EJB Bad Practices: Use of AWT Swing
Weakness ID: 575 (Weakness Variant)Status: Draft
+ Description

Description Summary

The program violates the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) specification by using AWT/Swing.

Extended Description

The Enterprise JavaBeans specification requires that every bean provider follow a set of programming guidelines designed to ensure that the bean will be portable and behave consistently in any EJB container. In this case, the program violates the following EJB guideline: "An enterprise bean must not use the AWT functionality to attempt to output information to a display, or to input information from a keyboard." The specification justifies this requirement in the following way: "Most servers do not allow direct interaction between an application program and a keyboard/display attached to the server system."

+ Time of Introduction
  • Architecture and Design
  • Implementation
+ Applicable Platforms

Languages

Java

+ Demonstrative Examples

Example 1

The following Java example is a simple converter class for converting US dollars to Yen. This converter class demonstrates the improper practice of using a stateless session Enterprise JavaBean that implements an AWT Component and AWT keyboard event listener to retrieve keyboard input from the user for the amount of the US dollars to convert to Yen.

(Bad Code)
Example Language: Java 
@Stateless
public class ConverterSessionBean extends Component implements KeyListener, ConverterSessionRemote {

/* member variables for receiving keyboard input using AWT API */
...
private StringBuffer enteredText = new StringBuffer();

/* conversion rate on US dollars to Yen */
private BigDecimal yenRate = new BigDecimal("115.3100");

public ConverterSessionBean() {
super();
/* method calls for setting up AWT Component for receiving keyboard input */
...
addKeyListener(this);
}

public BigDecimal dollarToYen(BigDecimal dollars) {
BigDecimal result = dollars.multiply(yenRate);
return result.setScale(2, BigDecimal.ROUND_DOWN);
}

/* member functions for implementing AWT KeyListener interface */
public void keyTyped(KeyEvent event) {
...
}

public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
}

public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {
}

/* member functions for receiving keyboard input and displaying output */
public void paint(Graphics g) {...}

...
}

This use of the AWT and Swing APIs within any kind of Enterprise JavaBean not only violates the restriction of the EJB specification against using AWT or Swing within an EJB but also violates the intended use of Enterprise JavaBeans to separate business logic from presentation logic.

The Stateless Session Enterprise JavaBean should contain only business logic. Presentation logic should be provided by some other mechanism such as Servlets or Java Server Pages (JSP) as in the following Java/JSP example.

(Good Code)
Example Language: Java 
@Stateless
public class ConverterSessionBean implements ConverterSessionRemoteInterface {
/* conversion rate on US dollars to Yen */
private BigDecimal yenRate = new BigDecimal("115.3100");

public ConverterSessionBean() {
}

/* remote method to convert US dollars to Yen */
public BigDecimal dollarToYen(BigDecimal dollars) {
BigDecimal result = dollars.multiply(yenRate);
return result.setScale(2, BigDecimal.ROUND_DOWN);
}
}
(Good Code)
Example Language: JSP 
<%@ page import="converter.ejb.Converter, java.math.*, javax.naming.*"%>
<%!
private Converter converter = null;
public void jspInit() {
try {
InitialContext ic = new InitialContext();
converter = (Converter) ic.lookup(Converter.class.getName());
} catch (Exception ex) {
System.out.println("Couldn't create converter bean."+ ex.getMessage());
}
}
public void jspDestroy() {
converter = null;
}
%>
<html>
<head><title>Converter</title></head>
<body bgcolor="white">
<h1>Converter</h1>
<hr>
<p>Enter an amount to convert:</p>
<form method="get">
<input type="text" name="amount" size="25"><br>
<p>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
<input type="reset" value="Reset">
</form>
<%
String amount = request.getParameter("amount");
if ( amount != null && amount.length() > 0 ) {
BigDecimal d = new BigDecimal(amount);
BigDecimal yenAmount = converter.dollarToYen(d);
%>
<p>
<%= amount %> dollars are <%= yenAmount %> Yen.
<p>
<%
}
%>
</body>
</html>
+ Potential Mitigations

Phase: Architecture and Design

Do not use AWT/Swing when writing EJBs.

+ Relationships
NatureTypeIDNameView(s) this relationship pertains toView(s)
ChildOfWeakness BaseWeakness Base695Use of Low-Level Functionality
Development Concepts (primary)699
Research Concepts (primary)1000
+ Content History
Modifications
Modification DateModifierOrganizationSource
2008-07-01Eric DalciCigitalExternal
updated Potential Mitigations, Time of Introduction
2008-09-08CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Relationships, Other Notes
2009-10-29CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Description, Other Notes
2009-12-28CWE Content TeamMITREInternal
updated Demonstrative Examples, Potential Mitigations
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