Filter objects for distributed object systems

In this article, the authors describe a design and implementation of filter objects for CORBA-based distributed object systems. Filter objects are intermediate objects that transparently intercept client requests. The authors introduce filter objects in CORBA systems through a standard IDL interface called Filterable. A filterable server interface can be built using this standard IDL interface via inheritance. Filter objects are full-fledged CORBA objects that can be plugged and unplugged to and from their corresponding servers at runtime. Filter objects have been implemented as an add-on facility for the MICRO C++ CORBA implementation working on the LINUX operating system.