Java - Define a timeout for Callable within a ExecutorCompletionService

Question

I've got the following problem using ExecutorCompletionService. I want to call a lot of Callable in different Threads. These Callable don't share any information with each other. I need to define a timeout for each Callable, eg. do not run longer than 5 seconds. Each Callable can run in a different time that I do not know when starting. After the timeout the Thread should be stopped/killed and the result is not interesting any more for me. The other 'normal' running Threads should not be infuenced.

So lets take the following example with a simple callable and my current java code.

import java.util.Date;
import java.util.concurrent.Callable;

public class Job implements Callable<Integer> {

    int returnValue = 0;
    long millis = 0;

    public Job(long millis, int value) {
        this.millis = millis;
        this.returnValue = value;
    }

    @Override
    public Integer call() throws Exception, InterruptedException {
        try {
            System.out.println(new Date() + " " + returnValue + " started");
            Thread.sleep(millis);
            System.out.println(new Date() + " " + returnValue + " finished");
            return returnValue;
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            System.out.println(new Date() + " " + returnValue + " interrupted");
            throw e;
        }        
    }
}

And the other Class where the Callable is used.

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.concurrent.*;

public class CallableTest {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ExecutorService newFixedThreadPool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2);
        CompletionService<Integer> pool = new ExecutorCompletionService<Integer>(newFixedThreadPool);
        
        for (int i = 10; i > 0; i--) {
            Job job = new Job(i * 1000, i);
            pool.submit(job);
        }
        
        ArrayList<Integer> results = new ArrayList<Integer>();
        for (int i = 1; i < 11; ++i) {
            try {
                Future<Integer> future = pool.take();
                Integer content = future.get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
                results.add(content);
                System.out.println(new Date() + " added " + content);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (TimeoutException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (ExecutionException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
        newFixedThreadPool.shutdownNow();

        System.out.println(new Date() + " results:");
        for (int j : results) {
            System.out.println(new Date() + " " + j);
        }
    }
}

The ouput is something like:

Sun Jun 29 08:01:00 CEST 2014 10 started
Sun Jun 29 08:01:00 CEST 2014 9 started
Sun Jun 29 08:01:09 CEST 2014 9 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:01:09 CEST 2014 added 9
Sun Jun 29 08:01:09 CEST 2014 8 started
Sun Jun 29 08:01:10 CEST 2014 10 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:01:10 CEST 2014 7 started
Sun Jun 29 08:01:10 CEST 2014 added 10
Sun Jun 29 08:01:17 CEST 2014 7 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:01:17 CEST 2014 6 started
Sun Jun 29 08:01:17 CEST 2014 added 7
Sun Jun 29 08:01:17 CEST 2014 8 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:01:17 CEST 2014 added 8
Sun Jun 29 08:01:17 CEST 2014 5 started
Sun Jun 29 08:01:22 CEST 2014 5 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:01:22 CEST 2014 added 5
Sun Jun 29 08:01:22 CEST 2014 4 started
Sun Jun 29 08:01:23 CEST 2014 6 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:01:23 CEST 2014 3 started
Sun Jun 29 08:01:23 CEST 2014 added 6
Sun Jun 29 08:01:26 CEST 2014 3 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:01:26 CEST 2014 2 started
Sun Jun 29 08:01:26 CEST 2014 added 3
Sun Jun 29 08:01:26 CEST 2014 4 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:01:26 CEST 2014 1 started
Sun Jun 29 08:01:26 CEST 2014 added 4
Sun Jun 29 08:01:27 CEST 2014 1 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:01:27 CEST 2014 added 1
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 2 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 added 2
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 results:
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 9
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 10
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 7
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 8
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 5
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 6
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 3
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 4
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 1
Sun Jun 29 08:01:28 CEST 2014 2

That does not work like I would like to have it. I want that each Callable running longer than 5 seconds should be terminated/ended/interruped and only the Callable running lower than 5 seconds give me a valid result.

I also tried it without the ExecutorCompletionService

public class CallableTest2 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ExecutorService newFixedThreadPool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2);
        List<Future<Integer>> futures = new ArrayList<Future<Integer>>();
        
        for (int i = 10; i > 0; i--) {
            Job job = new Job(i * 1000, i);
            futures.add(newFixedThreadPool.submit(job));
        }
        
        ArrayList<Integer> results = new ArrayList<Integer>();
        for (Future<Integer> future: futures) {
            try {
                Integer content = future.get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
                results.add(content);
                System.out.println(new Date() + " added " + content);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (TimeoutException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (ExecutionException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
        newFixedThreadPool.shutdownNow();

        System.out.println(new Date() + " results:");
        for (int j : results) {
            System.out.println(new Date() + " " + j);
        }
    }
}

With the results:

Sun Jun 29 08:33:19 CEST 2014 9 started
Sun Jun 29 08:33:19 CEST 2014 10 started
java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:228)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:91)
    at callabletest.CallableTest2.main(CallableTest2.java:29)
Sun Jun 29 08:33:28 CEST 2014 9 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:33:28 CEST 2014 8 started
Sun Jun 29 08:33:28 CEST 2014 added 9
Sun Jun 29 08:33:29 CEST 2014 10 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:33:29 CEST 2014 7 started
java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:228)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:91)
    at callabletest.CallableTest2.main(CallableTest2.java:29)
Sun Jun 29 08:33:36 CEST 2014 7 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:33:36 CEST 2014 added 7
Sun Jun 29 08:33:36 CEST 2014 6 started
Sun Jun 29 08:33:36 CEST 2014 8 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:33:36 CEST 2014 5 started
java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(Sun Jun 29 08:33:41 CEST 2014 5 finished
FutureTask.java:228)
Sun Jun 29 08:33:41 CEST 2014 added 5
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:91)
Sun Jun 29 08:33:41 CEST 2014 4 started
    at callabletest.CallableTest2.main(CallableTest2.java:29)
Sun Jun 29 08:33:42 CEST 2014 6 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:33:42 CEST 2014 3 started
Sun Jun 29 08:33:45 CEST 2014 3 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:33:45 CEST 2014 2 started
Sun Jun 29 08:33:45 CEST 2014 4 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:33:45 CEST 2014 added 4
Sun Jun 29 08:33:45 CEST 2014 added 3
Sun Jun 29 08:33:45 CEST 2014 1 started
Sun Jun 29 08:33:46 CEST 2014 1 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 2 finished
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 added 2
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 added 1
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 results:
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 9
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 7
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 5
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 4
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 3
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 2
Sun Jun 29 08:33:47 CEST 2014 1

Now I get some TimeoutExceptions, but also not where I expect them. Eg. The Callable running 9 and 7 seconds does not throw an Exception!

What do I have to change in the code, to only get the results of the short running Threads and kill the long running ones. In the example only the results 1-5 without 6-10.

I've tested a lot of things but I can't get it to work. Please help

This is an answer to the post of bstar55 using a ScheduledExecutorService.

I changed my code regarding to your hint to:

public class CallableTest3 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ScheduledExecutorService executor = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(2);
        List<Future<Integer>> futures = new ArrayList<Future<Integer>>();
        
        for (int i = 10; i > 0; i--) {
            Job job = new Job(i * 1000, i);
            final Future handler = executor.submit(job);
            final int x = i;
            executor.schedule(new Runnable() {

                public void run() {
                    boolean cancel = handler.cancel(true);
                    if(cancel){
                        System.out.println(new Date() + " job " + x + " cancelled");
                    }else{
                        System.out.println(new Date() + " job " + x + " not cancelled");
                    }
                }
            }, 5000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
            futures.add(handler);
        }

        ArrayList<Integer> results = new ArrayList<Integer>();
        for (Future<Integer> future : futures) {
            try {
                Integer content = future.get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
                results.add(content);
                System.out.println(new Date() + " added " + content);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (TimeoutException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (ExecutionException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
        executor.shutdown();

        System.out.println(new Date() + " results:");
        for (int j : results) {
            System.out.println(new Date() + " --- " + j);
        }
    }
}

But this also does not work as expected. Result:

Sun Jun 29 10:27:41 CEST 2014 9 started
Sun Jun 29 10:27:41 CEST 2014 10 started
java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:228)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:91)
    at callabletest.CallableTest3.main(CallableTest3.java:43)
Sun Jun 29 10:27:50 CEST 2014 9 finished
Sun Jun 29 10:27:50 CEST 2014 added 9
Sun Jun 29 10:27:50 CEST 2014 8 started
Sun Jun 29 10:27:51 CEST 2014 10 finished
Sun Jun 29 10:27:51 CEST 2014 7 started
java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:228)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:91)
    at callabletest.CallableTest3.main(CallableTest3.java:43)
Sun Jun 29 10:27:58 CEST 2014 8 finished
Sun Jun 29 10:27:58 CEST 2014 6 started
Sun Jun 29 10:27:58 CEST 2014 7 finished
Sun Jun 29 10:27:58 CEST 2014 5 started
Sun Jun 29 10:27:58 CEST 2014 added 7
Sun Jun 29 10:28:03 CEST 2014 5 finished
Sun Jun 29 10:28:03 CEST 2014 4 started
java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:228)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:91)
Sun Jun 29 10:28:03 CEST 2014 added 5
    at callabletest.CallableTest3.main(CallableTest3.java:43)
Sun Jun 29 10:28:04 CEST 2014 6 finished
Sun Jun 29 10:28:04 CEST 2014 3 started
Sun Jun 29 10:28:07 CEST 2014 3 finished
Sun Jun 29 10:28:07 CEST 2014 2 started
Sun Jun 29 10:28:07 CEST 2014 4 finished
Sun Jun 29 10:28:07 CEST 2014 added 4
Sun Jun 29 10:28:07 CEST 2014 added 3
Sun Jun 29 10:28:07 CEST 2014 1 started
java.util.concurrent.CancellationException
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:230)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.get(FutureTask.java:91)
    at callabletest.CallableTest3.main(CallableTest3.java:43)
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 1 finished
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 job 10 not cancelled
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 job 9 not cancelled
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 job 8 not cancelled
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 job 7 not cancelled
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 job 6 not cancelled
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 job 5 not cancelled
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 job 4 not cancelled
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 job 3 not cancelled
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 2 interrupted
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 job 1 not cancelled
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 added 1
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 results:
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 --- 9
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 --- 7
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 --- 5
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 --- 4
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 --- 3
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 --- 1
Sun Jun 29 10:28:08 CEST 2014 job 2 cancelled

But instead the job 2 was cancelled!

Log when jobs are submitted and when jobs are taken from the pool. If be interested to see how long the first job has been running before future.get() is called. — bstar55, Jun 29 '14 at 07:12
Okay, I think I'm starting to see what's going on. You're running jobs on two threads and then trying to get results on a single thread. While you're waiting for one result, at least one other job is running without you waiting for it. By the time you start waiting for a result, the job you're waiting for had already been running for some length of time, invalidating your 5 second timeout. — bstar55, Jun 29 '14 at 07:18

score 7 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 29 '15 at 09:44

I suggest you to divide your problem into 2 separate ones:

run on multiple threads
use a timeout for each operation

For the first (multithreading), you already used the service executor that can manage that on 2 Threads : Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2). If you apply the timeout here, the timeout act for the run of all tasks, but you need a timeout for each job.

For the timout issue, you can manage it thanks to a new service executor per job in a class: JobManager.

package com.stackoverflow.q24473796;

import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class JobManager implements Callable<Integer> {

protected long timeout;
protected TimeUnit timeUnit;
protected Callable<Integer> job;

public JobManager(long timeout, TimeUnit timeUnit, Callable<Integer> job) {
this.timeout = timeout;
this.timeUnit = timeUnit;
this.job = job;
}

@Override
public Integer call() {
    Integer result = new Integer(-1); // default, this could be adapted
    ExecutorService exec = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();

    try {
        result = exec.submit(job).get(timeout, timeUnit);
    } catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException | TimeoutException e) {
        // Whatever you want
        if (e instanceof TimeoutException) {
            System.out.println("Timeout get for " + job.toString());
        } else {
            System.out.println("exception get for " + job.toString() + " : " + e.getMessage());
        }

    }
    exec.shutdown();
    return result;
    }
}

Then, you can call the tasks from your main thread as following:

    Job job = new Job(i * 1000, i);
    Future<Integer> future = newFixedThreadPool.submit(new JobManager(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS, job));

I addapted your CallableTest: package com.stackoverflow.q24473796;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.Future;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class CallableTest {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ExecutorService newFixedThreadPool = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2);

        List<Future<Integer>> futures = new ArrayList<Future<Integer>>();
        for (int i = 10; i > 0; i--) {
            Job job = new Job(i * 1000, i);
            Future<Integer> future = newFixedThreadPool.submit(new   JobManager(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS, job));
            futures.add(future);
        }

        ArrayList<Integer> results = new ArrayList<Integer>();
        for (Future<Integer> future : futures) {
            Integer result = new Integer(-1);
            try {
                result = future.get();
            } catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
            if (result != -1) {
                results.add(result);
            }
        }

        newFixedThreadPool.shutdown();

        try {
            newFixedThreadPool.awaitTermination(60, TimeUnit.SECONDS); //Global Timeout
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        System.out.println(new Date() + " results:");
        for (int j : results) {
            System.out.println(new Date() + " " + j);
        }
    }
}

And you'll get the following output:

Wed Apr 29 10:51:02 CEST 2015 10 started
Wed Apr 29 10:51:02 CEST 2015 9 started
Timeout get for com.stackoverflow.q24473796.Job@249fe45c
Timeout get for com.stackoverflow.q24473796.Job@249fe45c
Wed Apr 29 10:51:07 CEST 2015 8 started
Wed Apr 29 10:51:07 CEST 2015 7 started
Wed Apr 29 10:51:11 CEST 2015 9 finished
Timeout get for com.stackoverflow.q24473796.Job@3cd4c5a0
Timeout get for com.stackoverflow.q24473796.Job@3cd4c5a0
Wed Apr 29 10:51:12 CEST 2015 6 started
Wed Apr 29 10:51:12 CEST 2015 5 started
Wed Apr 29 10:51:12 CEST 2015 10 finished
Wed Apr 29 10:51:14 CEST 2015 7 finished
Wed Apr 29 10:51:15 CEST 2015 8 finished
Wed Apr 29 10:51:17 CEST 2015 5 finished
Wed Apr 29 10:51:17 CEST 2015 4 started
Timeout get for com.stackoverflow.q24473796.Job@2a0fded2
Wed Apr 29 10:51:17 CEST 2015 3 started
Wed Apr 29 10:51:18 CEST 2015 6 finished
Wed Apr 29 10:51:20 CEST 2015 3 finished
Wed Apr 29 10:51:20 CEST 2015 2 started
Wed Apr 29 10:51:21 CEST 2015 4 finished
Wed Apr 29 10:51:21 CEST 2015 1 started
Wed Apr 29 10:51:22 CEST 2015 1 finished
Wed Apr 29 10:51:22 CEST 2015 2 finished
Wed Apr 29 10:51:22 CEST 2015 results:
Wed Apr 29 10:51:22 CEST 2015 5
Wed Apr 29 10:51:22 CEST 2015 4
Wed Apr 29 10:51:22 CEST 2015 3
Wed Apr 29 10:51:22 CEST 2015 2
Wed Apr 29 10:51:22 CEST 2015 1

The idea to attach ExecutorService in Callable is what I've been looking for my similar problem. Thanks. — Bằng Rikimaru, May 24 '23 at 06:50

Warren Dew · Answer 2 · 2014-06-29T17:29:23.233

Probably the best way is to handle the timing from within the Callable's call() method. When you enter the method, record the time. Split up the time within the call() method - in the example case, instead of sleeping for the full time, sleep for one second at a time - and each time through, check whether the maximum time has elapsed since the entry time. If it has, abort processing and exit gracefully.

If you absolutely cannot have the Callable's code check periodically on the time - or on an external stop notification, as others have suggested - there is one way to terminate it from code executing outside the thread. However, this way is deprecated because it is almost certain to cause unfixable bugs. Essentially, when the thread starts - that is, when the call() method is entered - start a TimerTask subclass and give it a pointer to the thread. When the TimerTask fires, it calls Thread.stop() on the thread. Again, this is highly unsafe, because it is likely to leave objects in a corrupted state, as explained in the Oracle documentation here:

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/concurrency/threadPrimitiveDeprecation.html

About the only way this could work is if your Callable's code never needs to synchronize and never actually synchronizes on any object, even within a library call, and will never be changed in the future to do so. This is extremely difficult to ensure, so it would be much better to figure out a way to break up the Callable's code so it could check on the time periodically and exit gracefully if it times out.

One final note: if you really think your Callable's code never needs to synchronize to share objects in memory, it's a great candidate for execution in an external process, rather than in a thread in the main process. The advantage to this is that you can kill an external process relatively safely. Basically, the TimerTask in the external process would call System.exit() in the worker process rather than Thread.stop() in the worker thread.

Yes I also thought about looking for the time within the callable. The problem is, that in the real application there is a big code-block instead of the simple Thread.sleep(x); I do not know how to check this codeblock every second without creating a new thread for each thread! — user3787186, Jun 29 '14 at 07:29
Do you want the threads to stop after 5 seconds to save processing time, or is it okay if they continue operating and you just have the option to ignore the result if they have operated longer than 5 seconds without completing? — Warren Dew, Jun 29 '14 at 07:43
The threads should be stopped. In the real application the Callable run sometimes into an endless loops. So I also need to kill these threads after my timeout. The real timeout is about half an hour, so its not a realtime problem or so. The result of this killed callable is not interesting anymore for me. But it would also be interesting, which Callable was killed. — user3787186, Jun 29 '14 at 07:49
There is a way to do it, but it is highly dangerous. There's also an alternative using processes instead of threads. See the edits to my answer for more detail. — Warren Dew, Jun 29 '14 at 17:02

bstar55 · Answer 3 · 2014-06-29T07:36:12.570

0

You've got Jobs running on two threads and you're reading results from your main thread. While you're waiting for one Job to finish, another Job is running without you waiting. I think you'll find you get the results you expect if you change your thread pool to a size of 1.

If you have to run the jobs on multiple threads, you'll have to come up with a way to track how long a Job has already been running by the time you start waiting for a result. If the Job has already been running for longer than 5 seconds, reject it. If not, wait for 5 seconds minus the amount of time it's already been running.

One option would be to store the start time in the Job. Then you could do something like

 long elapsedTime = System.currentTimeMillis() - job.getStartTime();
 if (elapsedTime < 5000) {
     future.get(5000 - elapsedTime, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
 }

edited Jun 29 '14 at 07:36

answered Jun 29 '14 at 07:25

bstar55

3,542
3
20
24

I think the idea is good. How can I save the starting time within the Callable, so I can use it in the calling main thread for compairing? But it will not work for the ExecutorCompletionService, because the returned Future objects are not in the same order as submitted to the pool. So I don't know what Future object belongs to what Callable for comparing the timings. – user3787186 Jun 29 '14 at 07:58
Yeah, I also don't see a way to get the Job associated with the Future. I posted another answer that might prove more useful. – bstar55 Jun 29 '14 at 08:06

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 29 '14 at 08:04

You can use a ScheduledExecutorService for this. First you would submit each task and retain the futures that are created. After that you can submit a new task that would cancel the retained future after some period of time.

 ScheduledExecutorService executor = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(2); 
 for (int i = 10; i > 0; i--) {
        Job job = new Job(i * 1000, i);
        final Future handler = executor.submit(job);
        executor.schedule(new Runnable(){
            public void run(){
                handler.cancel();
            }
        }, 5000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
        futures.add(handler);
 }

This will execute your handler (main functionality to be interrupted) for 5 seconds, then will cancel (i.e. interrupt) that specific task.

At this point you know that no Job will be allowed to run for more than 5 seconds, so

Integer content = future.get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

Should work fine.

Damn, due to my low reputation I can't answer to my own post within 8 hours here. So I will add my changes to my original post. — user3787186, Jun 29 '14 at 08:36

Java - Define a timeout for Callable within a ExecutorCompletionService

4 Answers4