What is the best way to ensure concurrent object calls without locking - java

I have the following objects:
// this class is immutable, acts like container for several properties.
public class MyDataAddOps{
private final boolean isActive;
private final Map<String,Object> additionalProps;
public MyDataAddOps(boolean isActive, Map<String,Object> additionalProps){
this.isActive = isActive;
this.additionalProps = additionalProps;
}
public boolean isActive(){return isActive;}
public Map<String,Object> getAdditionalProps(){ return additionalProps;}
}
// this class acts as "spring" bean that calls load on construction,
// and then another scheduler bean calls the load per some cron expression (once a minute for example)
public class MyDataAddOpsService{
private MyDataAddOps data;
// this method will be executed periodically outside
// via some spring quartz for example
// the quartz is not re-entrant
public void load(){
// opens some defined file and returns content string
String fileData = getFileContent();
boolean isActive = getIsActive(fileData);
Map<String, Object> props = getProps(fileData);
data = new MyDataAddOps(isActive, props);
}
// This method is executed by many workers threads inside the application
public boolean isActive(){
return data.isActive();
}
public final Map<String, Object> getProps(){
return data.getAdditionalProps();
}
}
This approach probably has a race condition where one thread executes isActive() and another load(). Although it operates on reference and the object state is not changed.
What is the best solution to support such concurrency? I would like to avoid syncronized on methods, and also read-write lock.
Maybe AtomicReference or volatile? Or maybe it would be better to return only reference to the data itself without proxy methods? So no need for locking at all, and all the usage logic is outside this service?
public class MyDataAddOpsService{
private MyDataAddOps data;
public void load(){
....
data = new MyDataAddOps(isActive, props);
}
public MyDataAddOps getData(){
return data;
}
}

Your code has yet to grow towards having a race condition; currently it contains something much more severe, which is a data race. Publishing a reference across threads without inducing a happens before relationship between the write and the future reads means that the reader can see the data object in a partially initialized, inconsistent state. Your proposal of a solution does not help with that.
Once you make the data field volatile, only then will you have a race condition between one thread first reading the data reference, then another thread updating the data reference, then the first thread reading isActive from the old data. This may actually be a benign case for your logic.

Related

Data Leakage Using InheritableThreadLocal

I'm using a threadpool to run some tasks in my application. Each task contains an object called TaskContext, which looks pretty much like this:
public class TaskContext implements Serializable {
private static InheritableThreadLocal<TaskContext> taskContextTL = new InheritableThreadLocal<>() ;
private final String taskName ;
private final String user;
public TaskContext(String taskName, String user) {
this.taskName= taskName;
this.user = user ;
}
public String getTaskName() {
return taskName ;
}
public static synchronized TaskContext getTaskContext() {
return taskContextTL.get() ;
}
public static synchronized void setTaskContext(TaskContext context) {
taskContextTL.set(context) ;
}
}
I use InheritableThreadLocal because I need the task data to be inherited by children threads.
At the beginning of each task, I use the setTaskContext(new TaskContext(taskName, user)) method to set the task parameters, and before the task ends- I use: setTaskContext(null) to clear this data.
The problem is that for some reason, when the same thread runs a different task, and for that thread I use the getTaskContext().getTaskName() method, I don't get the current task name but some previous task name that this thread ran.
Why is this happening? Why does setting InheritableThreadLocal value to null doesn't clear the data? How it can be avoided?
Thanks a lot for the help
Update:
I found a source online that claims this: "calling set(null) to remove the value might keep the reference to this pointer in the map, which can cause memory leak in some scenarios. Using remove is safer to avoid this issue."
But not sure what it means...
The source that you found that claims "calling set(null) to remove the value might keep the reference to this pointer in the map, which can cause memory leak in some scenarios. Using remove is safer to avoid this issue." is https://rules.sonarsource.com/java/tag/leak/RSPEC-5164.
Although I don't fully understand why they claim this I trust the people from sonarsource.com enough to consider this claim valid.
More to the point of your question they also provide a fix for this problem. Adapted to your code fragment it means that you should not use setTaskContext(null) to remove the TaskContext but rather create a method
public static void clearTaskContext() {
taskContextTL.remove() ;
}
and use this method to remove the TaskContext.
Also note that I didn't make this method synchronized and also the synchronization in getTaskContext() and setTaskContext() is not needed. Since the TaskContext is stored in a ThreadLocal that is (as its name implies) local to a specific thread there can never be a synchronization issue with them

How can I make a Java Spring Component class thread safe?

I have a spring class that when you call httpDatastoreFacade.getDatastore() it should give you the REST request thread safe datastore:
#Component
public class HttpDatastoreFacade {
private Boolean useAttribute = Boolean.FALSE;
public String getDatastore() {
HttpServletRequest request = ((ServletRequestAttributes)RequestContextholder.currentRequestAttributes()).getRequest();
String datastore = request.getParameter("datastore");
if(useAttribute) {
datastore = String.valueOf(request.getAttribute("datastore"));
}
return datastore;
}
public void setDatastore(String datastore, Boolean useAttribute) {
HttpServletRequest request = ((ServletRequestAttributes)RequestContextholder.currentRequestAttributes()).getRequest();
request.setAttribute("datastore", datastore);
this.useAttribute = useAttribute;
}
public Boolean getUseAttribute() {
return useAttribute;
}
}
Sometimes in my code I need to change that datastore but then I want to immediately change it back after I call whatever code needs the datastore differently:
#Component
public class someClass() {
#Autowired
private HttpDatastoreFacade datastoreFacade;
#Autowired
private OtherClass otherClass;
public void someMethod() {
String savedDatastore = datastoreFacade.getDatastore();
String savedUseAttribute = datastoreFacade.getUseAttribute;
//setDatastore to new settings
datastoreFacade.setDatastore("newStore", true);
//this is where I call my method's or methods that need this new datastore
otherClass.callSomeMethod();
//set the datastore back to old value
datastoreFacade.setDatastore(savedDatastore , savedUseAttribute );
}
}
My issue is that I'm running into threading problems where useAttribute is true but the datastore isn't set in the request attribute.
I'm looking for a better java pattern where I can lock the HttpDatastoreFacade while I do my otherClass.callSomeMethod() or whatever other calls I need to make until I set the HttpDatastoreFacade back to normal. otherCalss.callSomeMethod may be calling other methods that use HttpDatastoreFacade as well and they may want to set it how they need it. So maybe I need some short of datastore stack that is thread safe?
Seems a bean in #RequestScope could solve your problem.
#Component
#RequestScope
public class X {
//
}
you won't have to think about clearing the request scoped bean as you would the ThreadLocal. It will be collected when the corresponding ServletRequest is cleaned up.
I ended up making useAttribute a ThreadLocal variable which solved my problems.
private ThreadLocal<Boolean> useAttribute = new ThreadLocal<>();

AWS Java Lambda local variables vs object variables

I am trying to find answer to a very specific question. Trying to go through documentation but so far no luck.
Imagine this piece of code
#Override
public void handleRequest(InputStream input, OutputStream output, Context context) throws IOException {
Request request = parseRequest(input);
List<String> validationErrors = validate(request);
if (validationErrors.size() == 0){
ordersManager.getOrderStatusForStore(orderId, storeId);
} else {
generateBadRequestResponse(output, "Invalid Request", null);
}
}
private List<String> validate(Request request) {
orderId = request.getPathParameters().get(PATH_PARAM_ORDER_ID);
programId = request.getPathParameters().get(PATH_PARAM_STORE_ID);
return new ArrayList<>();
}
Here, I am storing orderId and storeId in field variables. Is this okay? I am not sure if AWS will cache this function and hence cache the field variables or would it initiate a new Java object for every request. If its a new object, then storing in field variable is fine but not sure.
AWS will spin up a JVM and instantiate an instance of your code on the first request. AWS has an undocumented spin down time, where if you do not invoke your Lambda again within this time limit, it will shut down the JVM. You will notice these initial requests can take significantly longer but once your function is "warmed up", then it will be much quicker.
So to directly answer your question, your instance will be reused if the next request comes in quick enough. Otherwise, a new instance will be stood up.
A simple Lambda function that can illustrate this point:
/**
* A Lambda handler to see where this runs and when instances are reused.
*/
public class LambdaStatus {
private String hostname;
private AtomicLong counter;
public LambdaStatus() throws UnknownHostException {
this.counter = new AtomicLong(0L);
this.hostname = InetAddress.getLocalHost().getCanonicalHostName();
}
public void handle(Context context) {
counter.getAndIncrement();
context.getLogger().log("hostname=" + hostname + ",counter=" + counter.get());
}
}
Logs from invoking the above.
22:49:20 hostname=ip-10-12-169-156.ec2.internal,counter=1
22:49:27 hostname=ip-10-12-169-156.ec2.internal,counter=2
22:49:39 hostname=ip-10-12-169-156.ec2.internal,counter=3
01:19:05 hostname=ip-10-33-101-18.ec2.internal,counter=1
Strongly not recommended.
Multiple invocations may use the same Lambda function instance and this will break your current functionality.
You need to ensure your instance variables are thread safe and can be accessed by multiple threads when it comes to Lambda. Limit your instance variable writes to initialization - once only.

Realm - multiple operations on the same object. Does my implementation hit the performance?

I need to check some data, whether or not to send a tracking info. This data is saved inside the Realm database. Here is the model:
public class RealmTrackedState extends RealmObject {
#PrimaryKey
private int id = 1;
private RealmList<RealmChat> realmChatsStarted;
private boolean isSupportChatOpened;
private boolean isSupportChatAnswered;
/* getters and setters */
}
The idea is - every chat that is not inside the realmChatsStarted should be tracked and then added to this list. Similar thing for isSupportChatOpened boolean - however because of the business logic this is a special case.
So - I've wrapped this inside one Realm object. And I've wrapped this into few shouldTrack() methods, like this:
#Override
public void insertOrUpdateAsync(#NonNull final RealmModel object, #Nullable OnInsertListener listener) {
Realm instance = getRealmInstance();
instance.executeTransactionAsync(realm -> realm.insertOrUpdate(object), () ->
notifyOnSuccessNclose(listener, instance),
error -> notifyOnErrorNclose(listener, error, instance));
}
#Override
public RealmTrackedState getRealmTrackedState() {
try (Realm instance = getRealmInstance()) {
RealmResults<RealmTrackedState> trackedStates = instance.where(RealmTrackedState.class).findAll();
if (!trackedStates.isEmpty()) {
return instance.copyFromRealm(trackedStates.first());
}
RealmTrackedState trackedState = new RealmTrackedState();
trackedState.setRealmChatsStarted(new RealmList<>());
insertOrUpdateAsync(trackedState, null);
return trackedState;
}
}
#Override
public boolean shouldTrackChatStarted(#NonNull RealmChat chat) {
if (getCurrentUser().isRecruiter()) {
return false;
}
RealmList<RealmChat> channels = getRealmTrackedState().getRealmChatsStarted();
for (RealmChat trackedChats : channels) {
if (trackedChats.getId() == chat.getId()) {
return false;
}
}
getRealmInstance().executeTransaction(realm -> {
RealmTrackedState realmTrackedState = getRealmTrackedState();
realmTrackedState.addChatStartedChat(chat);
realm.insertOrUpdate(realmTrackedState);
});
return true;
}
And for any other field inside RealmTrackedState model happens the same.
So, within the presenter class, where I'm firing a track I have this:
private void trackState(){
if(dataManager.shouldTrackChatStarted(chatCache)){
//track data
}
if(dataManager.shouldTrackSupportChatOpened(chatCache)){
//track data
}
if(dataManager.shouldTrackWhatever(chatCache)){
//track data
}
...
}
And I wonder:
a. How much of a performance impact this would have.
I'm new to Realm, but for me opening and closing a DB looks ... heavy.
I like in this implementation that each should(...) method is standalone. Even though I'm launching three of them in a row - in other cases I'd probably use only one.
However would it be wiser to get this main object once and then operate on it? Sounds like it.
b. I see that I can either operate on synchronous and asynchronous transactions. I'm afraid that stacking a series of synchronous transactions may clog the CPU, and using the series of asynchronous may cause unexpected behaviour.
c. #PrimaryKey - I used this because of the wild copy paste session. Assuming that this class should have only instance - is it a correct way to do this?
ad a.
Realm caches instances so opening and closing instances are not that expensive as it sounds. First time an app is opening a Realm file, a number of consistency checks are performed (primarily does model classes match classes on disk) but next time you open an instance, you don't do this check.
ad b.
If your transactions depend on each other, you might have to be careful. On the other hand, why have multiple transactions? An async transaction will notify you when it has completed which can help me to get the behaviour you except.
ad c.
Primary keys are useful when you update objects (using insertOrUpdate()) as the value is use to decide if you are creating/inserting or updating an object.

Singleton Object in Java Web service

Good morning,
I am currently developing a java web application that exposes a web service interface. In order to keep a global object in memory, I use the following class as a Singleton:
public class SingletonMap {
private static final SingletonMap instance = new SingletonMap();
private static HashMap couponMap = null;
private static long creationTime;
private SingletonMap() {
creationTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
couponMap = new HashMap();
}
public static synchronized SingletonMap getInstance() {
return instance;
}
public static long getCreationTime() {
return creationTime;
}
}
I am using the above class in order to have the same instance of the HashMap for all the threads of the web service. The Web service class that maintains the SingletonMap object is the following:
#WebService()
public class ETL_WS {
private String TOMCAT_TEMP_DIR;
private final int BUFFER_SIZE = 10000000;
private static SingletonMap couponMap;
private static SingletonProductMap productCategoryMap;
private String dbTable = "user_preferences";
public ETL_WS() {
Context context = null;
try {
context = (Context) new InitialContext().lookup("java:comp/env");
this.TOMCAT_TEMP_DIR = (String) context.lookup("FILE_UPLOAD_TEMP_DIR");
}catch(NamingException e) {
System.err.println(e.getMessage());
}
public long getCouponMapCreationTime() {
return couponMap.getCreationTime();
}
}
The reason i have the method getCouponMapCreationTime() is to check that all the threads of the web service are accessing the same object. Is the above approach correct? How about performance overheads? Do you think I need the Singleton properties, or could I just use a static HashMap for all the threads? If I use a static HashMap, is it going to be garbage collected in case no thread is active?
Thank you for your time.
A JAX-WS web service is by itself a Singleton. This means that all the request will be handled using a single web service instance (like a Servlet).
So, any member of the class will be 'shared' between all the request. In your case, you do not need to make your members (i.e. couponMap) an static attributes.
Conclusion: Don't worry, all your threads (request) will be accessing the same 'couponMap'. Because you don't need the getCouponMapCreationTime anymore, I think that you can eliminate the SingletonMap abstraction and use directly a Map in your web service class.
But I have something very important to add. If several threads (request) will be accessing your Map you have to make it thread-safe!!! There are a lot of way to do this, but I will give an idea: Use a ConcurrentHashMap instead of a HashMap. This will make all your get(), put(), remove() operations thread-safe! If you need a larger scope you can use synchronized blocks, but please avoid synchronize methods because the scoop is too large and always synchronize over this object.
JAX-WS has its own patterns for creating singletons, you don't need to use static fields. You use the #Inject annotation into each service. See this blog post: http://weblogs.java.net/blog/jitu/archive/2010/02/19/jax-ws-cdi-java-ee-6-0 (but don't use #SessionScoped, use #Singleton)
Some other points:
HashMap isn't thread-safe, you need ConcurrentHashMap.
This catch(NamingException e) { System.err.println(e.getMessage()); is unhelpful. Rethrow it as a RuntimeException. You can't recover from it.
Don't worry about performance overhead at this stage. Measure it once you have something working.

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