running of code within a specified time limit

[Ind Sans]

Hi,
Is there any API or options wherein lines of codes are executed within a specified time.

For example:

StartTimer<current time>
code line 1
code line 2
code line 3
code line 4 ---- The code execution stops here itself without proceeding since the given time limit has ended.
code line 5
EndTimer<Current time+10 seconds>


thanks in advance

bharat

[Nicola Garofalo]

You could use Thread.sleep(ms) method. Here's a code snippet

try{
//code line 1 
//code line 2 
//code line 3 
//code line 4
Thread.sleep(10000); //10000 = 10 * 1000ms = 10s
//code line 5
}
catch(InterruptedException iee){
iee.printStackTrace();
}

but..perhaps i got it wrong..you want all the 5 lines to be executed within a time limit...

[Rob Spoor]

Run the code in a different thread, then use join:

Runnable runnable = new Runnable()
{
    public void run()
    {
        code line 1 
        code line 2 
        code line 3 
        code line 4
        code line 5
    }
};
Thread thread = new Thread(runnable);
thread.start();
thread.join(10000);

There is no real way of actually terminating the thread though, so the code will continue in the background. Maybe interrupting the thread can help but I'm not sure.

Alternatively, check out java.util.concurrent.Future. That's a class with a timed get() method that can be canceled.

[Michael Angstadt]

You could just check the time manually, though this is very tedious:

try{
  long stopTime = System.currentTimeMillis() + 10*60*1000;
  //code line 1
  if (System.currentTimeMillis() > stopTime)){
    throw new Exception();
  }
  //code line 2
  if (System.currentTimeMillis() > stopTime)){
    throw new Exception();
  }
  //etc...
} catch (Exception e){
}

Or you could use an interface with a List of anonymous classes so you can loop over all the lines:

interface Line{
  void execute();
}

public class Main{
  public static void main(String args[]){
    List<Line> lines = new ArrayList<Line>();
    lines.add(new Line(){
      public void execute(){
        //first line of code
      }
    });
    lines.add(new Line(){
      public void execute(){
        //second line of code
      }
    });
    //more lines...

    long stopTime = System.currentTimeMillis() + 10*60*1000; 
    for (Line line : lines){
      line.execute();
      if (System.currentTimeMillis() > stopTime) break;
    }
  }
}