[37] DYNAMIC SKELETON INTERFACE
(Part of the CORBA FAQ, Copyright © 1996-99)

[37.1] WHAT IS THE DYNAMIC SKELETON INTERFACE?

[Recently created (3/1999). Click here to go to the next FAQ in the “chain” of recent changes]

The CORBA specification defines two mechanisms for implementations of a CORBA Object to service its operation invocations. One is the static mechanism and the other is dynamic. The static mechanism requires that the implementation support the specific methods as required by statically known IDL interfaces. Implementations can do this through either a delegated or derived approach (i.e. inheritance or delegation/TIE). If the dynamic approach is taken, the implementation of the Object deals with the request generically and in a sense, has one “do-it” method for dealing with all requests. The implementatin must inforce type safety as apposed to relying on an IDL compiler or Language compiler to do it. DSI is much more complicated for a developer then relying on the IDL compiler to generate static request dispatching code.

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[37.2] UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS IS DSI APPROPRIATE?

[Recently created (3/1999). Click here to go to the next FAQ in the “chain” of recent changes]

The dynamic nature of DSI provides certain advantages over static request dispatching. The following types of applications would require or benefit from DSI:

• Server side bridges (protocol converters)
• Monitoring applications
• Interpreted or script driven services

Applications which utilize DSI do not need to include or import skeletons generated by an IDL compiler in order to provide a service. These serices can support request generically and must enforce type safety.

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