Call method after some delay in java

Question

Scenario is like :

In my application, I opened one file, updated it and saved. Once the file saved event get fired and it will execute one method abc(). But now, I want to add delay after save event get fired, say 1 minute. So I have added Thread.sleep(60000). Now it execute the method abc() after 1 minute. Till now all works fine.

But suppose user saved file 3 times within 1 minute, the method get executed 3 times after each 1 minute. I want to execute method only one time in next 1 minute after first save called with latest file content.

How can I handle such scenario?

Use `ScheduledExecutorService`. Save the future returned from the `schedule` method and `cancel` it if there is another save action later on. — Marko Topolnik, Sep 04 '13 at 11:33
Duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2258066/java-run-a-function-after-a-specific-number-of-seconds — Swapnil, Sep 04 '13 at 11:34
yes it was but I changed it to non-static. The other guy gave answer and it worked but unfortunately he deleted his answer. — Naresh J, Sep 04 '13 at 13:10
honestly: that was a bad solution. i'll edit my answer for you static method — Philipp Sander, Sep 04 '13 at 13:17

Philipp Sander · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-04T14:30:43.517

15

Use Timer and TimerTask

create a member variable of type Timer in YourClassType

lets say: private Timer timer = new Timer();

and your method will look something like this:

public synchronized void abcCaller() {
    this.timer.cancel(); //this will cancel the current task. if there is no active task, nothing happens
    this.timer = new Timer();

    TimerTask action = new TimerTask() {
        public void run() {
            YourClassType.abc(); //as you said in the comments: abc is a static method
        }

    };

    this.timer.schedule(action, 60000); //this starts the task
}

edited Sep 04 '13 at 14:30

answered Sep 04 '13 at 11:46

Philipp Sander

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4

A single `Timer` instance would work; only the *tasks* need to be canceled and rescheduled. – Marko Topolnik Sep 04 '13 at 11:49

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 05 '17 at 19:59

If you are using Thread.sleep(), just have the static method change a static global variable to something that you can use to indicate blocking the method call?

public static boolean abcRunning;
public static void abc()
{
    if (YourClass.abcRunning == null || !YourClass.abcRunning)
    {
        YourClass.abcRunning = true;
        Thread.Sleep(60000);
        // TODO Your Stuff
        YourClass.abcRunning = false;
    }
}

Is there any reason this wouldn't work?

Call method after some delay in java

2 Answers2

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