The process of creating Java actions is similar to that of other actions. The following sections guide you through creating and invoking a single Java action, and demonstrate how to bundle multiple files and third party dependencies.
In order to compile, test and archive Java files, you must have a JDK 8 installed locally.
A Java action is a Java program with a method called main
that has the exact signature as follows:
public static com.google.gson.JsonObject main(com.google.gson.JsonObject);
For example, create a Java file called Hello.java
with the following content:
import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
public class Hello {
public static JsonObject main(JsonObject args) {
String name = "stranger";
if (args.has("name"))
name = args.getAsJsonPrimitive("name").getAsString();
JsonObject response = new JsonObject();
response.addProperty("greeting", "Hello " + name + "!");
return response;
}
}
An action supports not only a JSON object but also a JSON array as a return value.
It would be a simple example that uses an array as a return value:
import com.google.gson.JsonArray;
import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
public class HelloArray {
public static JsonArray main(JsonObject args) {
JsonArray jsonArray = new JsonArray();
jsonArray.add("a");
jsonArray.add("b");
return jsonArray;
}
}
You can also create a sequence action with actions accepting an array param and returning an array result.
You can easily figure out the parameters with the following example:
import com.google.gson.JsonArray;
public class Sort {
public static JsonArray main(JsonArray args) {
return args;
}
}
Then, compile Hello.java
into a JAR file hello.jar
as follows:
javac Hello.java
jar cvf hello.jar Hello.class
Note: google-gson must exist in your Java CLASSPATH when compiling the Java file.
You can create a OpenWhisk action called helloJava
from this JAR file as
follows:
wsk action create helloJava hello.jar --main Hello
When you use the command line and a .jar
source file, you do not need to
specify that you are creating a Java action;
the tool determines that from the file extension.
You need to specify the name of the main class using --main
. An eligible main
class is one that implements a static main
method as described above. If the
class is not in the default package, use the Java fully-qualified class name,
e.g., --main com.example.MyMain
.
If needed you can also customize the method name of your Java action. This
can be done by specifying the Java fully-qualified method name of your action,
e.q., --main com.example.MyMain#methodName
Action invocation is the same for Java actions as it is for Swift and JavaScript actions:
wsk action invoke --result helloJava --param name World
{
"greeting": "Hello World!"
}
Find out more about parameters in the Working with parameters section.