[[throttle-eip]]
== Throttle EIP

The Throttler Pattern allows you to ensure that a specific endpoint does not get overloaded, or that we don't exceed an agreed SLA with some external service.

=== Options

// eip options: START
The Throttle EIP supports 5 options which are listed below:

[width="100%",cols="2,5,^1,2",options="header"]
|===
| Name | Description | Default | Type
| *executorServiceRef* | To use a custom thread pool (ScheduledExecutorService) by the throttler. |  | String
| *timePeriodMillis* | Sets the time period during which the maximum request count is valid for | 1000 | Long
| *asyncDelayed* | Enables asynchronous delay which means the thread will not block while delaying. | false | Boolean
| *callerRunsWhenRejected* | Whether or not the caller should run the task when it was rejected by the thread pool. Is by default true | true | Boolean
| *rejectExecution* | Whether or not throttler throws the ThrottlerRejectedExecutionException when the exchange exceeds the request limit Is by default false | false | Boolean
|===
// eip options: END

=== Samples

[source,java]
----
from("seda:a")
  .throttle(3).timePeriodMillis(10000)
  .to("log:result", "mock:result");
----

So the above example will throttle messages all messages received on *seda:a* before being sent to *mock:result* ensuring that a maximum of 3 messages are sent in any 10 second window.
Note that since `timePeriodMillis` defaults to 1000 milliseconds, just setting the `maximumRequestsPerPeriod` has the effect of setting the maximum number of requests per second. So to throttle requests at 100 requests per second between two endpoints, it would look more like this...

[source,java]
----
from("seda:a")
  .throttle(100)
  .to("seda:b");
----

For further examples of this pattern in use you could look at the junit test case.

And an example in XML
[source,xml]
----
<route>
  <from uri="seda:a"/>
  <!-- throttle 3 messages per 10 sec -->
  <throttle timePeriodMillis="10000">
    <constant>3</constant>
    <to uri="log:result"/>
    <to uri="mock:result"/>
  </throttle>
</route>
----

=== Dynamically changing maximum requests per period
*Available as of Camel 2.8*

Since we use an Expression you can adjust this value at runtime, for example you can provide a header with the value. At runtime Camel evaluates the expression and converts the result to a `java.lang.Long` type. In the example below we use a header from the message to determine the maximum requests per period. If the header is absent, then the Throttler uses the old value. So that allows you to only provide a header if the value is to be changed:
[source,xml]
----
<route>
  <from uri="direct:expressionHeader"/>
  <throttle timePeriodMillis="500">
    <!-- use a header to determine how many messages to throttle per 0.5 sec -->
    <header>throttleValue</header>
    <to uri="log:result"/>
    <to uri="mock:result"/>
  </throttle>
</route>
----

=== Asynchronous delaying

You can let the Throttler use non blocking asynchronous delaying, which means Camel will use a scheduler to schedule a task to be executed in the future. The task will then continue routing. This allows the caller thread to not block and be able to service other messages, etc.

[source,java]
---------------------
from("seda:a")
  .throttle(100).asyncDelayed()
  .to("seda:b");
---------------------
