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6.4. Java Transaction API

Overview

The Red Hat JBoss Fuse transaction implementation can be accessed through the standard JTA interfaces (for example, javax.transaction.UserTransaction and javax.transaction.TransactionManager). In practice, it is rarely necessary to access the these JTA interfaces directly, because Red Hat JBoss Fuse provides alternative ways of accessing and managing transactions.

UserTransaction interface

The JTA UserTransaction interface has the following definition: 
public interface javax.transaction.UserTransaction {
    public void begin();
    
public void commit();
    public void rollback();

    public void setRollbackOnly();

    
public int getStatus();

    public void setTransactionTimeout(int seconds);
}

UserTransaction methods

The UserTransaction interface defines the following methods:
begin()
Start a new transaction, associating it with the current thread. If any XA resources get associated with this transaction, it implicitly becomes an XA transaction.
commit()
Complete the current transaction normally, so that all pending changes become permanent. After the commit, there is no longer a transaction associated with the current thread.
Note
If the current transaction is marked as rollback only, however, the transaction would actually be rolled back when commit() is called.
rollback()
Abort the transaction immediately, so that all pending changes are discarded. After the rollback, there is no longer a transaction associated with the current thread.
setRollbackOnly()
Modify the state of the current transaction, so that a rollback is the only possible outcome, but do not perform the rollback yet.
getStatus()
Returns the status of the current transaction, which can be one of the following integer values defined in the javax.transaction.Status interface:
  • STATUS_ACTIVE
  • STATUS_COMMITTED
  • STATUS_COMMITTING
  • STATUS_MARKED_ROLLBACK
  • STATUS_NO_TRANSACTION
  • STATUS_PREPARED
  • STATUS_PREPARING
  • STATUS_ROLLEDBACK
  • STATUS_ROLLING_BACK
  • STATUS_UNKNOWN
setTransactionTimeout()
Customize the timeout of the current transaction, specified in units of seconds. If the transaction does not get resolved within the specified timeout, the transaction manager will automatically roll it back.

When to use UserTransaction?

The UserTransaction interface is used for transaction demarcation: that is, for beginning, committing, or rolling back transactions. This is the JTA interface that you are most likely to use directly in your application code. But the UserTransaction interface is just one of the ways to demarcate transactions. For a complete discussion of the different ways to demarcate transactions, see XA Transaction Demarcation.

TransactionManager interface

The JTA TransactionManager interface has the following definition: 
interface javax.transaction.TransactionManager {
    // Same as UserTransaction methods
    public void begin();

    public void commit();

    public void rollback();
    public void setRollbackOnly();

    public int getStatus();

    public void setTransactionTimeout(int seconds);

    // Extra TransactionManager methods
    public Transaction getTransaction();
    public Transaction suspend() ;
    public void resume(Transaction tobj);
}

TransactionManager methods

The TransactionManager interface supports all of the methods found in the UserTransaction interface (so you can also use it for transaction demarcation) and, in addition, supports the following methods:
getTransaction()
Get a reference to the current transaction (that is, the transaction associated with the current thread), if any. If there is no current transaction, this method returns null.
suspend()
Detach the current transaction from the current thread, returning a reference to the transaction. After calling this method, the current thread no longer has a transaction context, so that any work that you do after this point is no longer done in the context of a transaction.
Note
Not all transaction managers support suspending transactions. This feature is supported by Apache Geronimo, however.
resume()
Re-attach a suspended transaction to the current thread context. After calling this method, the transaction context is restored and any work that you do after this point is done in the context of a transaction.

When to use TransactionManager?

The most common way to use a TransactionManager object is simply to pass it to a framework API (for example, to the Camel JMS component), enabling the framework to look after transaction demarcation for you. Occasionally, you might want to use the TransactionManager object directly, if you need to access advanced transaction APIs (such as suspend() and resume()).

Transaction interface

The JTA Transaction interface has the following definition: 
interface javax.transaction.Transaction {
    public void commit();

    public void rollback();

    public void setRollbackOnly();
    public int getStatus();

    public boolean enlistResource(XAResource xaRes);

    public boolean delistResource(XAResource xaRes, int flag);
    public void registerSynchronization(Synchronization sync);
}

Transaction methods

The commit(), rollback(), setRollbackOnly(), and getStatus() methods have just the same effect as the corresponding methods from the UserTransaction interface (in fact, the UserTransaction object is really just a convenient wrapper that retrieves the current transaction and then invokes the corresponding methods on the Transaction object).
Additionally, the Transaction interface defines the following methods that have no counterpart in the UserTransaction interface:
enlistResource()
Associate an XA resource with the current transaction.
Note
This method is of key importance in the context of XA transactions. It is precisely the capability to enlist multiple XA resources with the current transaction that characterizes XA transactions. On the other hand, enlisting resources explicitly is a nuisance and you would normally expect your framework or container to do this for you. For example, see Section 6.5, “The XA Enlistment Problem”.
delistResource()
Disassociates the specified resource from the transaction. The flag argument can take one of the following integer values defined in the javax.transaction.Transaction interface:
  • TMSUCCESS
  • TMFAIL
  • TMSUSPEND
registerSynchronization()
Register a javax.transaction.Synchronization object with the current transaction. The Synchronization object is an object that receives a callback just before the prepare phase of a commit and a callback just after the transaction completes.

When to use Transaction?

You would only need to access a Transaction object directly, if you are suspending/resuming transactions or if you need to enlist a resource explicitly. As discussed in Section 6.5, “The XA Enlistment Problem”, a framework or container would usually take care of enlisting resources automatically for you.

Reference

For fulls details of the Java transaction API, see the Java Transaction API (JTA) 1.1 specification.