1 /* 2 * Copyright 2012 The Netty Project 3 * 4 * The Netty Project licenses this file to you under the Apache License, 5 * version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance 6 * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at: 7 * 8 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 9 * 10 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 11 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT 12 * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the 13 * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations 14 * under the License. 15 */ 16 package org.jboss.netty.channel; 17 18 19 /** 20 * Enables a {@link ChannelHandler} to interact with its {@link ChannelPipeline} 21 * and other handlers. A handler can send a {@link ChannelEvent} upstream or 22 * downstream, modify the {@link ChannelPipeline} it belongs to dynamically. 23 * 24 * <h3>Sending an event</h3> 25 * 26 * You can send or forward a {@link ChannelEvent} to the closest handler in the 27 * same {@link ChannelPipeline} by calling {@link #sendUpstream(ChannelEvent)} 28 * or {@link #sendDownstream(ChannelEvent)}. Please refer to 29 * {@link ChannelPipeline} to understand how an event flows. 30 * 31 * <h3>Modifying a pipeline</h3> 32 * 33 * You can get the {@link ChannelPipeline} your handler belongs to by calling 34 * {@link #getPipeline()}. A non-trivial application could insert, remove, or 35 * replace handlers in the pipeline dynamically in runtime. 36 * 37 * <h3>Retrieving for later use</h3> 38 * 39 * You can keep the {@link ChannelHandlerContext} for later use, such as 40 * triggering an event outside the handler methods, even from a different thread. 41 * <pre> 42 * public class MyHandler extends {@link SimpleChannelHandler} 43 * implements {@link LifeCycleAwareChannelHandler} { 44 * 45 * <b>private {@link ChannelHandlerContext} ctx;</b> 46 * 47 * public void beforeAdd({@link ChannelHandlerContext} ctx) { 48 * <b>this.ctx = ctx;</b> 49 * } 50 * 51 * public void login(String username, password) { 52 * {@link Channels}.write( 53 * <b>this.ctx</b>, 54 * {@link Channels}.succeededFuture(<b>this.ctx.getChannel()</b>), 55 * new LoginMessage(username, password)); 56 * } 57 * ... 58 * } 59 * </pre> 60 * 61 * <h3>Storing stateful information</h3> 62 * 63 * {@link #setAttachment(Object)} and {@link #getAttachment()} allow you to 64 * store and access stateful information that is related with a handler and its 65 * context. Please refer to {@link ChannelHandler} to learn various recommended 66 * ways to manage stateful information. 67 * 68 * <h3>A handler can have more than one context</h3> 69 * 70 * Please note that a {@link ChannelHandler} instance can be added to more than 71 * one {@link ChannelPipeline}. It means a single {@link ChannelHandler} 72 * instance can have more than one {@link ChannelHandlerContext} and therefore 73 * the single instance can be invoked with different 74 * {@link ChannelHandlerContext}s if it is added to one or more 75 * {@link ChannelPipeline}s more than once. 76 * <p> 77 * For example, the following handler will have as many independent attachments 78 * as how many times it is added to pipelines, regardless if it is added to the 79 * same pipeline multiple times or added to different pipelines multiple times: 80 * <pre> 81 * public class FactorialHandler extends {@link SimpleChannelHandler} { 82 * 83 * // This handler will receive a sequence of increasing integers starting 84 * // from 1. 85 * {@code @Override} 86 * public void messageReceived({@link ChannelHandlerContext} ctx, {@link MessageEvent} evt) { 87 * Integer a = (Integer) ctx.getAttachment(); 88 * Integer b = (Integer) evt.getMessage(); 89 * 90 * if (a == null) { 91 * a = 1; 92 * } 93 * 94 * ctx.setAttachment(Integer.valueOf(a * b)); 95 * } 96 * } 97 * 98 * // Different context objects are given to "f1", "f2", "f3", and "f4" even if 99 * // they refer to the same handler instance. Because the FactorialHandler 100 * // stores its state in a context object (as an attachment), the factorial is 101 * // calculated correctly 4 times once the two pipelines (p1 and p2) are active. 102 * FactorialHandler fh = new FactorialHandler(); 103 * 104 * {@link ChannelPipeline} p1 = {@link Channels}.pipeline(); 105 * p1.addLast("f1", fh); 106 * p1.addLast("f2", fh); 107 * 108 * {@link ChannelPipeline} p2 = {@link Channels}.pipeline(); 109 * p2.addLast("f3", fh); 110 * p2.addLast("f4", fh); 111 * </pre> 112 * 113 * <h3>Additional resources worth reading</h3> 114 * <p> 115 * Please refer to the {@link ChannelHandler}, {@link ChannelEvent}, and 116 * {@link ChannelPipeline} to find out what a upstream event and a downstream 117 * event are, what fundamental differences they have, how they flow in a 118 * pipeline, and how to handle the event in your application. 119 * 120 * @apiviz.owns org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelHandler 121 */ 122 public interface ChannelHandlerContext { 123 124 /** 125 * Returns the {@link Channel} that the {@link ChannelPipeline} belongs to. 126 * This method is a shortcut to <tt>getPipeline().getChannel()</tt>. 127 */ 128 Channel getChannel(); 129 130 /** 131 * Returns the {@link ChannelPipeline} that the {@link ChannelHandler} 132 * belongs to. 133 */ 134 ChannelPipeline getPipeline(); 135 136 /** 137 * Returns the name of the {@link ChannelHandler} in the 138 * {@link ChannelPipeline}. 139 */ 140 String getName(); 141 142 /** 143 * Returns the {@link ChannelHandler} that this context object is 144 * serving. 145 */ 146 ChannelHandler getHandler(); 147 148 /** 149 * Returns {@code true} if and only if the {@link ChannelHandler} is an 150 * instance of {@link ChannelUpstreamHandler}. 151 */ 152 boolean canHandleUpstream(); 153 154 /** 155 * Returns {@code true} if and only if the {@link ChannelHandler} is an 156 * instance of {@link ChannelDownstreamHandler}. 157 */ 158 boolean canHandleDownstream(); 159 160 /** 161 * Sends the specified {@link ChannelEvent} to the 162 * {@link ChannelUpstreamHandler} which is placed in the closest upstream 163 * from the handler associated with this context. It is recommended to use 164 * the shortcut methods in {@link Channels} rather than calling this method 165 * directly. 166 */ 167 void sendUpstream(ChannelEvent e); 168 169 /** 170 * Sends the specified {@link ChannelEvent} to the 171 * {@link ChannelDownstreamHandler} which is placed in the closest 172 * downstream from the handler associated with this context. It is 173 * recommended to use the shortcut methods in {@link Channels} rather than 174 * calling this method directly. 175 */ 176 void sendDownstream(ChannelEvent e); 177 178 /** 179 * Retrieves an object which is {@link #setAttachment(Object) attached} to 180 * this context. 181 * 182 * @return {@code null} if no object was attached or 183 * {@code null} was attached 184 */ 185 Object getAttachment(); 186 187 /** 188 * Attaches an object to this context to store a stateful information 189 * specific to the {@link ChannelHandler} which is associated with this 190 * context. 191 */ 192 void setAttachment(Object attachment); 193 }