ScheduledExecutorService Interface

A java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService interface is a subinterface of ExecutorService interface, and supports future and/or periodic execution of tasks.

ScheduledExecutorService Methods

Sr.No.	Method & Description
1	<V> ScheduledFuture<V> schedule(Callable<V> callable, long delay, TimeUnit unit) Creates and executes a ScheduledFuture that becomes enabled after the given delay.
2	ScheduledFuture<?> schedule(Runnable command, long delay, TimeUnit unit) Creates and executes a one-shot action that becomes enabled after the given delay.
3	ScheduledFuture<?> scheduleAtFixedRate(Runnable command, long initialDelay, long period, TimeUnit unit) Creates and executes a periodic action that becomes enabled first after the given initial delay, and subsequently with the given period; that is executions will commence after initialDelay then initialDelay+period, then initialDelay + 2 * period, and so on.
4	ScheduledFuture<?> scheduleWithFixedDelay(Runnable command, long initialDelay, long delay, TimeUnit unit) Creates and executes a periodic action that becomes enabled first after the given initial delay, and subsequently with the given delay between the termination of one execution and the commencement of the next.

Example

The following TestThread program shows usage of ScheduledExecutorService interface in thread based environment.

import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledFuture;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class TestThread {

   public static void main(final String[] arguments) throws InterruptedException {
      final ScheduledExecutorService scheduler = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(1);

      final ScheduledFuture<?> beepHandler = 
         scheduler.scheduleAtFixedRate(new BeepTask(), 2, 2, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

      scheduler.schedule(new Runnable() {

         @Override
         public void run() {
            beepHandler.cancel(true);
            scheduler.shutdown();			
         }
      }, 10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
   }

   static class BeepTask implements Runnable {
      
      public void run() {
         System.out.println("beep");      
      }
   }
}

This will produce the following result.

Output

beep
beep
beep
beep