I'm trying to make a small REST using Spring Boot. I've never used Spring and used Java a long time ago (Java 7)!
In the last 2 years I have used only Python and C# (but like I said, I already used Java).
So, now, I'm trying to make a REST using async methods, and checked several examples, but still, I don't understand very well the "correct way" to do this.
Looking at the following documentation: http://carlmartensen.com/completablefuture-deferredresult-async, Java 8 has CompletableFuture that I can use with Spring, so, I made the following code:
Service:
@Service
public class UserService {
private UserRepository userRepository;
// dependency injection
// don't need Autowire here
// https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/current/reference/html/using-boot-spring-beans-and-dependency-injection.html
public UserService(UserRepository userRepository) {
this.userRepository = userRepository;
}
@Async
public CompletableFuture<User> findByEmail(String email) throws InterrupedException {
User user = userRepository.findByEmail(email);
return CompletableFuture.completedFuture(user);
}
}
Repository:
public interface UserRepository extends MongoRepository<User, String> {
@Async
findByEmail(String email);
}
RestController:
@RestController
public class TestController {
private UserService userService;
public TestController(UserService userService) {
this.userService = userService;
}
@RequestMapping(value = "test")
public @ResponseBody CompletableFuture<User> test(@RequestParam(value = "email", required = true) String email) throws InterruptedException {
return userService.findByEmail(email).thenApplyAsync(user -> {
return user;
})
}
}
This code give me the expected output. Then, looking at another documentation (sorry, I lost the link), I see that Spring accept the following code (which give me the expected output too):
@RequestMapping(value = "test")
public @ResponseBody CompletableFuture<User> test(@RequestParam(value = "email", required = true) String email) throws InterruptedException {
return userService.findByEmail(email);
}
}
Is there a difference between the two methods?
Then, looking at the following guide: https://spring.io/guides/gs/async-method/, there's a @EnableAsync annotation in SpringBootApplication class.
If I include the @EnableAsync annotation and create a asyncExecutor Bean like the code from last link, my application don't return nothing on /test endpoint (only a 200 OK response, but with blank body).
So, my rest is async without the @EnableAsync annotation?
And why when I use @EnableAsync, the response body is blank?
The response body is blank because the @Async annotation is used at findEmail method of UserRepository class, it means that there is no data returned to the following sentence User user = userRepository.findByEmail(email); because findByEmail method is running on other different thread and will return null instead of a List object.
The @Async annotation is enabled when you declare @EnableAsync that is the reason why it only happens when you use @EnableAsync because it activates the @Async of findEmail method to run it on other thread.
The method return userService.findByEmail(email); will return a CompletableFuture object that is created from UserService class.
The difference with the second method call is that thenApplyAsync method will create a totally new CompletableFuture from the previous one that comes from userService.findByEmail(email) and will only return the user object that comes from the first CompletableFuture.
return userService.findByEmail(email).thenApplyAsync(user -> {
return user;
})
If you want to get the expected results just remove the @Async annotation from findByEmail method, and finally add the @EnableAsync Annotation
If you need to clarify ideas of how to use Async methods, lets say that you have to call three methods and each one takes 2 seconds to finish, in a normal scenario you will call them method1, then method2 and finally method3 in that case you entire request will take 6 seconds. When you activate the Async approach then you can call three of them and just wait for 2 seconds instead of 6.
Add this long method to user service:
@Async
public CompletableFuture<Boolean> veryLongMethod() {
try {
Thread.sleep(2000L);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return CompletableFuture.completedFuture(true);
}
And call it three times from Controller, like this
@RequestMapping(value = "test")
public @ResponseBody CompletableFuture<User> test(@RequestParam(value = "email", required = true) String email) throws InterruptedException {
CompletableFuture<Boolean> boolean1= siteService.veryLongMethod();
CompletableFuture<Boolean> boolean2= siteService.veryLongMethod();
CompletableFuture<Boolean> boolean3= siteService.veryLongMethod();
CompletableFuture.allOf(boolean1,boolean2,boolean3).join();
return userService.findByEmail(email);
}
Finally measure the time that takes your response, if it takes more than 6 seconds then you are not running Async method, if it takes only 2 seconds then you succeed.
Also see the following documentation: @Async Annotation, Spring async methods, CompletableFuture class
Hope it help.