Class MembershipKey

public abstract class MembershipKey
extends Object

A token representing the membership of an Internet Protocol (IP) multicast group.

A membership key may represent a membership to receive all datagrams sent to the group, or it may be source-specific, meaning that it represents a membership that receives only datagrams from a specific source address. Whether or not a membership key is source-specific may be determined by invoking its sourceAddress method.

A membership key is valid upon creation and remains valid until the membership is dropped by invoking the drop method, or the channel is closed. The validity of the membership key may be tested by invoking its isValid method.

Where a membership key is not source-specific and the underlying operation system supports source filtering, then the block and unblock methods can be used to block or unblock multicast datagrams from particular source addresses.

Constructors

MembershipKey

protected MembershipKey()

Initializes a new instance of this class.

Methods

isValid

public abstract boolean isValid()

Returns:

true if this membership key is valid, false otherwise

drop

public abstract void drop()

block

public abstract MembershipKey block(InetAddress source)
                             throws IOException

Parameters:

source - The source address to block

Returns:

This membership key

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - If the source parameter is not a unicast address or is not the same address type as the multicast group

IllegalStateException - If this membership key is source-specific or is no longer valid

UnsupportedOperationException - If the underlying operating system does not support source filtering

IOException - If an I/O error occurs

unblock

public abstract MembershipKey unblock(InetAddress source)

Unblock multicast datagrams from the given source address that was previously blocked using the block method.

Parameters:

source - The source address to unblock

Returns:

This membership key

Throws:

IllegalStateException - If the given source address is not currently blocked or the membership key is no longer valid

channel

public abstract MulticastChannel channel()

Returns the channel for which this membership key was created. This method will continue to return the channel even after the membership becomes invalid.

Returns:

the channel

group

public abstract InetAddress group()

Returns the multicast group for which this membership key was created. This method will continue to return the group even after the membership becomes invalid.

Returns:

the multicast group

networkInterface

public abstract NetworkInterface networkInterface()

Returns the network interface for which this membership key was created. This method will continue to return the network interface even after the membership becomes invalid.

Returns:

the network interface

sourceAddress

public abstract InetAddress sourceAddress()

Returns the source address if this membership key is source-specific, or null if this membership is not source-specific.

Returns:

The source address if this membership key is source-specific, otherwise null