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Returning a value from thread

First of all, yes I looked up this question on google and I did not find any answer to it. There are only answers, where the thread is FINISHED and than the value is returned. What I want, is to return an "infinite" amount of values.
Just to make it more clear for you: My thread is reading messages from a socket and never really finishes. So whenever a new message comes in, I want another class to get this message. How would I do that?
public void run(){
while(ircMessage != null){
ircMessage = in.readLine();
System.out.println(ircMessage);
if (ircMessage.contains("PRIVMSG")){
String[] ViewerNameRawRaw;
ViewerNameRawRaw = ircMessage.split("#");
String ViewerNameRaw = ViewerNameRawRaw[2];
String[] ViewerNameR = ViewerNameRaw.split(".tmi.twitch.tv");
viewerName = ViewerNameR[0];
String[] ViewerMessageRawRawRaw = ircMessage.split("PRIVMSG");
String ViewerMessageRawRaw = ViewerMessageRawRawRaw[1];
String ViewerMessageRaw[] = ViewerMessageRawRaw.split(":", 2);
viewerMessage = ViewerMessageRaw[1];
}
}
}

What you are describing is a typical scenario of asynchronous communication. Usually solution could be implemented with Queue. Your Thread is a producer. Each time your thread reads a message from socket it builds its result and sends it into a queue. Any Entity that is interested to receive the result should be listening to the Queue (i.e. be a consumer). Read more about queues as you can send your message so that only one consumer will get it or (publishing) means that all registered consumers may get it. Queue implementation could be a comercialy available products such as Rabbit MQ for example or as simple as Java provided classes that can work as in memory queues. (See Queue interface and its various implementations). Another way to go about it is communication over web (HTTP). Your thread reads a message from a socket, builds a result and sends it over http using let's say a REST protocol to a consumer that exposes a rest API that your thread can call to.

Why not have a status variable in your thread class? You can then update this during execution and before exiting. Once the thread has completed, you can still query the status.
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
threading th = new threading();
System.out.println("before run Status:" + th.getStatus());
th.start();
Thread.sleep(500);
System.out.println("running Status:" + th.getStatus());
while(th.isAlive()) {}
System.out.println("after run Status:" + th.getStatus());
}
Extend thread to be:
public class threading extends Thread {
private int status = -1; //not started
private void setStatus(int status){
this.status = status;
}
public void run(){
setStatus(1);//running
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
setStatus(0); //exit clean
}
public int getStatus(){
return this.status;
}
}
And get an output of:
before run Status:-1
running Status:1
after run Status:0

How to run concurrent job with dependent tasks?

I have a situation that I need to work on
I have a class which has send method, example
#Singleton
class SendReport {
public void send() {}
}
The send method is called from a user click on web page, and must return immediately, but must start a sequence of tasks that will take time
send
->|
| |-> Task1
<-| |
<-|
|
|-> Task2 (can only start when Task1 completes/throws exception)
<-|
|
|-> Task3 (can only start when Task2 completes/throws exception)
<-|
I am new to Java concurrent world and was reading about it. As per my understanding, I need a Executor Service and submit() a job(Task1) to process and get the Future back to continue.
Am I correct?
The difficult part for me to understand and design is
- How and where to handle exceptions by any such task?
- As far as I see, do I have to do something like?
ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(1);
Future futureTask1 = executorService.submit(new Callable(){
public Object call() throws Exception {
System.out.println("doing Task1");
return "Task1 Result";
}
});
if (futureTask1.get() != null) {
Future futureTask2 = executorService.submit(new Callable(){
public Object call() throws Exception {
System.out.println("doing Task2");
return "Task2 Result";
}
}
... and so on for Task 3
Is it correct?
if yes, is there a better recommended way?
Thanks

Dependent task execution is made easy with Dexecutor
Disclaimer : I am the owner
Here is an example, it can run the following complex graph very easily, you can refer this for more details
Here is an example

If you just have a line of tasks that need to be called on completion of the previous one than as stated and discussed in the previous answers I don't think you need multiple threads at all.
If you have a pool of tasks and some of them needs to know the outcome of another task while others don't care you can then come up with a dependent callable implementation.
public class DependentCallable implements Callable {
private final String name;
private final Future pre;
public DependentCallable(String name, Future pre) {
this.name = name;
this.pre = pre;
}
#Override
public Object call() throws Exception {
if (pre != null) {
pre.get();
//pre.get(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
}
System.out.println(name);
return name;
}
A few other things you need to take care of based on the code in your question, get rid of future.gets in between submits as stated in previous replies. Use a thread pool size of which is at least greater than the depth of dependencies between callables.

Your current approach will not work as it will block till the total completion which you wanted to avoid.
future.get() is blocking();
so after submitting first Task, your code will wait till its finished and then next task will be submitted, again wait, so there is no advantage over single thread executing the tasks one by one.
so if anything the code would need to be:
Future futureTask2 = executorService.submit(new Callable(){
public Object call() throws Exception {
futureTask1.get()
System.out.println("doing Task2");
return "Task2 Result";
}
}
your graph suggests that the subsequent task should execute despite exceptions. The ExecutionException will be thrown from get if there was problem with computation so you need to guard the get() with appropriate try.
Since Task1, Task2 have to completed one after another, why you do you want them exececuted in different threads. Why not have one thread with run method that deals with Task1,Task2.. one by one. As you said not your "main" thread, it can be in the executor job but one that handles all the tasks.
I personally don't like anonymous inner classes and callback (that is what you kind of mimic with chain of futures). If I would have to implement sequence of tasks I would actually implement queue of tasks and processors that executes them.
Mainly cause it is "more manageable", as I could monitor the content of the queue or even remove not necessary tasks.
So I would have a BlockingQueue<JobDescription> into which I would submit the JobDescription containing all the data necessary for the Task execution.
I would implement threads (Processors) that in their run() will have infinitive loop in which they take the job from the queue, do the task, and put back into the queue the following task. Something in those lines.
But if the Tasks are predefined at the send method, I would simply have them submitted as one job and then execute in one thread. If they are always sequential then there is no point in splitting them between different threads.

You need to add one more task if you want to return send request immediately. Please check the following example. It submits the request to the background thread which will execute the tasks sequentially and then returns.
Callable Objects for 3 long running tasks.
public class Task1 implements Callable<String> {
public String call() throws Exception {
Thread.sleep(5000);
System.out.println("Executing Task1...");
return Thread.currentThread().getName();
}
}
public class Task2 implements Callable<String> {
public String call() throws Exception {
Thread.sleep(5000);
System.out.println("Executing Task2...");
return Thread.currentThread().getName();
}
}
public class Task3 implements Callable<String> {
public String call() throws Exception {
Thread.sleep(5000);
System.out.println("Executing Task3...");
return Thread.currentThread().getName();
}
}
Main method that gets request from the client and returns immediately, and then starts executing tasks sequentially.
public class ThreadTest {
public static void main(String[] args) {
final ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(5);
executorService.submit(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
Future<String> result1 = executorService.submit(new Task1());
if (result1.get() != null) {
Future<String> result2 = executorService.submit(new Task2());
if (result2.get() != null) {
executorService.submit(new Task3());
}
}
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (ExecutionException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
System.out.println("Submitted request...");
}
}

How to monitoring HTTP requests and responses from/to servlets using Java

I'm testing a Web application written in Java EE using servlets (version 7). I'm sending a lot of HTTP requests to my servlets and I want to know when all requests are completed.
To send requests I'm using an executor. Also I don't know if it is the most efficient way to do this.
for (int i=0; i < numRequests; i++) {
ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(1);
Future<util.Response> responseFromServlet = null;
responseFromServlet = executor.submit(new util.Request(new URL(url)));
if ( i != numRequests -1 ) {
executor.shutdown();
} else {
responseFromServlet.get().getBody(); // suspensive call for last invocation
executor.shutdown();
}
}
Actually the executor waits the end of the last invoked HTTP request but it usually is not the last one that completes.
I think that creating a new thread waiting for response of each HTTP servlet is crazy. I can't generate 100-200-300 threads, one for each request!
So is there a way to understand when all servlets end their execution? If needed, I can modify my servlets.
=== Edit ===
To be more precise, here is the Request class implementation:
public class Request implements Callable<Response> {
private URL url;
public Request(URL url) {
this.url = url;
}
#Override
public Response call() throws Exception {
return new Response(url.openStream());
}
}
And this it the Response class:
public class Response {
private InputStream body;
public Response(InputStream body) {
this.body = body;
}
public InputStream getBody() {
return body;
}
}

Using an executor is fine, you may want to increase the size of the ThreadPool though to have more concurrent threads performing your requests.
Use a CoutnDownLatch initialised with numRequests which sits waiting for all the threads to complete.
util.Request must call latch.countDown() in its runmethod
The code would look like this (handwritten - not tested)
ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(n);
final CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(numRequests);
for (int i=0; i < numRequests; i++) {
executor.submit(new util.Request(new URL(url), latch));
}
latch.await(someValue, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
`
Edit
Re-implement util.Request doing something like
public class Request implements Callable<Response> {
final private URL url;
final private CountDownLatch latch;
public Request(URL url, CountDownLatch latch) {
this.url = url;
this.latch = latch;
}
#Override
public Response call() throws Exception {
try {
return new Response(url.openStream());
}
catch (Exception e) {
//do something useful
}
finally {
latch.countDown();
}
}
}
You may want to consume the stream of you response before you countDown the latch to verify that you get what you expect as a response from your server.

If you are using this program to perform a load test, or even otherwise, I'd highly recommend that you use Jmeter instead. Jmeter already does what you are attempting to do and there are many plugins that will allow you to schedule the load / number of thread / time period etc. You can also monitor all HTTP requests through a variety of graphs.
Writing a test for your servlet should take you less than 5 minutes. The graphs are also easy to generate.
If you'd still like to use your custom program to contact the servlet, you can always limit the number of requests and back them up with a blocking queue through a threadpool executor.
Lastly, do not modify the servlet. You should be able to monitor it as a black box.

Wrapping a series of asynchronous calls with a synchronous method with a return value

My current code uses series of asynchronous processes that culminate in results. I need to wrap each of these in such a way that each is accessed by a synchronous method with the result as a return value. I want to use executor services to do this, so as to allow many of these to happen at the same time. I have the feeling that Future might be pertinent to my implementation, but I can't figure out a good way to make this happen.
What I have now:
public class DoAJob {
ResultObject result;
public void stepOne() {
// Passes self in for a callback
otherComponent.doStepOne(this);
}
// Called back by otherComponent once it has completed doStepOne
public void stepTwo(IntermediateData d) {
otherComponent.doStepTwo(this, d);
}
// Called back by otherComponent once it has completed doStepTwo
public void stepThree(ResultObject resultFromOtherComponent) {
result = resultFromOtherComponent;
//Done with process
}
}
This has worked pretty well internally, but now I need to map my process into a synchronous method with a return value like:
public ResultObject getResult(){
// ??? What goes here ???
}
Does anyone have a good idea about how to implement this elegantly?

If you want to turn an asynchronous operation (which executes a callback when finished), into a synchronous/blocking one, you can use a blocking queue. You can wrap this up in a Future object if you wish.
Define a blocking queue which can hold just one element:
BlockingQueue<Result> blockingQueue = new ArrayBlockingQueue<Result>(1);
Start your asynchronous process (will run in the background), and write the callback such that when it's done, it adds its result to the blocking queue.
In your foreground/application thread, have it take() from the queue, which blocks until an element becomes available:
Result result = blockingQueue.take();
I wrote something similar before (foreground thread needs to block for an asynchronous response from a remote machine) using something like a Future, you can find example code here.

I've done something similar with the Guava library; these links might point you in the right direction:
Is it possible to chain async calls using Guava?
https://code.google.com/p/guava-libraries/wiki/ListenableFutureExplained

If you like to get your hands dirty, you can do this
ResultObject result;
public void stepOne()
otherComponent.doStepOne(this);
synchronized(this)
while(result==null) this.wait();
return result;
public void stepThree(ResultObject resultFromOtherComponent)
result = resultFromOtherComponent;
synchronized(this)
this.notify();
Or you can use higher level concurrency tools, like BlockingQueue, Semaphore, CountdownLatch, Phaser, etc etc.
Note that DoAJob is not thread safe - trouble ensured if two threads call stepOne at the same time.

I recommend using invokeAll(..). It will submit a set of tasks to the executor, and block until the last one completes (successfully/with exception). It then returns a list of completed Future objects, so you can loop on them and merge the results into a single ResultObject.
In you wish to run only a single task in a synchronous manner, you can use the following:
executor.invokeAll(Collections.singleton(task));
--edit--
Now I think I understand better your needs. I assume that you need a way to submit independent sequences of tasks. Please take a look at the code I posted in this answer.

Bumerang is my async only http request library which is constructed for Android http requests using Java -> https://github.com/hanilozmen/Bumerang . I needed to make synchronous calls without touching my library. Here is my complete code. npgall's answer inspired me, thanks! Similar approach would be applied to all kinds of async libraries.
public class TestActivity extends Activity {
MyAPI api = (MyAPI) Bumerang.get().initAPI(MyAPI.class);
BlockingQueue<Object> blockingQueue = new ArrayBlockingQueue<Object>(1);
static int indexForTesting;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_test);
Thread t = new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
getItems();
try {
Object response = blockingQueue.take(); // waits for the response
Log.i("TAG", "index " + indexForTesting + " finished. Response " + response.toString());
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
});
t.start();
}
void getItems() {
Log.i("TAG", "index " + ++indexForTesting + " started");
api.getItems(new ResponseListener<Response<List<ResponseModel>>>() {
#Override
public void onSuccess(Response<List<ResponseModel>> response) {
List<ResponseModel> respModel = response.getResponse();
try {
blockingQueue.put(response);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
#Override
public void onError(Response<List<ResponseModel>> response) {
Log.i("onError", response.toString());
try {
blockingQueue.put(response);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
}

Design pattern to handle an asynchronous response in Java

I read answers from similar Q&A
How do you create an asynchronous HTTP request in JAVA? |
Asynchronous programming design pattern |
AsyncTask Android - Design Pattern and Return Values
I see a lot of solutions , but none really satifies me.
Listener way
Once the results are caught, the processing is implemented in onResult method.
public interface GeolocationListener {
public void onResult(Address[] addresses);
public void onError(Exception e);
}
This solution doesn't quite satify me , because I want to handle the results in the main method. I hate this interface because when the response is returned, it is processed in onResult resulting in chains of processing and no way to go back to the "main" method.
The servlet way
public class SignGuestbookServlet extends HttpServlet {
public void doPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
throws IOException {
// ...
resp.sendRedirect("/guestbook.jsp");
}
}
There is no exposed Java code calling the servlet. All the configuration is done in the web.xml
The way I want
Wait for the response like this
Response a = getResponse();
// wait until the response is received, do not go further
// process
Response b = getResponse();
// wait until the response is received, do not go further
process(a,b);
Is there a design pattern to handle the async request and wait for the response like above ? Other way than the listener.
Please no library or framework.
EDIT
Thanks so far the responses. I didn't give you the full picture so I exposed the Geolocation class
I started the implementation . I don't know how to implement the method . Can someone shows "how to" ? He (or she) must also implement the listener to retrieve the results
private Address getFullAddress (String text, AddressListener listener, ... ){
// new Geolocation(text, listener, options).start()
// implements Geolocation.GeolocationListener
// how to return the Address from the onResult ?
}

First, you should not reject the first two methods you discuss. There are very good reasons people are using those techniques and you should try to learn them instead of creating new ones.
Otherwise, you should look at java.util.concurrent:
ExecutorService es = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2);
...
Future<Response> responseA = es.submit(responseGetter);
Future<Response> responseB = es.submit(responseGetter);
process(responseA.get(), responseB.get());
where responseGetter is of type Callable<Response> (you must implement the method public Response call()).

Asynchronous code can always be made synchronous. The simplest/crudest way is to make the async call, then enter a while loop that just sleeps the current thread until the value comes back.
Edit: Code that turns an asynchronous callback into synchronous code--again, a crude implementation:
import java.util.concurrent.*;
public class MakeAsynchronousCodeSynchronous {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
final Listener listener = new Listener();
Runnable delayedTask = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
Thread.sleep(2000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
throw new IllegalStateException("Shouldn't be interrupted", e);
}
listener.onResult(123);
}
};
System.out.println(System.currentTimeMillis() + ": Starting task");
Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor().submit(delayedTask);
System.out.println(System.currentTimeMillis() + ": Waiting for task to finish");
while (!listener.isDone()) {
Thread.sleep(100);
}
System.out.println(System.currentTimeMillis() + ": Task finished; result=" + listener.getResult());
}
private static class Listener {
private Integer result;
private boolean done;
public void onResult(Integer result) {
this.result = result;
this.done = true;
}
public boolean isDone() {
return done;
}
public Integer getResult() {
return result;
}
}
}
You could also use a CountDownLatch as recommended by hakon's answer. It will do basically the same thing. I would also suggest you get familiar with the java.util.concurrent package for a better way to manage threads. Finally, just because you can do this doesn't make it a good idea. If you're working with a framework that's based on asynchronous callbacks, you're probably much better off learning how to use the framework effectively than trying to subvert it.

Could CountDownLatch help you? In the main method, you call getResponse and then countDownLatch.await(). Pass a count down latch to the getResponse method and then count down once getResponse the result from getResponse is finished:
CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
Response a = getResponse(latch);
latch.await();
latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
Response b = getResponse(latch);
latch.await();
process(a, b);
Your getResponse needs to call latch.countDown() once it's asynch parts return a result.
e.g.:
public Response getResponse(CountDownLatch latch) {
someAsychBloc(final CountDownLatch latch) {
do work
latch.countDown();
}
}

Essentially you need a "listener" of sorts no matter what. This is because you do not know WHEN your return message will come back, if at all (that is one of the downsides of asynchronous processing...what to do if you do not get a return message).
So you either need to implement a listener that waits for events (ie, it is nudged by the returning message to be processed).
Or you could do a hybrid on that by having a separate thread that "polls" (or pulls) a response area on your service to see if the return message exists.
So it really comes down to whether you want more of a "pull" or "push" method of retrieving messages.
The SCA (Service Component Architecture) framework might be something to consider, but depending on what you are doing, it could be overkill too. But something to consider.
EDIT:
I just found this in the Java SE 6 Javadocs that may be helpful. The
interface CompletionService which abstracts the very thing you care
about --> asynchronous work. I suggest you take a look.

If you want a page flow in a web application, you have to handle in the web way : storing some data either in the session, or cookies or hidden fields, etc.
The problem you're trying to tackle, as far as I understand it, doesn't come from asynchronousness but from the stateless http protocole.
Regards,
Stéphane