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Creating a Task with JavaFX with a 'wait()' inside

I use javafx, I have a TextField and a Button, when the button is pressed, it saves what is written in the TextField in a String. What I want to create is a method to mark a pause, while waiting for the Button to get pressed.
I have a class named pause.java, where I tried to put a obj.wait(); and a notifyAll(); in the event where the button is pressed, but the window isn't accessible during this time, I can't press the button or enter anything in the TextField.
So what I found was to put the obj.wait(); in a task, then I don't know why but it directly breaks out of the wait.
Here is my pause.java
package net.jpajavafx;
import java.util.logging.*;
import javafx.concurrent.Task;
public class pause {
Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(pause.class.getName());
MainController obj = new MainController();
public void waitinput() {
Task<Void> sleeper = new Task<Void>() {
#Override
protected Void call() throws Exception {
synchronized (obj) {
try {
String write = "Waiting for input...";
logger.log(Level.INFO, write);
obj.wait();
logger.log(Level.INFO, "Done");
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
return null;
}
};
new Thread(sleeper).start();
}
}
How do I have to modify it to make it wait, while still having access to the GUI?
Here's my code simplified for the problem:
AlbumManager.java, where my main is.
package net.jpajavafx;
import javafx.scene.Parent;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.stage.*;
import javafx.application.*;
import javafx.fxml.FXMLLoader;
public class AlbumManager extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) throws Exception {
Parent root = FXMLLoader.load(getClass().getResource("Main.fxml"));
Scene scene = new Scene(root);
primaryStage.setTitle("Album Manager");
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}
MainController.java:
package net.jpajavafx;
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.scene.control.TextArea;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
import javafx.fxml.FXML;
import java.util.logging.*;
import javax.persistence.EntityManager;
import javax.persistence.EntityManagerFactory;
public class MainController {
#FXML
private TextArea textarea;
#FXML
private TextField textfield;
Variablesstoring stock = new Variablesstoring();
public void ok(ActionEvent event) {
String getValue = textfield.getText();
stock.setEntrystr(getValue); //here i have something to put in an Int, I put it aside to reduce the length
textfield.setText("");
notifyAll();
}
public void startprogram() {
int etat = 0;
int run = 1;
while (run == 1) {
textarea.setText("1: launch method");
pause.waitinput(); // here I want to wait for an input
etat = stock.getEntrystr();
switch (etat) {
case 1:
//runs a method
break;
default:
break;
}
}
}
}

It's really not clear what you're trying to achieve here that needs a separate thread: all the separate thread seems to try to do is wait until the button is pressed, and then execute some code. That functionality is already provided by the event management system in JavaFX (and the same is true for any UI toolkit): just execute the code in the event handler.
(As an aside, your use of wait() is incorrect, and if you fix that, the thread will never wake up because you are not calling notifyAll() on the same object on which you are calling wait().)
You can achieve what you seem to be trying to do simply with
package net.jpajavafx;
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.scene.control.TextArea;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
import javafx.fxml.FXML;
import java.util.logging.*;
import javax.persistence.EntityManager;
import javax.persistence.EntityManagerFactory;
public class MainController {
#FXML
private TextArea textarea;
#FXML
private TextField textfield;
Variablesstoring stock = new Variablesstoring();
public void ok(ActionEvent event) {
String getValue = textfield.getText();
stock.setEntrystr(getValue); //here i have something to put in an Int, I put it aside to reduce the length
textfield.setText("");
processInput();
}
public void processInput() {
int etat = stock.getEntrystr();
switch (etat) {
case 1:
//runs a method
break;
default:
break;
}
}
}

You have to start another thread using a Runnable, so your UI thread does not get blocked while the save-operation completes.
You can do this by placing a listener on the button that will start the save-operation on a new thread when the button is clicked.
The code for adding a listener to a button that starts a new thread would look something like this:
//Creating the mouse event handler
EventHandler<MouseEvent> eventHandler = new EventHandler<MouseEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(MouseEvent e) {
MainController controller = new MainController();
controller.start();
}
};
//Registering the event filter
button.addEventFilter(MouseEvent.MOUSE_CLICKED, eventHandler);
The code you posted doesn't really do anything. Your call to waitinput() only logs and calls wait(). wait() is not what you want, since this operation is intended for putting a thread on hold until it is notified, not for executing a task in a seperate thread. Remove the obj.wait(), and add a listener that calls your logging method when the button is clicked. Also, get rid of the while-loop. The EventHandler will take care of events in the background.

How to update progress bar [duplicate]

I'm trying to update a progress bar in Java FX. My first problem was that the window said "not responding" instead of actually updating. It just froze and then after the tasks were done, the progress bar became full. So I found out that I had to use multithreading and implemented it like this.
overallList.clear();
progressbar.setprogress(0);
for(Object obj : list) {
class ThreadProgress implements Runnable { // inner class
public void run() {
thisList = scrape(obj);
overallList.add(thisList);
progressbar.setProgress(progressbar.getProgress() + (double)1/size);
}
}
Thread current = new Thread(new ThreadProgress());
current.start();
}
textAreaConsole.setText("Total number of things:" + overallList.size());
But now the problem is the final line prints "Total number of things: 0" because the threads don't actually finish executing before the machine runs the final line. Then I found out multiple ways to fix this, specifically using join() or ExecutorService. I implemented join() like this.
overallList.clear();
progressbar.setprogress(0);
List<Thread> threads = new ArrayList<Thread>();
for(Object obj : list) {
class ThreadProgress implements Runnable { // inner class
public void run() {
thisList = scrape(obj);
overallList.add(thisList);
progressbar.setProgress(progressbar.getProgress() + (double)1/size);
}
}
Thread current = new Thread(new ThreadProgress());
current.start();
threads.add(current);
}
for(Thread thread : threads) thread.join(); // with a try-catch loop
textAreaConsole.setText("Total number of things:" + overallList.size());
But this brings me back to the original problem, the window says "not responding" again. Same thing happened with ExecutorService. I have no idea what to do now.

See the example application below. It provides a simple ProgressBar and a Label to demonstrate how to update the UI with the progress of a background Task.
The code is commented as well.
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.concurrent.Task;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.ProgressBar;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class ProgressBarExample extends Application {
// Create our ProgressBar
private ProgressBar progressBar = new ProgressBar(0.0);
// Create a label to show current progress %
private Label lblProgress = new Label();
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
// Simple interface
VBox root = new VBox(5);
root.setPadding(new Insets(10));
root.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
// Button to start the background task
Button button = new Button("Start");
button.setOnAction(event -> startProcess());
// Add our controls to the scene
root.getChildren().addAll(
progressBar,
new HBox(5) {{
setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
getChildren().addAll(
new Label("Current Step:"),
lblProgress
);
}},
button
);
// Here we will
// Show the Stage
primaryStage.setWidth(300);
primaryStage.setHeight(300);
primaryStage.setScene(new Scene(root));
primaryStage.show();
}
private void startProcess() {
// Create a background Task
Task<Void> task = new Task<Void>() {
#Override
protected Void call() throws Exception {
// Set the total number of steps in our process
int steps = 1000;
// Simulate a long running task
for (int i = 0; i < steps; i++) {
Thread.sleep(10); // Pause briefly
// Update our progress and message properties
updateProgress(i, steps);
updateMessage(String.valueOf(i));
}
return null;
}
};
// This method allows us to handle any Exceptions thrown by the task
task.setOnFailed(wse -> {
wse.getSource().getException().printStackTrace();
});
// If the task completed successfully, perform other updates here
task.setOnSucceeded(wse -> {
System.out.println("Done!");
});
// Before starting our task, we need to bind our UI values to the properties on the task
progressBar.progressProperty().bind(task.progressProperty());
lblProgress.textProperty().bind(task.messageProperty());
// Now, start the task on a background thread
new Thread(task).start();
}
}
Edit: Added the setOnFailed() and setOnSucceeded() methods.

How to queue tasks in JavaFX?

I have made a GUI using JavaFX, and there are three radio buttons and once the user clicks submit and another thread is created and depending on what radiobutton was checked, the thread runs the required output and outputs the result to the console.
But while the thread is running (it takes around good 30 seconds for one process to complete) , I am able to check on any radiobutton. To it creates another thread and outputs long with the other ongoing thread. So my output box is just a jumble-wumble! I was looking at asynchronous task but I am not sure if that is something related to it.
Here is what I need: If a task is running, and I click on the submit button while it is running, wait for the previous task to END and THEN do the task.
Here is a psuedo code of my code
class TestMain {
//main
public void main(String ... args) {
launch(args);
}
/*declaring a new textfield with name m_status update here*/
/*once submit button is clicked*/{
//create a new thread
//to run
}
}
class ThreadBlahBlah implements Runnable {
if(/*first checkbox was selected*/){
//do these fancy stuff
Platform.runLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
TestMain.m_status_update.setText("Test Completed!");
}
});
}else if(/*second checkbox was selected*/){
//do these other fancy stuff
Platform.runLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
TestMain.m_status_update.setText("Test Completed!");
}
});
}
}
Please do not recommend me to disable radio buttons while the task is running cause I want to queue my tasks like a linked list.

Use a single-threaded executor to run your tasks:
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.binding.Bindings;
import javafx.beans.property.IntegerProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleIntegerProperty;
import javafx.concurrent.Task;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.TextArea;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class QueuedTaskExample extends Application {
private AtomicInteger taskCount = new AtomicInteger(0);
private ExecutorService exec = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor(r -> {
Thread t = new Thread(r);
t.setDaemon(true); // allows app to exit if tasks are running
return t ;
});
// Use the following if you want the tasks to run concurrently, instead of consecutively:
// private ExecutorService exec = Executors.newCachedThreadPool(r -> {
// Thread t = new Thread(r);
// t.setDaemon(true);
// return t ;
// });
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
// Just keep track of number of tasks pending/running for a status label:
IntegerProperty pendingTasks = new SimpleIntegerProperty(0);
Button startButton = new Button("Start");
TextArea textArea = new TextArea();
textArea.setEditable(true);
startButton.setOnAction(event -> {
Task<Void> task = createTask();
// add text to text area if task's message changes:
task.messageProperty().addListener((obs, oldMessage, newMessage) -> {
textArea.appendText(newMessage);
textArea.appendText("\n");
});
// for maintaining status label:
pendingTasks.set(pendingTasks.get()+1);
task.setOnSucceeded(taskEvent -> pendingTasks.set(pendingTasks.get()-1));
// run task in single-thread executor (will queue if another task is running):
exec.submit(task);
});
// layout etc
HBox controls = new HBox(startButton);
controls.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
controls.setPadding(new Insets(10));
Label statusLabel = new Label();
statusLabel.textProperty().bind(Bindings.format("Pending/running tasks: %s", pendingTasks));
BorderPane root = new BorderPane(textArea, statusLabel, null, controls, null);
Scene scene = new Scene(root, 600, 400);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
#Override
public void stop() {
exec.shutdownNow();
}
// Trivial task that counts slowly to 5, updating its message as it goes:
private Task<Void> createTask() {
final int taskNumber = taskCount.incrementAndGet();
return new Task<Void>() {
#Override
public Void call() throws Exception {
for (int count=1; count<=5; count++) {
Thread.sleep(1000);
updateMessage("Task "+taskNumber+": Count "+count);
}
return null ;
}
};
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}

When the user clicks on a radio button, first disable all radio buttons so the user will not be able to click on other radio buttons while your task is running.
When you finished with the background job, re-enable all radio buttons so the user can choose another task.
See Node.setDisabled() (RadioButton extends Node).
If you do need to queue tasks, your background thread should maintain a a task list, and when the user clicks, add the task to the list, which the background thread should consume (start another task if the current one is completed and there are more).
For advanced threaded execution see Executors and ExecutorService.

Updating UI from different threads in JavaFX

I am developing an application with several TextField objects that need to be updated to reflect changes in associated back-end properties. The TextFields are not editable, only the back-end may change their content.
As I understand, the correct way about this is to run the heavy computation on a separate thread so as not to block the UI. I did this using javafx.concurrent.Task and communicated a single value back to the JavaFX thread using updateMessage(), which worked well. However, I need more than one value to be updated as the back-end does its crunching.
Since the back-end values are stored as JavaFX properties, I tried simply binding them to the textProperty of each GUI element and let the bindings do the work. This doesn't work, however; after running for a few moments, the TextFields stop updating even though the back-end task is still running. No exceptions are raised.
I also tried using Platform.runLater() to actively update the TextFields rather than binding. The issue here is that the runLater() tasks are scheduled faster than the platform can run them, and so the GUI becomes sluggish and needs to time to "catch up" even after the back-end task is finished.
I found a few questions on here:
Logger entries translated to the UI stops being updated with time
Multithreading in JavaFX hangs the UI
but my issue persists.
In summary: I have a back-end making changes to properties, and I want those changes to appear on the GUI. The back-end is a genetic algorithm, so its operation is broken down into discrete generations. What I would like is for the TextFields to refresh at least once in between generations, even if this delays the next generation. It is more important that the GUI responds well than that the GA runs fast.
I can post a few code examples if I haven't made the issue clear.
UPDATE
I managed to do it following James_D's suggestion. To solve the issue of the back-end having to wait for the console to print, I implemented a buffered console of sorts. It stores the strings to print in a StringBuffer and actually appends them to the TextArea when a flush() method is called. I used an AtomicBoolean to prevent the next generation from happening until the flush is complete, as it is done by a Platform.runLater() runnable. Also note that this solution is incredibly slow.

Not sure if I completely understand, but I think this may help.
Using Platform.runLater(...) is an appropriate approach for this.
The trick to avoiding flooding the FX Application Thread is to use an Atomic variable to store the value you're interested in. In the Platform.runLater method, retrieve it and set it to a sentinel value. From your background thread, update the Atomic variable, but only issue a new Platform.runLater if it's been set back to its sentinel value.
I figured this out by looking at the source code for Task. Have a look at how the updateMessage method (line 1131 at the time of writing) is implemented.
Here's an example which uses the same technique. This just has a (busy) background thread which counts as fast as it can, updating an IntegerProperty. An observer watches that property and updates an AtomicInteger with the new value. If the current value of the AtomicInteger is -1, it schedules a Platform.runLater.
In the Platform.runLater, I retrieve the value of the AtomicInteger and use it to update a Label, setting the value back to -1 in the process. This signals that I am ready for another UI update.
import java.text.NumberFormat;
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.application.Platform;
import javafx.beans.property.IntegerProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleIntegerProperty;
import javafx.beans.value.ChangeListener;
import javafx.beans.value.ObservableValue;
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.layout.AnchorPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class ConcurrentModel extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
final AtomicInteger count = new AtomicInteger(-1);
final AnchorPane root = new AnchorPane();
final Label label = new Label();
final Model model = new Model();
final NumberFormat formatter = NumberFormat.getIntegerInstance();
formatter.setGroupingUsed(true);
model.intProperty().addListener(new ChangeListener<Number>() {
#Override
public void changed(final ObservableValue<? extends Number> observable,
final Number oldValue, final Number newValue) {
if (count.getAndSet(newValue.intValue()) == -1) {
Platform.runLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
long value = count.getAndSet(-1);
label.setText(formatter.format(value));
}
});
}
}
});
final Button startButton = new Button("Start");
startButton.setOnAction(new EventHandler<ActionEvent>() {
#Override
public void handle(ActionEvent event) {
model.start();
}
});
AnchorPane.setTopAnchor(label, 10.0);
AnchorPane.setLeftAnchor(label, 10.0);
AnchorPane.setBottomAnchor(startButton, 10.0);
AnchorPane.setLeftAnchor(startButton, 10.0);
root.getChildren().addAll(label, startButton);
Scene scene = new Scene(root, 100, 100);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
public class Model extends Thread {
private IntegerProperty intProperty;
public Model() {
intProperty = new SimpleIntegerProperty(this, "int", 0);
setDaemon(true);
}
public int getInt() {
return intProperty.get();
}
public IntegerProperty intProperty() {
return intProperty;
}
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
intProperty.set(intProperty.get() + 1);
}
}
}
}
If you really want to "drive" the back end from the UI: that is throttle the speed of the backend implementation so you see all updates, consider using an AnimationTimer. An AnimationTimer has a handle(...) which is called once per frame render. So you could block the back-end implementation (for example by using a blocking queue) and release it once per invocation of the handle method. The handle(...) method is invoked on the FX Application Thread.
The handle(...) method takes a parameter which is a timestamp (in nanoseconds), so you can use that to slow the updates further, if once per frame is too fast.
For example:
import java.util.concurrent.ArrayBlockingQueue;
import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
import javafx.animation.AnimationTimer;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.beans.property.LongProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleLongProperty;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.TextArea;
import javafx.scene.layout.BorderPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
public class Main extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
final BlockingQueue<String> messageQueue = new ArrayBlockingQueue<>(1);
TextArea console = new TextArea();
Button startButton = new Button("Start");
startButton.setOnAction(event -> {
MessageProducer producer = new MessageProducer(messageQueue);
Thread t = new Thread(producer);
t.setDaemon(true);
t.start();
});
final LongProperty lastUpdate = new SimpleLongProperty();
final long minUpdateInterval = 0 ; // nanoseconds. Set to higher number to slow output.
AnimationTimer timer = new AnimationTimer() {
#Override
public void handle(long now) {
if (now - lastUpdate.get() > minUpdateInterval) {
final String message = messageQueue.poll();
if (message != null) {
console.appendText("\n" + message);
}
lastUpdate.set(now);
}
}
};
timer.start();
HBox controls = new HBox(5, startButton);
controls.setPadding(new Insets(10));
controls.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
BorderPane root = new BorderPane(console, null, null, controls, null);
Scene scene = new Scene(root,600,400);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
private static class MessageProducer implements Runnable {
private final BlockingQueue<String> messageQueue ;
public MessageProducer(BlockingQueue<String> messageQueue) {
this.messageQueue = messageQueue ;
}
#Override
public void run() {
long messageCount = 0 ;
try {
while (true) {
final String message = "Message " + (++messageCount);
messageQueue.put(message);
}
} catch (InterruptedException exc) {
System.out.println("Message producer interrupted: exiting.");
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}

The best way to performing this is by usage of Task in JavaFx. This is be by far the best technique I've come across to update UI Controls in JavaFx.
Task task = new Task<Void>() {
#Override public Void call() {
static final int max = 1000000;
for (int i=1; i<=max; i++) {
updateProgress(i, max);
}
return null;
}
};
ProgressBar bar = new ProgressBar();
bar.progressProperty().bind(task.progressProperty());
new Thread(task).start();

How to stop arrow keys navigating controls

I'm trying to stop the arrow keys from navigating through the controls i have in my example. I'm not sure how to do this. Here is the example i have created:
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.event.EventHandler;
import javafx.scene.Group;
import javafx.scene.Node;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.input.KeyCode;
import javafx.scene.input.KeyEvent;
import javafx.scene.layout.FlowPane;
import javafx.scene.shape.Rectangle;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class KeyEventTest extends Application{
private EventHandler<KeyEvent> keyEventHandler;
#Override
public void start(Stage stage) throws Exception {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
Group root = new Group();
FlowPane f = new FlowPane();
Button r = new Button("button1");
Button r2 = new Button("button1");
Button r3 = new Button("button1");
f.getChildren().addAll(r,r2,r3);
root.getChildren().add(f);
Scene scene = new Scene(root,600,600);
keyEventHandler = new EventHandler<KeyEvent>() {
public void handle(final KeyEvent keyEvent) {
if (keyEvent.getCode() == KeyCode.LEFT || keyEvent.getCode() == KeyCode.UP) {
System.out.println("arrow keys");
}else{
System.out.println(keyEvent);
}
}
};
stage.addEventHandler(KeyEvent.KEY_PRESSED, keyEventHandler);
stage.setScene(scene);
stage.show();
}
public static void main(String args[]){
Application.launch(args);
}
}
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

I had a similar Problem and found an easy workaround. Since the controls navigating Part triggers after the self-implemented EventHandler you can simply stop any further propagation of the KeyEvent by calling
keyevent.consume()
at the end of your handle() method.

First, the answer on this question is similar to answer on this question : JavaFX: How to change the focus traversal policy?
You can change traversal policy, so that traverse will not be done, for some situations.
The other decision - is to add listener of focused property, and drop focus back, when it is not wished (but it will work for all navigation keys):
node.focusedProperty().addListener(new ChangeListener<Boolean>(){
public void changed(ObservableValue<? extends Boolean> ov, Boolean t, Boolean t1) {
Platform.runLater(new Runnable(){
public void run() {
node.requestFocus();
}
});
}
});
You should use runLater, because of such issue : JavaFx: After dialog, two textfields gains focus instead one
The way how you do this - handler on key press may not work always, because actions may happen on key release too.
In common case, behavior on key presses is determined in behavior class, which is accessible by skin class. If you want to change behavior on keys pressing, you can change behavior class.