java - How do I lookup a JNDI Datasource from outside a web container?

Question

I have the following environment set up:

• Java 1.5
• Sun Application Server 8.2
• Oracle 10 XE
• Struts 2
• Hibernate

I'm interested to know how I can write code for a Java client (i.e. outside of a web application) that can reference the JNDI datasource provided by the application server.

The ports for the Sun Application Server are all at their defaults. There is a JNDI datasource named jdbc/xxxx in the server configuration, but I noticed that the Hibernate configuration for the web application uses the name java:comp/env/jdbc/xxxx instead.

Most of the examples I've seen so far involve code like

Context ctx = new InitialContext();
ctx.lookup("jdbc/xxxx");

But it seems I'm either using the wrong JNDI name, or I need to configure a jndi.properties or other configuration file to correctly point to a listener? I have appserv-rt.jar from the Sun Application Server which has a jndi.properties inside of it, but it does not seem to help.

There's a similar question here, but it doesn't give any code / refers to having iBatis obtain the JNDI Datasource automatically: Accessing Datasource from Outside A Web Container (through JNDI)

Answer 1

I got stuck on this exact same problem. I wrote a small tutorial. Basically you have to create your own implementation of the DataSource objects and add them to your own custom initial context. There are source examples here:

Running Beans Locally that use Application Server Data Sources