1.1 problem with collection valued references

[David Jencks]

There seems to be a problem with collection valued references in  
1.1.  Normally we want a collection valued reference to determine its  
members based on the target gbeans implementing an interface.  This  
works great for single valued references but currently there is no  
way to specify an interface that is actually used for a collection  
valued reference.  I was under the impression that the interface  
declared in GBeanInfo was used for this purpose but this is not  
currently the case.  There is also no way to specify an interface in  
the xml for a plan.

As I see it, the desired interface is not something a user should be  
able to change, and it should be supplied in the gbean metadata,  
currently GBeanInfo.  I think requiring a user to specify the target  
interface in a plan is an undue burden.  However, if metadata is the  
only source this would make it difficult to, in the future, deploy  
services with collection valued references that lack metadata entirely.

I think the best solution might be to use metadata if present (from  
GBeanInfo, annotations, or java 1.5 generics) and allow specifying  
the interface in the plan as well for when metadata is lacking.

Comments?

I believe this is currently causing a problem with the  
JettyModuleBuilder and default servlets: the default servlet gbeans  
implement org.apache.geronimo.jetty.JettyDefaultServletHolder rather  
than org.apache.geronimo.jetty.JettyServletHolder but since there is  
no way to specify the desired target interface all servlets end up  
getting treated as default servlets, causing severe problems when hot  
deploying a web app.

thanks
david jencks