Getting a thread to throw an exception

[jjamesis]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, can a mod move it if it is?

Is it possible to get the run method inside a thread to throw an exception?
If I describe the problem maybe I can get some advice on a different way to go about this.

I have a main class class1 which creates a thread (class2) and executes some code within a timelimit. If class1 takes too long the thread should throw back an exception.

try
{
Class2 myThread = new Class2();
myThread.start();

// do some stuff here within timelimit

}
catch (Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}

The best I can do it to get the thread to print "time out" when the timelimit
is over and class1 is still executing.

The problem is, the run method of a thread cannot throw exceptions.
Is there a way around this? Is there a better to go about what I'm doing?

Thanks
jjamesis

[sjalle]

You could make a new thread that is started immediately after the start of the
myThread thread. This thread could sleep for the duration of the timelimit, after that
is could check that:

myThread!= null && myThread.isAlive()

if so it could just do a myThread.interrupt() or set a boolean that is checked regularly
by the Class2 thread signalling an exit for the thread.

This is just a suggestion, - there are many ways to get around this.

[nescafe]

As per your solution, if a second thread was made right after the first myThread, that second thread would still be created some time after the first thread. Of course this would likely be a very insubstantial time creation but nonetheless a time difference. So in effect the time for which the first myThread was supposed to run would be extended. In some cases this might be important??? though likely not in this specific case.

[sjalle]

Then starting the sleeper thread should be the first step of the myTread process.

[abarnea_2000]

Attach software www.cajoon.com to your Java environment (J2SE, J2EE) and get 'root-cause' for every exception