How can I set a timeout around some code in java on the main thread?

Question

I'm looking for functionality in java identical to this in ruby:

SystemTimer.timeout_after(30.seconds) do do something end

i could achieve this by forking a thread and then killing it after a while, but is there a simpler way?

Answer 1

Either run it in a Thread or do something like that:

void method() {
    long endTimeMillis = System.currentTimeMillis() + 10000;
    while (true) {
     // method logic
     if (System.currentTimeMillis() > endTimeMillis) {
      // do some clean-up
      return;
     }
    }
}

As you can see, this doesnt work for all kind of methods.

Answer 2

Cant you just use the Java Timer?

A facility for threads to schedule tasks for future execution in a background thread. Tasks may be scheduled for one-time execution, or for repeated execution at regular intervals.

Answer 3

You can create a ThreadPoolExecutor, which has an invokeAll method who recievs a timeout as a parameter.