corda/docs/source/api-service-classes.rst

API: Service Classes

Service classes are long-lived instances that can trigger or be triggered by flows from within a node. A Service class is limited to a single instance per node. During startup, the node handles the creation of the service.

Services allow related, reusable, functions to be separated into their own class where their functionality is grouped together. These functions can then be called from other services or flows.

Creating a Service

To define a Service class:

• Add the CordaService annotation
• Add a constructor with a single parameter of AppServiceHub
• Extend SingletonSerializeAsToken

Below is an empty implementation of a Service class:

@CordaService
class MyCordaService(private val serviceHub: AppServiceHub) : SingletonSerializeAsToken() {

    init {
        // code ran at service creation / node startup
    }

    // public api of service
}

@CordaService
public class MyCordaService extends SingletonSerializeAsToken {

    private AppServiceHub serviceHub;

    public MyCordaService(AppServiceHub serviceHub) {
        this.serviceHub = serviceHub;
        // code ran at service creation / node startup
    }

    // public api of service
}

The AppServiceHub provides the ServiceHub functionality to the Service class, with the extra ability to start flows. Starting flows from AppServiceHub is explained further in Starting Flows from a Service <starting_flows_from_a_service>.

The AppServiceHub also provides access to database which will enable the Service class to perform DB transactions from the threads managed by the Service.

Code can be run during node startup when the class is being initialised. To do so, place the code into the init block or constructor. This is useful when a service needs to establish a connection to an external database or setup observables via ServiceHub.trackBy during its startup. These can then persist during the service's lifetime.

Retrieving a Service

A Service class can be retrieved by calling ServiceHub.cordaService which returns the single instance of the class passed into the function:

val service: MyCordaService = serviceHub.cordaService(MyCordaService::class.java)

MyCordaService service = serviceHub.cordaService(MyCordaService.class);

Warning

ServiceHub.cordaService should not be called during initialisation of a flow and should instead be called in line where needed or set after the flow's call function has been triggered.

Starting Flows from a Service

Starting flows via a service can lead to deadlock within the node's flow worker queue, which will prevent new flows from starting. To avoid this, the rules bellow should be followed:

• When called from a running flow, the service must invoke the new flow from another thread. The existing flow cannot await the execution of the new flow.
• When ServiceHub.trackBy is placed inside the service, flows started inside the observable must be placed onto another thread.
• Flows started by other means, do not require any special treatment.

Note

It is possible to avoid deadlock without following these rules depending on the number of flows running within the node. But, if the number of flows violating these rules reaches the flow worker queue size, then the node will deadlock. It is best practice to abide by these rules to remove this possibility.