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Trouble with SwingUtilities.invokeLater() updating GUI

I have been trying this all day in different variations with little success. Could someone please help explain what I am doing wrong? I am just a beginner with regards to threads.
private JTextArea text = new JTextArea();
private JButton button = new JButton("Cancel");
public StatusFrame() {
text.setEditable(false);
this.add(text);
this.add(button, BorderLayout.EAST);
this.setSize(new Dimension(150, 100));
this.setVisible(true);
}
public void updateStatus(String textIn) {
text.setText(textIn);
}
public JButton getButton() {
return button;
}
In another class, I am calling methods which may take a while to complete. I want to be able to call the StatusFrame.updateStatus() method to keep the user informed on the progress.
This is what I have:
someMethod() {
// prevent GUI from freezing using threads
final Runnable r = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
status = new StatusFrame();
}
};
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
//do something
status.update("process 1 completed");
//do something else
status.updateStatus("Process 2 completed");
}
The frame appears but none of the code after the runnable appears to be run/processed. It just stops/blocks/something. But the GUI remains active
Thanks for any advice.
P.S.: I have tried using invokeAndWait() method but again not sure if I am doing it the right way. For now a quick fix would be preferred as I have not learned much about threads yet. Any instructions are welcome.

You have the concepts backwards.
Here's your code
someMethod() {
// prevent GUI from freezing using threads
final Runnable r = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
status = new StatusFrame();
}
};
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
//do something
status.update("process 1 completed");
//do something else
status.updateStatus("Process 2 completed");
You should execute the long running code in a thread, and use the SwingUtilities invokeLater method to update the GUI.
someMethod() {
// prevent GUI from freezing using threads
final Runnable r = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
status = new StatusFrame();
}
};
new Thread(r).start();
// inside the StatusFrame
//do something
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
update("process 1 completed");
}
);
//do something else sometime later
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
update("Process 2 completed");
}
);
I don't know if I was clear in my answer.
Execute SwingUtilities.invokeLater when you start your Java application to make sure Swing components are on the Event Dispatch thread (EDT).
From the EDT, invoke long running processes as a runnable thread.
In the runnable thread, since you're not on the EDT, execute SwingUtilities.invokeLater whenever you're updating Swing components. This ensures that Swing components are updated on the EDT.
Every Swing application should start with a class like this:
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import com.ggl.text.entry.model.TextEntryModel;
import com.ggl.text.entry.view.TextEntryFrame;
public class TextEntry implements Runnable {
#Override
public void run() {
new TextEntryFrame(new TextEntryModel());
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new TextEntry());
}
}
This class does 3 things.
Constructs the GUI data model.
Constructs the GUI JFrame.
Ensures that the Swing components are on the EDT.

You'll need to call the updates on EDT too. I would suggest to sleep on the main thread, to give GUI a chance to show up before any other work:
someMethod() {
// prevent GUI from freezing using threads
Runnable r = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
status = new StatusFrame();
}
};
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
try {
Thread.sleep(10);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
//do something
r = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
status.update("process 1 completed");
}
};
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
//do something else
r = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
status.update("Process 2 completed");
}
};
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(r);
}

See Concurrency in Swing.
You may find using a Swing Worker easier to work with since it uses a Thread and has methods that will allow you to update the GUI properly.

ProgressMonitorDialog - Watching active thread to update monitor

In my GUI I have a PDF file creation operation. The operation can take up to 10-15 seconds to complete. When I start the operation, I attach a listener to it. The listener changes the cursor and disables the GUI, until the operation completes.
I would also like to add a progressbar, so the users will have a idea when it is going to complete.
Created a method startProgressBar() and called it from the start of the operation method.
See Below:
private void startSavePdfOperation() {
startProgressBar();
saveOp = new AplotSaveOperation(appReg.getString("aplot.message.SAVETOPDF"), "PDF", session);
saveOp.addOperationListener(new MyOperationListener(this) {
startProgressBar Method - See Below:
public void startProgressBar() {
Shell shell = new Shell(getShell());
shell.setSize(260, 120);
final ProgressBar bar = new ProgressBar(shell, SWT.SMOOTH);
bar.setBounds (20, 20, 200, 20);
shell.open();
final int maximum = bar.getMaximum();
new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
for (final int[] i = new int[1]; i[0] <= maximum; i[0]++) {
try {Thread.sleep (100);} catch (Throwable th) {}
if (Display.getDefault().isDisposed()) return;
Display.getDefault().asyncExec(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
if (bar.isDisposed ()) return;
bar.setSelection(i[0]);
}
});
}
}
}).start();
The code above created the ProgressBar. The issue is that the operation would end well before the progressbar indicator was close to ending.
Question: Is this because in the method I am creating a new thread and the indicator is updating according to the new thread and not the operation thread?
Question: Is it possible to create a new thread that watches the GUI thread and updates the progressbar accordingly?
Read a article suggesting using ProgressMonitorDialog with IRunnableWithProgress.
Method startProgressBar using ProgressMonitorDialog - see below:
public void startProgressBar() {
ProgressMonitorDialog dialog = new ProgressMonitorDialog(getShell());
try {
dialog.run(true, true, new IRunnableWithProgress(){
public void run(IProgressMonitor monitor) {
monitor.beginTask("Some nice progress message here ...", 100);
** getThread(); **
monitor.done();
}
});
}
catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void getThread() {
new Thread etc.. etc...
}
It seems that it will have the same issues with threading and updating as the code above.
Question: So now I am thinking can I just add or update the ProgressBar to my existing Listener
OperationListener Code - see below:
public abstract class MyOperationListener implements InterfaceAIFOperationListener {
AplotCreatePDFDialog w = null;
public MyOperationListener(AplotCreatePDFDialog win) {
w = win;
}
public void startOperation(String startMessage) {
Display.getDefault().asyncExec(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
w.getShell().setCursor(new Cursor(Display.getCurrent(), SWT.CURSOR_WAIT));
w.recursiveSetEnabled(getShell(), getShell().getEnabled());
w.getShell().setEnabled(!getShell().getEnabled());
}
});
}
public void endOperation() {
try {
endOperationImpl();
}
finally {
Display.getDefault().asyncExec(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
w.getShell().setCursor(new Cursor(Display.getCurrent(), SWT.CURSOR_ARROW));
w.recursiveSetEnabled(getShell(), true);
w.getShell().setEnabled(!getShell().getEnabled());
w.close();
}
});
}
}
abstract protected void endOperationImpl();
} // end class MyOperationListener
Thanks for any help you can give me with this.
EDIT
Baz, your answer below is exactly what the question asked, so thank you for answering.
But I am starting to think that what I am trying to do is not possible.
When my operation starts, I wanted the progress bar indicator to start and when my operation ended I wanted the indicator be at the end and the monitor would close.
I thought there might bee a way to use my listener to add the progressbar. Something like the following.
public void startOperation(String startMessage) {
Display.getDefault().asyncExec(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
->monitor.beginTask("Creating PDF File(s)", IProgressMonitor.UNKNOWN);<-
w.getShell().setCursor(new Cursor(Display.getCurrent(), SWT.CURSOR_WAIT));
w.recursiveSetEnabled(getShell(), getShell().getEnabled());
w.getShell().setEnabled(!getShell().getEnabled());
}
});
}
public void endOperation() {
try {
->monitor.worked(1);<-
endOperationImpl();
}
finally {
Display.getDefault().asyncExec(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
w.getShell().setCursor(new Cursor(Display.getCurrent(), SWT.CURSOR_ARROW));
w.recursiveSetEnabled(getShell(), true);
w.getShell().setEnabled(!getShell().getEnabled());
->monitor.done();<-
w.close();
}
});
}
}
abstract protected void endOperationImpl();
} // end class MyOperationListener
But I am starting to see that the ProgressBar has to have some sort of measurement to display the indicator correctly.
I would be happy if the indicator just went back and forth and the monitor would close at the end of the operation.

Why not use ProgressMonitorDialog?
Here is a related answer from me showing a simple example.
This is what it looks like:
If you are not sure about the workload, use this code:
monitor.beginTask("Copying files", IProgressMonitor.UNKNOWN);
It will show the idle bar while running.

Cannot update Swing component under a heavy process

I am running a very heavy process under an anonymous SwingWorker thread. In the meantime, I'm reporting progress to the GUI using a progress bar. However, Swing threading is doing me in. It's simply not updating anything in time. I'm not sure how to do it, as I've tried updating the GUI from the SwingWorker thread, and outside, and both refuse to work.
How can I reliably update the Swing UI while a heavy worker thread is running?
Things I've tried
This does not work (with or without wrapping in the invokeLater command).
new LocalCompressor(compressor).execute();
while (!compressionDone) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
int percent = compressor.getPercentDone();
progressBar.setValue(percent);
statusLabel.setText(percent);
}
});
}
Additionally, attempting to update the UI from a concurrent measuring thread does not work:
class LocalCompressor extends SwingWorker<Void, Void> {
// [...]
public LocalCompressor(Compressor compressor) {
this.compressor = compressor;
// [...]
}
#Override
protected Void doInBackground() {
final Thread t1 = new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run(){
compressor.compress();
}
});
final Thread t2 = new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
t1.start();
while (t1.isAlive()) {
updateUI(compressor.getPercentDone());
}
}
});
t2.start();
return null;
}
// [...]
}

You're not really using your SwingWorker. The worker already is a Thread for itself. If you have the possibility to put your long running code into the doInBackground(), put it there. Then just call publish(Integer) with your actual progress and process the chunks you get in the process(List<Integer>)-method. In process() you can update the gui, it's on the EDT.
EDIT:
Actually, what you're doing right now is polling in several-while loops, this is kinda power-consuming. That's why I think its better to you events in your algorithm, everytime you got a percent or everytime the loop starts a new round or something like that.

Did you try the very simple and basic way of using a SwingWorker? Like #Zhedar previously said, a SwingWorker already is a Thread for itself. So remove both your inner threads (t1, t2) and just use your time-consuming compress() method in doInBackground().
Something very basic like the following:
class LocalCompressor extends SwingWorker<Void, Integer> {
// .....
// Your constructor here
// .....
#Override
protected Void doInBackground() throws Exception {
compress();
return null;
}
#Override
protected void process(List<Integer> chunks) {
for (Integer chunk : chunks) {
progressBar.setValue(chunk);
statusLabel.setText(chunk);
}
}
}
Now this compress() method should be moved inside the SwingWorker and it must have somewhere a publish(), in your case it might be publish(getPercentDone()) or whatever.
private void compress() {
// .....
publish(getPercentDone());
// .....
}
This is how things are usually done with a SwingWorker.

Expanding on the answers and advice provided here already, here is one way to code it. I'm assuming the compressor itself has no ability to do callbacks but you can ask it for the percent done.
Within the swingworker thread (doInBackground) we start the real compression thread. Then start a polling loop in the background thread, to update the UI a few times a second. To notify the UI thread, call publish. This will cause the overridden method process to be called periodially in the event thread. From here we can safely update the progress bar and status label.
public class LocalCompressor extends SwingWorker<Void, Integer>
{
private Compressor compressor;
public LocalCompressor(Compressor compressor)
{
this.compressor = compressor;
// [...]
}
#Override
protected void done()
{
System.out.println("Compression is done. Going to do something with it...");
}
#Override
protected void process(List<Integer> chunks)
{
for (Integer percent : chunks)
{
progressBar.setValue(percent);
statusLabel.setText(percent);
}
}
#Override
protected Void doInBackground() throws Exception
{
final Thread t1 = new Thread(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
compressor.compress();
}
});
t1.start();
while (t1.isAlive())
{
int percentDone = compressor.getPercentDone();
publish(percentDone);
Thread.sleep(200);
}
return null;
}
}

You could employee a producer/consumer pattern...
Here's a really basic concept...
public class ProducerComsumer {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new ProducerComsumer();
}
public ProducerComsumer() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
panel.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(12, 12, 12, 12));
JProgressBar progressBar = new JProgressBar();
panel.add(progressBar);
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.add(panel);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
Producer producer = new Producer();
producer.start();
Consumer consumer = new Consumer(producer, progressBar);
consumer.start();
}
});
}
public class Producer extends Thread {
private volatile float progress;
private volatile boolean done;
public Producer() {
setPriority(NORM_PRIORITY - 1);
setDaemon(true);
}
public float getProgress() {
return progress;
}
public boolean isDone() {
return done;
}
#Override
public void run() {
done = false;
for (int index = 0; index < Integer.MAX_VALUE; index++) {
progress = (float) index / (float) Integer.MAX_VALUE;
}
done = true;
System.out.println("All done...");
}
}
public class Consumer extends Thread {
private Producer producer;
private JProgressBar progressBar;
public Consumer(Producer producer, JProgressBar progressBar) {
setDaemon(true);
setPriority(NORM_PRIORITY - 1);
this.producer = producer;
this.progressBar = progressBar;
}
public JProgressBar getProgressBar() {
return progressBar;
}
public Producer getProducer() {
return producer;
}
#Override
public void run() {
while (!producer.isDone()) {
updateProgress();
try {
sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(ProducerComsumer.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
updateProgress();
}
protected void updateProgress() {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
int progress = Math.round(getProducer().getProgress() * 100f);
System.out.println("Update progress to " + progress);
getProgressBar().setValue(progress);
}
});
}
}
}
Have a play around with the Thread.setPriority values and see if it makes any difference

I'm assuming (ya know how that goes) that the call to LocalCompressor.execute() is blocking. If that's the case, your while loop won't run until it's all done, and then you're defeating the purpose of getting a steady stream of updates on your UI.
Give this, or something similar, a shot:
LocalCompressor comp = new LocalCompressor(compressor);
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
while (!compressionDone) {
int percent = compressor.getPercentDone();
progressBar.setValue(percent);
statusLabel.setText(percent);
}
}
});
comp.execute();
}

Calling a Background Thread in Swing

First code:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class cos {
public static int a;
private static JLabel labeler;
// public static Runnable r1;
private JFrame frame;
/**
* Launch the application.
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
a = 0;
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
cos window = new cos();
window.frame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
/**
* Create the application.
*/
public cos() {
initialize();
}
/**
* Initialize the contents of the frame.
*/
public void initialize() {
frame = new JFrame();
frame.setBounds(100, 100, 205, 194);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JLabel lblTime = new JLabel("Time:");
frame.getContentPane().add(lblTime, BorderLayout.WEST);
final JLabel labeler = new JLabel("");
frame.getContentPane().add(labeler, BorderLayout.CENTER);
JButton btnNewButton = new JButton("New button");
btnNewButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
Runnable r1 = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
while (a <= 10) {
a = a + 1;
labeler.setText(Integer.toString(a));
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
};
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
Thread threder = new Thread(r1);
threder.start();
// liczniczek bla = new liczniczek();
}
});
frame.getContentPane().add(btnNewButton, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
}
public void licznik() {
while (a < 60) {
a = a + 1;
labeler.setText(Integer.toString(a));
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
And now my question. I wanna use code like this:
Runnable r1 = new Runnable(){
public void run(){
licznik();
}
};
But that doesen't work. What i must do to separate this code ? Sorry for my bad english
Sierran.

never use Thread#sleep(int) during EDT, sure if is there only this thread then works correctly (with blockng EDT),
Runnable r1 = new Runnable(){
public void run(){
licznik();
}
};
is wrong than same as you call plain licznik();, you have to wrap that this way
Runnable r1 = new Runnable(){
public void run(){
labeler.setText(Integer.toString(a));
}
};
but again without Thread#sleep(int), you have three choises
1) change Thread to the javax.swing.Timer
2) change Thread to the Runnable#Thread, there you can delaying with Thread#sleep(int), but output to the GUI must be
Runnable r1 = new Runnable(){
public void run(){
labeler.setText(Integer.toString(a));
}
};
3) use SwingWorker, where output is in the EDT and you can use Thread#sleep(int) too
example Thread#sleep(int) during EDT
put all together
EDIT
don't use reserved words as class, method, variable, whatever Name in the Programing languages (meaning cos)
your code works by implements all three options that I post here,

What do you mean "it doesn't work"? It works for me. How are you trying to use this code, and what errors or problems are you having when you run it? Myself, I'd use a SwingWorker though and I'd set the JLabel's text via the SwingWorker's publish/process method pair. To learn more on how to use this, please see this tutorial: Concurrency in Swing
Edit
Actually, an easier way to accomplish what you want is to not use threads or Runnables directly at all but to use a Swing Timer as they're built for just this case. For more on this, please check out the Swing Timer Tutorial

I gather that you want the function licznik() to run in a separate thread. You create a Runnable, but you have to do something more to make its run() method execute. There are a couple of ways to do this:
Runnable r1 = new Runnable(){
public void run(){
licznik();
}
};
new Thread(r1).start();
or you can just subclass Thread directly:
Thread r1 = new Thread(){
public void run(){
licznik();
}
};
r1.start();

Runnable interface has no method licznik(). You can create class that implements Runnable with licznik() method.
Or if you do not need to reuse this method and use it just once, then the fastest way is to move its implementation inside new Runnable() block
Runnable r1 = new Runnable(){
public void run(){
this.licznik();
}
public void licznik(){
while (a < 60){
a = a + 1 ;
labeler.setText(Integer.toString(a));
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
};

Look on GitHub under at https://github.com/greggwon/Ham. Look at the source code in https://github.com/greggwon/Ham/blob/master/SwingUtil/src/org/wonderly/swing/ComponentUpdateThread.java to see how I've packaged this whole detail into a single class which uses anonymous inner classes to do the work. It would be possible to change this to lambdas now, but I have not used Java in several years and thus haven't made that change.
new ComponentUpdateThread( new Action[] { add, del, edit } ) {
public void setup() {
super.setup();
list.setEnabled(false);
list.clearSelection();
}
public Object construct() {
try {
Vector v = remote.getData();
Collections.sort( v );
return v;
} catch( Exception ex ) {
reportException(ex);
}
return null;
}
public void finished() {
try {
Vector v = (Vector)getValue();
if( v != null ) list.setListData(v);
} finally {
super.finished();
list.setEnabled(true);
edit.setEnabled(false);
del.setEnaled(false);
}
}
}.start();
With this style of work, you can use final values from surrounding blocks or other class visible data to control various aspects of what happens before, during and after background thread execution.
I've change this code around over the years in various ways and there are other variations of this that exist.
The arguments to the ComponentUpdateThread constructor are controls/actions to be "disabled" while the background thread is running. Other enable/disable activities can be more literally embedded into the activities in setup() and finished() (which are run in the AWT event thread) before "construct" is run in the background thread.

How can I repaint a label while doing some processing, in Swing?

I'm new to Swing and I was trying to do this:
On pressing a JButton, the program will start iterating over hundreds of items, taking 1 second to process each one, and after finishing each one he should update a label to show the number of items already processed.
The problem is, the label's text is not updated until the cycle finishes iterating over all the items.
I searched online and apparently it's because this is running in the same thread, so I created a new thread to process the data and to update the variable to be used in the label (number of processed files).
But it didn't work. Then I even made another thread, which I start after the previous one, that just repaints the label. Still nothing works.
The code is like this:
btnNewButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
try { SwingUtilities.invokeLater(validateFiles); }
}); }
Runnable validateFiles = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
while(x_is_not_100) {
processLoadsOfStuff();
label.setText(x); }
}
};
Can you help me with this?

Simple - use a SwingWorker. For more information, read the Tasks that Have Interim Results tutorial.
Here's a pretty generic example that will use a JLabel to display counting from 0 to 30 -
public final class SwingWorkerDemo {
private static JLabel label =
new JLabel(String.valueOf(0), SwingConstants.CENTER);
public static void main(String[] args){
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
#Override
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
JLabelSwingWorker workerThread = new JLabelSwingWorker();
workerThread.run();
}
private static void createAndShowGUI(){
final JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.add(label);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
private static class JLabelSwingWorker extends SwingWorker<Void, Integer>{
#Override
protected Void doInBackground() throws Exception {
for(int i = 1; i < 31; i++){
Thread.sleep(1000);
publish(i);
}
return null;
}
#Override
protected void process(List<Integer> integers) {
Integer i = integers.get(integers.size() - 1);
label.setText(i.toString());
}
}
}

The background processing must be done in a separate thread. But the label update must be done in the event dispatch thread.
So your code should look like this:
btnNewButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
// start a new thread for the background task
new Thread(validateFiles).start();
});
}
Runnable validateFiles = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
while(x_is_not_100) {
processLoadsOfStuff();
// use SwingUtilities.invokeLater so that the label update is done in the EDT:
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
label.setText(x);
}
});
}
};
But you might want to use the SwingWorker class, which is designed to do that in a simpler way. Its documentation is very well done and contains examples.