org.apache.avalon.excalibur.lang
Class ThreadContext

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--org.apache.avalon.excalibur.lang.ThreadContext

public final class ThreadContext

extends java.lang.Object

The ThreadContext defines a set of data that is associated with a particular thread. In particular this is useful as a location to centralize management of ThreadLocal-type variables. As such the type of data contained in ThreadContext is usually data such as ContextClassLoader, Transaction ID, User ID/Subject, etc. Note that these ThreadLocal variables may not actually be implemented using the ThreadLocal class but need to model such behaviour.

These variables are managed by the ThreadContext. However as it is not possible to inject code to be executed at the start of a thread, new threads may not be activated and the variables may not be set appropriately. In such cases it is recomended that the developer use InheritableThreadLocal as the underlying representation of the variable. By doing this the InheritableThreadLocal will maintain the appropriate state in newly created Thread.

The policy chosend to manage such state is pluggable by the user. It is expected developers will provide a policy object that will manage thread local variables. For instance an application server may choose to keep the name of the application, the Subject it is running as and perhaps other state in such variables.

Author:

Peter Donald

Constructor Summary

ThreadContext(ThreadContextPolicy policy, java.util.Map map)
Constructor that places values specified in Map into ThreadContext.

Method Summary

static ThreadContext	getThreadContext() Retrieve the ThreadContext associated with the current thread.
static void	setThreadContext(ThreadContext threadContext) Set the ThreadContext associated with the current thread.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

ThreadContext

public ThreadContext(ThreadContextPolicy policy,
                     java.util.Map map)

Constructor that places values specified in Map into ThreadContext.

Parameters:

map - the Map

Method Detail

getThreadContext

public static ThreadContext getThreadContext()

Retrieve the ThreadContext associated with the current thread.

Returns:

the ThreadContext associated with the current thread.

setThreadContext

public static void setThreadContext(ThreadContext threadContext)
                             throws java.lang.SecurityException

Set the ThreadContext associated with the current thread. This code will also call deactivate() on the old ThreadContext if present and activate() on new ThreadContext (if not null).

Parameters:

threadContext - the new ThreadContext

Throws:

java.lang.SecurityException - if the caller does not have permission to set thread pool