).

      Type Parameters:
      T - the type of the returned object
      Parameters:
      name - the name of the object to look up
      Returns:
      the object bound to name
      Throws:
      NamingException - if a naming exception is encountered
      Since:
      1.6
      See Also:
      doLookup(String), Context.lookup(Name)

    • doLookup

      public static <T> T doLookup​(String name) throws NamingException
      A static method to retrieve the named object. See doLookup(Name) for details.
      Type Parameters:
      T - the type of the returned object
      Parameters:
      name - the name of the object to look up
      Returns:
      the object bound to name
      Throws:
      NamingException - if a naming exception is encountered
      Since:
      1.6

    • getDefaultInitCtx

      protected Context getDefaultInitCtx() throws NamingException
      Retrieves the initial context by calling NamingManager.getInitialContext() and cache it in defaultInitCtx. Set gotDefault so that we know we've tried this before.
      Returns:
      The non-null cached initial context.
      Throws:
      NoInitialContextException - If cannot find an initial context.
      NamingException - If a naming exception was encountered.

    • getURLOrDefaultInitCtx

      protected Context getURLOrDefaultInitCtx​(String name) throws NamingException
      Retrieves a context for resolving the string name name. If name name is a URL string, then attempt to find a URL context for it. If none is found, or if name is not a URL string, then return getDefaultInitCtx().

      See getURLOrDefaultInitCtx(Name) for description of how a subclass should use this method.

      Parameters:
      name - The non-null name for which to get the context.
      Returns:
      A URL context for name or the cached initial context. The result cannot be null.
      Throws:
      NoInitialContextException - If cannot find an initial context.
      NamingException - In a naming exception is encountered.
      See Also:
      NamingManager.getURLContext(java.lang.String, java.util.Hashtable<?, ?>)

    • getURLOrDefaultInitCtx

      protected Context getURLOrDefaultInitCtx​(Name name) throws NamingException
      Retrieves a context for resolving name. If the first component of name name is a URL string, then attempt to find a URL context for it. If none is found, or if the first component of name is not a URL string, then return getDefaultInitCtx().

      When creating a subclass of InitialContext, use this method as follows. Define a new method that uses this method to get an initial context of the desired subclass. 

       protected XXXContext getURLOrDefaultInitXXXCtx(Name name)
 throws NamingException {
  Context answer = getURLOrDefaultInitCtx(name);
  if (!(answer instanceof XXXContext)) {
    if (answer == null) {
      throw new NoInitialContextException();
    } else {
      throw new NotContextException("Not an XXXContext");
    }
  }
  return (XXXContext)answer;
 }
      When providing implementations for the new methods in the subclass, use this newly defined method to get the initial context. 
       public Object XXXMethod1(Name name, ...) {
  throws NamingException {
    return getURLOrDefaultInitXXXCtx(name).XXXMethod1(name, ...);
 }
      Parameters:
      name - The non-null name for which to get the context.
      Returns:
      A URL context for name or the cached initial context. The result cannot be null.
      Throws:
      NoInitialContextException - If cannot find an initial context.
      NamingException - In a naming exception is encountered.
      See Also:
      NamingManager.getURLContext(java.lang.String, java.util.Hashtable<?, ?>)

    • composeName

      public String composeName​(String name, String prefix) throws NamingException
      Composes the name of this context with a name relative to this context. Since an initial context may never be named relative to any context other than itself, the value of the prefix parameter must be an empty name ("").
      Specified by:
      composeName in interface Context
      Parameters:
      name - a name relative to this context
      prefix - the name of this context relative to one of its ancestors
      Returns:
      the composition of prefix and name
      Throws:
      NamingException - if a naming exception is encountered

    • composeName

      public Name composeName​(Name name, Name prefix) throws NamingException
      Composes the name of this context with a name relative to this context. Since an initial context may never be named relative to any context other than itself, the value of the prefix parameter must be an empty name.
      Specified by:
      composeName in interface Context
      Parameters:
      name - a name relative to this context
      prefix - the name of this context relative to one of its ancestors
      Returns:
      the composition of prefix and name
      Throws:
      NamingException - if a naming exception is encountered
      See Also:
      Context.composeName(String, String)