Contexts are really thin in Webware/WebKit right now. I mean really thin. The only time they've come into play for me is acting as a container for how WebKit instantiates servlets. Unless you do a lot of intra-context servlet inheriting, you've probably never had occasion to read that code.
It's kind of woeful that contexts don't "wrap" a mini-application better to allow for more configurability. The stickler for me is having to use the same Session class across all contexts. If the Session class could be assigned on a per-context basis, then I would consider running separate applications under a single Webware server. As it stands now, if we tried to do that then the Session class would be huge in order to support different applications making heavy use of their own particular session needs. Instead we just run different instances of Webware (each with one context) and MixIn a different custom Session class for each one. This works out fine anyway considering that restarting the appserver for builds or bugfixes then doesn't affect the other apps. It seems like the roadmap for Webware should include either making Contexts more like an application, or just ditching the concept completely. Tavis Rudd made some progress years ago towards allowing the appserver to run multiple Applications instead of just one, but it was a tangential project that seems to have been pretty much ignored. Caveat - I'm way out of the loop with the latest development version. Too busy developing with the last production version. :) > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of John > Dickinson > Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 7:51 AM > To: Winston Wolff > Cc: webware-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: Re: [Webware-discuss] several questions about webware > > > I suppose several directories in one context would do about the same > thing. I'm not sure that a context does anything special per se, but > grouping several applications under one webware instance eases > administration--only one server to restart/maintain, don't have to deal > with opening/setting up ports for each application (lots of red tape). > Webware can gracefully handle restarts (maintains active sessions), so > restarting an app server is not such a big deal (and by the time code > gets to out production server, it should be bullet-proof and virtually > never require a restart). > > Winston Wolff wrote: > > > Hi John- > > > > I'm curious about what the context does for you that you like? I'm > > wondering if you just had different directories inside one context, > > wouldn't that be about the same as different contexts? > > > >> idea (and if it really is a bad idea, I'd love to know why), but it > >> seems to > > > > > > I don't see it as a really bad idea, only that it's not that useful > > and there is a lot of special-case code to handle it. > > > > -winston > > > > > > On Jan 31, 2005, at 10:06 AM, John Dickinson wrote: > > > >> I have not used tomcat, but we do use webware contexts to separate > >> "applications" from one another. Others on the list may think this is > >> a bad idea (and if it really is a bad idea, I'd love to know why), > >> but it seems to work for us. We have four instances of webware > >> running: develop, model, demo, and prod. Develop is where we do all > >> of our developing. Model and demo are for relatively stable versions > >> for additional testing and demonsration purposes, and prod is where > >> our production versions live. All four have the same (or similar) > >> directory/context structure. So there may be a dozen different > >> contexts in each of develop, model, etc., and each context is its own > >> separate application. As each project (application) is developed, it > >> moves through our four webware instances from develop to prod. I > >> don't know if this system meets your needs for "separation," but it > >> works for us. > >> > >> --John > > ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IntelliVIEW -- Interactive Reporting Tool for open source databases. Create drag-&-drop reports. Save time by over 75%! Publish reports on the web. Export to DOC, XLS, RTF, etc. Download a FREE copy at http://www.intelliview.com/go/osdn_nl _______________________________________________ Webware-discuss mailing list Webware-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/webware-discuss
