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Android Redirection (delegates pointers)

I would like to call different code (callbacks) from within a background thread loop and use that background thread to perform the work. It would be similar to delegates in C#.
public class test {
private boolean keepRunning;
private boolean messageReady;
private MyClass myClass;
void LongBackgroundWork(){
Thread thread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
while (keepRunning) {
if (messageReady){
myClass.callback(); // call different methods here
// to be decided at runtime and run on this worker thread
}
}
}
});
thread.start();
}
}
I want to use the background thread not the UI thread. I want to set a callback from within myClass to choose what code is called. It's easy in C# how to do it Java.
I don't have much experience in Java and don't understand what mechanism to use. Should I be using a handler? Can a handler run code on a background thread?

I'd wager you want to have a pattern where an event or some occurence happens and you need to initiate a code block somewhere.
A pattern that could help you is perhaps an Observer Wiki and firing off to the event. You can also check out this SO question here if you'd like: Delegate vs Callback in Java
In your case, I think you'd want to have someone handle the responsibility of what you have to do when a message is ready. So what you're looking for is someone to perform the action, once the event is read (message ready).
Take for example Class Foo is your container of listeners, or also called an Observer that will be notified of any events. You can have a list of callbacks here to some object that is responsible for your logic to do what you need to do next.
Then you would have an Observable object or a class that would implement some logic when notified. You could then have various class objects perform the necessary logic by implementing the callback function required.
Example:
// Observer
public class Foo {
// List of objects that implement Callbacks interface
private List<Callbacks> mList;
public Foo() {
// Initialize here
}
public void addListener(Callbacks cb) {
mList.add(cb);
}
public void notifyListeners() {
for ( Callback cb : mList) {
cb.onCallback();
}
}
// Public interface to be implemented by users
public interface Callback {
void onCallback();
}
}
Then just have a class implement this object and you can pass it along if you'd like.
// Bar implements Foo.Callback interface
public class Bar implements Foo.Callback {
public class Bar() {}
#Override
public void onCallback() {
// Perform logic here
}
}
Finally in your code, you'd just create the Foo object, add a listener, and notify them when it's time to fire your event.

if i understood you properly,you cant do this on UI thread, basically when android see Thread like this it will expect that it's a long operation however you can call it by AsyncTask or Handler
you can make something like this
private class MyAsyncTask extends AsyncTask<Void,Void,Void>{
protected Void doInBackground() {
MyClass myClass=new MyClass();
myClass.LongBackgroundWork();
}
return totalSize;
}
}
this is how yo can call your thread otherwise you have to use Handler instead
Handler handler=new Handler();
handler.post(new Runnable(){
MyClass myClass=new MyClass();
myClass.LongBackgroundWork();
})

Posting an event from different thread with Guava EventBus

I'm using Guava Eventbus in Vaadin+Spring project and started to have a problem with posting an event from background thread.
Eventbus is instantiated in wrapper class. Objects communicate with the eventbus using static method defined in main UI class to obtain the eventbus object. It is the same way as proposed in Vaadin Dashboard example (DashboardEventBus).
public class MainUI extends UI implements ViewDisplay
{
private EventBusWrapper eventbus_ = new EventBusWrapper();
public static EventBusWrapper GetEventBusWrapper()
{
return ((MainUI) getCurrent()).eventbus_;
}
}
Problem appears in presenter/services classes where I create new thread class and start the thread.
Inside Runnable implemenation of run method I create another object which makes some job.
public class SearchResultsPresenter extends AbstractPresenter<SearchResultView>
{
public SearchResultsPresenter()
{
EventBusWrapper.register(this);
}
#Subscribe
public void UserSearchRequested(Event.UserSearchRequestEvent e)
{
new UpdateContentComponentThread(e.GetSearchElem()).start();
}
#Subscribe
public void UserSearchAppendFoundElement(Event.UserSearchElementFound e)
{
if(e.GetElement().IsValid())
view_.AddElement(e.GetElement());
}
public class UpdateContentComponentThread extends Thread
{
private final Search searcher_;
UpdateContentComponentThread(SearchElement search)
{
searcher_ = new DefaultSearch(search);
}
#Override
public void run()
{
searcher_.Search();
}
}
}
It performs some validation/checking and creates other helper classes.
public class DefaultSearch implements Search
{
private final Scraper scraper_;
...
#Override
public void Search()
{
if(!scraper_.IsConfigured())
return;
...
scraper_.FindElements();
}
}
Then inside scraper's FindElements body I try to post an event using static post method defined in EventBusWrapper.
public class HttpElementScraper extends WebScraper
{
...
#Override
public Collection<Element> FindElements()
{
...
Element elem = ...
Event.UserSearchElementFound e = new Event.UserSearchElementFound(elem);
EventBusWrapper.post(e);
return foundelements;
}
}
At this moment the NullPointerException is thrown and I cannot solve and help myself with the problem.
Exception in thread "Thread-10" java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.project.MainUI.GetEventBusWrapper(MainUI.java:109)
at com.project.events.EventBusWrapper.register(EventBusWrapper.java:24)
at com.project.service.search.scraper.HttpElementScraper.FindElements(HttpElementScraper.java:92)
at com.project.service.search.DefaultSearch.Search(DefaultSearch.java:38)
at com.project.view.search.SearchResultsPresenter$UpdateContentComponentThread.run(SearchResultsPresenter.java:71)
// I ommited not important lines of code and annotations. Most of the components and services connected with them are UIscoped.

Vaadin assumes that access to Vaadin component (and related) instances is synchronized properly. When using the traditional single-threaded request-response cycle to access components it's synchronized automatically.
When using external threads, you need to synchronize code accessing your Vaadin components by using UI.access(). For example:
getUI().access(() -> label.setValue("Hello"));

How to run several methods in a thread? [closed]

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Edit the question to include desired behavior, a specific problem or error, and the shortest code necessary to reproduce the problem. This will help others answer the question.
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I have a problem when I want to run several methods not in the main thread. I created a class extends from Runnable and put all my tasks there. There are a lot of tasks actually. Then in the main thread I created a new instance of Thread and passed my runnable class as a parameter, but what I got is that the run method is the only code which executed in the thread, and if call any method inside the runnable class it will execute in the main thread instead of the new thread.
Example:
public class ConnectionManager implements Runnable {
#Override
public void run() {
login();
}
public void login() {
//Login Logic
}
public void sendMessage() {
//Send Message Via TCP Connection
}
public void updateInfo() {
//Update Information
}
public void logOut() {
//LogOut Logic
}
}
Now I wanted to call any of these methods in another thread, so I did this:
public class Login implements SomeInterface {
private Thread thread;
private ConnectionManager connection;
public void main(String[] args) {
connection = new ConnectionManager();
thread= new Thread(connection);
thread.start(); // This will execute the run method and the login process works fine.
}
#Override
public void someCallback() {
connection.sendMessage();//this call is not executed and block the main thread !!
}
}
What am I supposed to do to run all my methods in another thread without making a new thread for each method?

You should split your logic
public class Logger implements Runnable {
#Override
public void run() {
// login logic here;
}
}
public class MessegeSender implements Runnable {
#Override
public void run() {
//Send Message Via TCP Connection
}
}
public class MessegeSender implements Runnable {
#Override
public void run() {
//Update Information
}
}
public class MessegeSender implements Runnable {
#Override
public void run() {
//LogOut Logic
}
}
And then in some client:
Runnable logger = new Logger(credentials);
Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor().execute(logger);

Well this is how threads work in java. One possibility is to use Actors in java. You will have to download the Akka framework here:http://akka.io/downloads/.
Actors works by messages, they act in a separate process and are even driven messages. In other words depending on the message you send to the actor it will process a corresponding method.
Check in the following link for instances: http://doc.akka.io/docs/akka/snapshot/java/untyped-actors.html
The method run equivalent in java actors is onReceive().
And to send a message to the actor, myActor.tell(...)
Hope this helps you!!!!

Well, that is the way threads work in Java. When You call connection.sendMessage() Your method just treats ConnectionManager and runs it's code. You need to execute Your method in another threads run(), or it will not run. Perhaps You need a way to comunicate with Your thread to make it execute a method in run() or just explore the possibilities that Future objects give You?

That's how does Runnable or Multithread handling work.
You should never call the run() directly and only this function and other function calls inside this function are executed in the new thread.
Basically your Runnable class should only contains one public function: the run() and you should not call it directly...
I suggest you to put other functions in their own classes. As you can see the workflow is not continuous, sendMessage() is not called directly after login() (otherwise you can do it inside run() and don't need that someCallback()).
Otherwise what should that new thread supposed to do in the time between? block and wait for sendMessage()? That's not a good design. So you should start a new thread for sendMessage().

IntentService Concurrency

I have got a class that extends IntentService, let's say class A, and then I have got 2 more classes as class B and class C, these classes extends class A. The reason is because I want to initialize everything in class A so that code would be reused in class B and C. So class B and C's onHandleIntent method looks like:
#Override
protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
super.onHandleIntent(intent);
//Specific init stuff
}
What I want to do is simply do some concurrency checks at class A's either constructor or onHandleIntent. For example when method x is being used(doesn't matter which class uses it) I would like to be able to flag this method being used. Sometimes one method schedules another thread by using Handler.postDelayed, so I want to make sure that flag is kept as in use until the thead work is finished.
So far it sounds like it can be done easily by shared singleton, however each of these classes have their own AlarmManager which extends BroadcastReceiver, so using a shared singleton doesn't really work as lifecycle existence of a singleton is not guaranteed.
The only solution that I can think of is using a database or local file system, which sounds quite silly. So is there another way to flag concurrent methods among different IntentService that are being triggered by AlarmManager?
To give a clear image I'd like to give an example of class A, class B and class C
public class A extends IntentService {
public A(String name) {
super(name);
//initialise objects here
}
#Override
protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
//initialise objects that uses intent here
}
protected synchronized void methodA() {
//wait until flagB is free
flagA = in_use; //Flag something as being in use here
//change some objects here
Handler handler = new Handler();
handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
//do some stuff with objects
flagB = not_in_use; //Flag something as being free here
}
}, (1000 * 45));// 45secs
}
protected synchronized void methodB() {
if (flagA == not_in_use) {
flagB = in_use;
//do some stuff with objects
flagB = not_in_use;
}
else {
//do something else
}
}
public class B extends IntentService {
public A(String name) {
super("B");//Super initializes everything
}
#Override
protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {//This will run every 30 minutes
super.onHandleIntent(intent);
methodA();
}
}
public class C extends IntentService {
public A(String name) {
super("C");//Super initializes everything
}
#Override
protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {//This will run every 45 minutes
super.onHandleIntent(intent);
methodB();
}
}
So basically class B and C doesn't contain any private classes. What i want to do is just like the example above, flag things.
The problem is as I mentioned if it is just a static field, then static field might not stay in the memory as Android OS can kill anything inactive for saving memory.

What I want to do is simply do some concurrency checks at class A's either constructor
Don't block in a constructor. Creating an object should be a free operation. In case of IntentService you would probably get an ANR because the object is constructed from within the main thread.
or onHandleIntent
Yes. That would be a place where you could do that because that's where something actually happens. And it is executed within a background thread so blocking here is ok.
To synchronize between multiple instances of a class (including subclasses) you will need to use something static because that's the only common thing that multiple instances "share".
Synchronizing outside of the lifetime of your app is also (probably) not required. If your app process is killed and restarted from AlarmManager you would have a new singleton to work with. Anything that happened before is dead and so nothing can happen in parallel.
For example synchronize using the .class object of A
public class AService extends IntentService {
public AService() {
super("AService");
}
#Override
protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
synchronized (AService.class) {
// magic happens here.
}
}
}
class BService extends AService {
void foo() {
synchronized(AService.class) {
// we can't be in here if another intentservice is within above block.
}
}
}
That does work as long as those services are running within the same app process (i.e. every simple app that does not define extra processes). static is globally accessible everywhere in the app.
External locking using e.g. the filesystem would be required if you have multiple processes since they can't access each other's objects at all.
besides synchronized, look into java.util.concurrent for more powerful / better ways of synchronizing. E.g. `Semaphore and ReentrantLock (roughly equivalent to synchronized)
I want to make sure that flag is kept as in use until the thead work is finished.
If you app is killed, you'll have to restart the work if it did not finish. So keeping a "work-progress-flag" beyond the lifetime of your app makes no sense. And static (e.g. your singleton) works fine while it is running.

ThreadFactory and newThread(Runnable r) how to access to the attributes of r if it is a Thread?

For my thesis I'm working on a Discrete Event System Simulator. The simulation consists in a set of SimulatorThread extends Thread whose action consist in scheduling Events to the Simulator. Each SimulatorThread interracts with the Simulator through the SimulatorInterface.
public abstract class SimulatorThread extends Thread {
private SimulatorInterface si;
public SimulatorThread(SimulatorInterface si) {
this.si = si;
}
...
}
public final class Simulator {
private ExecutorService exec;
...
public void assignThread(SimulatorThread... stList) {
...
}
}
Before the simulation begins, each SimulatorThread is assigned to the Simulator, then the Simulator will execute each thread through exec.execute(simulatorThread). My problem is that in some part of the code i need to get a reference to the current running SimulatorThread, but the instruction (SimulatorThread) Thread.currentThread() gives a cast execption. Infact the output of System.out.print(Thread.currentThread().getClass()) is class java.lang.Thread, but I would like that the output is class SimulatorThread which can be obtained by running the thread using the instruction simulatorThread.start() instead of using the executor. So I thought that the problem is in writing an ad-hoc ThreadFactory that return an instance of SimulatorThread.
Infact I tried to use the trivial SimulatorThreadFactory extends ThreadFactory:
public class SimulatorThreadFactory implements ThreadFactory {
#Override
public Thread newThread(Runnable r) {
return new SimulatorThread(new SimulatorInterface());
}
}
and with this I obtained the previously cited output 'class SimulatorThread'. The problem is that when I call 'exec.execute(simulatorThread)', the parameter has an attribute 'SimulatorInterface' to which I need to get access, but I can't becaues the parameter of the method 'newThread' is a 'Runnable'. I expose here a wrong code that I hope expresses what I mean better than how I explain in words:
public class SimulatorThreadFactory implements ThreadFactory {
#Override
public Thread newThread(Runnable r) {
SimulatorInterface si = r.getSimulatorInterface(); // this is what
// I would like
// the thread factory
// to do
return new SimulatorThread(si);
}
}
So, how can I access to attribute 'SimulatorInterface' of the 'SimulatorThread' inside the method newThread in order to create a SimulatorThread if its paramater is a Runnable?

If I understand your needs, the right way to do this is to not extend Thread but to implement Runnable. Then all of the benefits of your own class hierarchy can be enjoyed:
public abstract class SimulatorRunnable extends Runnable {
protected SimulatorInterface si;
public SimulatorRunnable(SimulatorInterface si) {
this.si = si;
}
}
public final class Simulator extends SimulatorRunnable {
public Simulator(SimulatorInterface si) {
super(si);
}
public void run() {
// here you can use the si
si.simulate(...);
}
}
Then you submit your simulator to your thread-pool:
Simulator simulator = new Simulator(si);
...
exec.submit(simulator);
My problem is that in some part of the code i need to get a reference to the current running SimulatorThread, but the instruction (SimulatorThread) Thread.currentThread() gives a cast execption
You should not be passing a Thread into an ExecutorService. It is just using it as a Runnable (since Thread implements Runnable) and the thread-pool starts its' own threads and will never call start() on your SimulatorThread. If you are extending Thread then you need to call thread.start() directly and not submit it to an ExecutorService. The above pattern of implements Runnable with an ExecutorService is better.

#Gray's answer is correct, pointing out that the ExecutorService is designed to use its own threads to execute your Runnables, and sometimes created threads will even be reused to run different Runnables.
Trying to get information from (SimulatorThread) Thread.currentThread() smells like a 'global variable' anti-pattern. Better to pass the 'si' variable along in method calls.
If you really want global variables that are thread-safe, use ThreadLocals:
public final class Simulator extends SimulatorRunnable {
public static final ThreadLocal<SimulatorInterface> currentSim = new ThreadLocal<>();
public Simulator(SimulatorInterface si) {
super(si);
}
public void run() {
currentSim.set(si)
try{
doStuff();
}
finally{
currentSim.unset();
}
}
private void doStuff()
{
SimulatorInterface si = Simulator.currentSim.get();
//....
}
}