IDL (Interface Definition

Language)

Dr. Eng. Haiyan HOUSROUM

housroum@yahoo.com

2007-2008 CORBA 1
23/10/08 CORBA 2
Goal of lecture

 Give an introduction to IDL (Interface

Definition Language) Language.

2007-2008 CORBA 3
Basic IDL Types

23/10/08 CORBA 4
Any
 Type any is a universal container type.
 A value of type any can hold a value of any
other IDL type, such as long or string, or
even another value of type any.
 Type any can also hold object references or
user-defined complex types, such as arrays
or structures.
 Type any is IDL’s equivalent of what in C++ is
typically achieved with a void *.

23/10/08 CORBA 5
User-Defined Types
 typedef short YearType;

 enum Color { red, green, blue, black, mauve, orange };

 struct TimeOfDay {
short hour;
short minute;
short second;
};

23/10/08 CORBA 6
User-Defined Types
 struct FirstNested {
long first;
long second;
};
 struct SecondNested {
long first;
long second;
};
 struct Outer {
FirstNested first;
SecondNested second;
};
23/10/08 CORBA 7
User-Defined Types
 union ColorCount switch (Color) {
case red:
case green:
case blue:
unsigned long num_in_stock;
case black:
float discount;
default:
string order_details;
};

23/10/08 CORBA 8
User-Defined Types
 enum InfoKind { text, numeric, none };
union Info switch (InfoKind) {
case text:
string description;
case numeric:
long index;
};
interface Order {
void set_details(in Info details);
};

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User-Defined Types
 interface Order {
void set_text_details(in string details);
void set_details_index(in long index);
void clear_details();
};

23/10/08 CORBA 10
User-Defined Types
 typedef Color ColorVector[10];

 typedef string IDtable[10][20];

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User-Defined Types
 typedef sequence<Color> Colors;

 typedef sequence<long, 100> Numbers;

 typedef sequence<sequence<long, 100> >

ListOfNumberVectors;

23/10/08 CORBA 12
User-Defined Types
 struct NonZeroElement {
unsigned short row; // row index
unsigned short col; // column index
long val; // value in this cell
};
 typedef sequence<NonZeroElement> Matrix;
 interface MatrixProcessor {
Matrix invert_matrix(in Matrix m);
};

23/10/08 CORBA 13
User-Defined Types
 enum OpType {
OP_AND, OP_OR, OP_NOT, OP_BITAND, OP_BITOR, OP_BITXOR, OP_BITNOT
};
 enum NodeKind { LEAF_NODE, UNARY_NODE, BINARY_NODE };
 union Node switch (NodeKind) {
case LEAF_NODE:
long value;
case UNARY_NODE:
struct UnaryOp {
OpType op;
sequence<Node, 1> child;
} u_op;
case BINARY_NODE:
struct BinaryOp {
OpType op;
sequence<Node, 2> children;
} bin_op;
};
23/10/08 CORBA 14
User-Defined Types
 interface Thermostat {
// Read temperature
short get_temp();
// Update temperature, return previous value
short set_nominal_temp(in short new_temp);
};

23/10/08 CORBA 15
User-Defined Types
 interface Haystack {
exception NotFound {
unsigned long num_straws_searched;
};
const unsigned long MAX_LENGTH = 10;
readonly attribute unsigned long num_straws;
typedef long Needle;
typedef string Straw;
void add(in Straw s);
boolean remove(in Straw s);
void find(in Needle n) raises(NotFound);
};

23/10/08 CORBA 16
User-Defined Types
 interface FeedShed {
typedef sequence<Haystack> StackList;
StackList feed_on_hand();
void add(in Haystack s);
void eat(in Haystack s);
boolean find(in Haystack::Needle n)
raises(Haystack::NotFound);
void hide(in Haystack s, in Haystack::Needle n);
};

23/10/08 CORBA 17
User-Defined Types
 interface Primes {
typedef unsigned long prime;
prime next_prime(in long n);
void next_prime2(in long n, out prime p);
void next_prime3(inout long n);
};

23/10/08 CORBA 18
User-Defined Types
 module CCS {
typedef string LocType;
typedef short TempType;
interface Thermostat {
LocType get_location();
TempType get_temperature();
TempType get_nominal_temp();
void set_nominal_temp(in TempType t);
};
};

23/10/08 CORBA 19
User-Defined Types
 module Weather {
enum WType { sunny, cloudy, rainy, foggy };
interface Forecast {
CCS::TempType tomorrows_minimum();
CCS::TempType tomorrows_maximum();
WType outlook();
};
};

23/10/08 CORBA 20
Inheritance
 interface Thermometer {
typedef short TempType;
readonly attribute TempType temperature;
};

interface Thermostat : Thermometer {

void set_nominal_temp(in TempType t);
};

23/10/08 CORBA 21
Inheritance
 interface Thermometer {
typedef long IDType;
const IDType TID = 5;
exception TempOutOfRange {};
};

 interface Thermostat : Thermometer {

typedef string IDType;
const IDType TID = "Thermostat";
exception TempOutOfRange { long temp; };
};

23/10/08 CORBA 22
The Climate Control System
 The climate control system controls the air-conditioning for
various rooms in a large building.
 The same system controls the temperature of a number of
manufacturing devices, such as freezers and annealing
ovens.
 The system contains two kinds of devices: Thermometers
and Thermostats.
 These devices are installed at various locations and support
a proprietary instrument control protocol.

23/10/08 CORBA 23
The Climate Control System
 Thermometers report the current temperature at a location.
 Thermostats permit a desired temperature to be selected.
The climate control system attempts to keep the actual
temperature as close as possible to this selected
temperature.
 We assume that the system contains hundreds of
thermometers and thermostats.
 The entire collection of thermometers and thermostats can
be controlled from a single remote monitoring station.
 An operator can monitor and set the desired temperature
for each location, find specific devices via various search
criteria, and raise or lower the temperature for a number of
rooms as a group.

23/10/08 CORBA 24
The Climate Control System
 A climate control system server acts as a gateway between
the proprietary instrument control network and CORBA
applications.
 We use CORBA to manage the system because it allows us
to use the regular corporate computing infrastructure
instead of having to extend the proprietary network to all
clients.
 APIs for the proprietary protocol may not be available for
all the combinations of operating system and platform we
want to use for clients.
 By using CORBA, we permit a much wider variety of client
implementations, including client implementations in
languages for which the proprietary API is not available.

23/10/08 CORBA 25
The Climate Control System
 Thermometers:
 A thermometer is a reporting device.
 Its purpose is to allow the monitoring station to inquire
about the current temperature at the thermometer's
location.
 Thermometers come equipped with a small amount of
memory that holds additional information.
 Asset Number: the proprietary API requires an asset

number for remote access to a device.

 Model:determines aspects such as the precision and

range of the device.

 Location:Each thermometer stores a short string

identifying its current location, “Room 414”

23/10/08 CORBA 26
The Climate Control System
 Thermostats:
 Thermostats can report the current temperature, and
they have an asset number, model, and location.
 The asset numbers of thermostats and thermometers
share a namespace. This means that if a particular
thermostat has asset number 5, no other thermostat or
thermometer can have asset number 5.
 Thermostats come equipped with a dial for setting the
desired temperature. It is possible to remotely read as
well as change the setting of the dial.

23/10/08 CORBA 27
The Climate Control System
 The monitoring system
 The monitoring station (known as a controller) permits
access to and control of the devices in the system.
 An operator can list all devices in the system, locate
specific devices by various search criteria, and make
relative changes to the temperature setting of a group
of thermostats.
 Operations:
 Listing Devices

 Relative Temperature changes

 Finding Devices

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The Climate Control System
 UML

23/10/08 CORBA 29
The Climate Control System
 IDL for Thermometers
typedef unsigned long AssetType;
typedef string ModelType;
typedef short TempType;
typedef string LocType;
interface Thermometer {
readonly attribute ModelType model;
readonly attribute AssetType asset_num;
readonly attribute TempType temperature;
attribute LocType location;
};

23/10/08 CORBA 30
The Climate Control System
 IDL for Thermostats
interface Thermostat : Thermometer {
struct BtData {
TempType requested;
TempType min_permitted;
TempType max_permitted;
string error_msg;
};
exception BadTemp { BtData details; };
TempType get_nominal();
TempType set_nominal(in TempType new_temp)
raises(BadTemp);
};
23/10/08 CORBA 31
The Climate Control System
 IDL for Controller
 List Operation

interface Controller {
typedef sequence<Thermometer> ThermometerSeq;
ThermometerSeq list();
// ...
};

23/10/08 CORBA 32
The Climate Control System
 IDL for Controller
 Change Operation
interface Controller {
// ...
typedef sequence<Thermostat> ThermostatSeq;
struct ErrorDetails {
Thermostat tmstat_ref;
Thermostat::BtData info;
};
typedef sequence<ErrorDetails> ErrSeq;
exception EChange {
ErrSeq errors;
};
void change(in ThermostatSeq tlist, in short delta) raises(EChange);
// ...
};
23/10/08 CORBA 33
The Climate Control System
 IDL for Controller
 Find Operation
interface Controller {
// ...
enum SearchCriterion { ASSET, LOCATION, MODEL };
union KeyType switch(SearchCriterion) {
case ASSET:
AssetType asset_num;
case LOCATION:
LocType loc;
case MODEL:
ModelType model_desc;
};
// ...
};
23/10/08 CORBA 34
The Climate Control System
 IDL for Controller
 Find Operation
interface Controller {
// ...
struct SearchType {
KeyType key;
Thermometer device;
};
typedef sequence<SearchType> SearchSeq;
void find(inout SearchSeq slist);
// ...
};
23/10/08 CORBA 35
The Climate Control System
 IDL for Controller
 Find Operation

23/10/08 CORBA 36
The Climate Control System
 The complete specification
module CCS {
typedef unsigned long AssetType;
typedef string ModelType;
typedef short TempType;
typedef string LocType;
interface Thermometer {
readonly attribute ModelType model;
readonly attribute AssetType asset_num;
readonly attribute TempType temperature;
attribute LocType location;
};
23/10/08 CORBA 37
The Climate Control System
 The complete specification
interface Thermostat : Thermometer {
struct BtData {
TempType requested;
TempType min_permitted;
TempType max_permitted;
string error_msg;
};
exception BadTemp { BtData details; };
TempType get_nominal();
TempType set_nominal(in TempType new_temp)
raises(BadTemp);
};
23/10/08 CORBA 38
The Climate Control System
 The complete specification
interface Controller {
typedef sequence<Thermometer> ThermometerSeq;
typedef sequence<Thermostat> ThermostatSeq;
enum SearchCriterion { ASSET, LOCATION, MODEL };
union KeyType switch(SearchCriterion) {
case ASSET:
AssetType asset_num;
case LOCATION:
LocType loc;
case MODEL:
ModelType model_desc;
23/10/08 }; CORBA 39
The Climate Control System
 The complete specification
struct SearchType {
KeyType key;
Thermometer device;
};
typedef sequence<SearchType> SearchSeq;
struct ErrorDetails {
Thermostat tmstat_ref;
Thermostat::BtData info;
};
typedef sequence<ErrorDetails> ErrSeq;
exception EChange {
ErrSeq errors;
};
23/10/08 CORBA 40
The Climate Control System
 The complete specification
ThermometerSeq list();
void find(inout SearchSeq slist);
void change( in ThermostatSeq tlist, in short delta )
raises(EChange);
};
};

23/10/08 CORBA 41
 The End

THANK YOU!

2007-2008 CORBA 42