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Adding timeout to a user interface program

I'm working on a Java project involving user interface, using the Button class and some action listeners.
I have a few buttons (each with an action listener) and I want to add a timeout to the whole program. That means, if no button was clicked-on in a certain amount of time, a specific action should be performed.
I tried adding it among the basic while loop + isDisposed() function. To my knowledge, this loop checks multiple times whether a button was clicked-on. For some reason, I couldn't get the outcome I wanted.
Is there a way to do so with the classes I mentioned? I also couldn't find any suitable functions in the Button class.

Use a Swing Timer (javax.swing.Timer).
Instanciate it with new Timer(CERTAIN_AMOUNT_OF_TIME, e -> timeoutAction()) (If you have a function timeoutAction), disable repeating with setRepeats(false) and start() it.
When the user clicks a button, call restart() on it.
Also, you’re mentioning the Button class, which is an AWT class. I recommend using Swing’s JButton class instead.

It is highly probable that you are using swing, but since this is not specified, I will give you a general answer, with links to swing examples.
First of all, since all your button clicks will behave in a very similar manner, so you will need a custom ActionListener (example). Your custom action listener should perform the action, but set a timestamp or some kind of date value to the current moment. In parallel, you should have a heartbeat event, which periodically (frequently) runs and compares the current moment with the timestamp set by the last button click. And you can see an example of a periodic task here: How to schedule a periodic task in Java?

Syncing interaction between a GUI and a while loop

I'm currently programming a game in java and am using an interface to handle input/output for the game. I currently have a text interface working properly. I'm using code similar to the following:
while (moveExists())
{
String in = interface.getInput();
processInput(in);
interface.displayOutput(this.getState);
}
The text only interface works because it pauses to wait for input, but I am not sure how to accomplish a similar behaviour in a GUI implementation. How may I 'wait' for input from an actionListener?
If not, I'll probably use code less like a game loop and more like a finite state machine so that I don't need to deal with two different threads trying to co-ordinate their actions.

You could simply start a GUI (that it has its own separated thread) containing a text area and maybe a button or something like that, then you add an ActionListener to the text area or button and then you execute the code you need when the Listener is triggered (i.e. some code has been inserted or button clicked).
Another story if you have also another 'background' thread that needs to run in a loop...

swing: UI for a countdown timer

I need a variable countdown timer for between 1-10 seconds, that can be stopped and restarted. What's a good set of UI elements to use for this? I need something intuitive that uses a fairly small amount of screen real estate, comparable to a normal-sized JButton. A windup kitchen egg timer would be the best physical analogy:
NOTE: I know how to implement timers and restart them, I just need to figure out what UI elements to use.
NOTE 2: I need a variable countdown timer. If the user wants 1 second, I want a 1 second timer. If the user wants an 8.2 second timer, I want an 8.2 second timer. The kitchen timer above is simple, the user just turns it to a certain amount and lets it go.

Why not use a JProgressBar that starts off "full" and empties as the time decreases? You overlay the remaining time in seconds over the bar, therefore avoiding using additional screen real estate.

For a short term solution I used a JSlider... I add an ActionListener to its BoundedRangeModel, and set my timer when there is a change and the BoundedRangeModel.getValueIsAdjusting() returns false. When my timer counts down but is not yet expired and the BoundedRangeModel.getValueIsAdjusting() returns false, I call BoundedRangeModel.setValue().
Not too happy with it but it kinda does what I want.

A (ridiculously) simple solution: if you don't need too much graphical flair, just use a single JButton that displays the seconds remaining when the timer is running. When the timer's off, it displays "Start"; clicking it will begin the countdown. You could then stop (or pause) it by clicking when the timer is running.

It is fairly simple... Labels and buttons should be fine.. Here are some examples
(source: itblogs.info)
(source: softpedia.com)
(source: leancrew.com)

I'd use a JSpinner for the setting; a javax.swing.Timer for the counting; and a single button, labelled "Start" or "Stop" as a function of the Timer state. Almost anything would do for display, but #Adamski's JProgressBar idea has appeal.

JButtons don't imediatly change on mouse event

I'm using the java swing library to develop a board game called DAO.
The problem is that after the human player makes its move, by clicking on the JButton with the piece image that he wants to play, I call the computer AI routine but inside the mouse event function. By doing this only when the function returns, the computer ends its turn, do the JButtons refresh their Images (setIcon comes in).
I'd like to know how can I force the JButtons to change their image at the moment they are clicked and not only when the mouse event function ends (as I need to handle data inside it).
I've tried all of this
myButtons[i][j].setIcon(xIcon);
myButtons[i][j].revalidate();
myButtons[i][j].repaint();
myButtons[i][j].validate();
None worked.
Thx in advance

You may want to try putting the action performed upon clicking the JButton into a Swing worker. This will allow the task to go on in the background, while the user can still click other buttons, etc.
See http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/concurrency/simple.html.

There is a single thread used for all Swing activity.
Here's the process.
One event appears on the event queue
it is pulled from the queue and executed by The AWT Thread
Any new events created while this is executing are placed on the queue to be held until the currently running AWT event returns.
The event executing returns and the next event on the queue is dequeued and executed.
This means that if you need to do anything that takes more than, say 1/100 of a second or so, you shouldn't do it any thread started from a swing event. Instead, spawn your own thread and return the swing thread to the system so the GUI can be updated.
Now, your thread MUST NOT update any GUI objects! If you need to update a GUI object, use invokeLater to place your code back on the AWT thread.
New Java programmers not conforming to this rule and executing tasks on the AWT thread is almost certainly the biggest reason people think Java is slow.

How to use a delay in a swing application

I am building a swing application. At some point, I have to start an "animation":
...
jpanel1.setBackground(Color.Black);
Delay(milli)
jpanel1.setBackground(Color.White);
...
and so on.
The gui itself and all the logic behind it work.It is just this time depended color-changing that does not. I have read, that swing is not thread safe, but all the examples I found showed me how to start another thread (for example in the background) but never how to stop the current swing-gui thread.
Edit:
The application should work as following:
configuration files are read, jframe is set up.
some simple questions are beeing asked
a dialogue is opened, which explains the animation.
after the user clicked "ok" the animation - some color flashing - is started. the color and the delay between the color-changing is depended on the configuration
another dialogue is opened and the programm continues -> new jpanel inside the jframe, buttons and so on.
the online thing that does not work are the delays between the color-changing. I understand now why it does not work and I am trying to build a timer, which activates a actionlister, which then changes the color and stops the timer... it just seems so much work for a simple delay... and I have to reorganize the entire animation in the application.

Take a look at: https://timingframework.dev.java.net/
and the samples that come in http://filthyrichclients.org/
They provide some very good information on how animation work and using the Timer framework. You'll have a good understanding of how it works.
I did a sample animation here with Swing after reading those:
count down demo app http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/742/capturadepantalla201004wd.png
Java application featuring blog.stackoverflow.com page ( click on image to see the demo video )
But I'm not even sure what is what you want to achieve.
EDIT
I read about the timing framework to understand better what is all about, but I actually didn't use it ( it is useful to create animations with no linear times - ie no every second as mine, but things like 1, 5, 3, 2 seconds )
The code I'm using in the demo above is exactly this:
final Timer imageTimer = new Timer();
imageTimer.schedule( new TimerTask() {
public void run() {
changeImage();
}
}, 0, 10000 ); //<-- every 10 seconds.
The animation for the "stackoverflowing" and the count down use a similar approach.

You do not want to stop the GUI thread, even if you want to have a flashing effect. This is because other basic actions, like repainting when the GUI is hidden by other windows, will be stalled. Take a look at Timer. It will allow you to have an event fired on an interval and you can handle that, in the GUI thread, in your actionPerformed method.

You will want to use the javax.swing.Timer class and not the java.util.Timer class.
The later is preferred when you need general timing the former is preferred for UI updating/changes.
See http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/misc/timer.html
You may also want to look at https://timingframework.dev.java.net/.

Do the timer on another thread and when the timer goes off it can send an update message for the animation to draw the next frame.
Another consideration is the delay itself. Don't pick a fixed delay-interval. Old games used to do that and they become unplayable on faster computers. Instead what the newer games do is use the speed of the current CPU to figure out how many update events they need a second at runtime, call it a 'delay-factor', and is set when the program starts up. . The timer uses the delay factor so the animation displays correctly even on machines of different clock-speed.