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RxJava: Create an Observable during HTTP Request that keeps running after request returns

I have an HTTP request that triggers a long-running task (multiple HTTP requests to another service) that is supposed to be completed in the background while the original requests complete.
So what I do is
public void triggerWork(#RequestBody SomeObject somObject) {
return new ResponseEntity<>(startWorkAndReturn(somObject), HttpStatus.OK);
}
public void startWorkAndReturn(SomeObject someObject) {
Observable.create(observableEmitter -> {
// do the work with someObject here and at some time call
observableEmitter.onNext("result");
}).subscribe(new Observer<Object>() {
#Override
public void onSubscribe(Disposable disposable) {
}
#Override
public void onNext(Object o) {
// called at some unknown time
}
#Override
public void onError(Throwable throwable) {
}
#Override
public void onComplete() {
// currently not used as all the work is done in onNext but maybe that's a mistake
}
});
return;
}
But this seems to block the request until all the work has been done. Which already seems odd to me, since I never call onComplete, which in itself might be a mistake. But still, I am wondering how to create a request that immediately returns after triggering a background worker.
Is Flowables the solution here? I am going to refactor to those anyways to handle backpressure. Or do I need to create a background worker Thread? What is the best practice here?
Thanks

I would use Observable.fromCallable{} since you need emit only single event. That will handle onCompleate call. From information you share I don`t know how can you properly handle disposable. You should add subscribeOn() and observeOn() operators that will define on which thread 'work' should be processed and result should be observed.
Docs ref:
http://reactivex.io/RxJava/javadoc/io/reactivex/Observable.html#fromCallable-java.util.concurrent.Callable-
http://reactivex.io/documentation/operators/subscribeon.html
http://reactivex.io/documentation/operators/observeon.html

Event driven to continue request thread execution in Spring MVC

There is a method foo() in controller, which have to wait another method bar() triggered to continue execution.
#GetMapping("/foo")
public void foo(){
doSomething();
// wait until method bar() triggered
doAnotherSomething();
}
#GetMapping("/bar")
public void bar(){
// make foo() continue execute after being called
}
My solution is: saving a status flag in database/cache, while foo() is waiting, the thread loops searching if the status changed.
However, this solution will blocke request thread for seconds.
Is there any way to make foo() method run asynchronously, thus won't block thread execution?

This question is too broad. Yes you can use DeferredResult to finish a web request later. But doAnotherSomething() should actually do stuff asynchronously, otherwise you still end up using a thread, just not the one from the app server's pool. Which would be a waste since you can simply increase the app server's pool size and be done with it. "Offloading" work from it to another pool is a wild goose chase.
You achieve truly asynchronous execution when you wait on more than one action in a single thread. For example by using asynchronous file or socket channels you can read from multiple files/sockets at once. If you're using a database, the database driver must support asynchronous execution.
Here's an example of how to use the mongodb async driver:
#GetMapping("/foo")
public DeferredResult<ResponseEntity<?>> foo() {
DeferredResult<ResponseEntity<?>> res = new DeferredResult<>();
doSomething();
doAnotherSomething(res);
return res;
}
void doAnotherSomething(DeferredResult<ResponseEntity<?>> res) {
collection.find().first(new SingleResultCallback<Document>() {
public void onResult(final Document document, final Throwable t) {
// process (document)
res.setResult(ResponseEntity.ok("OK")); // finish the request
}
});
}

You can use CountDownLatch to wait till the dependent method is executed. For the sake of simplicity, I have used a static property. Make sure both methods have access to the same CountDownLatch object. ThreadLocal<CountDownLatch> could also be considered for this usecase.
private static CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
#GetMapping("/foo")
public void foo(){
doSomething();
// wait until method bar() triggered
latch.await();
doAnotherSomething();
}
#GetMapping("/bar")
public void bar(){
// make foo() continue execute after being called
latch.countDown();
}

Method execution depends of response of an async method

My english is not the best, so I apologize in advance for that.
My situation is the following, I am developing an Android app and I have an async task, and in the doInBackground method have the following code:
#Override
protected Boolean doInBackground(String... params) {
getFirebaseUserChannels(new ResultListener<List<Channel>>() {
#Override
public void finish(List<Channel> firebaseUserChannels) {
if (firebaseUserChannels.isEmpty()) {
getFirebaseChannels(new ResultListener<List<Canal>>() {
#Override
public void finish(List<Channel> firebaseChannels) {
saveChannelsSQLDatabase(firebaseChannels);
saveChannelsFirebaseDatabase(firebaseChannels);
}
});
} else {
saveChannelsSQLDatabase(canalesUsuarioFB);
}
}
});
return true;
}
So, the method "getFirebaseUserChannels" is an async method that in response throws a list, and when that list is ready to use it, I have to evaluate it and use it.
But as you know, java executes the async method and continues until the return.
I want that the "doInBackground" does not continue the execution until all the async methods executions ends.
So, How Could I do that? How is the best way to manage this situation?

How is the best way to manage this situation?
Get rid of the AsyncTask entirely. Have whatever code was going to execute the AsyncTask simply call getFirebaseUserChannels().

Java Async Invoke in method Waiting on Return

I know there are probably a couple ways to do this, just looking for the most efficient and concise way to go about it:
public Object giveMeNewObject() {
final Object result = null;
SomeApiClient.start(new Callback() { // starts an async process
#Override
public void onSuccess(Object somethingNew) {
result = somethingNew; //ERROR; can't set cause final
}
});
return result; //result is null, cause Async already finished
}

From your code - this is modified on fly so correct mistakes and all will work as you expect - caller will wait untill 3rd party finishes the processing and will get the result of that process:
public Object giveMeNewObject() {
CountDownLatch latch=new CountDownLatch(1);
Callback callback=new Callback() {
public sometype result=null;
#Override
public void onSuccess(Object somethingNew) {
result = somethingNew; //ERROR; can't set cause final
latch.countDown();
}
});
SomeApiClient.start(callback);
latch.await(sometimetowait);
return callback.result;
}

Read the documentation of AsyncTask. Your job should be done in doInBackground method and the result should be returned by that method. Later on you can use get(Timeout) method to retrieve that returned value. get will even block if the computation in doInBackground is not complete yet for given ammount of the time.
You can find tons of examples of how to use async task. One of them is in the API documentation (link above)

Cancel the Runnable in the .runOnFirstFix() method of LocationOverlay Object

I have an application the leans heavily on map functionality. From the first Activity I call the runOnFirstFix() method to load a lot of data from a database once the location of the user has been found, but I also want to be able to interrupt this runnable and stop it mid execution for when I switch activity or the user presses the button to stop it running.
myLocationOverlay.runOnFirstFix(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
mc.animateTo(myLocationOverlay.getMyLocation());
mc.setZoom(15);
userLatitude = myLocationOverlay.getMyLocation().getLatitudeE6();
userLongitude = myLocationOverlay.getMyLocation().getLongitudeE6();
userLocationAcquired = true;
loadMapData(); //Here the method is called for heavy data retrieval
}
});
How can I stop this Runnable mid execution?

You could (and probably should) use an AsyncTask
private class MapLoader extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Data> {
#Override
protected Data doInBackground(Void... params) {
return loadMapData(); //Here the method is called for heavy data retrieval, make it return that Data
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(Data result) {
//do things with your mapview using the loaded Data (this is executed by the uithread)
}
}
and then in replace your other code with
final MapLoader mapLoader = new MapLoader();
myLocationOverlay.runOnFirstFix(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
mc.animateTo(myLocationOverlay.getMyLocation());
mc.setZoom(15);
userLatitude = myLocationOverlay.getMyLocation().getLatitudeE6();
userLongitude = myLocationOverlay.getMyLocation().getLongitudeE6();
userLocationAcquired = true;
mapLoader.execute();
}
});
then you should be able to cancel the running task when you no longer want it to complete using
mapLoader.cancel(true);
I hope the code compiles, I haven't tested it, but it should work :)
Just make sure that it is the ui thread that creates the MapLoader
edit: I think you need to wrap the mapLoader.execute(); call in a runOnUiThread() call in order for it to work correctly since runOnFirstFix() might spawn a new thread

use the handler object to handle this runnable.
define this runnable with the runnable object.
after that in handler you can start the cancel this runnable service
for e.g.
Handler handler = new Handler();
on startCommand()
handler.postDelayed(myRunnable,5000);
this will execute the run method of runnable after 5 sec
for cancel
handler.removeCallbacks(myRunnable);
and your runnable define like this way
private Runnable myRunnable = new Runnable(){
public void run(){
// do something here
}
}
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/Handler.html
http://developer.android.com/reference/java/util/logging/Handler.html
http://www.vogella.de/articles/AndroidPerformance/article.html

In Java, you can call interrupt() on a running thread which should stop the execution of given thread. But if any kind of blocking operation like wait() or join() is being performed, InterruptedException will be thrown. Even some kinds of socket-related blocking operations can lead to InterruptedIOException under Linux, or under Windows the operation still remains blocked (since Windows does not support interruptible I/O). I think you still could interrupt your runnable, just be aware that some I/O may not be interrupted until finished and if blocking, it might throw those kind of exceptions I mentioned.