org.jboss.netty.channel

Interface ChannelHandlerContext

public interface ChannelHandlerContext

Enables a ChannelHandler to interact with its ChannelPipeline and other handlers. A handler can send a ChannelEvent upstream or downstream, modify the ChannelPipeline it belongs to dynamically.

Sending an event

You can send or forward a ChannelEvent to the closest handler in the same ChannelPipeline by calling sendUpstream(ChannelEvent) or sendDownstream(ChannelEvent). Please refer to ChannelPipeline to understand how an event flows.

Modifying a pipeline

You can get the ChannelPipeline your handler belongs to by calling getPipeline(). A non-trivial application could insert, remove, or replace handlers in the pipeline dynamically in runtime.

Retrieving for later use

You can keep the ChannelHandlerContext for later use, such as triggering an event outside the handler methods, even from a different thread.

 public class MyHandler extends SimpleChannelHandler
                        implements LifeCycleAwareChannelHandler {

     private ChannelHandlerContext ctx;

     public void beforeAdd(ChannelHandlerContext ctx) {
         this.ctx = ctx;
     }

     public void login(String username, password) {
         Channels.write(
                 this.ctx,
                 Channels.succeededFuture(this.ctx.getChannel()),
                 new LoginMessage(username, password));
     }
     ...
 }
 

Storing stateful information

setAttachment(Object) and getAttachment() allow you to store and access stateful information that is related with a handler and its context. Please refer to ChannelHandler to learn various recommended ways to manage stateful information.

A handler can have more than one context

Please note that a ChannelHandler instance can be added to more than one ChannelPipeline. It means a single ChannelHandler instance can have more than one ChannelHandlerContext and therefore the single instance can be invoked with different ChannelHandlerContexts if it is added to one or more ChannelPipelines more than once.

For example, the following handler will have as many independent attachments as how many times it is added to pipelines, regardless if it is added to the same pipeline multiple times or added to different pipelines multiple times:

 public class FactorialHandler extends SimpleChannelHandler {

   // This handler will receive a sequence of increasing integers starting
   // from 1.
   @Override
   public void messageReceived(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, MessageEvent evt) {
     Integer a = (Integer) ctx.getAttachment();
     Integer b = (Integer) evt.getMessage();

     if (a == null) {
       a = 1;
     }

     ctx.setAttachment(Integer.valueOf(a * b));
   }
 }

 // Different context objects are given to "f1", "f2", "f3", and "f4" even if
 // they refer to the same handler instance.  Because the FactorialHandler
 // stores its state in a context object (as an attachment), the factorial is
 // calculated correctly 4 times once the two pipelines (p1 and p2) are active.
 FactorialHandler fh = new FactorialHandler();

 ChannelPipeline p1 = Channels.pipeline();
 p1.addLast("f1", fh);
 p1.addLast("f2", fh);

 ChannelPipeline p2 = Channels.pipeline();
 p2.addLast("f3", fh);
 p2.addLast("f4", fh);
 

Additional resources worth reading

Please refer to the ChannelHandler, ChannelEvent, and ChannelPipeline to find out what a upstream event and a downstream event are, what fundamental differences they have, how they flow in a pipeline, and how to handle the event in your application.

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
boolean	canHandleDownstream() Returns true if and only if the ChannelHandler is an instance of ChannelDownstreamHandler.
boolean	canHandleUpstream() Returns true if and only if the ChannelHandler is an instance of ChannelUpstreamHandler.
Object	getAttachment() Retrieves an object which is attached to this context.
Channel	getChannel() Returns the Channel that the ChannelPipeline belongs to.
ChannelHandler	getHandler() Returns the ChannelHandler that this context object is serving.
String	getName() Returns the name of the ChannelHandler in the ChannelPipeline.
ChannelPipeline	getPipeline() Returns the ChannelPipeline that the ChannelHandler belongs to.
void	sendDownstream(ChannelEvent e) Sends the specified ChannelEvent to the ChannelDownstreamHandler which is placed in the closest downstream from the handler associated with this context.
void	sendUpstream(ChannelEvent e) Sends the specified ChannelEvent to the ChannelUpstreamHandler which is placed in the closest upstream from the handler associated with this context.
void	setAttachment(Object attachment) Attaches an object to this context to store a stateful information specific to the ChannelHandler which is associated with this context.

Method Detail

getChannel

Channel getChannel()

Returns the Channel that the ChannelPipeline belongs to. This method is a shortcut to getPipeline().getChannel().

getPipeline

ChannelPipeline getPipeline()

Returns the ChannelPipeline that the ChannelHandler belongs to.

getName

String getName()

Returns the name of the ChannelHandler in the ChannelPipeline.

getHandler

ChannelHandler getHandler()

Returns the ChannelHandler that this context object is serving.

canHandleUpstream

boolean canHandleUpstream()

Returns true if and only if the ChannelHandler is an instance of ChannelUpstreamHandler.

canHandleDownstream

boolean canHandleDownstream()

Returns true if and only if the ChannelHandler is an instance of ChannelDownstreamHandler.

sendUpstream

void sendUpstream(ChannelEvent e)

Sends the specified ChannelEvent to the ChannelUpstreamHandler which is placed in the closest upstream from the handler associated with this context. It is recommended to use the shortcut methods in Channels rather than calling this method directly.

sendDownstream

void sendDownstream(ChannelEvent e)

Sends the specified ChannelEvent to the ChannelDownstreamHandler which is placed in the closest downstream from the handler associated with this context. It is recommended to use the shortcut methods in Channels rather than calling this method directly.

getAttachment

Object getAttachment()

Retrieves an object which is attached to this context.

Returns:

null if no object was attached or null was attached

setAttachment

void setAttachment(Object attachment)

Attaches an object to this context to store a stateful information specific to the ChannelHandler which is associated with this context.