How to timeout a thread

Question

I want to run a thread for some fixed amount of time. If it is not completed within that time, I want to either kill it, throw some exception, or handle it in some way. How

Answer 1

I post you a piece of code which show a way how to solve the problem. As exemple I'm reading a file. You could use this method for another operation, but you need to implements the kill() method so that the main operation will be interrupted.

hope it helps

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;

/**
 * Main class
 * 
 * @author el
 * 
 */
public class Main {
    /**
     * Thread which perform the task which should be timed out.
     * 
     * @author el
     * 
     */
    public static class MainThread extends Thread {
        /**
         * For example reading a file. File to read.
         */
        final private File fileToRead;
        /**
         * InputStream from the file.
         */
        final private InputStream myInputStream;
        /**
         * Thread for timeout.
         */
        final private TimeOutThread timeOutThread;

        /**
         * true if the thread has not ended.
         */
        boolean isRunning = true;

        /**
         * true if all tasks where done.
         */
        boolean everythingDone = false;

        /**
         * if every thing could not be done, an {@link Exception} may have
         * Happens.
         */
        Throwable endedWithException = null;

        /**
         * Constructor.
         * 
         * @param file
         * @throws FileNotFoundException
         */
        MainThread(File file) throws FileNotFoundException {
            setDaemon(false);
            fileToRead = file;
            // open the file stream.
            myInputStream = new FileInputStream(fileToRead);
            // Instantiate the timeout thread.
            timeOutThread = new TimeOutThread(10000, this);
        }

        /**
         * Used by the {@link TimeOutThread}.
         */
        public void kill() {
            if (isRunning) {
                isRunning = false;
                if (myInputStream != null) {
                    try {
                        // close the stream, it may be the problem.
                        myInputStream.close();
                    } catch (IOException e) {
                        // Not interesting
                        System.out.println(e.toString());
                    }
                }
                synchronized (this) {
                    notify();
                }
            }
        }

        /**
         * The task which should be timed out.
         */
        @Override
        public void run() {
            timeOutThread.start();
            int bytes = 0;
            try {
                // do something
                while (myInputStream.read() >= 0) {
                    // may block the thread.
                    myInputStream.read();
                    bytes++;
                    // simulate a slow stream.
                    synchronized (this) {
                        wait(10);
                    }
                }
                everythingDone = true;
            } catch (IOException e) {
                endedWithException = e;
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                endedWithException = e;
            } finally {
                timeOutThread.kill();
                System.out.println("-->read " + bytes + " bytes.");
                isRunning = false;
                synchronized (this) {
                    notifyAll();
                }
            }
        }
    }

    /**
     * Timeout Thread. Kill the main task if necessary.
     * 
     * @author el
     * 
     */
    public static class TimeOutThread extends Thread {
        final long timeout;
        final MainThread controlledObj;

        TimeOutThread(long timeout, MainThread controlledObj) {
            setDaemon(true);
            this.timeout = timeout;
            this.controlledObj = controlledObj;
        }

        boolean isRunning = true;

        /**
         * If we done need the {@link TimeOutThread} thread, we may kill it.
         */
        public void kill() {
            isRunning = false;
            synchronized (this) {
                notify();
            }
        }

        /**
         * 
         */
        @Override
        public void run() {
            long deltaT = 0l;
            try {
                long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
                while (isRunning && deltaT < timeout) {
                    synchronized (this) {
                        wait(Math.max(100, timeout - deltaT));
                    }
                    deltaT = System.currentTimeMillis() - start;
                }
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                // If the thread is interrupted,
                // you may not want to kill the main thread,
                // but probably yes.
            } finally {
                isRunning = false;
            }
            controlledObj.kill();
        }
    }

    /**
     * Start the main task and wait for the end.
     * 
     * @param args
     * @throws FileNotFoundException
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException {
        long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
        MainThread main = new MainThread(new File(args[0]));
        main.start();
        try {
            while (main.isRunning) {
                synchronized (main) {
                    main.wait(1000);
                }
            }
            long stop = System.currentTimeMillis();

            if (main.everythingDone)
                System.out.println("all done in " + (stop - start) + " ms.");
            else {
                System.out.println("could not do everything in "
                        + (stop - start) + " ms.");
                if (main.endedWithException != null)
                    main.endedWithException.printStackTrace();
            }
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            System.out.println("You've killed me!");
        }
    }
}

Regards