How do I start a Camel route with autoStartup=false

Question

I want to control when my route starts up using a RoutePolicy. Therefore I have defined it with autoStartup=false

<camel:route id="myRoute" routePolicyRef="myRoutePolicy" autoStartup="false">
    <!-- details omitted -->
</camel:route>

To start the route, I tried:

public class MyRoutePolicy implements RoutePolicy {

    // Does NOT work!
    @Override
    public void onInit(Route route) {
        if(shouldStartRoute(route)) {
            camelContext.startRoute(route.getId());
        }
    }

    // More stuff omitted
}

Unfortunately, nothing happens. The Javadoc for CamelContext.startRoute(String) may explain why:

Starts the given route if it has been previously stopped

How do I start a route that hasn't previously been stopped?

I'm using Camel 2.8.0 and upgrading is not an option.

I can start the route using a JMX console, but I don't want to depend on JMX.

Have you looked into route policies? With Camel 2.8 you are getting limited support though. Maybe it still works for you. — Ralf
@Ralf Yes, I'm calling camelContext.startRoute("myRoute"); from a route policy in an attempt to start the route — Stijn Van Bael

Stijn Van Bael Stijn Van Bael · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-13T15:57:22

I've been debugging Camel. It seems that CamelContext.startRoute(String) does not start a route with autoStartup=false.

The right way to start a route is:

ServiceHelper.startService(route.getConsumer());

But it didn't work for me in my RoutePolicy:

public class MyRoutePolicy implements RoutePolicy {

    // Does NOT work either!
    @Override
    public void onInit(Route route) {
        if(shouldStartRoute(route)) {
            ServiceHelper.startService(route.getConsumer());
        }
    }

    // More stuff omitted
}

The problem here is that route.getConsumer() returns null. You have to wait until the Camel context is initialized to call ServiceHelper.startService(consumer). So here is what does work:

public class MyRoutePolicy extends EventNotifierSupport implements RoutePolicy {
    private final Collection<Route> routes = new HashSet<>();

    @Override
    public void onInit(Route route) {
        routes.add(route);
        CamelContext camelContext = route.getRouteContext().getCamelContext();
        ManagementStrategy managementStrategy = camelContext.getManagementStrategy();
        if (!managementStrategy.getEventNotifiers().contains(this)) {
            managementStrategy.addEventNotifier(this);
        }
    }

    // Works!
    @Override
    public void notify(EventObject event) throws Exception {
        if(event instanceof CamelContextStartedEvent) {
            for(Route route : routes) {
                if(shouldStartRoute(route)) {
                    ServiceHelper.startService(route.getConsumer());
                }
            }
        }
    }

    // More stuff omitted
}

How do I start a Camel route with autoStartup=false

2 Answers