What is a callback method in Java? (Term seems to be used loosely)

Question

I don\'t understand what a callback method is and I have heard people use that term very loosely. In the Java world, what is a callback method? If someone could provide some

Answer 1

In simple terms, callback mechanism refers to calling a function with another function as an argument. In languages like C,C++ this is done by passing function pointers as arguments but java doesn't have the concept of pointers. The workaround is interfaces. We pass reference to interfaces instead of pointers. Your understanding will be crystal clear after understanding the code below. To also show the real world applications, imagine purchasing a mouse and a mouse pad. The mouse pad price is fixed but mouse price differs by brand.

interface mouse
{
    double mousePrice();
}
class BrandA implements mouse
{
    public double mousePrice()          //note that public access modifier is needed as all methods of interface are public are by default and when you override them
    //you cannot use any access modifier more restrictive
    {
        return 100;
    }

}

class BrandB implements mouse
{
    public double mousePrice()
    {
        return 200;
    }

}

class Simple
{
    static void total(mouse t)
    {
        double mousepad = 20;
        double mousep = t.mousePrice();
        System.out.println(mousepad + mousep);
    }
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        mouse ob = new BrandA();        //upcasting. 
        total(ob);
    }
}

Answer 2

A callback method in java is a method that gets called when an event (call it E) occurs. Usually you can implement that by passing an implementation of a certain interface to the system that is responsible for triggering the event E (see example 1).

Also in bigger and more complex systems you simply can annotate a method and the system will identify all annotated methods and will call them when the event occurs (see example 2). Of course the system defines what parameters the method should receive and other constraints.

Example 1:

public interface Callback {
    //parameters can be of any types, depending on the event defined
    void callbackMethod(String aParameter);
}


public class CallbackImpl implements Callback {
    void callbackMethod(String aParameter) {
     //here you do your logic with the received paratemers
     //System.out.println("Parameter received: " + aParameter);

    }
}

//.... and then somewhere you have to tell the system to add the callback method
//e.g. systemInstance.addCallback(new CallbackImpl());

Example 2:

//by annotating a method with this annotation, the system will know which method it should call. 
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target(ElementType.METHOD)
public @interface CallbackAnnotation {}


public class AClass {

    @CallbackAnnotation
    void callbackMethod(String aParameter) {
     //here you do your logic with the received paratemers
     //System.out.println("Parameter received: " + aParameter);

    }
}

//.... and then somewhere you have to tell the system to add the callback class
//and the system will create an instance of the callback class
//e.g. systemInstance.addCallbackClass(AClass.class);

Answer 3

In Simple Words... In plain English, a callback function is like a Worker who "calls back" to his Manager when he has completed a Task.

How are they different from calling one function from another function taking some context from the calling function? It is true that you are calling a function from another function, but the key is that the callback is treated like an Object, so you can change which Function to call based on the state of the system (like the Strategy Design Pattern).

How can their power be explained to a novice programmer? The power of callbacks can easily be seen in AJAX-style websites which need to pull data from a server. Downloading the new data may take some time. Without callbacks, your entire User Interface would "freeze up" while downloading the new data, or you would need to refresh the entire page rather than just part of it. With a callback, you can insert a "now loading" image and replace it with the new data once it is loaded.

Some code without a callback:

     function grabAndFreeze() {
    showNowLoading(true);
    var jsondata = getData('http://yourserver.com/data/messages.json');
    /* User Interface 'freezes' while getting data */
    processData(jsondata);
    showNowLoading(false);
    do_other_stuff(); // not called until data fully downloaded
        }

      function processData(jsondata) { // do something with the data
    var count = jsondata.results ? jsondata.results.length : 0;
     $('#counter_messages').text(['Fetched', count, 'new items'].join(' '));
     $('#results_messages').html(jsondata.results || '(no new messages)');
       }

With Callback: Here is an example with a callback, using jQuery's getJSON:

    function processDataCB(jsondata) { // callback: update UI with results
   showNowLoading(false);
   var count = jsondata.results ? jsondata.results.length : 0;
   $('#counter_messages').text(['Fetched', count, 'new items'].join(' '));
   $('#results_messages').html(jsondata.results || '(no new messages)');
          }

`   `function grabAndGo() { // and don't freeze
    showNowLoading(true);
    $('#results_messages').html(now_loading_image);
    $.getJSON("http://yourserver.com/data/messages.json", processDataCB);
    /* Call processDataCB when data is downloaded, no frozen User Interface!                              
    do_other_stuff(); // called immediately

Answer 4

A callback is a piece of code that you pass as an argument to some other code so that it executes it. Since Java doesn't yet support function pointers, they are implemented as Command objects. Something like

public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws  Exception {
        new Test().doWork(new Callback() { // implementing class            
            @Override
            public void call() {
                System.out.println("callback called");
            }
        });
    }

    public void doWork(Callback callback) {
        System.out.println("doing work");
        callback.call();
    }

    public interface Callback {
        void call();
    }
}

A callback will usually hold reference to some state to actually be useful.

By making the callback implementation have all the dependencies to your code, you gain indirection between your code and the code that is executing the callback.

Answer 5

@Sotirios Delimanolis answer is good but I wanted to give clear example which explains callbacks in a way how listeners works - following approach is greatly adopted by android library.

class RemoteClass {

    private OnChangeListener mOnChangeListener;

    void makeSomeChanges() {
        /*
        .. do something here and call callback
        */
        mOnChangeListener.onChanged(this, 1);
    }

    public void setOnChangeListener(OnChangeListener listener) {
        mOnChangeListener = listener;
    }

    public interface OnChangeListener {
        public void onChanged(RemoteClass remoteClass, int test);
    }
}

There is a class built my someone, which goes by name RemoteClass and tells your class to reference the callback by passing implementation of OnChangeListener interface to setOnChangeListener method.

class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {    
        RemoteClass obj = new RemoteClass();
        obj.setOnChangeListener(demoChanged);
        obj.makeSomeChanges();
    }

    private static RemoteClass.OnChangeListener demoChanged = new RemoteClass.OnChangeListener() {
        @Override
        public void onChanged(RemoteClass remoteClass, int incoming) {
            switch (incoming) {
                case 1:
                    System.out.println("I will take appropriate action!");
                    break;
                default:
                    break;
            }
        }
    };
}

Now your class has finished doing its task and RemoteClass does its work and upon calling makeSomeChanges whenever necessary results in onChanged method execution using mOnChangeListener reference.