I'm trying to understand how threads works in java. This is a simple database request that returns a ResultSet. I'm using JavaFx.
package application;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import javafx.fxml.FXML;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
public class Controller{
#FXML
private Button getCourseBtn;
#FXML
private TextField courseId;
#FXML
private Label courseCodeLbl;
private ModelController mController;
private void requestCourseName(){
String courseName = "";
Course c = new Course();
c.setCCode(Integer.valueOf(courseId.getText()));
mController = new ModelController(c);
try {
ResultSet rs = mController.<Course>get();
if(rs.next()){
courseCodeLbl.setText(rs.getString(1));
}
} catch (SQLException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
// return courseName;
}
public void getCourseNameOnClick(){
try {
// courseCodeLbl.setText(requestCourseName());
Thread t = new Thread(new Runnable(){
public void run(){
requestCourseName();
}
}, "Thread A");
t.start();
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
This returns an exception:
Exception in thread "Thread A" java.lang.IllegalStateException: Not on FX application thread; currentThread = Thread A
How do I correctly implement threading so that every database request is executed in a second thread instead of the main thread?
I've heard of implementing Runnable but then how do I invoke different methods in run method?
Never worked with threading before but I thought it's time for it.
Threading Rules for JavaFX
There are two basic rules for threads and JavaFX:
Any code that modifies or accesses the state of a node that is part of a scene graph must be executed on the JavaFX application thread. Certain other operations (e.g. creating new Stages) are also bound by this rule.
Any code that may take a long time to run should be executed on a background thread (i.e. not on the FX Application Thread).
The reason for the first rule is that, like most UI toolkits, the framework is written without any synchronization on the state of elements of the scene graph. Adding synchronization incurs a performance cost, and this turns out to be a prohibitive cost for UI toolkits. Thus only one thread can safely access this state. Since the UI thread (FX Application Thread for JavaFX) needs to access this state to render the scene, the FX Application Thread is the only thread on which you can access "live" scene graph state. In JavaFX 8 and later, most methods subject to this rule perform checks and throw runtime exceptions if the rule is violated. (This is in contrast to Swing, where you can write "illegal" code and it may appear to run fine, but is in fact prone to random and unpredictable failure at arbitrary time.) This is the cause of the IllegalStateException you are seeing: you are calling courseCodeLbl.setText(...) from a thread other than the FX Application Thread.
The reason for the second rule is that the FX Application Thread, as well as being responsible for processing user events, is also responsible for rendering the scene. Thus if you perform a long-running operation on that thread, the UI will not be rendered until that operation is complete, and will become unresponsive to user events. While this won't generate exceptions or cause corrupt object state (as violating rule 1 will), it (at best) creates a poor user experience.
Thus if you have a long-running operation (such as accessing a database) that needs to update the UI on completion, the basic plan is to perform the long-running operation in a background thread, returning the results of the operation when it is complete, and then schedule an update to the UI on the UI (FX Application) thread. All single-threaded UI toolkits have a mechanism to do this: in JavaFX you can do so by calling Platform.runLater(Runnable r) to execute r.run() on the FX Application Thread. (In Swing, you can call SwingUtilities.invokeLater(Runnable r) to execute r.run() on the AWT event dispatch thread.) JavaFX (see later in this answer) also provides some higher-level API for managing the communication back to the FX Application Thread.
General Good Practices for Multithreading
The best practice for working with multiple threads is to structure code that is to be executed on a "user-defined" thread as an object that is initialized with some fixed state, has a method to perform the operation, and on completion returns an object representing the result. Using immutable objects, in particular, a record, for the initialized state and computation result is highly desirable. The idea here is to eliminate the possibility of any mutable state being visible from multiple threads as far as possible. Accessing data from a database fits this idiom nicely: you can initialize your "worker" object with the parameters for the database access (search terms, etc). Perform the database query and get a result set, use the result set to populate a collection of domain objects, and return the collection at the end.
In some cases it will be necessary to share mutable state between multiple threads. When this absolutely has to be done, you need to carefully synchronize access to that state to avoid observing the state in an inconsistent state (there are other more subtle issues that need to be addressed, such as liveness of the state, etc). The strong recommendation when this is needed is to use a high-level library to manage these complexities for you.
Using the javafx.concurrent API
JavaFX provides a concurrency API that is designed for executing code in a background thread, with API specifically designed for updating the JavaFX UI on completion of (or during) the execution of that code. This API is designed to interact with the java.util.concurrent API, which provides general facilities for writing multithreaded code (but with no UI hooks). The key class in javafx.concurrent is Task, which represents a single, one-off, unit of work intended to be performed on a background thread. This class defines a single abstract method, call(), which takes no parameters, returns a result, and may throw checked exceptions. Task implements Runnable with its run() method simply invoking call(). Task also has a collection of methods which are guaranteed to update state on the FX Application Thread, such as updateProgress(...), updateMessage(...), etc. It defines some observable properties (e.g. state and value): listeners to these properties will be notified of changes on the FX Application Thread. Finally, there are some convenience methods to register handlers (setOnSucceeded(...), setOnFailed(...), etc); any handlers registered via these methods will also be invoked on the FX Application Thread.
So the general formula for retrieving data from a database is:
Create a Task to handle the call to the database.
Initialize the Task with any state that is needed to perform the database call.
Implement the task's call() method to perform the database call, returning the results of the call.
Register a handler with the task to send the results to the UI when it is complete.
Invoke the task on a background thread.
For database access, I strongly recommend encapsulating the actual database code in a separate class that knows nothing about the UI (Data Access Object design pattern). Then just have the task invoke the methods on the data access object.
So you might have a DAO class like this (note there is no UI code here):
public class WidgetDAO {
// In real life, you might want a connection pool here, though for
// desktop applications a single connection often suffices:
private Connection conn ;
public WidgetDAO() throws Exception {
conn = ... ; // initialize connection (or connection pool...)
}
public List<Widget> getWidgetsByType(String type) throws SQLException {
try (PreparedStatement pstmt = conn.prepareStatement("select * from widget where type = ?")) {
pstmt.setString(1, type);
ResultSet rs = pstmt.executeQuery();
List<Widget> widgets = new ArrayList<>();
while (rs.next()) {
Widget widget = new Widget();
widget.setName(rs.getString("name"));
widget.setNumberOfBigRedButtons(rs.getString("btnCount"));
// ...
widgets.add(widget);
}
return widgets ;
}
}
// ...
public void shutdown() throws Exception {
conn.close();
}
}
Retrieving a bunch of widgets might take a long time, so any calls from a UI class (e.g a controller class) should schedule this on a background thread. A controller class might look like this:
public class MyController {
private WidgetDAO widgetAccessor ;
// java.util.concurrent.Executor typically provides a pool of threads...
private Executor exec ;
#FXML
private TextField widgetTypeSearchField ;
#FXML
private TableView<Widget> widgetTable ;
public void initialize() throws Exception {
widgetAccessor = new WidgetDAO();
// create executor that uses daemon threads:
exec = Executors.newCachedThreadPool(runnable -> {
Thread t = new Thread(runnable);
t.setDaemon(true);
return t ;
});
}
// handle search button:
#FXML
public void searchWidgets() {
final String searchString = widgetTypeSearchField.getText();
Task<List<Widget>> widgetSearchTask = new Task<List<Widget>>() {
#Override
public List<Widget> call() throws Exception {
return widgetAccessor.getWidgetsByType(searchString);
}
};
widgetSearchTask.setOnFailed(e -> {
widgetSearchTask.getException().printStackTrace();
// inform user of error...
});
widgetSearchTask.setOnSucceeded(e ->
// Task.getValue() gives the value returned from call()...
widgetTable.getItems().setAll(widgetSearchTask.getValue()));
// run the task using a thread from the thread pool:
exec.execute(widgetSearchTask);
}
// ...
}
Notice how the call to the (potentially) long-running DAO method is wrapped in a Task which is run on a background thread (via the accessor) to prevent blocking the UI (rule 2 above). The update to the UI (widgetTable.setItems(...)) is actually executed back on the FX Application Thread, using the Task's convenience callback method setOnSucceeded(...) (satisfying rule 1).
In your case, the database access you are performing returns a single result, so you might have a method like
public class MyDAO {
private Connection conn ;
// constructor etc...
public Course getCourseByCode(int code) throws SQLException {
try (PreparedStatement pstmt = conn.prepareStatement("select * from course where c_code = ?")) {
pstmt.setInt(1, code);
ResultSet results = pstmt.executeQuery();
if (results.next()) {
Course course = new Course();
course.setName(results.getString("c_name"));
// etc...
return course ;
} else {
// maybe throw an exception if you want to insist course with given code exists
// or consider using Optional<Course>...
return null ;
}
}
}
// ...
}
And then your controller code would look like
final int courseCode = Integer.valueOf(courseId.getText());
Task<Course> courseTask = new Task<Course>() {
#Override
public Course call() throws Exception {
return myDAO.getCourseByCode(courseCode);
}
};
courseTask.setOnSucceeded(e -> {
Course course = courseTask.getCourse();
if (course != null) {
courseCodeLbl.setText(course.getName());
}
});
exec.execute(courseTask);
The API docs for Task have many more examples, including updating the progress property of the task (useful for progress bars..., etc.
Related
JavaFX - Background Thread for SQL Query
Sample for accessing a local database from JavaFX using concurrent tasks for database operations so that the UI remains responsive.
Exception in thread "Thread A" java.lang.IllegalStateException: Not on FX application thread; currentThread = Thread A
The exception is trying to tell you that you are trying to access JavaFX scene graph outside the JavaFX application thread. But where ??
courseCodeLbl.setText(rs.getString(1)); // <--- The culprit
If I can't do this how do I use a background thread?
The are different approaches which leads to similar solutions.
Wrap you Scene graph element with Platform.runLater
There easier and most simple way is to wrap the above line in Plaform.runLater, such that it gets executed on JavaFX Application thread.
Platform.runLater(() -> courseCodeLbl.setText(rs.getString(1)));
Use Task
The better approach to go with these scenarios is to use Task, which has specialized methods to send back updates. In the following example, I am using updateMessage to update the message. This property is bind to courseCodeLbl textProperty.
Task<Void> task = new Task<Void>() {
#Override
public Void call() {
String courseName = "";
Course c = new Course();
c.setCCode(Integer.valueOf(courseId.getText()));
mController = new ModelController(c);
try {
ResultSet rs = mController.<Course>get();
if(rs.next()) {
// update message property
updateMessage(rs.getString(1));
}
} catch (SQLException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
return null;
}
}
public void getCourseNameOnClick(){
try {
Thread t = new Thread(task);
// To update the label
courseCodeLbl.textProperty.bind(task.messageProperty());
t.setDaemon(true); // Imp! missing in your code
t.start();
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
This has nothing to do with database. JavaFx, like pretty much all GUI libraries, requires that you only use the main UI thread to modify the GUI.
You need to pass the data from the database back to the main UI thread. Use Platform.runLater() to schedule a Runnable to be run in the main UI thread.
public void getCourseNameOnClick(){
new Thread(new Runnable(){
public void run(){
String courseName = requestCourseName();
Platform.runLater(new Runnable(){
courseCodeLbl.setText(courseName)
});
}
}, "Thread A").start();
}
Alternatively, you can use Task.
Having an huge customers profile page if two or more users start using same page and start editing big change will happen in my database so planing to implement Threads concept where only one user can use that customer page
i'm aware about threads concept but confused how to implement it
hope i need to use Singleton class as well
Any suggestion or Logic's will be helpful
I'm using Struts,Hibernate frame work
You may use application context to store a flag variable. Action will use its value to allow only one simultaneous execution.
public class TestAction extends ActionSupport implements ApplicationAware {
private static final String APP_BUSY_KEY = "APP_BUSY";
Map<String, Object> map;
#Override
public void setApplication(Map<String, Object> map) {
this.map = map;
}
#Override
public String execute() throws Exception {
if (map.containsKey(APP_BUSY_KEY)) {
return ERROR;
} else {
map.put(APP_BUSY_KEY, "1");
try {
// action logic here
} finally {
map.remove(APP_BUSY_KEY);
}
return SUCCESS;
}
}
}
If you plan to implement similar logic for two requests (lock after displaying values and release lock after submitting new values) then logic will be more complex and you will also need to handle lock release after timeout.
In an MVC / WebAPI environment I would use InRequestScope to bind the DbContext.
However, I am now on a Console application / Windows service / Azure worker role (doesn't really matter, just there's no Web request scope), which periodically creates a number of Tasks that run asynchronously. I would like each task to have its own DbContext, and since tasks run on their own thread, I tried binding DbContext using InThreadScope.
Unfortunately, I realize that the DbContext is not disposed when a task is finished. What actually happens is, the thread returns to the Thread Pool and when it is assigned a new task, it already has a DbContext, so DbContexts stay alive forever.
Is there a way InThreadScope can be used here or should I use some other scope? How can ThreadScope be used when threads are returning from ThreadPool every now and then?
If you decide to go on with custom scope, the solution is:
public sealed class CurrentScope : INotifyWhenDisposed
{
[ThreadStatic]
private static CurrentScope currentScope;
private CurrentScope()
{
}
public static CurrentScope Instance => currentScope ?? (currentScope = new CurrentScope());
public bool IsDisposed { get; private set; }
public event EventHandler Disposed;
public void Dispose()
{
this.IsDisposed = true;
currentScope = null;
if (this.Disposed != null)
{
this.Disposed(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
}
Binding:
Bind<DbContext>().To<MyDbContext>().InScope(c => CurrentScope.Instance)
And finally:
using (CurrentScope.Instance)
{
// your request...
// you'll get always the same DbContext inside of this using block
// DbContext will be disposed after going out of scope of this using block
}
Questions about threads are in no shortage, I know, but I can't seem to find a "full" example of a thread doing http work and then coming back to update the UI.
I basically call a few web services upon app launch. I obviously don't want to freeze the UI so I would want to use a separate thread, right? I have found a bunch of examples online on how to get a new thread to perform some task. But I haven't yet found one that shows how to actually update the UI when the thread's task is done.
How do I know when the web service thread is done? Is there a callback method? Can I access the UI from this callback method if one exists.
Edit: (Here is some code)
//The activate method is called whenever my application gains focus.
public void activate(){
DoSomething wsThread = new DoSomething();
wsThread.start();
}
public void wsCallBack()
{
myTabScreen.add(new ButtonField("Callback called"));
}
public class DoSomething extends Thread
{
public void run()
{
try
{
wsCallBack();
}
catch(Exception e)
{
}
}
}
Very simple. But it never creates the button.
Any ideas?
Thanks a lot.
You can set up a "callback" system to notify the UI when the threads complete. Have a class that extends Thread and pass to it a reference of the class that should be called at the end. If you have a list of such classes that needs to be notified create a Vector on the Thread implementation to hold them. Override the run function and after doing everything you need to do simply call a method on the UI class (iterating through the vector if needed). So your classes may look like:
public class commThread extends Thread{
MyUIClass callbackObj;
public commThread(MyUIClass myUiClass){
callbackObj = myUiClass;
}
public void run(){
//do stuff
callbackObj.callback();
}
}
and your UI class:
public MyUIClass{
public void callback(){
//refresh the UI
}
}
Of course if you have multiple threads running at the same time and calling the same UI object make sure to synchronize the callback method.
Hope this helps!
Silverlight can only send a certain number of simultaneous WCF requests at a time. I am trying to serialize the requests that a particular section of my application is performing because I don't need them to run concurrently.
The problem is as follows (summary below):
"WCF proxies in Silverlight applications use the SynchronizationContext of the thread from which the web service call is initiated to schedule the invocation of the async event handler when the response is received. When the web service call is initiated from the UI thread of a Silverlight application, the async event handler code will also execute on the UI thread."
http://tomasz.janczuk.org/2009/08/improving-performance-of-concurrent-wcf.html
summary: basically, if you block the thread that is calling the async method, it will never get called.
I can't figure out the right model of threading this such which would give me what I want in a reasonable way.
My only other requirement is that I don't want the UI thread to block.
As far as I can see, what should work is if the UI thread has a worker thread which queues up the calls as Action delegates, then uses an AutoResetEvent to execute a task one at a time in yet another worker thread. There are two problems:
1) The thread that calls async can't block, because then async will never get called. In fact, if you put that thread into a wait loop, I've noticed it doesn't get called either
2) You need a way to signal from the completed method of the async call that it is done.
Sorry that was so long, thanks for reading. Any ideas?
I have used a class that i build on my own to execute load operations synchronous. With the class you can register multiple load operations of diffrent domaincontexts and then execute them one by one. You can provide an Action to the constructor of the class that gets called, when all operations are finished (successful or failed).
Here´s the code of the class. I think it´s not complete and you have to change it to match your expectations. Maybe it can help you in your situation.
public class DomainContextQueryLoader {
private List<LoadOperation> _failedOperations;
private Action<DomainContextQueryLoader> _completeAction;
private List<QueuedQuery> _pendingQueries = new List<QueuedQuery>();
public DomainContextQueryLoader(Action<DomainContextQueryLoader> completeAction) {
if (completeAction == null) {
throw new ArgumentNullException("completeAction", "completeAction is null.");
}
this._completeAction = completeAction;
}
/// <summary>
/// Expose the count of failed operations
/// </summary>
public int FailedOperationCount {
get {
if (_failedOperations == null) {
return 0;
}
return _failedOperations.Count;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Expose an enumerator for all of the failed operations
/// </summary>
public IList<LoadOperation> FailedOperations {
get {
if (_failedOperations == null) {
_failedOperations = new List<LoadOperation>();
}
return _failedOperations;
}
}
public IEnumerable<QueuedQuery> QueuedQueries {
get {
return _pendingQueries;
}
}
public bool IsExecuting {
get;
private set;
}
public void EnqueueQuery<T>(DomainContext context, EntityQuery<T> query) where T : Entity {
if (IsExecuting) {
throw new InvalidOperationException("Query cannot be queued, cause execution of queries is in progress");
}
var loadBatch = new QueuedQuery() {
Callback = null,
Context = context,
Query = query,
LoadOption = LoadBehavior.KeepCurrent,
UserState = null
};
_pendingQueries.Add(loadBatch);
}
public void ExecuteQueries() {
if (IsExecuting) {
throw new InvalidOperationException("Executing of queries is in progress");
}
if (_pendingQueries.Count == 0) {
throw new InvalidOperationException("No queries are queued to execute");
}
IsExecuting = true;
var query = DequeueQuery();
ExecuteQuery(query);
}
private void ExecuteQuery(QueuedQuery query) {
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Load data {0}", query.Query.EntityType);
var loadOperation = query.Load();
loadOperation.Completed += new EventHandler(OnOperationCompleted);
}
private QueuedQuery DequeueQuery() {
var query = _pendingQueries[0];
_pendingQueries.RemoveAt(0);
return query;
}
private void OnOperationCompleted(object sender, EventArgs e) {
LoadOperation loadOperation = sender as LoadOperation;
loadOperation.Completed -= new EventHandler(OnOperationCompleted);
if (loadOperation.HasError) {
FailedOperations.Add(loadOperation);
}
if (_pendingQueries.Count > 0) {
var query = DequeueQuery();
ExecuteQuery(query);
}
else {
IsExecuting = false;
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("All data loaded");
if (_completeAction != null) {
_completeAction(this);
_completeAction = null;
}
}
}
}
Update:
I´ve just noticed that you are not using WCF RIA Services, so maybe this class will not help your.
There are some options:
- You can take a look at the Agatha-rrsl either by inspecting the implementation of it or by just using it instead of pure wcf. The framework allows you to queue requests. You can read more here.
- Another option is to use the Reactive extension. There is a SO example here and more info here and here.
- You can try the Power Thread library from Jeffrey Richter. He describes it on his book CLR via C#. You can find the library here. This webcast gives you some info about it.
- You can always roll your own implementation. The yield statement is a good help here. Error handling makes it very difficult to get the solution right.