So, I am new to threads, and I'm still learning how everything works. So, I couldn't find an answer that would provide an explanation for my problem (to my level of understanding).
I have a Runnable class that looks like so:
public class Request implements Runnable {
private Boolean ok = true;
public synchronized void setOk(Boolean ok) {
this.ok = ok;
}
public synchronized Boolean getOk() {
return ok;
}
private synchronized void foo() {
//if something happens
setOk(false);
}
#Override
public void run() {
while (true)
foo();
}
}
And then I have another class that does the following:
private static Request request;
private static void spawnThreads() {
ExecutorService e = new Executors.newFixedThreadPool(4);
request = new Request();
e.execute(request);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
spawnThreads();
while (true) {
System.out.println(request.getOk());
if (!request.getOk())
request.setOk(true);
TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(10);
}
}
I need that if in the main thread, that getOk() returns false, do something and set it to true. Viceversa, set it to false in the thread (which I need to keep on going, no matter what the value of ok is at any given time).
As this code is, I can't get the value of request.getOk() in the main thread. If I remove the synchronized words from the getter and setter, I can access the value in the main thread until a point in time when it is changed by the thread, and never again.
Also, the executor is used because I would create multiple Request objects, and waiting for it to shutdown before accessing the variable would contradict my reason for doing this, as I would need all the threads to keep running.
That thread is making http requests to a server (that randomly times out, denies response, etc) and is used to retrieve some information. The ok variable is there to take a note when the thread acquires an ok response and some information from the server.
How do I solve it so that the thread can update that variable, but the main thread to be able to retrieve it whenever needed, no matter if it was changed by the thread in the meanwhile or not.
Would changing my Runnable to a Callable help? If yes, how?
Your example still leaves some holes in the thread-safety. Like mentioned by #Radiodef using AtomicBoolean can relieve you of most of the synchronisation if used properly.
Using your example, this is a thread safe Request class that accepts a message, like an answer to a http request.
public final class Request implements Runnable {
private final AtomicBoolean ok = new AtomicBoolean(false);
// volatile variables promote reference changes through all threads
private volatile String msg;
private boolean setMessage(String responseMessage) {
if (this.ok.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
this.msg = msg;
return true;
}
return false;
}
public boolean hasMessage() {
// *pure* getters don't need synchronisation!
return this.ok.get();
}
public String getMessageAndReset() {
// make a copy before resetting the OK
String msgCopy = this.msg;
this.ok.compareAndSet(true, false);
return msgCopy;
}
public void run() {
final Random rand = new Random();
try {
while(true) {
// sleep at random max 5 seconds
// (simulate unpredictable network)
TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(rand.nextInt(5));
while(!setMessage("Incoming message")) {
// busy waiting ... waits until the current value has
// been retrieved by the main thread
Thread.sleep(100);
}
}
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println(e);
}
}
}
And your main class:
public final class MainClazz implements Runnable {
private final ExecutorService exec;
private final Request request;
public void MainClazz() {
this.exec = new Executors.newFixedThreadPool(4);
this.request = new Request();
this.exec.execute(request);
}
public void run() {
while (true) {
if (request.hasMessage()) {
System.out.println(request.getMessageAndReset());
}
TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(10);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
MainClazz main = new MainClazz();
main.run();
}
}
In this implementation, the Request class only holds a single value at a time. Depending the amount of data you expect you might want to think about using a buffer.
Also, like many others have mentioned, don't use while (true)! Get a synchronisation object from the java concurrent package!
More light reading on the AtomicBoolean object.
Related
I have an array of int with size 4, only one thread can access an array cell at a time.
I thought about using Semaphore but I don't know how or if there is a way to get the acquired index
I build a code example to explain butter:
public class Temp {
private ExecutorService executeService;
private Semaphore semaphore;
private int[] syncArray; // only one thread can access an array cell at the same time
public Temp() {
syncArray = new int[]{1,2,3,4};
executeService = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(10);
semaphore = new Semaphore(syncArray.length, true);
for(int i = 0;i < 100; i++) {
executeService.submit(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
semaphore.acquire();
// here I want to access one of the array cell
// dose not matter witch one as long as no other thread is currently use it
int syncArrayIndex = semaphore.getAcquiredIndex(); // is something like this possible?
syncArray[syncArrayIndex] += ...;
semaphore.release();
}
});
}
}
}
Edit:
this is a piece of code that looks closer the my real problem:
public class Temp {
private ExecutorService executeService;
private Semaphore semaphore;
private static ChromeDriver driver;
public Temp() {
executeService = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(10);
}
public Future<WikiPage> getWikiPage(String url) {
executeService.submit(new PageRequest(url) {
});
}
private static class PageRequest implements Callable<WikiPage> {
String url;
public PageRequest(String url) {
this.url = url;
}
#Override
public WikiPage call() throws Exception {
String html = "";
synchronized (driver) {
html = ...// get the wiki page, this part takes a log time
};
WikiPage ret = ...// parse the data to the WikiPage class
// this part takes less time but depend on the sync block above
return ret;
}
}
}
#Kayaman I'm not sure I understand your comment, the problem is that I return a future. Do you have a any suggestions on how to improve my code to run faster?
No, semaphore isn't useful here. It only knows about how many permits it has, there are no "indices" in a semaphore.
You can use AtomicIntegerArray instead, although if you explain your root problem, there may be a more suitable class to use.
I have a situation where I read data from a YAML file that is important for the application because it is used in several classes. Here is my code:
public class CredentialsReader {
private UserCredentials credentials;
private boolean isReading = false;
public CredentialsReader() {
}
public void readCredentials() {
Runnable readerTask = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
isReading = true;
parseCredentials();
isReading = false;
System.err.println("Parsed credentials");
}
};
ScheduledExecutorService service = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(1);
service.scheduleAtFixedRate(readerTask, 0, 60, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
}
private void parseCredentials() {
final File f = new File("/home/dev/IdeaProjects/server/src/main/resources/credentials.yaml");
try {
UserCredentials userCredentials = new ObjectMapper().readValue(f, UserCredentials.class);
this.credentials = userCredentials;
System.out.println(this.credentials.getUsername() + ", " + this.credentials.getPassword());
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public UserCredentials getCredentials() { return this.credentials; }
}
As you see, I read the data every minute and my question is:
Can I delay the return value of getCredentials, so when the method is called I check if isReading is true and then delay the return so I can guarantee that a caller will always get the actual state of the yaml file?
I think there are appropriate locks for similar situations, but this seems like synchronize is sufficient.
synchronized private void parseCredentials() {...}
synchronized public UserCredentials getCredentials() { ... }
By declaring those methods synchronized only one thread at a time will be able to enter the method, essentially a barrier. That means that parseCredentials could have to wait for getCredentials, but getCredentials is so trivially fast you'll never notice.
That will synchronize on an instance of CredentialReader, so if you use more than one, you might want to synchronize on something else. As mentioned it the comments it is better to synchronize on a private object rather than the instance itself. It is a small change:
public class CredentialsReader {
private UserCredentials credentials;
private boolean isReading = false;
final private Object lock = new Object();
...
Then remove the synchronize from the method signature and add a synchronize call in the body.
private void parseCredentials() {
synchronize(lock){
//original code goes here.
}
}
Also, isReading should be volatile.
I do not suggest to do it manually, you could use a CountDownLatch with init value 1 provided in jdk.
You can let the readers calls await, and let the writer calls countDown once data is prepared.
So the reader could always get fully initialized data.
I am using spring boot
public interface StringConsume extends Consumer<String> {
default public void strHandel(String str) {
accept(str);
}
}
Impl
#Component("StrImpl")
public class StringConsumeImpl implements StringConsume {
BlockingQueue<String> queue = new ArrayBlockingQueue<>(500);
final ExecutorService exService = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();
Future<?> future = CompletableFuture.completedFuture(true);
#Override
public void accept(String t) {
try {
queue.put(t);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
while (null != queue.peek()) {
if (future.isDone()) {
future = exService.submit(() -> queue.take());
}
}
}
}
Class
#Component
public class Test {
#Resource(name="StrImpl")
private #Autowired StringConsume handler;
public void insertIntoQueue(String str) {
handler.accept(str);
}
}
In StringConsumeImpl , do I need synchronized while loop? and suppose five time StringConsumeImpl class called, then do while loop will create 5 process or only 1 process ? and what is the best replacement of while loop in StringConsumeImpl , if any ?
There are some problems with that code.
First of all, the consumer doesn't really "consume" anything, it just adds the string to the queue then takes it back out. Let's say for the sake of the argument that it also "consumes" it by printing it to console or something.
Secondly, the consumer will only get called once due to the loop unless it is running in a thread of its own. Eg if you do
public static void main(String[]args) {
StringConsume consumer = new StringConsumeImpl();
consumer.accept("hello");
}
The consumer will put "hello" into the queue, take it out immediately and then stay in the loop, waiting for more elements to take out; however, no one is there to actually add any.
The usual concept of doing what it looks like you're trying to do is "producer/consumer". This means that there is a "producer" that puts items into a queue and a "consumer" taking them out and doing stuff with them.
So in your case what your class does is "consume" the string by putting it into the queue, making it a "producer", then "consuming" the string by taking it back out of the queue. Of course, there's also the "actual" producer of the string, ie the class calling this.
So in general you'd do something like this:
/** Produces random Strings */
class RandomStringProducer {
Random random = new Random();
public String produceString() {
return Double.toString(random.nextDouble());
}
}
/** Prints a String */
class PrintConsumer implements StringConsume {
public void accept(String s) { System.out.println(s); }
}
/** Consumes String by putting it into a queue */
class QueueProducer implements StringConsume {
BlockingQueue<String> queue;
public QueueProducer(BlockingQueue<String> q) { queue = q; }
public void accept(String s) {
queue.put(s);
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
// the producer
RandomStringProducer producer = new RandomStringProducer();
// the end consumer
StringConsume printConsumer = new PrintConsumer();
// the queue that links producer and consumer
BlockingQueue<String> queue = new ArrayBlockingQueue<>();
// the consumer putting strings into the queue
QueueProducer queuePutter = new QueueProducer(queue);
// now, let's tie them together
// one thread to produce strings and put them into the queue
ScheduledExecutorService producerService = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(1);
Runnable createStringAndPutIntoQueue = () -> {
String created = producer.createString();
queuePutter.consume(created);
};
// put string into queue every 100ms
producerService.scheduleAtFixedRate(createStringAndPutIntoQueue, 100, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
// one thread to consume strings
Runnable takeStringFromQueueAndPrint = () -> {
while(true) {
String takenFromQueue = queue.take(); // this will block until a string is available
printConsumer.consume(takenFromQueue);
}
};
// let it run in a different thread
ExecutorService consumerService = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();
consumerService.submit(takeStringFromQueueAndPrint);
// this will be printed; we are in the main thread and code is still being executed
System.out.println("the produce/consume has started");
}
So when you run this, there will be three threads: the main thread, the producer thread and the consumer thread. The producer and consumer will be doing their thing concurrently, and the main thread will also continue to run (as exemplified by the System.out.println in the last line).
If multiple threads are triggered does String variable (status) need to be synchronized?
class Request{
String status;
....// Some other variables used in thread
}
class Test{
public static void main(String[] args){
Requesr r = new Request();
List<Future> list= new ArrayList<Future>();
ExecutorService pool= Executors.newFixedThreadPool(10);
for(String input : inputList){
if(!"failed."equals(r.status)){
RequestHandler request = new RequestHandler(input,r);
Future f = pool.submit(request);
list.add(f);
}else{
//fail the job and return;
}
}
for (Future fTemp : list) {
if (fTemp.get() == null) {
// Task completed
}
}
}
}
class RequestHandler extends Runnable{
Map<String,String> input;
Requesr r;
RequestHandler(Map<String,String> input, Request r ){
this.input=input;
this.r = r;
}
#Override
public void run() {
if(!"failed".equals(r.status)){
try{
//some logic
}catch(Exception e){
r.Status = "failed";//status is assigned a value only here
}
}
}
}
Does status need to be synchronized for it to be visible in the Test class for loop and in other threads?
As mentioned below in comments I will use Future objects and cancel the running threads.
My doubt is whether above code works without synchronization logic. If it doesn't how can we add synchronization logic in this case?
The variable should probably be declared volatile. Else it may happen that a thread updates the value to "failed", but the main thread never sees this update. The reasons are explained here:
http://etutorials.org/Programming/Java+performance+tuning/Chapter+10.+Threading/10.6+Atomic+Access+and+Assignment/
It's possible (depending on what the triggering code does) that this is unnecessary, but it's not worth taking the risk.
The run method of Runnable has return type void and cannot return a value. I wonder however if there is any workaround of this.
I have a method like this:
public class Endpoint {
public method() {
Runnable runcls = new RunnableClass();
runcls.run()
}
}
The method run is like this:
public class RunnableClass implements Runnable {
public JaxbResponse response;
public void run() {
int id = inputProxy.input(chain);
response = outputProxy.input();
}
}
I want to have access to response variable in method. Is this possible?
Use Callable<V> instead of using Runnable interface.
Example:
public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
ExecutorService pool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(3);
Set<Future<Integer>> set = new HashSet<>();
for (String word : args) {
Callable<Integer> callable = new WordLengthCallable(word);
Future<Integer> future = pool.submit(callable);
set.add(future);
}
int sum = 0;
for (Future<Integer> future : set) {
sum += future.get();
}
System.out.printf("The sum of lengths is %s%n", sum);
System.exit(sum);
}
In this example, you will also need to implement the class WordLengthCallable, which implements the Callable interface.
public void check() {
ExecutorService executor = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();
Future<Integer> result = executor.submit(new Callable<Integer>() {
public Integer call() throws Exception {
return 10;
}
});
try {
int returnValue = result.get();
} catch (Exception exception) {
//handle exception
}
}
Have a look at the Callable class. This is usually submited via an executor service
It can return a future object which is returned when the thread completes
Yes, there are workaround. Just use queue and put into it value which you want to return. And take this value from another thread.
public class RunnableClass implements Runnable{
private final BlockingQueue<jaxbResponse> queue;
public RunnableClass(BlockingQueue<jaxbResponse> queue) {
this.queue = queue;
}
public void run() {
int id;
id =inputProxy.input(chain);
queue.put(outputProxy.input());
}
}
public class Endpoint{
public method_(){
BlockingQueue<jaxbResponse> queue = new LinkedBlockingQueue<>();
RunnableClass runcls = new RunnableClass(queue);
runcls.run()
jaxbResponse response = queue.take(); // waits until takes value from queue
}
}
If you add a field to RunnableClass you can set it in run and read it in method_. However, Runnable is a poor (the Java keyword) interface as it tells you nothing about the (the concept) interface (only useful line of the API docs: "The general contract of the method run is that it may take any action whatsoever."). Much better to use a more meaningful interface (that may return something).
One way is, we have to use Future - Callable approach.
Another way is, Instead of returning value, you can hold in object
Example:
class MainThread {
public void startMyThread() {
Object requiredObject = new Object(); //Map/List/OwnClass
Thread myThread = new Thread(new RunnableObject(requiredObject)).start();
myThread.join();
System.out.println(requiredObject.getRequiredValue());
}
}
class RunnableObject implements Runnable {
private Object requiredObject;
public RunnableObject(Object requiredObject) {
this.requiredObject = requiredObject;
}
public void run() {
requiredObject.setRequiredValue(xxxxx);
}
}
Because object scope is in the same scope so that you can pass object to thread and can retrieve in the main scope. But, most important thing is, we have to use join() method. Because main scope should be waiting for thread completion of its task.
For multiple thread case, you can use List/Map to hold the values from threads.
Try the following
public abstract class ReturnRunnable<T> implements Runnable {
public abstract T runForResult();
#Override
public void run() {
runForResult();
}
}
Take a look at the callable interface, perhaps this suites your needs. You can also try to get the value of the response field by calling a setter-method inside of your run() method
public void run() {
int id;
id =inputProxy.input(chain);
response = outputProxy.input();
OuterClass.setResponseData(response);
}