Use Event Queues

From Documentation

The event queue provides a simple way to execute a so-called asynchronous event listener in parallel to other event listeners. Thus, it won't block the user from accessing other functions even if the asynchronous event listener spends a lot of time to execute.

The event queue eventually starts a working thread to invoke the asynchronous event listener, though it is transparent to the caller. Thus, it cannot be used in the environment that does not allow the use of working threads, such as Google App Engine.

In additions, it will start a server push automatically to send the UI updates back when it is ready. If you prefer to use the client polling or particular implementation, you could start it manually by by use of DesktopCtrl.enableServerPush(ServerPush), such as:

((DesktopCtrl)desktop).enableServerPush(
    new org.zkoss.zk.ui.impl.PollingServerPush(2000,5000,-1));

Example

We provide two implementations to illustrate how to use the event queue's asynchronous listener for executing a long operation. The first approach is more generic that you can modify it to use more diverse situations. On the other hand, the second approach is much simpler. If you don't have time, you could skip the first approach and study the second approach.

A Generic Approach

A typical use case is to subscribe an asynchronous event listener for doing the long operation, and to subscribe a synchronous event listener to update the user interface. Then, when starting a long operation, an event is posted to the asynchronous event listener for processing. Since the invocation is asynchronous, the user can still interact with ZK smoothly. At the end of the invocation of the asynchronous event listener, it published an event to the synchronous event listener to update the result of the long operation back to the browser.

For example,

<window title="test of long operation" border="normal">
	<html><![CDATA[
	<ul>
	<li>Click the button it will start a long operation.</li>
	<li>With this implementation, you can press the button again even if
	the long operation is still being processed</li>
	</ul>
	]]></html>
	<zscript>
	void print(String msg) {
		new Label(msg).setParent(inf);
	}
	</zscript>
	<button label="async long op">
		<attribute name="onClick"><![CDATA[
   if (EventQueues.exists("longop")) {
     print("It is busy. Please wait");
     return; //busy
   }

   EventQueue eq = EventQueues.lookup("longop"); //create a queue
   String result;

   //subscribe async listener to handle long operation
   eq.subscribe(new EventListener() {
     public void onEvent(Event evt) {
       if ("doLongOp".equals(evt.getName())) {
         org.zkoss.lang.Threads.sleep(3000); //simulate a long operation
         result = "success"; //store the result
         eq.publish(new Event("endLongOp")); //notify it is done
       }
     }
   }, true); //asynchronous

   //subscribe a normal listener to show the resul to the browser
   eq.subscribe(new EventListener() {
     public void onEvent(Event evt) {
       if ("endLongOp".equals(evt.getName())) {
   	     print(result); //show the result to the browser
   	     EventQueues.remove("longop");
   	   }
   	 }
   }); //synchronous

   print("Wait for 3 seconds");
   eq.publish(new Event("doLongOp")); //kick off the long operation
  		]]></attribute>
 	</button>
 	<vbox id="inf"/>
</window>

An asynchronous event listener is not allowed to access the desktop, but it is allowed to invoke EventQueue.publish(Event) to publish an event.

A Simpler Approach

While subscribing the asynchronous and synchronous event listeners separately is geneic, as illustrated above, the event queue provides a simple method to allow you register them in one invocation: EventQueue.subscribe(EventListener, EventListener). In additions, you don't need to publish an event at the end of the asynchronous event listener -- the synchronous event listener is invoked automatically.

<window title="test of long operation" border="normal">
	<zscript>
	void print(String msg) {
		new Label(msg).setParent(inf);
	}
	</zscript>
	<button label="async long op">
		<attribute name="onClick"><![CDATA[
   if (EventQueues.exists("longop")) {
     print("It is busy. Please wait");
     return; //busy
   }

   EventQueue eq = EventQueues.lookup("longop"); //create a queue
   String result;

   //subscribe async listener to handle long operation
   eq.subscribe(new EventListener() {
     public void onEvent(Event evt) { //asynchronous
       org.zkoss.lang.Threads.sleep(3000); //simulate a long operation
       result = "success"; //store the result
     }
   }, new EventListener() { //callback
     public void onEvent(Event evt) {
       print(result); //show the result to the browser
   	   EventQueues.remove("longop");
   	 }
   });

   print("Wait for 3 seconds");
   eq.publish(new Event("whatever")); //kick off the long operation
  		]]></attribute>
 	</button>
 	<vbox id="inf"/>
</window>

Better Feedback with Button's autodisable

With event echoing, it might still take hundreds milliseconds to have the busy message, especially with the slow connection. The feedback to user can be further improved by use of Button.setAutodisable(String). For example,

  <button label="Echo Event" autodisable="self">
...

Then, the button will be disabled automatically when it is pressed, and enabled automatically when the request has been served.

Version History

Last Update : 2010/12/02


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Last Update : 2010/12/02

Copyright © Potix Corporation. This article is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License.