CORBA35 — Generic connectivity for Receptacles, Emitters, Publishers

The CCMObject interface contains numerous operations for generic
connection management (in addition to the type-specific operations
defined by equivalent IDL for a component).

However, there's a separate set of "connect" and "disconnect"
operations for each kind of port, i.e., receptacles, emitters and
publishers. This is inconvenient for generic software that treats
ports generically, such as the deployment infrastructure in an
implementation of the Deployment and Configuration specification.

The set of operations might even get larger in the future, when
Streams for CCM becomes available.

I thus propose to add generic "connect_feature" and "disconnect_
feature" operations that is able to interconnect compatible ports
regardless of the type of port.

Proposed resolution:

In section 1.11.1, "CCMObject Interface," add the following two
operations to the CCMObject interface:

module Components {
interface CCMObject : Navigation, Receptacles, Events

;
};

Add the following explanation to the same section:

connect_feature

The connect_feature operation connects the object reference
specified by the connection parameter to the component feature
specified by the name parameter. The feature must be either a
receptacle, emitter or publisher port.

If the feature identified by the name parameter is a receptacle
port, the connect_feature operation acts equivalent to calling
the connect operation on the Receptacles interface.

If the feature identified by the name parameter is an emitter
port, the connect_feature operation acts equivalent to calling
the connect_consumer operation on the Events interface. A nil
"cookie" value is returned.

If the feature identified by the name parameter is a publisher
port, the connect_feature operation acts equivalent to calling
the subscribe operation on the Events interface.

If the feature identified by the name parameter is neither
receptacle, emitter or publisher port, or if the component does
not have any feature by that name, the InvalidName exception is
raised.

disconnect_feature

The disconnect_feature operation dissolves the connection
identified by the ck cookie to the component feature specified
by the name parameter.

If the feature identified by the name parameter is a receptacle
port, the disconnect_feature operation acts equivalent to calling
the disconnect operation on the Receptacles interface.

If the feature identified by the name parameter is an emitter
port, the disconnect_feature operation raises the InvalidConnection
exception if a non-nil cookie is passed as the ck parameter;
otherwise, it acts equivalent to calling the disconnect_consumer
operation on the Events interface.

If the feature identified by the name parameter is a publisher
port, the disconnect_feature operation acts equivalent to calling
the unsubscribe operation on the Events interface.

If the feature identified by the name parameter is neither
receptacle, emitter or publisher port, or if the component does
not have any feature by that name, the InvalidName exception is
raised.