Apache Camel: Timer

Timer Component

The timer: component is used to generate message exchanges when a timer fires You can only consume events from this endpoint.

URI format

timer:name[?options]

Where name is the name of the Timer object, which is created and shared across endpoints. So if you use the same name for all your timer endpoints, only one Timer object and thread will be used.

You can append query options to the URI in the following format, ?option=value&option=value&...

Note: The IN body of the generated exchange is null. So exchange.getIn().getBody() returns null.

Advanced Scheduler

See also the Quartz component that supports much more advanced scheduling.

Specify time in human friendly format

In Camel 2.3 onwards you can specify the time in human friendly syntax.

Options

Name	Default Value	Description
`time`	`null`	A `java.util.Date` the first event should be generated. If using the URI, the pattern expected is: `yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss` or `yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss`.
`pattern`	`null`	Allows you to specify a custom `Date` pattern to use for setting the time option using URI syntax.
`period`	`1000`	If greater than 0, generate periodic events every `period` milliseconds. You can also specify time values using units, such as 60s (60 seconds), 5m30s (5 minutes and 30 seconds), and 1h (1 hour).
`delay`	0 / `1000`	The number of milliseconds to wait before the first event is generated. Should not be used in conjunction with the `time` option. You can also specify time values using units, such as 60s (60 seconds), 5m30s (5 minutes and 30 seconds), and 1h (1 hour). Before Camel 2.11 the default value is 0 From Camel 2.11 the default value is `1000`From Camel 2.17 it is possible to specify a negative delay. In this scenario the timer will generate and fire events as soon as possible.
`fixedRate`	`false`	Events take place at approximately regular intervals, separated by the specified period.
`daemon`	`true`	Specifies whether or not the thread associated with the timer endpoint runs as a daemon.
`repeatCount`	`0`	Camel 2.8: Specifies a maximum limit of number of fires. So if you set it to 1, the timer will only fire once. If you set it to 5, it will only fire five times. A value of zero or negative means fire forever.

Exchange Properties

When the timer is fired, it adds the following information as properties to the Exchange:

Name	Type	Description
`Exchange.TIMER_NAME`	`String`	The value of the `name` option.
`Exchange.TIMER_TIME`	`Date`	The value of the `time` option.
`Exchange.TIMER_PERIOD`	`long`	The value of the `period` option.
`Exchange.TIMER_FIRED_TIME`	`Date`	The time when the consumer fired.
`Exchange.TIMER_COUNTER`	`Long`	Camel 2.8: The current fire counter. Starts from 1.

Message Headers

When the timer is fired, it adds the following information as headers to the IN message

Name	Type	Description
`Exchange.TIMER_FIRED_TIME`	`java.util.Date`	The time when the consumer fired

Sample

To set up a route that generates an event every 60 seconds:

   from("timer://foo?fixedRate=true&period=60000").to("bean:myBean?method=someMethodName");

Instead of 60000 you can use period=60s which is more friendly to read.

The above route will generate an event and then invoke the someMethodName method on the bean called myBean in the Registry such as JNDI or Spring.

And the route in Spring DSL:

  <route>
    <from uri="timer://foo?fixedRate=true&amp;period=60000"/>
    <to uri="bean:myBean?method=someMethodName"/>
  </route>

Firing as soon as possible

Available as of Camel 2.17

You may want to fire messages in a Camel route as soon as possible you can use a negative delay:

  <route>
    <from uri="timer://foo?delay=-1"/>
    <to uri="bean:myBean?method=someMethodName"/>
  </route>

In this way the timer will fire messages immediately.

You can also specify a repeatCount parameter in conjunction with a negative delay to stop firing messages after a fixed number has been reached.

If you don't specify a repeatCount then the timer will continue firing messages until the route will be stopped.

Firing only once

Available as of Camel 2.8

You may want to fire a message in a Camel route only once, such as when starting the route. To do that you use the repeatCount option as shown:

  <route>
    <from uri="timer://foo?repeatCount=1"/>
    <to uri="bean:myBean?method=someMethodName"/>
  </route>

Timer Component

URI format

Options

Exchange Properties

Message Headers

Sample

Firing as soon as possible

Available as of Camel 2.17

Firing only once

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