Okay, so this might be a tad geeky, but I dislike overhead when I’m working on my work laptop.. And since I couldn’t find a streaming music player with a low memory footprint I loved this mplayer solution which can play your internet streams via a bash terminal.
Apt-get install mplayer or mplayer2 and then just execute this command in any terminal
mplayer http://pr320.pinguinradio.nl:80/
Which will result in the following: Screenshot Mplayer in Terminal on Ubuntu
And it will update the stream title through the console so you can still see which artist and song are playing! A thing of beauty, isn’t it!?
Awesome-ness!!
I was looking for a nice tool to validate my XML messages against an XML Schema, when I ran into this command where you can really easily validate on the command line. That’s really cool since we’re becoming CLI ninjas anyway! Update: This also works on Windows with this little gem.
The command is as follows:
xmllint --noout --schema schema.xsd ./message.xml
Which delivered the following output:
joris@jorislatitude:~/workspaces/_examples/XSD$ xmllint --noout --schema sample_schema.xsd ./messageone.xml
./messageone.xml:2: element S_UNB: Schemas validity error : Element 'S_UNB': This element is not expected. Expected is ( INSDES ).
./messageone.xml fails to validate
As shown in above message, my example failed to validate, which is what I suspected, but now I can send my integration partner a better and really precise explanation! As said above: Awesomeness! 🙂
So this is a nuisance for quite a while, when you open the Downloads folder on Windows 7 it takes a long time before the contents is displayed. It keeps taking longer and longer when there are more and more items there.
Apparently this is because the folder is optimized for Pictures. You can change this setting by right clicking the Downloads folder and choose properties. Then select the tab “Custimize” and look at the setting “Optimize this folder for:”
The folder contents is instantanious when you change that to “General Items”.
By default SQL Developer shows null values in the following way: Screenshot – SQL Developer – Default Null value
This is not very notable, so we’ll change it to the following markup: Screenshot – SQL Developer – What an awesome NULL color!
To do this, we need to go to Preferences – Database – Advanced and change the value for “Display Null Using Background Color” Screenshot – SQL Developer – Settings for colouring NULL values
I’ve been working in Excel a lot the past weeks and often need to fix the formatting. A nice little trick to copy the formatting for a cell, row or column is the format painter, but it’s a hassle to keep clicking on all the ribbons to actually press the button! It was one of the few things in Excel where I would use the mouse.
Screenshot – Microsoft Excel – Format Painter
There is an easier way to “Format Paint”:
Right click Format Painter, and click “Add to Quick Access Toolbar”, as shown in the next screenshot:
Screenshot – Microsoft Excel – Format Painter – Add to QAT
After this step, you will have a small button at the top of your screen with the Format Painter, which you can access via “Alt + <<NUMBER>>”,
in my case it’s “ALT + 4”:
Screenshot – Microsoft Excel – Format Painter in the QAT
It’s been a while since the last article and I just found myself being enthousiastic about a neat Oracle hands on again. So while it’s downloading I might as well tell you guys about it.
Last year I have been working with Oracle XE a lot, but some features are not available in the express edition (XE), so some queries might not run as expected or simply don’t run at all. Oracle has a VM ware image, which provides a really nice solution for this problem:
They have created a database application environment inside a Virtualbox VM image, with the following specifications:
Oracle Linux 5
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Enterprise Edition
Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Cache
Oracle XML DB
Oracle SQL Developer
Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler
Oracle Application Express
Oracle JDeveloper
Hands-On-Labs (accessed via the Toolbar Menu in Firefox)
So if you’re looking for a nimble way to quickly run a OraDB on your laptop, without the hassle of installing all these components, this might just be what you’re looking for.
You can download the Oracle Developer Days 11g DB image here: http://download.oracle.com/otn/other/virtualbox/dd/Oracle_Developer_Day.ova
The only prerequisite is that you have Oracle Virtualbox installed on your machine;
But this is easily installed via this link
Often in projects you will be asked to send an email when an error occurs, or as a part of the functional process.
Unfortunatly it is sometimes a bit cumbersome to make sure you are not sending mail to real email addresses.. I’ve recently found a nice solution for this problem: a fake SMTP server!
This way, you only have to change the IP address on your SMTP endpoint instead of checking every emailaddress or disabling all the actual email functionality.
The application is called “FakeSMTP” (What’s in a name?) 🙂 and can be found through this link: http://nilhcem.github.com/FakeSMTP/index.html Screenshot – FakeSMTP Main screen
As you can see in the screenshot, the program runs on the port you assign to it, acting as an email server with all the correct responses, with the only difference that it does not actually send out the emails. The emails are stored in a folder which you can specify. You can also double click on the message row in the program to open the email in your email client (in my case Outlook) which worked great for testing purposes.
I was quite pleased when I found this solution :-), hope it will help you guys too!
I have just been working on an OSB SFTP business service, and got this error while testing the service.
While googling, I found out that you need to create a known_hosts file inside your OSB domain. The easiest way of creating a known_hosts file for me, was to use Cygwin and create a ssh (or sftp) connection to the destination.
Steps for the solution:
Cygwin: log in to remote system via ssh (or sftp)
Copy known_hosts file from ~/.ssh to OSB directory
Test business service
Cygwin: login to remote system
Use this command to login to the remote system:
ssh username@hostname
Optionally: Type ‘yes’ when asked if you trust this host
This will create an entry in your known_hosts file in the .ssh folder in your cygwin home directory
This is a (scrambled) contents of the known_hosts file:
joris@jorisworkstation/cygdrive/c/Oracle/Middleware/user_projects/domains/joris_domain/config/osb
$ cat ~/.ssh/known_hosts
10.200.242.65 ssh-rsa <<INSERT A LOT OF GARBLEGARBLE>>
Copy the known_hosts file to OSB
First we need to create the SFTP transports directory in the domain home:
Go to <<domain_home>>/config/osb and create this structure: (Only create the directories in RED)
- <<domain_home>>
- config
- osb
- transports
- sftp
We are now ready to copy the known_hosts file:
In cygwin:
 cp ~/.ssh/known_hosts /cygdrive/c/Oracle/Middleware/user_projects/domains/joris_domain/config/osb/transports/sftp
In Windows: Find known_hosts in your cygwin home folder (in my case: in C:\development\program\cygwin\home\joris.visscher\.ssh\known_hosts) and copy it to the newly created “sftp” folder in your domain home.
Test business service
All steps are now done, we can test the business service!
Additional information:
You will encounter the following error in your logs when this error occurs:
com.sshtools.j2ssh.transport.InvalidHostFileException
####<18-ott-2012 10.57.33 CEST> <Error> <SFTPTransport> <JORISWORKSTATION> <osb_server1> <[ACTIVE] ExecuteThread: '0' for queue: 'weblogic.kernel.Default (self-tuning)'> <<anonymous>> <> <cef9dbcf0859648a:31ba6f:13a730795ec:-8000-000000000000014f> <1350550653493> <BEA-381801> <Si â–’ verificato un errore per l'endpoint com.bea.wli.sb.transports.TransportException: com.sshtools.j2ssh.transport.InvalidHostFileException: Il file known_hosts non esiste o non dispone di autorizzazioni di lettura.
com.bea.wli.sb.transports.TransportException: com.sshtools.j2ssh.transport.InvalidHostFileException: Il file known_hosts non esiste o non dispone di autorizzazioni di lettura.
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.sftp.connector.SFTPTransportProvider.sendMessage(SFTPTransportProvider.java:155)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.sftp.connector.SFTPTransportProvider.sendMessageAsync(SFTPTransportProvider.java:110)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.Util$1.invoke(Util.java:83)
at $Proxy122.sendMessageAsync(Unknown Source)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.LoadBalanceFailoverListener.sendMessageAsync(LoadBalanceFailoverListener.java:148)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.LoadBalanceFailoverListener.sendMessageToServiceAsync(LoadBalanceFailoverListener.java:603)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.LoadBalanceFailoverListener.sendMessageToService(LoadBalanceFailoverListener.java:538)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.TransportManagerImpl.sendMessageToService(TransportManagerImpl.java:566)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.TransportManagerImpl.sendMessageAsync(TransportManagerImpl.java:434)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceMessageSender.send0(ServiceMessageSender.java:380)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceMessageSender.access$000(ServiceMessageSender.java:79)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceMessageSender$1.run(ServiceMessageSender.java:137)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceMessageSender$1.run(ServiceMessageSender.java:135)
at weblogic.security.acl.internal.AuthenticatedSubject.doAs(AuthenticatedSubject.java:363)
at weblogic.security.service.SecurityManager.runAs(SecurityManager.java:146)
at com.bea.wli.sb.security.WLSSecurityContextService.runAs(WLSSecurityContextService.java:55)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceMessageSender.send(ServiceMessageSender.java:140)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceProcessor.invoke(ServiceProcessor.java:454)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.TestServiceImpl.invoke(TestServiceImpl.java:172)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.client.ejb.TestServiceEJBBean.invoke(TestServiceEJBBean.java:167)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.client.ejb.TestService_sqr59p_EOImpl.__WL_invoke(Unknown Source)
at weblogic.ejb.container.internal.SessionRemoteMethodInvoker.invoke(SessionRemoteMethodInvoker.java:40)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.client.ejb.TestService_sqr59p_EOImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.client.ejb.TestService_sqr59p_EOImpl_WLSkel.invoke(Unknown Source)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.BasicServerRef.invoke(BasicServerRef.java:667)
at weblogic.rmi.cluster.ClusterableServerRef.invoke(ClusterableServerRef.java:230)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.BasicServerRef$1.run(BasicServerRef.java:522)
at weblogic.security.acl.internal.AuthenticatedSubject.doAs(AuthenticatedSubject.java:363)
at weblogic.security.service.SecurityManager.runAs(SecurityManager.java:146)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.BasicServerRef.handleRequest(BasicServerRef.java:518)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.wls.WLSExecuteRequest.run(WLSExecuteRequest.java:118)
at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:252)
at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:221)
Caused By: com.sshtools.j2ssh.transport.InvalidHostFileException: Il file known_hosts non esiste o non dispone di autorizzazioni di lettura.
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.sftp.client.KnownHostVerifier.validateKnownHosts(KnownHostVerifier.java:144)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.sftp.client.SFTPClient.authenticate(SFTPClient.java:108)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.sftp.connector.SFTPResource.<init>(SFTPResource.java:78)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.sftp.resource.SFTPUtils.createSFTPResource(SFTPUtils.java:170)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.sftp.resource.SFTPConnectionPool.getResource(SFTPConnectionPool.java:104)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.sftp.connector.SFTPTransportProvider.getSFTPResource(SFTPTransportProvider.java:958)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.sftp.connector.SFTPTransportProvider.sendMessage(SFTPTransportProvider.java:145)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.sftp.connector.SFTPTransportProvider.sendMessageAsync(SFTPTransportProvider.java:110)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.Util$1.invoke(Util.java:83)
at $Proxy122.sendMessageAsync(Unknown Source)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.LoadBalanceFailoverListener.sendMessageAsync(LoadBalanceFailoverListener.java:148)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.LoadBalanceFailoverListener.sendMessageToServiceAsync(LoadBalanceFailoverListener.java:603)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.LoadBalanceFailoverListener.sendMessageToService(LoadBalanceFailoverListener.java:538)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.TransportManagerImpl.sendMessageToService(TransportManagerImpl.java:566)
at com.bea.wli.sb.transports.TransportManagerImpl.sendMessageAsync(TransportManagerImpl.java:434)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceMessageSender.send0(ServiceMessageSender.java:380)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceMessageSender.access$000(ServiceMessageSender.java:79)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceMessageSender$1.run(ServiceMessageSender.java:137)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceMessageSender$1.run(ServiceMessageSender.java:135)
at weblogic.security.acl.internal.AuthenticatedSubject.doAs(AuthenticatedSubject.java:363)
at weblogic.security.service.SecurityManager.runAs(SecurityManager.java:146)
at com.bea.wli.sb.security.WLSSecurityContextService.runAs(WLSSecurityContextService.java:55)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceMessageSender.send(ServiceMessageSender.java:140)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.service.ServiceProcessor.invoke(ServiceProcessor.java:454)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.TestServiceImpl.invoke(TestServiceImpl.java:172)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.client.ejb.TestServiceEJBBean.invoke(TestServiceEJBBean.java:167)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.client.ejb.TestService_sqr59p_EOImpl.__WL_invoke(Unknown Source)
at weblogic.ejb.container.internal.SessionRemoteMethodInvoker.invoke(SessionRemoteMethodInvoker.java:40)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.client.ejb.TestService_sqr59p_EOImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at com.bea.wli.sb.test.client.ejb.TestService_sqr59p_EOImpl_WLSkel.invoke(Unknown Source)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.BasicServerRef.invoke(BasicServerRef.java:667)
at weblogic.rmi.cluster.ClusterableServerRef.invoke(ClusterableServerRef.java:230)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.BasicServerRef$1.run(BasicServerRef.java:522)
at weblogic.security.acl.internal.AuthenticatedSubject.doAs(AuthenticatedSubject.java:363)
at weblogic.security.service.SecurityManager.runAs(SecurityManager.java:146)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.BasicServerRef.handleRequest(BasicServerRef.java:518)
at weblogic.rmi.internal.wls.WLSExecuteRequest.run(WLSExecuteRequest.java:118)
at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:252)
at weblogic.work.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:221)
On an Oracle Service Bus project you are often supplied with XSD’s or WSDL’s when you’re integrating with clients. The customer or client expects you to test their web service but before you do, you might want to take a look at the XML which should be sent to make sure you’re sending compliant XML.
One way to do this is by importing the WSDL in SoapUI and creating sample test requests, this comes in quite handy when you are actually using a WSDL, but what if the customer only supplies an XSD? SoapUI does not support creating sample XML from an XSD element.
There are several commercial products which can solve this problem but if you’re only looking for generating sample XML messages from XSD, you might want to look at using Eclipse’s built in XML generating option:
First step is to import the XSD in your project, the right click the Schema and select “Generate” and then “XML” Screenshot – Eclipse – Generate XML from XSD
You will be presented with a “New XML file” dialogue which lets you save your new XML sample. Choose any location you want, and click “Next”. Then you will be presented with the options for your new XML sample. Select the options you desire and press “Finish” Screenshot – Generate XML – New file dialogue
Your new XML file has been generated and ofcourse is compliant with your XSD right now!
This post is meant to explain the few steps you need to take to start with Oracle Service Bus (OSB) development on a Windows 7 laptop. The OSB version used is 11g, although these steps are also suitable for OSB 10gR3 and Aqualogic Service Bus (ALSB) as well.
There are as many ways of organizing a project as there are people, this is the way I have chosen and this by no means is meant as “the way to go“. It is merely meant as a guideline, (so please do adapt where you find it more suitable for your needs)
(You can find the installation instructions for an OSB 11g development environment in this blog post)
There are two OSB projects which you can create when you open the Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse (OEPE):
Oracle Service Bus Project
Oracle Service Bus Configuration Project
An OSB Project contains the actual project which you will create. These are often functionally bound and represent a hierarchical structure similar to the structure on your hard disk.
An OSB Configuration Project represents one domain on which you will deploy your projects. These Configuration Projects contain common settings (like a pointer to an SMTP server)
Create an OSB Configuration Project
The first step in a every new OSB Workspace is to create a new configuration project. Later on when you create OSB projects you need to choose the Configuration Project to which they will belong.
Side note: OSB Configuration Projects can be used as pointers to a OSB Domain (or a local domain)
Within Eclipse, right click the empty space in the Project Explorer and choose “New” and then “Oracle Service Bus Configuration Project”. For now we will not use the advanced functions so name your Configuration project to a name suitable for you (for me that mostly means “OSB Configuration”) and press “Finish”
In a new Workspace you will get the question if you would like to switch to the “Oracle Service Bus perspective”, choose “Yes”.
The above steps are the same for every project. I keep my workspaces aligned with the domains to which I deploy.
This means a new workspace for each domain, I often work with common schema’s and services (e.g. loggers / mailers) which I place in a separate project. Although I do re-use a lot of services, I found it better to keep this lean and not to tightly coupled so I create a new Common Services project for each domain instead of creating ONE Project to rule them all.
Create an OSB Project
This paragraph will focus on creating an OSB Project and will contain a sample service.
Right click the empty space in the “Project Explorer” and choose “New” and then “Oracle Service Bus Project”
For the start of every new project you will create the following structure:
Project name (In this case “OSB Sample Project”)
Business Service
Proxy Service
Schema
Transformation
WSDL
This leads to this view: Screenshot – OSB Eclipse – Project Explorer Sample Project
This is the basis you need for creating Oracle Service Bus services. I will expand in further detail in later posts.
Create a local development OSB domain
If you do not have a development environment available or prefer to test your service locally you can also create a OSB domain on your local machine. The next paragraph leads you through the creation of a new OSB domain via Eclipse.
We will use the “Configuration Wizard” which will let us create a fresh new local Weblogic domain on our computer.
Press “Start” / the Windows button and enter “Configuration Wizard” which will show the start menu entry in the OSB menu folder: Screenshot – Start Menu – Weblogic Configuration Wizard
If all went well, you will be presented with this choice:
Choose “Create a new Weblogic domain” and click “Next” to continue to the product selection:
Only select “Oracle Service Bus for developers – 11.1.1.6 [Oracle_OSB1]”, this will automatically select the dependencies as well. Click “Next” to continue to the Domain name and location screen: Tip: I tend to use a domain name which indicates that I am working on my own machine as well as states the product and version which is deployed on the Weblogic server. The domain name is quite visible in the web console and this way I’m sure I’m working on the correct domain.
Enter the domain name you wish and press “Next” to continue to the admin user name and password screens:
Since 11g the password is bound to rules which prohibit you from choosing a really simple password. So with this added difficulty make sure you pick one which you will remember!
When you’re done, click “Next” on every screen until you get to the configuration summary.
The configuration is done when you select “Create”, your domain will then be created, after which you will be presented with this summary:
Click “Done” to exit the configuration wizard. We will not start the Admin server yet.
We can now continue to configuring Eclipse to use this domain.
Add our local OSB domain to Eclipse
This paragraph explains how to configure an OSB domain in Eclipse. It is possible to configure a remote (DEV) domain here which is running on another server. I would advise to only configure local domains within your Eclipse, a DEV environment is often shared among colleagues and you might overwrite or tamper with your fellow colleague his or her services without knowing it.
As a guideline: Use the DEV environment to test project exports and see if those are working without problems.
Start Eclipse and choose your workspace.
First activate the “Servers” tab in the bottom window, as shown in the screenshot below:
Then right click the empty space in the window and select “New” and then “Server”.
Just to make sure you don’t encounter strange behavior when you deploy to production, you should always choose and use the same version for development and deployment. In this example we choose “Oracle WebLogic Server 11gR1 (10.3.6)”:
Again: Although it is not necessary, I do like to rename the domain name (Server’s host name) to a value which will show me that I’m working local and on which version.
In the following examples we will also log into the Application server Weblogic via the web console. This Weblogic domain is also named “local_osb_11g” which again helps you to identify the domain when you’re shifting between local / DTAP environments. For your consideration: Depending on your needs you can later on create several local domains. If you are working on two projects at the same time it makes sense to create two domains.
Most of the time I re-use one domain since you can redeploy all projects in your workspace within a minute. This way you are also absolutely sure that your local configuration is always the way you expect it to be.
In general: Most clients will use one configuration profile for all OSB domains.
After pressing “Next” you will be presented with the Domain Directory selection dialogue, where you will need to adjust three settings:
Choose “Local” as “Server type”
Choose your newly created domain via the dropdown and “Known Domains”
Select “Always start Weblogic server in debug mode” to ease debugging later on
Press “Next” to select the resources which we will deploy on our local domain.
Add the Configuration Project you wish and click “Next” in the next three screens. Click “Finish” in the last screen to finalize your domain configuration:
If you are successful you should have a bottom window looking like this:
We are now ready to start this local server and deploy our newly created Projects.
Right click the top line (which stands for the domain) and select “Start”. Side note:Â You can also start the domain via the start menu or straight through the command shell by using “startWeblogic.cmd”. In my installation, it is located at:Â C:\Oracle\middleware\osb11g\user_projects\domains\local_osb_11g\bin
The tab “Console” will activate and will show the details of the server starting. It will take a minute or two but when the local domain is started you will see the following line:
<10-jul-2012 1:20:47 uur CEST> <Notice> <WebLogicServer> <BEA-000360> <Server started in RUNNING mode>
Open a internet browser and go to the following URI to open the OSB web console to access your synchronized brand new OSB domain: http://localhost:7001/sbconsole
After logging in with the user “weblogic” and the password you’ve chosen, it should look like this:
You can see the OSB projects you’ve deployed to this server via the button “Project Explorer”.
Note: You can also develop new services via this SBConsole, most functions which are available via Eclipse also exist in the SBConsole. That’s it! You are now fully equipped with a running OSB domain on your machine and can start developing and running your own web services.
