Up on otn/java is a new article by Oracle senior software engineer Mahesh Kannan, titled “An Overview of Batch Processing in Java EE 7.0,” which explains the new batch processing capabilities provided by JSR 352 in Java EE 7. Kannan explains that “Batch processing is used in many industries for tasks ranging from payroll processing; statement generation; end-of-day jobs such as interest calculation and ETL (extract, load, and transform) in a data warehouse; and many more. Typically, batch processing is bulk-oriented, non-interactive, and long running—and might be data- or computation-intensive. Batch jobs can be run on schedule or initiated on demand. Also, since batch jobs are typically long-running jobs, check-pointing and restarting are common features found in batch jobs.”

JSR 352 defines the programming model for batch applications plus a runtime to run and manage batch jobs. The article covers feature highlights, selected APIs, the structure of Job Scheduling Language, and explains some of the key functions of JSR 352 using a simple payroll processing application. The article also describes how developers can run batch applications using GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 4.0.

Kannan summarizes the article as follows:

“In this article, we saw how to write, package, and run simple batch applications that use chunk-style steps. We also saw how the checkpoint feature of the batch runtime allows for the easy restart of failed batch jobs. Yet, we have barely scratched the surface of JSR 352. With the full set of Java EE components and features at your disposal, including servlets, EJB beans, CDI beans, EJB automatic timers, and so on, feature-rich batch applications can be written fairly easily.”

Check out the article here.