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BlockingQueue.javaAPI DocAndroid 1.5 API9353Wed May 06 22:41:02 BST 2009java.util.concurrent

BlockingQueue

public interface BlockingQueue implements Queue
A {@link java.util.Queue} that additionally supports operations that wait for the queue to become non-empty when retrieving an element, and wait for space to become available in the queue when storing an element.

A BlockingQueue does not accept null elements. Implementations throw NullPointerException on attempts to add, put or offer a null. A null is used as a sentinel value to indicate failure of poll operations.

A BlockingQueue may be capacity bounded. At any given time it may have a remainingCapacity beyond which no additional elements can be put without blocking. A BlockingQueue without any intrinsic capacity constraints always reports a remaining capacity of Integer.MAX_VALUE.

While BlockingQueue is designed to be used primarily for producer-consumer queues, it additionally supports the {@link java.util.Collection} interface. So, for example, it is possible to remove an arbitrary element from a queue using remove(x). However, such operations are in general not performed very efficiently, and are intended for only occasional use, such as when a queued message is cancelled. Also, the bulk Collection operations, most notably addAll, are not necessarily performed atomically, so it is possible for addAll(c) to fail (throwing an exception) after adding only some of the elements in c.

A BlockingQueue does not intrinsically support any kind of "close" or "shutdown" operation to indicate that no more items will be added. The needs and usage of such features tend to be implementation-dependent. For example, a common tactic is for producers to insert special end-of-stream or poison objects, that are interpreted accordingly when taken by consumers.

Usage example, based on a typical producer-consumer scenario. Note that a BlockingQueue can safely be used with multiple producers and multiple consumers.

class Producer implements Runnable {
private final BlockingQueue queue;
Producer(BlockingQueue q) { queue = q; }
public void run() {
try {
while(true) { queue.put(produce()); }
} catch (InterruptedException ex) { ... handle ...}
}
Object produce() { ... }
}

class Consumer implements Runnable {
private final BlockingQueue queue;
Consumer(BlockingQueue q) { queue = q; }
public void run() {
try {
while(true) { consume(queue.take()); }
} catch (InterruptedException ex) { ... handle ...}
}
void consume(Object x) { ... }
}

class Setup {
void main() {
BlockingQueue q = new SomeQueueImplementation();
Producer p = new Producer(q);
Consumer c1 = new Consumer(q);
Consumer c2 = new Consumer(q);
new Thread(p).start();
new Thread(c1).start();
new Thread(c2).start();
}
}
since
1.5
author
Doug Lea
param
the type of elements held in this collection

Fields Summary
Constructors Summary
Methods Summary
public booleanadd(E o)
Adds the specified element to this queue if it is possible to do so immediately, returning true upon success, else throwing an IllegalStateException.

param
o the element
return
true (as per the general contract of Collection.add).
throws
NullPointerException if the specified element is null
throws
IllegalStateException if element cannot be added

public intdrainTo(java.util.Collection c)
Removes all available elements from this queue and adds them into the given collection. This operation may be more efficient than repeatedly polling this queue. A failure encountered while attempting to add elements to collection c may result in elements being in neither, either or both collections when the associated exception is thrown. Attempts to drain a queue to itself result in IllegalArgumentException. Further, the behavior of this operation is undefined if the specified collection is modified while the operation is in progress.

param
c the collection to transfer elements into
return
the number of elements transferred.
throws
NullPointerException if c is null
throws
IllegalArgumentException if c is this queue

public intdrainTo(java.util.Collection c, int maxElements)
Removes at most the given number of available elements from this queue and adds them into the given collection. A failure encountered while attempting to add elements to collection c may result in elements being in neither, either or both collections when the associated exception is thrown. Attempts to drain a queue to itself result in IllegalArgumentException. Further, the behavior of this operation is undefined if the specified collection is modified while the operation is in progress.

param
c the collection to transfer elements into
param
maxElements the maximum number of elements to transfer
return
the number of elements transferred.
throws
NullPointerException if c is null
throws
IllegalArgumentException if c is this queue

public booleanoffer(E o)
Inserts the specified element into this queue, if possible. When using queues that may impose insertion restrictions (for example capacity bounds), method offer is generally preferable to method {@link Collection#add}, which can fail to insert an element only by throwing an exception.

param
o the element to add.
return
true if it was possible to add the element to this queue, else false
throws
NullPointerException if the specified element is null

public booleanoffer(E o, long timeout, java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit unit)
Inserts the specified element into this queue, waiting if necessary up to the specified wait time for space to become available.

param
o the element to add
param
timeout how long to wait before giving up, in units of unit
param
unit a TimeUnit determining how to interpret the timeout parameter
return
true if successful, or false if the specified waiting time elapses before space is available.
throws
InterruptedException if interrupted while waiting.
throws
NullPointerException if the specified element is null.

public Epoll(long timeout, java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit unit)
Retrieves and removes the head of this queue, waiting if necessary up to the specified wait time if no elements are present on this queue.

param
timeout how long to wait before giving up, in units of unit
param
unit a TimeUnit determining how to interpret the timeout parameter
return
the head of this queue, or null if the specified waiting time elapses before an element is present.
throws
InterruptedException if interrupted while waiting.

public voidput(E o)
Adds the specified element to this queue, waiting if necessary for space to become available.

param
o the element to add
throws
InterruptedException if interrupted while waiting.
throws
NullPointerException if the specified element is null.

public intremainingCapacity()
Returns the number of elements that this queue can ideally (in the absence of memory or resource constraints) accept without blocking, or Integer.MAX_VALUE if there is no intrinsic limit.

Note that you cannot always tell if an attempt to add an element will succeed by inspecting remainingCapacity because it may be the case that a waiting consumer is ready to take an element out of an otherwise full queue.

return
the remaining capacity

public Etake()
Retrieves and removes the head of this queue, waiting if no elements are present on this queue.

return
the head of this queue
throws
InterruptedException if interrupted while waiting.