I just spent some time debugging FlexibleLocation.java. That, plus the
recent work I did on EntityClassLoader has made me come to the
conclusion that FlexibleLocation.java and the entire
org.ofbiz.base.location package are not needed.
All of the org.ofbiz.base.location package functionality already exists
in Java's java.net.URL functionality. That functionality is extensible
so that applications can add custom protocol handlers easily. Here is
one tutorial I found:
http://accu.org/index.php/journals/1434
In addition to the org.ofbiz.base.location package being unnecessary,
the code it contains is very inefficient. I have done some code
optimizations in the past, but it would be best to just eliminate it
entirely.
From a developers perspective, the API would change from:
URL someFileUrl =
FlexibleLocation.resolveLocation("component://foo/bar/someFile.xml");
to:
URL someFileUrl = new URL("component://foo/bar/someFile.xml");
We could deprecate the methods for now and log warnings, then eventually
remove the package.
What do you think?
--
Adrian Crum
Sandglass Software
www.sandglass-software.com
