[SOLVED] CommonJ TimerManager versus EJB3 TimerService

CommonJ TimerManager versus EJB3 TimerService

I have to implement a simple (not clustered) timer for WebLogic and it seems there are two different 'standard' options

Timer and Work Manager API (CommonJ)
EJB3.0 TimerService

Does anyone have any advice on using the CommonJ TimerManager versus using the EJB3 TimerService in WebLogic 10.0?

Thank you.

Solution

TimerService in EJB 3.0 is somewhat limited as compared to CommonJ Timer Manager. For example, it requires boilerplate code and container-specific configuration to implement flexible task scheduling. This was simplified with the introduction of @Scheduled annotation in EJB 3.1.

If you are stick with EJB 3.0 and need easily and flexibly configurable task scheduling, CommonJ Timer Manager API is a viable option.

In addition, Task Scheduler from Spring Framework (org.springframework.scheduling.TaskScheduler) does a good job of abstracting Timer Manager API and allows declarative configuration using cron expressions.