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From: "Passchier, I. (Igor)" <igor.passchier@tno.nl>
To: "users@ace.apache.org" <users@ace.apache.org>
Subject: RE: deploying configuration data
Thread-Topic: deploying configuration data
Thread-Index: Ac4Wmj37OgW7wgjgSJy50dVE7AXwZP//+pOA//+qe5A=
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2013 21:23:36 +0000
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 <2C4FB872-6C21-4D69-82A5-D11F20E435BB@luminis.nl>
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Hello Marcel,

Thanks for your reply. Adding the auto configuration resource processor mad=
e that indeed the configuration files are accepted and deployed. However, t=
hey now fail on non conformance of my config file by the auto configuration=
 resource processor. I think I have some xsd version issue, which I will tr=
ace down. Ace seems to be doing what I need. After fixing the non conforman=
ce, I will give Velocity a try.

Regards,

Igor Passchier


-----Original Message-----
From: Marcel Offermans [mailto:marcel.offermans@luminis.nl] =

Sent: vrijdag 1 maart 2013 18:12
To: users@ace.apache.org
Subject: Re: deploying configuration data

Hello Igor,

On Mar 1, 2013, at 17:35 , "Passchier, I. (Igor)" <igor.passchier@tno.nl> w=
rote:

> I am operating a set of OSGi platforms, based on apache Felix, which I wo=
uld like to manage with apache ace. Most bundles are developed by ourselves=
, where dependency and configuration is automated with SCR. Currently platf=
orm management and configuration is done via Felix webconsole. I tried to f=
ind a way to supply configuration data via apache ace, but to no avail.

ACE supports the "Auto Configuration Specification" as described in the OSG=
i Compendium chapter 115.

We should probably do a better job at documenting how this works though.

> In the various mailing list and source code, I found references to the xm=
l metatype description, but deploying these via Ace fails in the deployment=
 stage. I also found references to the use .cfg files containing key/value =
pairs, but these I cannot add on the server side ("no artifact recognizer").

You should not use the .cfg files, unless you write a resource processor fo=
r them yourself, but that is not the easiest way.

> How can I deploy configuration data to my osgi targets via Ace, preferabl=
y depending on some properties of my targets?

There are a couple of things you need to do:

1) Add an artifact to ACE that implements the Auto Configuration resource p=
rocessor. I suggest you either download the latest release from [1] or buil=
d it from source (it's part of Apache Felix) yourself. Note that when you a=
dd this artifact to ACE, it will *not* become visible in the left most colu=
mn, but it will be in the OBR. If you omit this step, things will seem to w=
ork, but you cannot deploy configurations as at deploy time it will try to =
ship the resource processor automatically along with the xml configurations.

2) Create an xml configuration that complies to the specification, and uplo=
ad that as an artifact as well. It should be visible, and you should be abl=
e to assign it to a feature and get it on a target just like you would with=
 bundles.

3) Now deploy. :)

To answer your final question, there is one extra feature that ACE supports=
 for these xml config files, and that is they can be processed using Veloci=
ty. That means you can make a configuration file that really is a template,=
 and in the template you can define variables that will be replaced with va=
lues.

Now how can you provide values for these variables?

Go to a target in the UI, double click it, then go to the tag editor. Here =
you can enter key/value pairs and these will be used to fill out your templ=
ate. If you have a variable called "hostname" there, you should use the fol=
lowing in the xml file: "${context.hostname}". So, always prefix them with =
"context.".

If you want to do more fancy things, check out the Velocity website.

For more advanced use, you can also add tags to features or distributions. =
That is sometimes useful if you have a configuration value for a whole grou=
p of targets.

Hope this helps. If not, let me know!

Greetings, Marcel


[1] http://felix.apache.org/downloads.cgi

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