Top Description Fields Methods
jakarta.servlet

public Interface AsyncContext


Class representing the execution context for an asynchronous operation that was initiated on a ServletRequest.

An AsyncContext is created and initialized by a call to ServletRequest#startAsync() or ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse). Repeated invocations of these methods will return the same AsyncContext instance, reinitialized as appropriate.

In the event that an asynchronous operation has timed out, the container must run through these steps:

  1. Invoke, at their onTimeout method, all AsyncListener instances registered with the ServletRequest on which the asynchronous operation was initiated.
  2. If none of the listeners called complete or any of the dispatch methods, perform an error dispatch with a status code equal to HttpServletResponse.SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR.
  3. If no matching error page was found, or the error page did not call complete or any of the dispatch methods, call complete.
Since
Servlet 3.0

Field Summary

Modifier and TypeField and Description
public static final String
ASYNC_CONTEXT_PATH

The name of the request attribute under which the original context path is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

public static final String
ASYNC_MAPPING

The name of the request attribute under which the original jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletMapping is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

public static final String
ASYNC_PATH_INFO

The name of the request attribute under which the original path info is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

public static final String
ASYNC_QUERY_STRING

The name of the request attribute under which the original query string is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

public static final String
ASYNC_REQUEST_URI

The name of the request attribute under which the original request URI is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

public static final String
ASYNC_SERVLET_PATH

The name of the request attribute under which the original servlet path is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

Method Summary

Modifier and TypeMethod and Description
public void
addListener(AsyncListener
the AsyncListener to be registered
listener
)

Registers the given AsyncListener with the most recent asynchronous cycle that was started by a call to one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods.

public void
addListener(AsyncListener
the AsyncListener to be registered
listener
,
ServletRequest
the ServletRequest that will be included in the AsyncEvent
servletRequest
,
ServletResponse
the ServletResponse that will be included in the AsyncEvent
servletResponse
)

Registers the given AsyncListener with the most recent asynchronous cycle that was started by a call to one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods.

public void
complete()

Completes the asynchronous operation that was started on the request that was used to initialze this AsyncContext, closing the response that was used to initialize this AsyncContext.

public <
the class of the object to instantiate
T extends AsyncListener
>
T

Returns:

the new AsyncListener instance
createListener
(Class<T>
the AsyncListener class to instantiate
clazz
)

Instantiates the given AsyncListener class.

public void
dispatch()

Dispatches the request and response objects of this AsyncContext to the servlet container.

public void
dispatch(String
the path of the dispatch target, scoped to the ServletContext from which this AsyncContext was initialized
path
)

Dispatches the request and response objects of this AsyncContext to the given path.

public void
dispatch(ServletContext
the ServletContext of the dispatch target
context
,
String
the path of the dispatch target, scoped to the given ServletContext
path
)

Dispatches the request and response objects of this AsyncContext to the given path scoped to the given context.

public ServletRequest

Returns:

the request that was used to initialize this AsyncContext
getRequest
()

Gets the request that was used to initialize this AsyncContext by calling ServletRequest#startAsync() or ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse).

public ServletResponse

Returns:

the response that was used to initialize this AsyncContext
getResponse
()

Gets the response that was used to initialize this AsyncContext by calling ServletRequest#startAsync() or ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse).

public long

Returns:

the timeout in milliseconds
getTimeout
()

Gets the timeout (in milliseconds) for this AsyncContext.

public boolean

Returns:

true if this AsyncContext was initialized with the original request and response objects by calling ServletRequest#startAsync(), or if it was initialized by calling ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse), and neither the ServletRequest nor ServletResponse arguments carried any application-provided wrappers; false otherwise
hasOriginalRequestAndResponse
()

Checks if this AsyncContext was initialized with the original or application-wrapped request and response objects.

public void
setTimeout(long
the timeout in milliseconds
timeout
)

Sets the timeout (in milliseconds) for this AsyncContext.

public void
start(Runnable
the asynchronous handler
run
)

Causes the container to dispatch a thread, possibly from a managed thread pool, to run the specified Runnable.

Field Detail

ASYNC_CONTEXT_PATHback to summary
public static final String ASYNC_CONTEXT_PATH

The name of the request attribute under which the original context path is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

ASYNC_MAPPINGback to summary
public static final String ASYNC_MAPPING

The name of the request attribute under which the original jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletMapping is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

ASYNC_PATH_INFOback to summary
public static final String ASYNC_PATH_INFO

The name of the request attribute under which the original path info is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

ASYNC_QUERY_STRINGback to summary
public static final String ASYNC_QUERY_STRING

The name of the request attribute under which the original query string is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

ASYNC_REQUEST_URIback to summary
public static final String ASYNC_REQUEST_URI

The name of the request attribute under which the original request URI is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

ASYNC_SERVLET_PATHback to summary
public static final String ASYNC_SERVLET_PATH

The name of the request attribute under which the original servlet path is made available to the target of a dispatch(String) or dispatch(ServletContext, String)

Method Detail

addListenerback to summary
public void addListener(AsyncListener listener)

Registers the given AsyncListener with the most recent asynchronous cycle that was started by a call to one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods.

The given AsyncListener will receive an AsyncEvent when the asynchronous cycle completes successfully, times out, results in an error, or a new asynchronous cycle is being initiated via one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods.

AsyncListener instances will be notified in the order in which they were added.

If ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse) or ServletRequest#startAsync is called, the exact same request and response objects are available from the AsyncEvent when the AsyncListener is notified.

Parameters
listener:AsyncListener

the AsyncListener to be registered

Exceptions
IllegalStateException:
if this method is called after the container-initiated dispatch, during which one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods was called, has returned to the container
addListenerback to summary
public void addListener(AsyncListener listener, ServletRequest servletRequest, ServletResponse servletResponse)

Registers the given AsyncListener with the most recent asynchronous cycle that was started by a call to one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods.

The given AsyncListener will receive an AsyncEvent when the asynchronous cycle completes successfully, times out, results in an error, or a new asynchronous cycle is being initiated via one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods.

AsyncListener instances will be notified in the order in which they were added.

The given ServletRequest and ServletResponse objects will be made available to the given AsyncListener via the getSuppliedRequest and getSuppliedResponse methods, respectively, of the AsyncEvent delivered to it. These objects should not be read from or written to, respectively, at the time the AsyncEvent is delivered, because additional wrapping may have occurred since the given AsyncListener was registered, but may be used in order to release any resources associated with them.

Parameters
listener:AsyncListener

the AsyncListener to be registered

servletRequest:ServletRequest

the ServletRequest that will be included in the AsyncEvent

servletResponse:ServletResponse

the ServletResponse that will be included in the AsyncEvent

Exceptions
IllegalStateException:
if this method is called after the container-initiated dispatch, during which one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods was called, has returned to the container
completeback to summary
public void complete()

Completes the asynchronous operation that was started on the request that was used to initialze this AsyncContext, closing the response that was used to initialize this AsyncContext.

Any listeners of type AsyncListener that were registered with the ServletRequest for which this AsyncContext was created will be invoked at their onComplete method.

It is legal to call this method any time after a call to ServletRequest#startAsync() or ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse), and before a call to one of the dispatch methods of this class. If this method is called during a container-initiated dispatch, then the call will not take effect (including required listener invocations) until after the container-initiated dispatch has returned to the container.
Note: Container initiated dispatches include calls to:

If the output stream is in non-blocking mode when this method is called, the output stream will be closed as described by ServletOutputStream#close and this call to complete will not take effect (and any invocations of AsyncListener#onComplete(AsyncEvent) will be delayed) until after any in progress non-blocking write has completed.

createListenerback to summary
public <T extends AsyncListener> T createListener(Class<T> clazz) throws ServletException

Instantiates the given AsyncListener class.

The returned AsyncListener instance may be further customized before it is registered with this AsyncContext via a call to one of the addListener methods.

The given AsyncListener class must define a zero argument constructor, which is used to instantiate it.

This method supports resource injection if the given clazz represents a Managed Bean. See the Jakarta EE platform and CDI specifications for additional details about Managed Beans and resource injection.

This method supports any annotations applicable to AsyncListener.

Parameters
<T>
the class of the object to instantiate
clazz:Class<T>

the AsyncListener class to instantiate

Returns:T

the new AsyncListener instance

Exceptions
ServletException:
if the given clazz fails to be instantiated
dispatchback to summary
public void dispatch()

Dispatches the request and response objects of this AsyncContext to the servlet container.

If the asynchronous cycle was started with ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse), and the request passed is an instance of HttpServletRequest, then the dispatch is to the URI returned by jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest#getRequestURI. Otherwise, the dispatch is to the URI of the request when it was last dispatched by the container.

The following sequence illustrates how this will work:

// REQUEST dispatch to /url/A
AsyncContext ac = request.startAsync();
...
ac.dispatch(); // ASYNC dispatch to /url/A

// REQUEST to /url/A
// FORWARD dispatch to /url/B
request.getRequestDispatcher("/url/B").forward(request,response);
// Start async operation from within the target of the FORWARD
// dispatch
ac = request.startAsync();
...
ac.dispatch(); // ASYNC dispatch to /url/A

// REQUEST to /url/A
// FORWARD dispatch to /url/B
request.getRequestDispatcher("/url/B").forward(request,response);
// Start async operation from within the target of the FORWARD
// dispatch
ac = request.startAsync(request,response);
...
ac.dispatch(); // ASYNC dispatch to /url/B

This method returns immediately after passing the request and response objects to a container managed thread, on which the dispatch operation will be performed. If this method is called during a container-initiated dispatch, the dispatch operation will be delayed until after the container-initiated dispatch has returned to the container.
Note: Container initiated dispatches include calls to:

If the output stream is in non-blocking mode when this method is called, the output stream will be closed as described by ServletOutputStream#close and the dispatch operation will be delayed until after any in progress non-blocking write has completed.

The dispatcher type of the request is set to DispatcherType.ASYNC. Unlike forward dispatches, the response buffer and headers will not be reset, and it is legal to dispatch even if the response has already been committed.

Control over the request and response is delegated to the dispatch target, and the response will be closed when the dispatch target has completed execution, unless ServletRequest#startAsync() or ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse) are called.

Any errors or exceptions that may occur during the execution of this method must be caught and handled by the container, as follows:

  1. Invoke, at their onError method, all AsyncListener instances registered with the ServletRequest for which this AsyncContext was created, and make the caught Throwable available via AsyncEvent#getThrowable.
  2. If none of the listeners called complete or any of the dispatch methods, perform an error dispatch with a status code equal to HttpServletResponse.SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, and make the above Throwable available as the value of the RequestDispatcher.ERROR_EXCEPTION request attribute.
  3. If no matching error page was found, or the error page did not call complete or any of the dispatch methods, call complete.

There can be at most one asynchronous dispatch operation per asynchronous cycle, which is started by a call to one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods. Any attempt to perform an additional asynchronous dispatch operation within the same asynchronous cycle will result in an IllegalStateException. If startAsync is subsequently called on the dispatched request, then any of the dispatch or complete methods may be called.

Exceptions
IllegalStateException:
if one of the dispatch methods has been called and the startAsync method has not been called during the resulting dispatch, or if complete was called
See Also
ServletRequest#getDispatcherType
dispatchback to summary
public void dispatch(String path)

Dispatches the request and response objects of this AsyncContext to the given path.

The path parameter is interpreted in the same way as in ServletRequest#getRequestDispatcher(String), within the scope of the ServletContext from which this AsyncContext was initialized.

All path related query methods of the request must reflect the dispatch target, while the original request URI, context path, path info, servlet path, and query string may be recovered from the ASYNC_REQUEST_URI, ASYNC_CONTEXT_PATH, ASYNC_PATH_INFO, ASYNC_SERVLET_PATH, and ASYNC_QUERY_STRING attributes of the request. These attributes will always reflect the original path elements, even under repeated dispatches.

There can be at most one asynchronous dispatch operation per asynchronous cycle, which is started by a call to one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods. Any attempt to perform an additional asynchronous dispatch operation within the same asynchronous cycle will result in an IllegalStateException. If startAsync is subsequently called on the dispatched request, then any of the dispatch or complete methods may be called.

See dispatch() for additional details, including error handling.

Parameters
path:String

the path of the dispatch target, scoped to the ServletContext from which this AsyncContext was initialized

Exceptions
IllegalStateException:
if one of the dispatch methods has been called and the startAsync method has not been called during the resulting dispatch, or if complete was called
See Also
ServletRequest#getDispatcherType
dispatchback to summary
public void dispatch(ServletContext context, String path)

Dispatches the request and response objects of this AsyncContext to the given path scoped to the given context.

The path parameter is interpreted in the same way as in ServletRequest#getRequestDispatcher(String), except that it is scoped to the given context.

All path related query methods of the request must reflect the dispatch target, while the original request URI, context path, path info, servlet path, and query string may be recovered from the ASYNC_REQUEST_URI, ASYNC_CONTEXT_PATH, ASYNC_PATH_INFO, ASYNC_SERVLET_PATH, and ASYNC_QUERY_STRING attributes of the request. These attributes will always reflect the original path elements, even under repeated dispatches.

There can be at most one asynchronous dispatch operation per asynchronous cycle, which is started by a call to one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods. Any attempt to perform an additional asynchronous dispatch operation within the same asynchronous cycle will result in an IllegalStateException. If startAsync is subsequently called on the dispatched request, then any of the dispatch or complete methods may be called.

See dispatch() for additional details, including error handling.

Parameters
context:ServletContext

the ServletContext of the dispatch target

path:String

the path of the dispatch target, scoped to the given ServletContext

Exceptions
IllegalStateException:
if one of the dispatch methods has been called and the startAsync method has not been called during the resulting dispatch, or if complete was called
See Also
ServletRequest#getDispatcherType
getRequestback to summary
public ServletRequest getRequest()

Gets the request that was used to initialize this AsyncContext by calling ServletRequest#startAsync() or ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse).

Returns:ServletRequest

the request that was used to initialize this AsyncContext

Exceptions
IllegalStateException:
if complete or any of the dispatch methods has been called in the asynchronous cycle
getResponseback to summary
public ServletResponse getResponse()

Gets the response that was used to initialize this AsyncContext by calling ServletRequest#startAsync() or ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse).

Returns:ServletResponse

the response that was used to initialize this AsyncContext

Exceptions
IllegalStateException:
if complete or any of the dispatch methods has been called in the asynchronous cycle
getTimeoutback to summary
public long getTimeout()

Gets the timeout (in milliseconds) for this AsyncContext.

This method returns the container's default timeout for asynchronous operations, or the timeout value passed to the most recent invocation of setTimeout.

A timeout value of zero or less indicates no timeout.

Returns:long

the timeout in milliseconds

hasOriginalRequestAndResponseback to summary
public boolean hasOriginalRequestAndResponse()

Checks if this AsyncContext was initialized with the original or application-wrapped request and response objects.

This information may be used by filters invoked in the outbound direction, after a request was put into asynchronous mode, to determine whether any request and/or response wrappers that they added during their inbound invocation need to be preserved for the duration of the asynchronous operation, or may be released.

Returns:boolean

true if this AsyncContext was initialized with the original request and response objects by calling ServletRequest#startAsync(), or if it was initialized by calling ServletRequest#startAsync(ServletRequest, ServletResponse), and neither the ServletRequest nor ServletResponse arguments carried any application-provided wrappers; false otherwise

setTimeoutback to summary
public void setTimeout(long timeout)

Sets the timeout (in milliseconds) for this AsyncContext.

The timeout applies to this AsyncContext once the container-initiated dispatch during which one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods was called has returned to the container.

The timeout will expire if neither the complete method nor any of the dispatch methods are called. A timeout value of zero or less indicates no timeout.

If setTimeout is not called, then the container's default timeout, which is available via a call to getTimeout, will apply.

The default value is 30000 ms.

Parameters
timeout:long

the timeout in milliseconds

Exceptions
IllegalStateException:
if this method is called after the container-initiated dispatch, during which one of the ServletRequest#startAsync methods was called, has returned to the container
startback to summary
public void start(Runnable run)

Causes the container to dispatch a thread, possibly from a managed thread pool, to run the specified Runnable. The container may propagate appropriate contextual information to the Runnable.

Parameters
run:Runnable

the asynchronous handler