Channel Type — netty Architecture

Source Code

transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/Channel.java lines 77–466

public interface Channel extends AttributeMap, ChannelOutboundInvoker, Comparable<Channel> {

    /**
     * Returns the globally unique identifier of this {@link Channel}.
     */
    ChannelId id();

    /**
     * Return the {@link EventLoop} this {@link Channel} was registered to.
     */
    EventLoop eventLoop();

    /**
     * Returns the parent of this channel.
     *
     * @return the parent channel.
     *         {@code null} if this channel does not have a parent channel.
     */
    Channel parent();

    /**
     * Returns the configuration of this channel.
     */
    ChannelConfig config();

    /**
     * Returns {@code true} if the {@link Channel} is open and may get active later
     */
    boolean isOpen();

    /**
     * Returns {@code true} if the {@link Channel} is registered with an {@link EventLoop}.
     */
    boolean isRegistered();

    /**
     * Return {@code true} if the {@link Channel} is active and so connected.
     */
    boolean isActive();

    /**
     * Return the {@link ChannelMetadata} of the {@link Channel} which describe the nature of the {@link Channel}.
     */
    ChannelMetadata metadata();

    /**
     * Returns the local address where this channel is bound to.  The returned
     * {@link SocketAddress} is supposed to be down-cast into more concrete
     * type such as {@link InetSocketAddress} to retrieve the detailed
     * information.
     *
     * @return the local address of this channel.
     *         {@code null} if this channel is not bound.
     */
    SocketAddress localAddress();

    /**
     * Returns the remote address where this channel is connected to.  The
     * returned {@link SocketAddress} is supposed to be down-cast into more
     * concrete type such as {@link InetSocketAddress} to retrieve the detailed
     * information.
     *
     * @return the remote address of this channel.
     *         {@code null} if this channel is not connected.
     *         If this channel is not connected but it can receive messages
     *         from arbitrary remote addresses (e.g. {@link DatagramChannel},
     *         use {@link DatagramPacket#recipient()} to determine
     *         the origination of the received message as this method will
     *         return {@code null}.
     */
    SocketAddress remoteAddress();

    /**
     * Returns the {@link ChannelFuture} which will be notified when this
     * channel is closed.  This method always returns the same future instance.
     */
    ChannelFuture closeFuture();

    /**
     * Returns {@code true} if and only if the I/O thread will perform the
     * requested write operation immediately.  Any write requests made when