Netbeans Collab Service API   Overview The collab service is the communication layer allowing netbeans users to communicate in real-time, by providing access to Conference, Presence, Data Streaming, News and Notification services.

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org.netbeans.lib.collab Netbeans Collab Service API   Overview The collab service is the communication layer allowing netbeans users to communicate in real-time, by providing access to Conference, Presence, Data Streaming, News and Notification services.

 

Netbeans Collab Service API

 

Overview

The collab service is the communication layer allowing netbeans users to communicate in real-time, by providing access to Conference, Presence, Data Streaming, News and Notification services. The Collab Service API may also be used directly in order to build application leveraging these services. Possible applications include:

Available services

Architecture


 

How to use the API

 

Creating a Session

A session is a service-independent authentication handle.  It is created by passing credentials and having them validated by the services infrastructure.

In order to create sessions, an application must first instantiate CollaborationSessionFactory. Then the factory can be used to create one or more session objects. Example:

CollaborationSessionFactory fac = new CollaborationSessionFactory();

// create a session listener for asynchronous session events
CollaborationSessionListener listener = new MyCollaborationSessionListener();

// create a session
Session session = fac.getSession("myserver.example.com", "fred@example.com",
                                 "secret", listener);

 

Accessing services

Once a Session is created, individual services can  be accessed using the corresponding accessor and initialization methods. So for example with the Conference service:

// access the Conference Service
ConferenceService cService = session.getConferenceService();

// and do not forget to initialize it with your listener
ConferenceServiceListener csListener = new MyConferenceServiceListener();
cService.initialize(csListener);

 

The Conference Service

Once the ConferenceService object has been created, a conference can be initiated by inviting one or more other users.  For Example:
// create a ConferenceListener for asynchronous chat events
// (e.g. messages).
MyConferenceListener cListener = new MyConferenceListener();
// create the conference.
Conference c = cService.setupConference(cListener, Conference.MANAGE)
To invite users to this conference, one needs to setup an invite message and call invite using this message.
// create invite message 
Message newMsg = c.createInviteMessage(); 
newMsg.addRecipient("roscoe@example.com"); 
newMsg.addRecipient("yolanda@example.com"); 
MessagePart part = newMsg.newPart(); 
part.setContent("Let's talk"); 
newMsg.addPart(part); 
 
// send the invite 
e.invite(newMsg); 
 
One can also join an already existing public conference, by using its well-known address:
// join public conference conf123@example.com
Conference c = cService.join("conf123@example.com", cListener);

Once a Conference object is created, it can be used to build and send messages, as if it was a private conference.
 

The News Service

To use the news functionality, one needs to create a NewsChannel object for each news channel of interest, as follows
// create a news channel listener for asynchronous events
(e.g. messages added or removed).
// note: MyNewsChannelListener implements the NewsChannelListener
interface.
MyNewsChannelListener bbListener = new MyNewsChannelListener();
// subscribe to the news channel.  news channel messages
are received
// asynchronously, through the listener.  One may also pass
a null
NewsChannel  bb = nService.getNewsChannel("hugo@example.com",
bbListener)


Once created, the NewsChannel object can be used to generate, add or remove messages.

// generate a new message
Message message = bb.createMessage();
// add content to message
// publish it
bb.addMessage(message);


To find out which news channels are available, use the listNewsChannels method:

// get a Collection of news channels.
java.util.Collection bbList = session.listNewsChannels();
// loop through the list until you find the one you want
if (bbList != null) {
    java.util.Iterator bbIter = bbList.iterator();
    while (bbIter.hasNext()) {
        NewsChannel bb = (NewsChannel)bbIter.next();
        if (bb.getDestination.equals("theOneIWant")) {
            break;
        }
    }
}
// subscribe to it to get messages
bb.subscribe(bbListener);

 
 
Finally, it is also possible to create new news channels, as follows:
bb = session.newNewsChannel("hugo@example.com", bbListener,                               Conference.PUBLISH);

The Notification Service

To send a message, first create one
// start a message to noah@example.com Message message = nSession.createMessage("noah@example.com");
fill it with appropriate content and headers,
message.setHeader("Subject", "just a demo"); MessagePart part = message.newPart(); String content = "the body of the message"; part.setContentType("text/plain"); part.setContent(content.bytes());
create a message status listener if you expect status or replies,
MyMessageStatusListener mListener = new MyMessageStatusListener();
and send it:
session.sendMessage(message, mListener);


Messages can also be received.  This is done through the NotificationSessionListener.onMessage method.  Received messages may be acknowledged or replied-to through the MessageHandler argument to onMessage.
 

// mark a message read. handler.sendStatus(MessageStatus.READ); // reply to a message replyMessage = nSession.createMessage(); ... handler.sendReply(replayMessage);

 

The Presence Service

To use the presence service, first create a PresenceSession using CollaborationSession.accessService

To access the presence information of a user of the service, use the fetch or subscribe methods

// subscribe to hugo's presentity
// Note: MyPresenceInfoListener implements PresenceInfoListener
MyPresenceInfoListener piListener = new MyPresenceInfoListener();
java.util.Date expiration =
PresenceSubscription subs = pSession.subscribe("hugo@example.com",
piListener, expiration);
...
// unsubscribe
subs.cancel();

Presence information is received asynchronously by the presence info listener in the form of an XML String. This String may be parsed using the PresenceHelper class. The following prints out presence info.

PresenceHelper ph = new PresenceHelper(pi /* XML string */);
for (Iterator i = ph.getTuples().iterator(); i.hasNext() ; ) {
    PresenceTuple t = (PresenceTuple)i.next();
    System.out.println(t.destination + " " + t.status + " " + t.note);
}

To publish presence information updates, use the publish method. The argument is an XML String which can be genberated with the help of the PresenceHelper class.

PresenceTuple pt = new PresenceTuple("hugo@example.com",
                                     PresenceSession.STATUS_AWAY);
PresenceHelper ph = new PresenceHelper();
ph.addTuple(pt);
pSession.publish(ph.toString());

 

The Personal Store Service

To use the Personal Store service, first create a PersonalStoreSession using CollaborationSession.accessService

To retrieve the contact list of the user who owns the current session, retrieve the contact folders

Collection folders = psSession.getFolders(PersonalStoreFolder.CONTACT_FOLDER);
For each folder fthe list of contacts can be obtained as follows:
Collection entries = f.getEntries();
System.out.println(" - " + f.getDisplayName());
for (Iterator j = entries.iterator() ; j.hasNext() ;) {
    PersonalContact c = (PersonalContact)j.next();
    System.out.println("Found " + c.getDisplayName() + " in " + f.getDisplayName());
}

Using an alternate session provider

The instructions listed above will let you create an IM session, similar to a session that would be created by an XMPP/Jabber client. However, it is possible to create other types of session, by using alternative session providers. Several provider implementation are bundle with the API. Others can be built and used by the application (e.g. netbeans) in order to leverage protocols not provided by default.

The Collab Service Factory can be told to use a specific session provider, by setting the org.netbeans.lib.collab.provider system property to the class name of the provider yopu want to use. For instance, com.example.SessionProvider being a Session Provider, one would call:

System.setProperty(CollaborationSessionFactory.systemProperty, "com.example.SessionProvider");
The Collab Service API includes two alternative session providers: The following (outdated) block diagram shows relationships between the various providers, the Collab Service API implementation, IM components, and custom application.
 
 

Sample programs

These are a few simple but actual examples written with the Collab Service API. They are provided here for educational purposes only and should not be used for other purposes.

Default API Provider's documentation (XMPPSessionProvider)

Default API Provider's documentation