Callback functions in Java

Question

Is there a way to pass a call back function in a Java method?

The behavior I'm trying to mimic is a .Net Delegate being passed to a function.

I've seen people suggesting creating a separate object but that seems overkill, however I am aware that sometimes overkill is the only way to do things.

Answer 1

Check the closures how they have been implemented in the lambdaj library. They actually have a behavior very similar to C# delegates:

http://code.google.com/p/lambdaj/wiki/Closures

Answer 2

When I need this kind of functionality in Java, I usually use the Observer pattern. It does imply an extra object, but I think it's a clean way to go, and is a widely understood pattern, which helps with code readability.

Answer 3

I think using an abstract class is more elegant, like this:

// Something.java

public abstract class Something {   
    public abstract void test();        
    public void usingCallback() {
        System.out.println("This is before callback method");
        test();
        System.out.println("This is after callback method");
    }
}

// CallbackTest.java

public class CallbackTest extends Something {
    @Override
    public void test() {
        System.out.println("This is inside CallbackTest!");
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        CallbackTest myTest = new CallbackTest();
        myTest.usingCallback();
    }    
}

/*
Output:
This is before callback method
This is inside CallbackTest!
This is after callback method
*/

Answer 4

I tried using java.lang.reflect to implement 'callback', here's a sample:

package StackOverflowQ443708_JavaCallBackTest;

import java.lang.reflect.*;
import java.util.concurrent.*;

class MyTimer
{
    ExecutorService EXE =
        //Executors.newCachedThreadPool ();
        Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor ();

    public static void PrintLine ()
    {
        System.out.println ("--------------------------------------------------------------------------------");
    }

    public void SetTimer (final int timeout, final Object obj, final String methodName, final Object... args)
    {
        SetTimer (timeout, obj, false, methodName, args);
    }
    public void SetTimer (final int timeout, final Object obj, final boolean isStatic, final String methodName, final Object... args)
    {
        Class<?>[] argTypes = null;
        if (args != null)
        {
            argTypes = new Class<?> [args.length];
            for (int i=0; i<args.length; i++)
            {
                argTypes[i] = args[i].getClass ();
            }
        }

        SetTimer (timeout, obj, isStatic, methodName, argTypes, args);
    }
    public void SetTimer (final int timeout, final Object obj, final String methodName, final Class<?>[] argTypes, final Object... args)
    {
        SetTimer (timeout, obj, false, methodName, argTypes, args);
    }
    public void SetTimer (final int timeout, final Object obj, final boolean isStatic, final String methodName, final Class<?>[] argTypes, final Object... args)
    {
        EXE.execute (
            new Runnable()
            {
                public void run ()
                {
                    Class<?> c;
                    Method method;
                    try
                    {
                        if (isStatic) c = (Class<?>)obj;
                        else c = obj.getClass ();

                        System.out.println ("Wait for " + timeout + " seconds to invoke " + c.getSimpleName () + "::[" + methodName + "]");
                        TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep (timeout);
                        System.out.println ();
                        System.out.println ("invoking " + c.getSimpleName () + "::[" + methodName + "]...");
                        PrintLine ();
                        method = c.getDeclaredMethod (methodName, argTypes);
                        method.invoke (obj, args);
                    }
                    catch (Exception e)
                    {
                        e.printStackTrace();
                    }
                    finally
                    {
                        PrintLine ();
                    }
                }
            }
        );
    }
    public void ShutdownTimer ()
    {
        EXE.shutdown ();
    }
}

public class CallBackTest
{
    public void onUserTimeout ()
    {
        System.out.println ("onUserTimeout");
    }
    public void onTestEnd ()
    {
        System.out.println ("onTestEnd");
    }
    public void NullParameterTest (String sParam, int iParam)
    {
        System.out.println ("NullParameterTest: String parameter=" + sParam + ", int parameter=" + iParam);
    }
    public static void main (String[] args)
    {
        CallBackTest test = new CallBackTest ();
        MyTimer timer = new MyTimer ();

        timer.SetTimer ((int)(Math.random ()*10), test, "onUserTimeout");
        timer.SetTimer ((int)(Math.random ()*10), test, "onTestEnd");
        timer.SetTimer ((int)(Math.random ()*10), test, "A-Method-Which-Is-Not-Exists");    // java.lang.NoSuchMethodException

        timer.SetTimer ((int)(Math.random ()*10), System.out, "println", "this is an argument of System.out.println() which is called by timer");
        timer.SetTimer ((int)(Math.random ()*10), System.class, true, "currentTimeMillis");
        timer.SetTimer ((int)(Math.random ()*10), System.class, true, "currentTimeMillis", "Should-Not-Pass-Arguments");    // java.lang.NoSuchMethodException

        timer.SetTimer ((int)(Math.random ()*10), String.class, true, "format", "%d %X", 100, 200); // java.lang.NoSuchMethodException
        timer.SetTimer ((int)(Math.random ()*10), String.class, true, "format", "%d %X", new Object[]{100, 200});

        timer.SetTimer ((int)(Math.random ()*10), test, "NullParameterTest", new Class<?>[]{String.class, int.class}, null, 888);

        timer.ShutdownTimer ();
    }
}

Answer 5

Since Java 8, there are lambda and method references:

• Oracle Docs: Lambda Expressions
• Oracle Docs: Method References

For example, lets define:

public class FirstClass {
    String prefix;
    public FirstClass(String prefix){
        this.prefix = prefix;
    }
    public String addPrefix(String suffix){
        return prefix +":"+suffix;
    }
}

and

import java.util.function.Function;

public class SecondClass {
    public String applyFunction(String name, Function<String,String> function){
        return function.apply(name);
    }
}

Then you can do:

FirstClass first = new FirstClass("first");
SecondClass second = new SecondClass();
System.out.println(second.applyFunction("second",first::addPrefix));

You can find an example on github, here: julien-diener/MethodReference.

Answer 6

it's a bit old, but nevertheless... I found the answer of Peter Wilkinson nice except for the fact that it does not work for primitive types like int/Integer. The problem is the .getClass() for the parameters[i], which returns for instance java.lang.Integer, which on the other hand will not be correctly interpreted by getMethod(methodName,parameters[]) (Java's fault) ...

I combined it with the suggestion of Daniel Spiewak (in his answer to this); steps to success included: catching NoSuchMethodException -> getMethods() -> looking for the matching one by method.getName() -> and then explicitly looping through the list of parameters and applying Daniels solution, such identifying the type matches and the signature matches.