docs/singleton-beans.adoc

= Singleton Beans
:index-group: Unrevised
:jbake-date: 2018-12-05
:jbake-type: page
:jbake-status: published

= Singleton Overview For the first time in years EJB has a new
bean type, the _`@Singleton_`. In my opinion, the javax.ejb.Singleton will
replace a lot of what people are using `@Stateless` for today.

The Singleton is essentially what you get if you take a Stateless bean
and adjust the pool size to be exactly 1 resulting in there being
exactly one instance of the Singleton bean in the application which can
be invoked concurrently by multiple threads, like a servlet. It can do
everything a Stateless can do such as support local and remote business
interfaces, web services, security, transactions, and more.
Additionally, the Singleton can have its `@PostConstruct` method called
with the application starts up and its `@PreDestroy` method called when
the application shuts down. This allows it to serve as an application
lifecycle listener which is something only Servlets could do before. It
has an _`@Startup_` annotation which is similar in concept to the servlet
, but unlike servlets it doesn't take a number as an argument. Instead,
you can use an _`@DependsOn_` annotation to say which other Singletons you
need and the container will ensure they start before you.

See the link:singleton-example.html[Singleton Example] for sample bean
code and client.

== Concurrency

Singletons support two modes of concurrent access, Container-Managed
Concurrency (the default) and Bean-Managed Concurrency.

=== Bean-Managed Concurrency

With Bean-Managed Concurrency, annotated as
_@ConcurrencyManagement(BEAN)_, the container sends all invocations into
the bean and lets the Singleton bean instance decide how and when to
synchronize access, if at all. Here the 'synchronization' keyword is
allowed as well as the full javax.util.concurrent set of libraries.

=== Container-Managed Concurrency

With Container-Managed Concurrency, annotated as
_@ConcurrencyManagement(CONTAINER)_, the container will enforce
concurrency for you via locking method access to the bean. Two modes,
called locks exist and can be assigned to both the bean class and
methods of the bean class.

==== Lock type

The first and the default is a "write" lock, annotated as
_@Lock(WRITE)_. Essentially, with a write lock the caller holds an
exclusive lock on the bean for the duration of the method call and all
other threads for that or any other method must wait.

The second option is a "read" lock, annotated as _`@Lock`(READ)_. The read
lock allows full concurrent access to the methods (assuming no write
locks are held). The default mode of "write" essentially makes your bean
a single-threaded bean, which is very slow. The more conservative
@Lock(WRITE) was chosen as the default as this is how all the other bean
types work (only a single thread may access a bean instance at any given
time). Those that are aware of how to handle concurrent access can
easily put `@Lock`(READ) on their bean class, thus changing the default,
and then `@Lock`(WRITE) on specific methods if needed.

The locking modes of Container-Managed Concurrency map directly to the
_http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/locks/ReadWriteLock.html[java.util.concurrent.ReadWriteLock]
_ API which looks like this:

[source,java]
----
public interface ReadWriteLock {
   /**
    * Returns the lock used for reading.
    *
    * @return the lock used for reading.
    */
   Lock readLock();

   /**
    * Returns the lock used for writing.
    *
    * @return the lock used for writing.
    */
   Lock writeLock();
}
----

Literally 100% of the Singleton locking we're talking about is taken
from this interface and its javadoc is a great source of information.
It's safe to imagine that under the covers the Singleton Container has
an instance of ReadWriteLock which it uses to enforce the locking for
all the Singleton bean's methods. Essentially:

* @Lock(READ) == theSingletonReadWriteLock.readLock().lock()
* @Lock(WRITE) == theSingletonReadWriteLock.writeLock().lock()

The EJB container may use something other than ReadWriteLock but the
semantics of a ReadWriteLock must be followed. Internally, we use an
instance of
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/locks/ReentrantReadWriteLock.html[java.util.concurrent.ReentrantReadWriteLock]
which supports correct memory synchronization, some reentrancy, lock
downgrading, and
[more|http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/locks/ReentrantReadWriteLock.html]
.

==== Acquiring the Lock

The _`@AccessTimetout_` annotation can configure how long a thread will
wait to acquire the read or write lock. This annotation can be used on
the bean class or individual methods. The annotation maps directly to
the
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/locks/Lock.html[java.util.concurrent.locks.Lock]
interface.

[source,java]
----
public interface Lock {

    /**
     * Blocks (potentially) forever
     *
     * @AccessTimout with a value of -1
     */
    void lock();

    /**
     * Non-blocking
     *
     * @AccessTimout with a value of 0
     */
    boolean tryLock();

    /**
     * Blocks (potentially) up to a limit
     * 
     * @AccessTimout(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
     */
    boolean tryLock(long time, TimeUnit unit) throws InterruptedException;

}
----

In the event it is not possible to acquire the lock a
_javax.ejb.ConcurrentAccessException_ or
_javax.ejb.ConcurrentAccessTimeoutException_ will be thrown.

==== Default Timeout

The default value of _`@AccessTimeout_` annotation is vendor specific. In
OpenEJB it defaults to the value of the _AccessTimeout_ property which
can be configured in many different scopes. Here is the order of
preference:

[arabic]
. bean-level in openejb-jar.xml///
. jar-level in openejb-jar.xml//
. container-level in openejb.xml//
. boot-level via InitialContext(Properties) or
EJBContainer.createEjbContainer(Map<Object,Object>)
. system-level in System.getProperties()

The value of the property can be phrased in plain english such as "1
hour and 23 minutes and 17 seconds" see
link:configuring-durations.html[Configuring Durations] for details.

== Startup and Startup Ordering

Singletons have an _`@Startup_` annotation which can be applied to the
bean class. When used, the Container will instantiate the Singleton
instance _eagerly_ when the application starts up, otherwise the
Container will instantiate the Singleton instance _lazily_ when the bean
is first accessed.

If one Singleton refers to another Singleton in the `@PostConstruct` or
@PreDestroy method, there must be some measure taken to ensure the other
Singleton exists and is started. This sort of ordering is achieved with
the _`@DependsOn_` annotation which can be used to list the names of
Singleton beans that must be started before the Singleton bean using the
annotation.

[source,java]
----
@DependsOn({"SingletonB", "SingletonC"})
@Singleton
public class SingletonA {

}
----

Circular references are not supported. If BeanA uses `@DependsOn` to point
to BeanB and BeanB also uses `@DependsOn` to point at BeanA, the result is
a deployment exception. Be aware that circular references can happen in
less trivial ways such as A referring to B which refers to C which
refers to D which refers back to A. We will detect and print all
circular dependencies (called circuits) at deploy time.

Note that `@DependsOn` is only required (and should only be used) if a
Singleton _uses_ another Singleton in its `@PostConstruct` method or
@PreDestroy method. Simply having a reference to another Singleton and
using it in other business methods does not require an `@DependsOn`
declaration. The `@DependsOn` allows the Container to calculate the
correct startup order and shutdown order so that it can guarantee the
Singletons you need are available in your `@PostConstruct` or `@PreDestroy`
methods. All Singletons will automatically be available to your business
methods regardless if `@DependsOn` is used. Because of the greater chance
of creating circular dependencies, it is better not to use the
@DependsOn annotation "just in case" and should only be used when truly
needed.

= XML and Annotation Overriding

Singletons can be declared in the ejb-jar.xml as follows:

[source,xml]
----
<ejb-jar>
  <enterprise-beans>
    <session>
      <ejb-name>MySingletonBean</ejb-name>
      <ejb-class>org.superbiz.MySingletonBean</ejb-class>
      <session-type>Singleton</session-type>
      <load-on-startup/>
      <depends-on>
          <ejb-name>SingletonFoo</ejb-name>
          <ejb-name>SingletonBar</ejb-name>
      </depends-on>
    </session>
  </enterprise-beans>
</ejb-jar>
----