Block()/blockfirst()/blocklast() are blocking, which is not supported in thread reactor-http-nio-3

Thread Reactor and Blocking

The methods block(), blockfirst(), and blocklast() are blocking operations provided by Project Reactor, a library for building reactive applications in Java. These methods are used to block the execution of reactive code and wait for a result, which goes against the principles of non-blocking and asynchronous programming.

However, there is no direct correlation between the usage of these blocking operations and the specific thread reactor reactor-http-nio-3. The thread name you mentioned might be related to the underlying implementation details of the HTTP server using the Reactor Netty library, but it does not affect the availability or support for blocking operations in Project Reactor.

Here’s an example that demonstrates the usage of blocking operators:

<dependency>
  <groupId>io.projectreactor</groupId>
  <artifactId>reactor-core</artifactId>
  <version>3.4.4</version>
</dependency>

import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;

public class BlockingExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Mono<String> mono = Mono.just("Hello, World!");
        
        String result = mono.block();
        System.out.println(result);
    }
}

In this example, the Mono.just("Hello, World!") creates a Mono publisher that emits a single value. The block() method is then used to block the execution and wait for the value to be available. Once the value is available, it is assigned to the result variable and printed to the console.

It’s important to note that blocking operations should be used with caution in reactive applications, as they can lead to performance issues and defeat the purpose of non-blocking programming. In most cases, it’s better to rely on the reactive operators provided by Project Reactor to handle asynchronous processing.