Table of Contents


Given problem

Normally, when we are working with multithreading in Java project, we will use a class that implements Runnable interface, or extends Thread class. But it has some disadvantages that we need to take care.

  • Do not setup thread priority.
  • Do not provide the thread’s name.


Solution with ThreadFactory

  1. Syntax of ThreadFactory

     public interface ThreadFactory {
     Thread newThread(Runnable r);
 }


Source code

  1. Defines our custom class that implements ThreadFactory interface

     public class MpThreadFactory implements ThreadFactory {

     private String name;

     public MpThreadFactory(String name) {
         this.name = name;
     }

     @Override
     public Thread newThread(Runnable r) {
         Thread t = new Thread(r, this.name);
     }
 }

  2. Using ThreadFactoryBuilder in Guava concurrent library.

     ThreadFactory threadFactory = new ThreadFactoryBuilder()
                                     .setNameFormat("Worker-%d")
                                     .setDaemon(true)
                                     .build();

  3. Using VerboseThread class in JCabi Log library.

    To use JCabi Log library, insert the below dependency.

     <dependency>
     <groupId>com.jcabi</groupId>
     <artifactId>jcabi-log</artifactId>
     <version>0.18.1</version>
 </dependency>

    The VerboseThread class will log all runtime exceptions through SLF4J. VerboseThreads factory should be used together with executor services from java.util.concurrent package.

     ThreadFactory factory = new VerboseThreads();
 Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(2, factory).scheduleAtFixedRate(
     new Runnable() {
         @Override
         public void run() {
         // the same sensitive operation that may throw
         // a runtime exception
         }
     }, 1L, 1L, TimeUnit.SECONDS
 );


Benefits and Drawbacks

  1. Benefits

    • Enable application to use special thread subclasses.

    • Adding the priority for each thread.

    • Support to fill the thread’s name.

      It’s really helpful when we cope with the bug in our program, we can see the thread’s name.

    • We can use factory pattern with ThreadFactory, and then use statistic for our threads.

  2. Drawbacks


Wrapping up

  • Understanding about why we should use ThreadFactory over Runnable interface or Thread class.


Refer:

https://www.jcabi.com/jcabi-log/apidocs-0.7.5/com/jcabi/log/VerboseThreads.html

https://log.jcabi.com/threads-VerboseProcess.html