TCP Connection Interceptors

You can configure connection factories with a reference to a TcpConnectionInterceptorFactoryChain. You can use interceptors to add behavior to connections, such as negotiation, security, and other options. No interceptors are currently provided by the framework, but see InterceptedSharedConnectionTests in the source repository for an example.

The HelloWorldInterceptor used in the test case works as follows:

The interceptor is first configured with a client connection factory. When the first message is sent over an intercepted connection, the interceptor sends 'Hello' over the connection and expects to receive 'world!'. When that occurs, the negotiation is complete and the original message is sent. Further, messages that use the same connection are sent without any additional negotiation.

When configured with a server connection factory, the interceptor requires the first message to be 'Hello' and, if it is, returns 'world!'. Otherwise, it throws an exception that causes the connection to be closed.

All TcpConnection methods are intercepted. Interceptor instances are created for each connection by an interceptor factory. If an interceptor is stateful, the factory should create a new instance for each connection. If there is no state, the same interceptor can wrap each connection. Interceptor factories are added to the configuration of an interceptor factory chain, which you can provide to a connection factory by setting the interceptor-factory attribute. Interceptors must extend TcpConnectionInterceptorSupport. Factories must implement the TcpConnectionInterceptorFactory interface. TcpConnectionInterceptorSupport has passthrough methods. By extending this class, you only need to implement those methods you wish to intercept.

The following example shows how to configure a connection interceptor factory chain: