EJB.14.1 Overview

The application assembler and deployer should be able to customize an enterprise bean's business logic without accessing the enterprise bean's source code.

In addition, ISVs typically develop enterprise beans that are, to a large degree, independent from the operational environment in which the application will be deployed. Most enterprise beans must access resource managers and external information. The key issue is how enterprise beans can locate external information without prior knowledge of how the external information is named and organized in the target operational environment.

The enterprise bean environment mechanism attempts to address both of the above issues.

This chapter is organized as follows :

• Section EJB.14.2 defines the interfaces that specify and access the enterprise bean's environment. The section illustrates the use of the enterprise bean's environment for generic customization of the enterprise bean's business logic.

• Section EJB.14.3 defines the interfaces for obtaining the home interface of another enterprise bean using an EJB specification reference . An EJB specification reference is a special entry in the enterprise bean's environment.

• Section EJB.14.4 defines the interfaces for obtaining a resource manager connection factory using a resource manager connection factory reference . A resource manager connection factory reference is a special entry in the enterprise bean's environment.