First you have to add the timer service into the jboss.jcml therefore that the timer service is loaded, registered at the JMX server and the initialized and started (done by JBoss's Main.java class). This mbean tag looks like this:

  <mbean code="javax.management.timer.Timer" name="DefaultDomain:service=timer"/>
               

If you are not using JBoss then to the following (which means that you want to use a timer outside of JBoss (maybe on the client or administration side):

Next step is to get the MBeanServer within your object to work with the timer.

This is quite simple if your are in a MBean registered to the same JMX server because then you get it when you overwrite preRegister() method. When you are in the same JVM as the JMX server (in JBoss is any instance running within JBoss like EJBs or other classes). Then you can obtain the MBeanServer through:

   MBeanServer lServer =
      (MBeanServer) MBeanServerFactory.findMBeanServer( null ).get( 0 );
            

For the rest it is a little bit more complicated. In a Java client you can use JBoss RMI connector which will be released as separat package till mid December 2000. Then you connect to a MBeanServer through the JMXConnector interface which is more or less the same.

We are nearly there: now we need the reference to the timer service to work on it (lServer can be either of type MBeanServer or JMXConnector):

 
   Set lBeans = lServer.queryMBeans(
      new ObjectName(
         "DefaultDomain", 
         "service", 
         "timer" 
      ),
      null
   );
   if( !lBeans.isEmpty() ) { // Should be the first and only element
      ObjectInstance lTimer = (ObjectInstance) lBeans.iterator().next(); 
            

Let's go to work with the timer. Because the timer sends a Notification Event to the listeners we have to register first:

 
   lServer.addNotificationListener(
      lTimer.getObjectName(), 
      new Listener(),
      // No filter
      null,
      // No object handback necessary
      null
   );
            

The Listener (in this case) is an inner class implementing the NotificationListener interface:

 
   public class Listener
      implements NotificationListener
   {
      public void handleNotification(
         Notification pNotification,
         Object pHandback 
      ) {
         // Here to whatever you want or call a method
         // in the outer class
         System.out.println( "You got a Notification: " + pNotification );
      }
   }
            

Finally we are ready to rock and roll. We set a timer event for a particular time and at this time the Listener.handleNotification() get called.

   Date lNext = new Date( new Date().getTime() + Timer.ONE_MINUTE );
   Integer lOneMinuteTimer = (Integer) lServer.invoke(
      lTimer.getObjectName(),
      "addNotification",
      new Object[] { 
         "IDoNotKnowWhatTypeIs",
         "I call you with this timer once",
         // No user object
         null,
         // I one minute from now
         lNext,
      },
      new String[] {
         "".getClass().getName(),
         "".getClass().getName(),
         "java.lang.Object",
         lNext.getClass().getName()
      }
   );
            

A timer notification after an Hour from now repeating every minute for ten times.

   Date lNext = new Date( new Date().getTime() + Timer.ONE_HOUR );
   Integer lOneHourTimer = (Integer) lServer.invoke(
      lTimer.getObjectName(),
      "addNotification",
      new Object[] { 
         "IDoNotKnowWhatTypeIs", 
         "I call you with this timer once",
         // No user object
         null,
         // In one minute from now
         lNext,
         Timer.ONE_MINUTE,
         10
      },
      new String[] {
         "".getClass().getName(),
         "".getClass().getName(),
         "java.lang.Object",
         lNext.getClass().getName(),
         Long.TYPE.getName(),
         Long.TYPE.getName()
      } 
   );
            

If you want to get ride of the second timer then do:

 
   lServer.invoke(
      lTimer.getObjectName(), 
      "removeNotification", 
      new Object[] {
         // You could also use the type: "IDoNotKnowWhatTypeIs"
         lOneHourTimer
      },
      new String[] {
         // If you remove by type: String.getClass().getName()
         Integer.TYPE.getName() 
      }
   );