How do I call some blocking method with a timeout in Java?

Question

Is there a standard nice way to call a blocking method with a timeout in Java? I want to be able to do:

// call something.blockingMethod(); // if it hasn't come back within 2 seconds, forget it 

if that makes sense.

Thanks.

Answer 1

You could use an Executor:

ExecutorService executor = Executors.newCachedThreadPool(); Callable<Object> task = new Callable<Object>() {    public Object call() {       return something.blockingMethod();    } }; Future<Object> future = executor.submit(task); try {    Object result = future.get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);  } catch (TimeoutException ex) {    // handle the timeout } catch (InterruptedException e) {    // handle the interrupts } catch (ExecutionException e) {    // handle other exceptions } finally {    future.cancel(true); // may or may not desire this } 

If the future.get doesn't return in 5 seconds, it throws a TimeoutException. The timeout can be configured in seconds, minutes, milliseconds or any unit available as a constant in TimeUnit.

See the JavaDoc for more detail.