Develop Reference

Reading from BufferedReader

I am trying to execute commands on the terminal. using
ProcessBuilder builder = new ProcessBuilder("/bin/bash");
builder.redirectErrorStream(true);
Process process = builder.start();
OutputStream stdin = process.getOutputStream();
InputStream stdout = process.getInputStream();
reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(stdout));
writer = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(stdin));
I am going to use this reader and and writer to continuously communicate with the process.
I'm using the following loop to read
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println("line);
}
ISSUE: The problem here is that, when the reader starts reading from the buffer its forever in the while loop. It never exits.
I tried to put the reading in a thread
public void run() {
try {
String line;
outputText = "";
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println(line);
}
} catch (IOException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(ThreadReader.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
But now i have no control on when the reader starts and finishes reading.
GOAL: I need to execute a command and read the output and then the next command.

Your Java program is communicating with an external interactive process. It has only the process's output and error streams to work with to determine how to proceed from any given point. If you want it to recognize subdivisions of the output, such as responses to individual commands, then you need to teach it what the boundaries of those subdivisions look like.
There are any number of ways you might approach the problem. For example, if the external program emits a prompt when it is ready to accept a new command, then it seems natural to watch for that prompt. Alternatively, perhaps you can tweak the input to the program so as to cause it to produce a recognizable marker at the end of each command's output.
Do also consider that this is a solved problem (many times over). The canonical utility for general-purpose scripting of interactive programs is a Tcl program called "Expect". It has inspired work-alikes in many languages, including many in Java. Google gives me three distinct examples among the first five hits, but I have no specific experience with any of them so I make no recommendation.

ProcessBuilder running processes in foreground

I want to run an executable written in C++ and to see the cmd promt associated with it in foreground, since the executable prints some lines in the cmd.
I have written the following code, but all processes are created and run in background (In this code I open the dummy cmd.exe process, not my process).
Process p = new ProcessBuilder("C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe").start();
How can i enable foreground running of processes?
Thanks!

The issue is not whether the process is in the foreground or background. When you start a process using Java, you have to use Java to control that process' lifecyle. The Java API provides you access to various attributes of the process. What you're interested in here is the output of the process. That is represented by the process' InputStream. It seems counterintuitive, but it makes sense because from the perspective of your Java program, the process' output is the program's input. Conversely, if you need to send data to the process, you write to the process' OutputStream.
To sum up, access the process' InputStream and print that out to the command-line:
Process process = new ProcessBuilder("C:\\Path\\To\\My\\Application.exe").start();
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();
String line;
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
output.append(line);
}
System.out.println(line);
This code, of course, assumes that your process is not waiting for any input, i.e., it is not interactive.

Vivin Paliath's answer is really the way to go, then you can do whatever you want with the output, display it in your own dialogue, log it, interpret it, check for errors or whatever.
But just in case you really want that command window showing up. Execute cmd.exe and get the process' OutputStream and write the command (application.exe) to it ending with a new line.
Something along the lines of:
Process p = new ProcessBuilder("C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe").start();
out = p.getOutputStream();
out.write("path\\application.exe\r\n".getBytes());
out.flush();
Should usually drain the input stream too though anyway.

Why the command line utility takes very huge time to give output when invoke using java program?

I am using libdmtx which comes with a command line utility which reads the image files for ECC200 Data Matrix barcodes, reads their contents, and writes the decoded messages to standard output. I have used command line utility in my java program on linux platform. I am using ubuntu linux. I have installed the libdmtx on my linux machine. and when I invoke the command
dmtxread -n /home/admin/ab.tif
on linux terminal it gives the decoded value of barcode in image immediately i.e within 15 seconds.
but when I am going to invoke this same command for same file using my java program the program takes huge time i.e average 16 minutes for the same command and same file above.
Following is my java code which invokes the above command
public class Test {
public static void main(final String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
//Build command
List<String> commands = new ArrayList<String>();
commands.add("dmtxread");
commands.add("-n");
commands.add("/home/admin/ab.tif");
System.out.println(commands);
//Run macro on target
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(commands);
pb.redirectErrorStream(true);
Process process = pb.start();
//Read output
StringBuilder out = new StringBuilder();
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
String line = null, previous = null;
while ((line = br.readLine()) != null){
System.out.println(line);
}
//Check result
if (process.waitFor() == 0)
System.out.println("Success!");
System.exit(0);
//Abnormal termination: Log command parameters and output and throw ExecutionException
System.err.println(commands);
System.err.println(out.toString());
System.exit(1);
}
}
I want to ask the experts that
Please can anyone explain me why java program takes such big time to invoke a simple command which will be get invoked withing 15 seconds if that command is directly run on command prompt.
Please can anyone tell me the solution to reduce this time.
I guess the program is taking this so much time because of JVMs internal thread which is invoking the process. Is my guess is right? If yes then how could I overcome to this problem.
Please guide me to solve this problem. Thanks You!

Launching wkhtmltopdf from Runtime.getRuntime().exec(): never terminates?

I'm launching wkhtmltopdf from within my Java app (part of a Tomcat server, running in debug mode within Eclipse Helios on Win7 64-bit): I'd like to wait for it to complete, then Do More Stuff.
String cmd[] = {"wkhtmltopdf", htmlPathIn, pdfPathOut};
Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec( cmd, null );
proc.waitFor();
But waitFor() never returns. I can still see the process in the Windows Task Manager (with the command line I passed to exec(): looks fine). AND IT WORKS. wkhtmltopdf produces the PDF I'd expect, right where I'd expect it. I can open it, rename it, whatever, even while the process is still running (before I manually terminate it).
From the command line, everything is fine:
c:\wrk>wkhtmltopdf C:\Temp\foo.html c:\wrk\foo.pdf
Loading pages (1/6)
Counting pages (2/6)
Resolving links (4/6)
Loading headers and footers (5/6)
Printing pages (6/6)
Done
The process exits just fine, and life goes on.
So what is it about runtime.exec() that's causing wkhtmltopdf to never terminate?
I could grab proc.getInputStream() and look for "Done", but that's... vile. I want something that is more general.
I've calling exec() with and without a working directory. I've tried with and without an empty "env" array. No joy.
Why is my process hanging, and what can I do to fix it?
PS: I've tried this with a couple other command line apps, and they both exhibit the same behavior.
Further exec woes.
I'm trying to read standard out & error, without success. From the command line, I know there's supposed to be something remarkably like my command line experience, but when I read the input stream returned by proc.getInputStream(), I immediately get an EOL (-1, I'm using inputStream.read()).
I checked the JavaDoc for Process, and found this
The parent process uses these streams to feed input to and get output from the subprocess. Because some native platforms only provide limited buffer size for standard input and output streams, failure to promptly write the input stream or read the output stream of the subprocess may cause the [b]subprocess to block, and even deadlock[/b].
Emphasis added. So I tried that. The first 'read()' on the Standard Out inputStream blocked until I killed the process...
WITH WKHTMLTOPDF
With the generic command line ap & no params so it should "dump usage and terminate", it sucks out the appropriate std::out, then terminates.
Interesting!
JVM version issue? I'm using 1.6.0_23. The latest is... v24. I just checked the change log and don't see anything promising, but I'll try updating anyway.
Okay. Don't let the Input Streams fill or they'll block. Check. .close() can also prevent this, but isn't terribly bright.
That works in general (including the generic command line apps I've tested).
In specific however, it falls down. It appears that wkhtmltopdf is using some terminal manipulation/cursor stuff to do an ASCII-graphic progress bar. I believe this is causing the inputStream to immediately return EOF rather than giving me the correct values.
Any ideas? Hardly a deal-breaker, but it would definitely be Nice To Have.

I had the same exact issue as you and I solved it. Here are my findings:
For some reason, the output from wkhtmltopdf goes to STDERR of the process and NOT STDOUT. I have verified this by calling wkhtmltopdf from Java as well as perl
So, for example in java, you would have to do:
//ProcessBuilder is the recommended way of creating processes since Java 1.5
//Runtime.getRuntime().exec() is deprecated. Do not use.
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("wkhtmltopdf.exe", htmlFilePath, pdfFilePath);
Process process = pb.start();
BufferedReader errStreamReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getErrorStream()));
//not "process.getInputStream()"
String line = errStreamReader.readLine();
while(line != null)
{
System.out.println(line); //or whatever else
line = reader.readLine();
}
On a side note, if you spawn a process from java, you MUST read from the stdout and stderr streams (even if you do nothing with it) because otherwise the stream buffer will fill and the process will hang and never return.
To futureproof your code, just in case the devs of wkhtmltopdf decide to write to stdout, you can redirect stderr of the child process to stdout and read only one stream like this:
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("wkhtmltopdf.exe", htmlFilePath, pdfFilePath);
pb.redirectErrorStream(true);
Process process = pb.start();
BufferedReader inStreamReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
Actually, I do this in all the cases where I have to spawn an external process from java. That way I don't have to read two streams.
You should also read the streams of the spawned process in different threads if you dont want your main thread to block, since reading from streams is blocking.
Hope this helps.
UPDATE: I raised this issue in the project page and was replied that this is by design because wkhtmltopdf supports giving the actual pdf output in STDOUT. Please see the link for more details and java code.

A process has 3 streams: input, output and error. you can read both output and error stream at the same time using separate processes. see this question and its accepted answer and also this one for example.

You should read from the streams in a different thread.

final Semaphore semaphore = new Semaphore(numOfThreads);
final String whktmlExe = tmpwhktmlExePath;
int doccount = 0;
try{
File fileObject = new File(inputDir);
for(final File f : fileObject.listFiles()) {
if(f.getAbsolutePath().endsWith(".html")) {
doccount ++;
if(doccount >500 ) {
LOG.info(" done with conversion of 1000 docs exiting ");
break;
}
System.out.println(" inside for before "+semaphore.availablePermits());
semaphore.acquire();
System.out.println(" inside for after "+semaphore.availablePermits() + " ---" +f.getName());
new java.lang.Thread() {
public void run() {
try {
String F_ = f.getName().replaceAll(".html", ".pdf") ;
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(whktmlExe , f.getAbsolutePath(), outPutDir + F_ .replaceAll(" ", "_") );//"wkhtmltopdf.exe", htmlFilePath, pdfFilePath);
pb.redirectErrorStream(true);
Process process = pb.start();
BufferedReader errStreamReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
String line = errStreamReader.readLine();
while(line != null)
{
System.err.println(line); //or whatever else
line = errStreamReader.readLine();
}
System.out.println("after completion for ");
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}finally {
System.out.println(" in finally releasing ");
semaphore.release();
}
}
}.start();
}
}
}catch (Exception ex) {
LOG.error(" *** Error in pdf generation *** ", ex);
}
while (semaphore.availablePermits() < numOfThreads) {//till all threads finish
LOG.info( " Waiting for all threads to exit "+ semaphore.availablePermits() + " --- " +( numOfThreads - semaphore.availablePermits()));
java.lang.Thread.sleep(10000);
}

Can't launch external program from Java without closing java app

I'm trying to launch an external program from my java swing app using this:
Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
But the external program never actually gets launched until I close out of my java app...everytime.
It waits to launch only after I have closed out.
the external program I am trying to run is an exe that takes arguments so:
cmd = "externalProgram.exe -v --fullscreen --nowing";
What could possibly be wrong here.
Funny enough it works as expected if i try something simple like:
Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("notepad.exe");

You may need to read from the process's standard output, or close the standard input, before it will proceed. For reading the output, the problem is that the buffer can get full, blocking the program; for closing the input, the problem is that some programs will try to read data from there if it's available, waiting to do so. One or both of these tricks is very likely to straighten things out for you.

You may also read the error output stream to check it the program is actually being unsuccessfully executed
String cmd = "svn.exe";
Process proc = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(proc.getErrorStream()));
String line = null;
while((line=reader.readLine())!=null){
System.out.println(line);
}
reader.close();
My console shows
Type 'svn help' for usage.
Which evidently shows the program was executed by Java.