Looking Up SOAServiceInvokerBean from a Different JVM

I am writing this up before I will forget and hit this again...

---

javax.naming.CommunicationException [Root exception is java.rmi.UnmarshalException: failed to unmarshal class java.lang.Object; nested exception is: 
 java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: oracle.integration.platform.blocks.sdox.ejb.api.SOAServiceInvokerBean]
 at weblogic.jndi.internal.ExceptionTranslator.toNamingException(ExceptionTranslator.java:74)
....
Caused by: java.rmi.UnmarshalException: failed to unmarshal class java.lang.Object; nested exception is: 
 java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: oracle.integration.platform.blocks.sdox.ejb.api.SOAServiceInvokerBean
 at weblogic.rjvm.ResponseImpl.unmarshalReturn(ResponseImpl.java:244)
 at weblogic.rmi.cluster.ClusterableRemoteRef.invoke(ClusterableRemoteRef.java:348)
...
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: oracle.integration.platform.blocks.sdox.ejb.api.SOAServiceInvokerBean
 at weblogic.application.internal.AppClassLoaderManagerImpl.loadApplicationClass(AppClassLoaderManagerImpl.java:135)
 at weblogic.common.internal.ProxyClassResolver.resolveProxyClass(ProxyClassResolver.java:68)

I normally do not encounter this error when I look up the SOAServiceInvokerBean inside a simple java client, but when I tried to look this up inside one of my backing bean then I start hitting it again.

The following is an excerpt from the Developer's Guide for Oracle SOA Suite

36.4 Designing an SDO-Based Enterprise JavaBeans Client to Invoke Oracle SOA Suite To invoke an SDO - Enterprise JavaBeans service from Enterprise JavaBeans, you must use the client library. Follow these guidelines to design an Enterprise JavaBeans client.

• Look up the SOAServiceInvokerBean from the JNDI tree.
• Get an instance of SOAServiceFactory and ask the factory to return a proxy for the Enterprise JavaBeans service interface.
• You can include a client side Enterprise JavaBeans invocation library (fabric-ejbClient.jar or the fabric-runtime.jar file located in the Oracle JDeveloper home directory or Oracle WebLogic Server) in the Enterprise JavaBeans client application. For example, the fabric-runtime.jar file can be located in the JDev_Home\jdeveloper\soa\modules\oracle.soa.fabric_11.1.1 directory.

If the Enterprise JavaBeans application is running in a different JVM than Oracle SOA Suite, the Enterprise JavaBeans application must reference the ejbClient library.

It says that to invoke the SOAServiceInvokerBean from a different JVM then you need to have the "fabric-ejbClient.jar" in your classpath, but "fabric-ejbClient.jar" is nowhere to be found. Searching on the same directory suggested above, we can find a "fabric-client.jar", and yes you are right that it can serve the purpose.

In summary, to look up and invoke the SOAServiceInvokerBean from a different JVM, you must reference the "fabric-client.jar" located in JDev_Home\jdeveloper\soa\modules\oracle.soa.fabric_11.1.1 directory.

Cheers!