If a component uses a Resource Dispenser that supports transactions,
such as the ODBC Resource Dispenser, the transactional features of MTS can be
exploited. MTS automates the details of implementing transactions. Essentially,
transactions are initiated by the runtime environment rather than through code.
MTS components can be configured to support transactions.
Setting Transaction Properties of Components
Transaction properties can be set for an MTS component in two
ways: through either the MTS Explorer, or from the Visual Basic 6.0 development
environment. The MTS Explorer provides the following four different settings for
a component to have transaction support:
-
Requires a transaction. If this setting is selected, the
component must always participate in a transaction. If the client already has
a transaction associated with it, the object context will inherit the pre-existing
transaction. Otherwise, MTS will begin a new transaction when the object is instantiated
by the client.
-
Requires a new transaction. This setting causes an MTS to
begin a new transaction every time an object is created, regardless of whether
the client already has a transaction. This option ensures that an object always
has its own transaction associated with it.
-
Supports transactions. Objects created from a component with
this setting will be more flexible in that they might inherit a transaction or
they might execute without a transaction. This is determined by the state of the
client at instantiation time of the object. If the client already has a transaction
in process, the object will use the transaction. If no transaction is present
in the client’s context, the object will not use a transaction either.
-
Does not support transactions. The object will never use
transactions in its execution. Even if the client has a transaction, the object
will still run outside the context of the transaction.
To use MTS Explorer to set the level of transaction support for
a component, execute the following steps:
STEP BY STEP
16.4 Setting the Level of Transaction Support for a Component
-
From the MTS Explorer, double-click the computer that contains the component
for which you want to set transaction support properties.
-
Double-click the package that contains the component.
-
Double-click the Components folder and select the appropriate component.
-
Right-click on the component and choose Properties.
-
Click on the Transaction tab (see Figure 16.6).
FIGURE 16.6 The Transaction Support option can be set through the component’s
Properties dialog box in MTS Explorer
-
Set one of the options in the Transaction Support frame.
-
Click OK.
Alternatively, transaction properties can be set from within the
Visual Basic development environment. VB6 exposes the MTSTransactionMode
property for all classes in an ActiveX DLL project. Because MTS components
are always ActiveX DLLs, the MTSTransactionMode property
is not available in any other type of project. After a component has been compiled
with the appropriate MTSTransactionMode property value,
it is no longer necessary to address the transaction properties from the MTS Explorer.
It is also worth noting that the component will ignore the
MTSTransactionMode property if it is not run in MTS. The possible values
for the MTSTransactionMode are as follows:
-
NotAnMTSObject This setting is
for components that will not run in MTS.
-
NoTransactions This setting is
equivalent to the MTS Explorer setting of Does Not Support Transactions.
-
RequiresTransaction This setting
is equivalent to the MTS Explorer setting of Requires a Transaction.
-
UsesTransaction This setting is
equivalent to the MTS Explorer setting of Supports Transactions.
-
RequiresNewTransaction This setting
is equivalent to the MTS Explorer setting of Requires a New Transaction.
After the transaction support for a component has been set, everything
will be in place for a transaction to be started. Depending on the option selected,
the transaction will be initiated when the object is instantiated, or it will
be instantiated without a transaction. Committing or canceling a transaction is
another matter, however. MTS provides the means to these actions through an object’s
Context object. The Context object supports
transaction features through two methods: SetComplete and
SetAbort.
If the SetComplete method of an object’s
context is called from within the component, a couple of things will happen:
If SetAbort is called, the transaction
will be rolled back and resources will be released. It is precisely the use of
these methods that turns a regular COM object into a stateless MTS-specific object.
It can easily be seen that calls to these methods must be carefully
placed. Generally, SetComplete is called at the end
of a method that performs some action on a database, and the action executes successfully.
SetAbort might be called if the method fails for any reason.
The following code shows an example of a simple object method
that uses SetComplete and SetAbort:
Public Name As String
Public Sub AddName()
Dim oContext As ObjectContext
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
Set oContext = GetObjectContext()
‘<code to insert name into database>
oContext.SetComplete
Set oContext = Nothing
Exit Sub
ErrorHandler:
‘<code to notify client of error>
oContext.SetAbort
Set oContext = Nothing
End Sub
In the preceding sample code, the class exposes a single property called
Name. When the AddName method is called, the
object will attempt to add the name to the database. If all the code in the
AddName method executes successfully, the object calls
SetComplete, which will instruct MTS to commit the transaction and release
the resources associated with this object. If for any reason an error occurs,
the error handler will notify the caller of the error and call
SetAbort. The MTS runtime environment will roll back the transaction and
release the object’s resources.
