### Writing Verticles

Verticle classes must implement the `Verticle` interface.

They can implement it directly if you like but usually it’s simpler to extend the abstract class `AbstractVerticle`.

Here’s an example verticle:

    public class MyVerticle extends AbstractVerticle {

     // Called when verticle is deployed
     public void start() {
     }

     // Optional - called when verticle is undeployed
     public void stop() {
     }

    }

Normally you would override the start method like in the example above.

When Vert.x deploys the verticle it will call the start method, and when the method has completed the verticle will be considered started.

You can also optionally override the stop method. This will be called by Vert.x when the verticle is undeployed and when the method has completed the verticle will be considered stopped.

### Asynchronous Verticle start and stop

Sometimes you want to do something in your verticle start-up which takes some time and you don’t want the verticle to be considered deployed until that happens. For example you might want to start an HTTP server in the start method and propagate the asynchronous result of the server `listen` method.

You can’t block waiting for the HTTP server to bind in your start method as that would break the Golden Rule.

So how can you do this?

The way to do it is to implement the asynchronous start method. This version of the method takes a Future as a parameter. When the method returns the verticle will not be considered deployed.

Some time later, after you’ve done everything you need to do (e.g. start the HTTP server), you can call complete on the Future (or fail) to signal that you’re done.

Here’s an example:

    public class MyVerticle extends AbstractVerticle {

     private HttpServer server;

     public void start(Promise<Void> startPromise) {
       server = vertx.createHttpServer().requestHandler(req -> {
         req.response()
           .putHeader("content-type", "text/plain")
           .end("Hello from Vert.x!");
         });

       // Now bind the server:
       server.listen(8080, res -> {
         if (res.succeeded()) {
           startPromise.complete();
         } else {
           startPromise.fail(res.cause());
         }
       });
     }
    }

Similarly, there is an asynchronous version of the stop method too. You use this if you want to do some verticle cleanup that takes some time.

    public class MyVerticle extends AbstractVerticle {

     public void start() {
       // Do something
     }

     public void stop(Promise<Void> stopPromise) {
       obj.doSomethingThatTakesTime(res -> {
         if (res.succeeded()) {
           stopPromise.complete();
         } else {
           stopPromise.fail();
         }
       });
     }
    }

INFO: You don’t need to manually stop the HTTP server started by a verticle, in the verticle’s stop method. Vert.x will automatically stop any running server when the verticle is undeployed.