Actor Life Cycle

The following is the life cycle of an actor, including any hook methods.

Starting

• Actor initializes.
• PreStart() hook method is called.

Receiving Messages

• Actor is up and now able to process messages.

Stopping

• Actor cleans up.
• PostStop() hook method is called, if actor is terminating.
• PreRestart() hook method is called, if actor is restarting.

Terminated

• Actor is dead.

Restarting

• Actor is going to restart.
• PostRestart() hook method is called.

Hook Methods

PreStart()

• Called before actor instance receives its first message.
• Custom intialization code, preparing actor to start receiving messages.
  • Opening/creating files, system handles, etc.

PostStop()

• Called after actor has been stopped and not receiving messages anymore.
• Custom cleanup code.
  • Release system resources/handles such as file system.

PreRestart()

• Called before actor begins restarting.
• Allows code to do something with current message/exception.
  • Save current message for reprocessing when actor restarts.

PostRestart()

• Called after PreRestart() and before PreStart()
• Allows code to do something with exception
  • Additional custom diagnostic/logging