Using the Naming Service

Introduction

The Naming Service is the CORBA service which allows to manage objects in a hierarchical named trees which looks like directory trees. Storing object references in the Naming Service provides a very easy way to make it accessible to clients and services. The root context of any Naming Service can be stored inside each Naming Service under a name common to all Naming Services, so that the path to any object reference is the same whichever Naming Service is used.

The whole OMG IDL specification of the Naming Service is implemented, including the interface NamingContextExt, as it is defined in the OMG document Naming_00-11-01.

The Naming Service is an initial service which runs inside the OrbRiver orb, its object id is "NameService".

Limitations

No limitation is known for this service.

Persistence

The Naming Service objects persistent state is saved in the file $ORBRIVER_DIR/etc/Naming_<Id> where <Id> is the ORB identity of the orb containing this Naming Service. This file is only updated when the orb is cleanly stopped (see Stopping OrbRiver with stop_orb).

Editing with name_editor

name_editor is the tool to edit the Naming Service of a given running orb. This means:

List the contents of the given context

Bind (or rebind) an object in the current context

Display the details of a binding

Create and bind a new context

Rename a binding or move it in another context

Delete a binding

Destroy a context and its contents

Its switches are the orb connection switches (see Client and Service switches).

name_editor prompts for commands. The prompt is "-> ". Several commands execute actions on the bindings which can be named by their absolute name or a name relative to the current context. At startup, the current context is the root context of the Naming Service (named by a single separator).
Names are build with component names separated by a (configurable) separator.
The modifications done with name_editor are permanent (reloaded automatically when the orb starts) if the orb has been stopped by "stop_orb".

The commands are not case sensitive and some have a short alias.
The possible commands are:

Path (no alias)
Display the path of the current context

Usage: Path
Display the path of the current context, using the current separator to separate the names of the ancestor contexts.
example:
-> path
/
->

Change_Path (alias cd)
Change the current context

Usage: Change_Path <path>
The given path indicates the name of the context to become current. '..' is interpreted as the parent context. If the path starts with the current separator, it is interpreted as starting from the root context.
example:
-> cd Printers
-> path
/Printers/
->

List (alias ls)
List the contents of the current context

Usage: List [<path>]
Display the list of the names (and their kind) in the given context (default current).

Bind (alias b)
Bind (or rebind) an object in the current context

Usage: Bind [<name>]
This command creates a new binding in the current context. If no name is given, a name is first requested. Then the kind string is requested. Eventually the IOR (which must be a valid one) of the object to be bound is requested. Be aware that IORs are long strings which are often impossible to enter in a single line, so use quoted end of lines in order to split an IOR over several input lines.
example:
-> b My_Printer
Kind => Postscript
IOR => IOR:...
-> ls
My_Printer (Postscript)
->

Display (alias dis)
Display the details of a binding

Usage: Display <path>
The type RepositoryId and the IOR stored with the given path are displayed.
example:
-> dis My_Printer
Object of type IDL:Printing_Service/Printer:1.0
IOR:...
->

Create_Context (alias cc)
Create and bind a new context

Usage: Create_Context <name>
A new context with the given name is created in the current context.
example:
-> cc Color_Printers
-> ls
My_Printer (Postscript)
Color_Printers ()
->

Move (alias mv)
Rename a binding or move it in another context

Usage: Move <old name> <new name>
If <new name> is a single name, the binding is renamed
If <new name> is a path name, the binding is moved and renamed
This command is valid also for contexts.
example:
-> mv My_Printer Color_Printers/My_Color_Printer
-> ls
Color_Printers ()
-> ls Color_Printers
My_Color_Printer (Postscript)
->

Delete (alias del)
Delete a binding

Usage: Delete <name>
The given binding is destroyed
example:
-> cd Color_Printers
-> del My_Color_Printer
-> ls
->

Delete_Context (alias dc)
Destroy a context and its contents

Usage: Delete_Context <name>
The given context is destroyed, and all its contents too. If it is not empty, confirmation is requested.
example:
-> cd ..
-> dc Color_Printers
-> ls
->

Save (no alias)
Save the NameService state into its persistent store

Usage: Save
Tell the orbriver daemon to save the NameService state to its persistent store

Separator (no alias)
Change the separator in pathnames

Usage: Separator [<character>]
With no parameter, it displays the current separator character. The given character will be used as the separator between names in paths. Use of the separator must be quoted inside names.
The default separator is '/'.
example:
-> separator !
-> separator
The current separator is !
->

Quote (no alias)
Change the quote character

Usage: Quote [<character>]
With no parameter, it displays the current quoting character. The given character will be used as the quoting character inside names in order to allow the use of special characters inside names. Inside a name, the following characters must be quoted:
' ', the quote, the cancel character.
A quote at the end of a line means a continuation on next line (useful when entering an IOR).
The default quote is '`'
-> quote @
-> quote
The current quote is @
->

Cancel (no alias)
Change the cancel character

Usage: Cancel [<character>]
With no parameter, it displays the current cancel character. The given character will be used to cancel a command. The default cancel character is '?'
-> Cancel #
-> Cancel
The current cancel is #
-> ls #
cancelled
->

Help (alias h)
Display information about commands

Usage: help [command]
With no parameter, the list of commands is displayed.
With a parameter, the given command is described.

Quit (alias q)
Quit name_editor

Usage: quit

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