1. Compile the .java Files
2. Create the DeploymentDescriptor
3. Make sure you have all the pieces
4. Create the ejb-jar file

1. Compile the .java Files

Run javac on the files you have just created, that is, the home and remote interfaces, and the Enterprise JavaBeans bean itself.

  javac ejb/demo/DemoHome.java
  javac ejb/demo/Demo.java
  javac ejb/demo/DemoBean.java

2. Create the Deployment Descriptor

The role of the deployment descriptor is to allow the bean deployer to customize many of the properties of the bean prior to deployment. The deployment descriptor is described in the Enterprise JavaBeans Specification (section 15.2) as an instance of either javax.ejb.deployment.SessionDescriptor or javax.ejb.deployment.EntityDescriptor. In the DemoBean example, it is an instance of the javax.ejb.deployment.SessionDescriptor. Below is an example of the text file input to WebLogic's utilities that generate the serialized instance of this deployment descriptor.

Note that the methodology for creating the deployment descriptor is not specified, so the tools used to generate and deploy Enterprise JavaBeans may look and feel very different from each other, without affecting the cross-platform deployment abilities of the beans themselves.

The example below continues with creating the DeploymentDescriptor with the WebLogic tools. The BEA Weblogic server implementation offers both command line and GUI deployment tools. So to deploy the Enterprise JavaBean using the command line tools, issue the following commands:

java weblogic.ejb.utils.DDCreator -dir ejb/demo ejb/demo DeploymentDescriptor.txt

This will create DemoBeanDD.ser in the ejb/demo directory.

An example DeploymentDescriptor.txt textfile for input to the BEA Weblogic tools (source):

(SessionDescriptor 
; This file must start with SessionDescriptor or 
; EntityDescriptor
  
; Indicate the name which the bean will be bound 
; into the JNDI name as 
beanHomeName                    demo.DemoHome 

; The enterprise Java Bean class (see step 4)
enterpriseBeanClassName         ejb.demo.DemoBean
  
homeInterfaceClassName          ejb.demo.DemoHome
; The home interface implemented by a class 
; generated by the container provided tools 
; see step 3
 
remoteInterfaceClassName        ejb.demo.Demo
; See step 2

isReentrant                     false 
; Always false for session beans 

stateManagementType             STATELESS_SESSION
; Either STATELESS_SESSION or STATEFUL_SESSION.
; DemoBean is a stateless session bean

sessionTimeout                  5
                                ; seconds

(controlDescriptors
; This section decides the run-time properties when 
; a method is called. The DEFAULT sub-section applies 
; to all methods, but can be overridden on a per-method 
; basis, similar to the "accessControlEntries" above.
  (DEFAULT
     isolationLevel           TRANSACTION_SERIALIZABLE

     transactionAttribute     TX_REQUIRED


     runAsMode                CLIENT_IDENTITY
  )
  ; end isolationLevel

)
; end controlDescriptors

(environmentProperties

  maxBeansInFreePool          100

)
; end environmentProperties
)
; end SessionDescriptor

Note: This example is for the BEA Weblogic server which uses the semi-colon (;) to comment out lines.

3. Create The Manifest

The manifest is automatically generated by the jar utility, but will take a template, so create a text file (for example, ejb/demo/manifest.txt) with the contents below. Refer to the next section on packaging the bean to see how this text file is used.

For a description of the manifest file, see the Enterprise JavaBeans Specification, Section 15.3.

    Name: ejb/demo/DemoBeanDD.ser
    Enterprise-Bean: True

4. Make Sure You Have all the pieces

Here are the pieces the Enterprise JavaBeans developer and provider need to supply to create a valid ejb-jar file, that is, the Enterprise JavaBeans bean:

• The enterprise bean class + any other classes the bean depends upon (Step 4).
• The enterprise bean's remote interface (Step 2).
• The enterprise bean's home interface (Step 3).
• A deployment descriptor (see above).
• An instance of java.util.Properties, if needed by the bean.
• A manifest file that identifies the deployment descriptors in the ejb-jar file.

See the Enterprise JavaBeans Specification, section 16, for more details.

The Enterprise JavaBeans bean provider is responsible for putting all of these classes into the ejb-jar file, but it is expected that most of the container and server providers will provide tools for doing this packaging and assembly.

The Manifest

The manifest is automatically generated by the jar utility, but will take a template, so create a text file (for example, ejb/demo/manifest.txt) with the contents below. Refer to the next section on packaging the bean to see how this text file is used.

For a description of the manifest file, see the Enterprise JavaBeans Specification, Section 15.3.

    Name: ejb/demo/DemoBeanDD.ser
    Enterprise-Bean: True

5. Create the ejb-jar file

For the example you simply jar all the pieces together to make a jar file called Demo.jar. It is expected that future tools will make the packaging and the generation of the ejb-jar file much easier. You can imagine a GUI wizard leading you through and checking dependencies here very easily.

To create the ejb-jar file Demo.jar for the example, you can assume the pieces of the jar file are all under a directory called ejb. You simply create a jar file of this directory structure.

Notes: Use the m flag to jar and ejb/demo/manifest.txt as a template for the manifest. It is not necessary to put the manifest.txt into the jar file.

jar cvfm Demo.jar ejb/demo/manifest.txt ejb/demo/*.class \
ejb/demo/*.ser

Inspecting the Demo.jar should produce output similar to:

  jar tf Demo.jar

  META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
  ejb/demo/Demo.class
  ejb/demo/DemoBean.class
  ejb/demo/DemoHome.class
  ejb/demo/DemoBeanDD.ser

So as you can see, there is nothing too special about the ejb-jar file.