core/camel-api/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/PollingConsumer.java

/*
 * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
 * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
 * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
 * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
 * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
 * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */
package org.apache.camel;

/**
 * Represents a <a
 * href="http://camel.apache.org/polling-consumer.html">Polling
 * Consumer</a> where the caller polls for messages when it is ready.
 * <p/>
 * When you are done with the returned {@link Exchange} you must ensure to invoke
 * {@link org.apache.camel.spi.UnitOfWork#done(Exchange)} to signal to Camel that the {@link Exchange} is done.
 * <p/>
 * This is needed to ensure any {@link org.apache.camel.spi.Synchronization} works is being executed.
 * For example if you consumed from a file endpoint, then the consumed file is only moved/delete when
 * you done the {@link Exchange}.
 */
public interface PollingConsumer extends Consumer {

    /**
     * Waits until a message is available and then returns it. Warning that this
     * method could block indefinitely if no messages are available.
     * <p/>
     * Will return <tt>null</tt> if the consumer is not started
     * <p/>
     * <b>Important: </b> See the class javadoc about the need for done the {@link org.apache.camel.spi.UnitOfWork}
     * on the returned {@link Exchange}
     *
     * @return the message exchange received.
     */
    Exchange receive();

    /**
     * Attempts to receive a message exchange immediately without waiting and
     * returning <tt>null</tt> if a message exchange is not available yet.
     * <p/>
     * <b>Important: </b> See the class javadoc about the need for done the {@link org.apache.camel.spi.UnitOfWork}
     * on the returned {@link Exchange}
     *
     * @return the message exchange if one is immediately available otherwise
     *         <tt>null</tt>
     */
    Exchange receiveNoWait();

    /**
     * Attempts to receive a message exchange, waiting up to the given timeout
     * to expire if a message is not yet available.
     * <p/>
     * <b>Important: </b> See the class javadoc about the need for done the {@link org.apache.camel.spi.UnitOfWork}
     * on the returned {@link Exchange}
     * 
     * @param timeout the amount of time in milliseconds to wait for a message
     *                before timing out and returning <tt>null</tt>
     * 
     * @return the message exchange if one was available within the timeout
     *         period, or <tt>null</tt> if the timeout expired
     */
    Exchange receive(long timeout);
}