<AWT Dev> RFR: 8263311: Watch registry changes for remote printers update instead of polling

[Prasanta Sadhukhan]

On Fri, 12 Mar 2021 11:29:17 GMT, Alexey Ivanov <aivanov at openjdk.org> wrote:

>> Is this only about addition/removal? What about printer name change? Shouldn't we get notified in that case as trying to print on printer with old name will not find the printer!!
>> If yes, in that regard I guess REG_NOTIFY_CHANGE_LAST_SET is the one to go for as it states
>> `"Notify the caller of changes to a value of the key. This can include adding or deleting a value, or changing an existing value. "`
>
>> Is this only about addition/removal? What about printer name change?
> 
> You cannot change the name of a remote printer.
> 
> Opening *Printer Properties* dialog from the printer context menu on the local host and editing its name changes the name of the printer on the remote host which shares it. Windows warns, “This is a shared printer. If you rename a shared printer, existing connections to this printer from other computers will break and will have to be created again.”
> 
> Nothing has been updated on the local system after renaming the printer. As the warning said, the printer does not work any more because it refers to a printer that does not exist.
> 
> To fix this, one has to add a new remote printer which refers to the new name of the printer on the remote host.
> 
>> Shouldn't we get notified in that case as trying to print on printer with old name will not find the printer!!
> 
> I'm afraid there's nothing Java can do to mitigate renaming the printer.
> 
>> If yes, in that regard I guess `REG_NOTIFY_CHANGE_LAST_SET` is the one to go for as it states
>> _"Notify the caller of changes to a value of the key. This can include adding or deleting a value, or changing an existing value. "_
> 
> Since no values are created, removed, or changed when a remote printer is added or removed under `Connections` key, adding `REG_NOTIFY_CHANGE_LAST_SET` to `dwNotifyFilter` is not required. There are some values stored in the printer key but Java does not use them directly; if any value is changed there, getting notifications about such an event only creates noise.
> 
> So, as far as Java is concerned, getting notifications about new keys being created or removed under `Connections` is enough. This is what `REG_NOTIFY_CHANGE_NAME` filter does.

I can understand that as a user, you cannot /shouldn't change the name of a remote network printer but a network admin can change the name, so shouldn't we get notification on that name change when this method gets called after the name change? or would it be notified as a new printer in that case? Then what will happen to the old stale printer in the registry?

-------------

PR: https://git.openjdk.java.net/jdk/pull/2915