How do I schedule a task to run at periodic intervals?

Question

I was trying some codes to implement a scheduled task and came up with these codes .

import java.util.*;

class Task extends TimerTask {


    int count = 1;

    // run is a abstract method that defines task performed at scheduled time.
    public void run() {
        System.out.println(count+" : Mahendra Singh");
        count++;
    }
}

class TaskScheduling {

   public static void main(String[] args) {
       Timer timer = new Timer();


       // Schedule to run after every 3 second(3000 millisecond)
       timer.schedule( new Task(), 3000);   
   }
}

My output :

1  :  Mahendra Singh

I expected the compiler to print a series of Mahendra Singh at periodic interval of 3 s but despite waiting for around 15 minutes, I get only one output...How do I solve this out?

Answer 1

Use timer.scheduleAtFixedRate

public void scheduleAtFixedRate(TimerTask task,
                                long delay,
                                long period)

Schedules the specified task for repeated fixed-rate execution, beginning after the specified delay. Subsequent executions take place at approximately regular intervals, separated by the specified period.
In fixed-rate execution, each execution is scheduled relative to the scheduled execution time of the initial execution. If an execution is delayed for any reason (such as garbage collection or other background activity), two or more executions will occur in rapid succession to "catch up." In the long run, the frequency of execution will be exactly the reciprocal of the specified period (assuming the system clock underlying Object.wait(long) is accurate).

Fixed-rate execution is appropriate for recurring activities that are sensitive to absolute time, such as ringing a chime every hour on the hour, or running scheduled maintenance every day at a particular time. It is also appropriate for recurring activities where the total time to perform a fixed number of executions is important, such as a countdown timer that ticks once every second for ten seconds. Finally, fixed-rate execution is appropriate for scheduling multiple repeating timer tasks that must remain synchronized with respect to one another.

Parameters:

• task - task to be scheduled.
• delay - delay in milliseconds before task is to be executed.
• period - time in milliseconds between successive task executions.

Throws:

• IllegalArgumentException - if delay is negative, or delay + System.currentTimeMillis() is negative.
• IllegalStateException - if task was already scheduled or cancelled, timer was cancelled, or timer thread terminated.