Running Thin application client code

You can run Thin application client environments on machines installed with either a client installation or a server installation. The client installation provides a setup command shell which sets up your environment for either a Thin application client or a J2EE client application. The server installation provides a command shell which sets up your environment for J2EE application clients only.

Both J2EE application clients and Thin application clients can access JMS resources provided by the default messaging provider.

Overview

WebSphere Application Server supports the pluggable client.

Note: Thin application clients are not packaged with JDBC provider classes. For example, the WebSphere Application Server V6.1 Thin application client is not packaged with Cloudscape version 10.1 classes. Likewise, the version 6.0.2 Thin application client is not packaged with Cloudscape V5.1 or Cloudscape V10.0 classes. Therefore, to utilize the JDBC provider classes (such as Cloudscape, Oracle, DB2, Informix, or Sybase) on a thin client, :

1. Add the classes to your Thin application client environment.

2. Make the classes visible to the Thin application client. To do this, add the path to the classes in the client classpath within the script that launched the client program.

Otherwise, any attempt to load a database class (such as through the JNDI lookup of a datasource) results in a ClassNotFoundException. The Java invocation to run a Thin application client varies between a client and a server. If your Thin application client needs to run on both a client installation and a server installation, follow the steps for developing Thin application clients on a server machine.

Procedure

1. Install the Thin application client by selecting option J2EE and Thin application client from the Application Client for WebSphere Application Server installation.

2. Perform one of the following:

   • Develop Thin application client code for a client machine.

   • Develop Thin application client code for a server machine.

Example

View the Samples gallery for more information about the Application Client.

Note: WebSphere Application Server V6.1 and the Application client for WebSphere Application Server V6.1 also provides specialized types of Thin application client. The Web Services Thin Client is an unmanaged, stand-alone Java client environment that allows you to run JAX-RPC Web services client applications to invoke Web services that are hosted by the application server. The Administration Thin Client enables client applications to perform administration tasks outside of the application server environment.

Related concepts

Related tasks