api-plugin-helper-timer.md

Plugin Helper: Timer

The timer plugin helper manages event timers.

Here is an example:

require 'fluent/plugin/input'

module Fluent::Plugin
  class ExampleInput < Input
    Fluent::Plugin.register_input('example', self)

    # 1. Load timer helper
    helpers :timer

    # Omit `configure`, `shutdown` and other plugin APIs

    def start
      super

      # 2. Execute timer with unique name and second unit interval
      timer_execute(:example_timer, 10) {
        # ...
      }
    end
  end
end

The launched timer is managed by the plugin helper. No need of timer shutdown code in plugin's shutdown method. The plugin shutdowns the launched timers automatically.

Methods

timer_execute(title, interval, repeat: true, &block)

This method executes the timer with the given parameters and routine.

• title: unique symbol value
• interval: second unit integer/float value.
• repeat: true/false (default: true). If false, timer is one-shot.

Code examples:

# Pass block directly. block is executed in 10 second interval.
timer_execute(:example_timer, 10) {
  # ...
}

# Pass block with existing method. block is executed in 5 second and one-shot.
timer_execute(:example_timer_run, 5s, repeat: false, &method(:run))
def run
  # ...
end

Plugins using timer

• out_forward
• in_monitor_agent
• in_sample

If this article is incorrect or outdated, or omits critical information, please let us know. Fluentd is an open-source project under Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). All components are available under the Apache 2 License.