I was building a small test tool with Java Swing using Netbeans IDE.
I am trying to update a label, which is somehow not getting 'repainted'/'refreshed'. I looked into a couple of similar questions on SO but was not able to resolve my problem.
private void excelFileChooserActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt)
{
if(!JFileChooser.CANCEL_SELECTION.equals(evt.getActionCommand()))
{
String selectedFile = excelFileChooser.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath();
loaderLabel.setText("Please Wait..");
try {
//This is sort of a blocking call, i.e. DB calls will be made (in the same thread. It takes about 2-3 seconds)
processFile(selectedFile);
loaderLabel.setText("Done..");
missingTransactionsPanel.setVisible(true);
}
catch(Exception e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
loaderLabel.setText("Failed..");
}
}
}
loaderLabel is a JLabel and the layout used is AbsoluteLayout.
So, my problem is "Please Wait..." is never shown. Although call to the method processFile takes about 2-3 seconds, "Please Wait..." is never shown. However, "Done..."/"Failed..." are shown.
If I add a popup (JOptionPane) before the call to processFile, "Please Wait.." is shown. I am not able to clearly understand why this is happening.
Is there a "good practice" that I should follow before a heavy method call? Do I need to call an explicit repaint/refresh/revalidate?
You need to call
processFile(selectedFile);
in another thread (not in the AWT thread). To do so you can do something like this :
Thread t = new Thread(){
public void run(){
processFile(selectedFile);
// now you need to refresh the UI... it must be done in the UI thread
// to do so use "SwingUtilities.invokeLater"
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
public void run(){
loaderLabel.setText("Done..");
missingTransactionsPanel.setVisible(true);
}
}
)
}
};
t.start();
Please not that I didn't work with swing for a long time, so there may be some syntax issues with this code.
Have you tried dispatching the call to the EDT with SwingUtilities.invokeLater() ?
http://www.javamex.com/tutorials/threads/invokelater.shtml
Related
Related to my previous question: Call repaint from another class in Java?
I'm new to Java and I've had a look at some tutorials on SwingWorker. Yet, I'm unsure how to implement it with the example code I gave in the previous question.
Can anyone please explain how to use SwingWorker with regards to my code snippet and/or point me towards a decent tutorial? I have looked but I'm not sure I understand yet.
Generally, SwingWorker is used to perform long-running tasks in Swing.
Running long-running tasks on the Event Dispatch Thread (EDT) can cause the GUI to lock up, so one of the things which were done is to use SwingUtilities.invokeLater and invokeAndWait which keeps the GUI responsive by which prioritizing the other AWT events before running the desired task (in the form of a Runnable).
However, the problem with SwingUtilities is that it didn't allow returning data from the the executed Runnable to the original method. This is what SwingWorker was designed to address.
The Java Tutorial has a section on SwingWorker.
Here's an example where a SwingWorker is used to execute a time-consuming task on a separate thread, and displays a message box a second later with the answer.
First off, a class extending SwingWorker will be made:
class AnswerWorker extends SwingWorker<Integer, Integer>
{
protected Integer doInBackground() throws Exception
{
// Do a time-consuming task.
Thread.sleep(1000);
return 42;
}
protected void done()
{
try
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(f, get());
}
catch (Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
The return type of the doInBackground and get methods are specified as the first type of the SwingWorker, and the second type is the type used to return for the publish and process methods, which are not used in this example.
Then, in order to invoke the SwingWorker, the execute method is called. In this example, we'll hook an ActionListener to a JButton to execute the AnswerWorker:
JButton b = new JButton("Answer!");
b.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
new AnswerWorker().execute();
}
});
The above button can be added to a JFrame, and clicked on to get a message box a second later. The following can be used to initialize the GUI for a Swing application:
private void makeGUI()
{
final JFrame f = new JFrame();
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
f.getContentPane().setLayout(new FlowLayout());
// include: "class AnswerWorker" code here.
// include: "JButton" b code here.
f.getContentPane().add(b);
f.getContentPane().add(new JButton("Nothing"));
f.pack();
f.setVisible(true);
}
Once the application is run, there will be two buttons. One labeled "Answer!" and another "Nothing". When one clicks on the "Answer!" button, nothing will happen at first, but clicking on the "Nothing" button will work and demonstrate that the GUI is responsive.
And, one second later, the result of the AnswerWorker will appear in the message box.
Agree:
Running long-running tasks on the Event Dispatch Thread (EDT) can cause the GUI to lock up.
Do not agree:
so one of the things which were done is to use SwingUtilities.invokeLater and invokeAndWait which keeps the GUI responsive..
invokeLater still runs the code on the EDT, and can freeze your UI!! Try this:
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
Thread.sleep(100000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
At least I, cannot move my mouse once I click the button which triggers the actionPerformed with the above code. Am I missing something?
I have a jframe i want to display while my main frame is running. i want to pause my main code, until the user does the necessary actions on the other frame. I've read a lot of solutions but i need to see it done for my code to understand and grasp it fully. i do not want to use jdialog like I've seen listed as an answer before. My main goal is to understand better threading so that i can use what i learn in different cases.
With the code I've created, when running the thread, only just the frame loads, none of the other features are there on the frame. (the frame is simple it has a label, a list the user selects from, and a button to basically return the chosen list value.) its like the thread is cut off from completing or something.
here is my class calling the screen:
public class myThread implements Runnable {
String result = null;
public void run() {
MessageScreen ms = new MessageScreen();
ms.setVisible(true);
}
public String getResult() {
return result;
}
public void setResult(String AS) {
result = AS;
}
}
in my main code, a method is called that is returning a String[] value, with this method at some point i have the following code calling the new thread to get the value necessary to return in the original main method:
myThread mt = new myThread();
Thread t = new Thread(mt);
t.start();
try {
t.join();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
myreturn = new String[] {"true", mt.getResult()};
without listing the whole code for the second frame, when the user presses the button, and at the end of the listener tied to the button press the i want to close the frame and return a string that was selected from the list:
jf.dispose();
myt.setResult(AdminSelection);
in the frame class, i have the following instance variables declared:
String AdminSelection = null;
myThread myt;
i hope this is enough information for someone to help me out and understand whats gone wrong here.
The function join() waits until the end of the run() method, when you do t.join(), your thread is already or almost ended. This is because in your run() method there is nothing that blocks the thread until the user has clicked the confirm button. And is better like this!
There is no sense to create a thread here, you should use a callback, or more generally in Java, a listener. You can take a look at Creating Custom Listeners.
But, especially if you want to pause your main code, you should use a (modal) JDialog which is made for this! Don't try to block the UI by yourself, you could block the UI thread (handled by Swing/AWT) by mistake. Creating a JDialog is better because everything is already made for this usage on the UI thread.
Also, you must know that create a Thread is really long, use a Thread when you really need it.
I hava a GUI that has a button that need to be pressed periodically in the sense it should pause in between. But i am not able to do that. I have tried with Thread.sleep(). Below is the code.
protected Object doInBackground() throws Exception {
while(true){
btnSend.doClick();
try {
Thread.sleep(2000);
continue;
} catch (InterruptedException e1) {
}
}
return null;
}
Can anyone tell me where i am going wrong and how to solve it?
You shouldn't use a SwingWorker for this since you should not call doClick() off the event thread. If al you want to do is make this call intermittently, then simply use a Swing Timer for calls that need to be done intermittently and on the event thread.
int timerDelay = 2000;
new Timer(timerDelay, new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
btnSend.doClick();
}
}).start();
Edit
You ask in comment:
But i need to update another UI on that button click event. If i dont use swingworker the other UI will freeze. I have to use swingworker. Is it possible to do so?
You've got it wrong, I fear. The button click and GUI code should all be on the EDT. Any background non-GUI code that is generated by the button click's ActionListener should be done in a SwingWorker but not the click itself.
e.g.,
elsewhere
btnSend.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
new SwingWorker<Void, Void>() {
public Void doInBackground() throws Exception {
//.....
return null;
}
}
}
});
If you need more specific advice regarding your situation, then you'll want to consider creating and posting a Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable Example Program where you condense your code into the smallest bit that still compiles and runs, has no outside dependencies (such as need to link to a database or images), has no extra code that's not relevant to your problem, but still demonstrates your problem.
I'm designing an app, which flicks through a series of pictures, like flicking through a photo album. Pretty standard stuff I'm sure.
Since the picture must be viewed for a few seconds before it automatically changes ot the next pic, I decided to ake a thread that shows the pic, waits couple of second and then moves on.
Picthread(ImageView Image1) {
this.image = Image1;
}
public void run(){
showPicture(image);
animal_array = new String[7];
while (counter < 7){
try{
int timer = 0;
while (timer < 2000){
sleep(500);
timer+=500;
}
image.post(new Runnable(){
public void run() {
showPicture(image);
}
});
}
catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
}
}
This actualy worked. showPictures is a very simple method that just chooses a picture and puts it on an ImageView. It isn't necessary to know about it for my problem.
At first itdidn't work, the logcat said I couldn't touch a view on a view heirarchy that wasnt created in this thread. I wasn't sure what that meant so I did the
image.post(...)
code. Which worked. My main question is: Why was this necesary? If you look at my above code, the first showPicture() method is not inside the image.post() code. But no exception is registered. I don't understand this, why isn't a post needed? But also why do I need to post, since Image is a class variable, and I thought could be viewed by all threads. I was happy it worked, but puzzled.
Please bare in mind, this is my first attempt at threading in Java on anything more than trivial textbook examples. SO I'm still pretty confused.
By the way, in the end I ditched the whole thread, and just did
new Thread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {...}
When doing "things" with the GUI you should always be on the GUI thread. That is what View.post(Runnable) does, ensuring that the gui thread does the work of the runnable.
Even though your showImage works once does not mean that it always works...
Related to my previous question: Call repaint from another class in Java?
I'm new to Java and I've had a look at some tutorials on SwingWorker. Yet, I'm unsure how to implement it with the example code I gave in the previous question.
Can anyone please explain how to use SwingWorker with regards to my code snippet and/or point me towards a decent tutorial? I have looked but I'm not sure I understand yet.
Generally, SwingWorker is used to perform long-running tasks in Swing.
Running long-running tasks on the Event Dispatch Thread (EDT) can cause the GUI to lock up, so one of the things which were done is to use SwingUtilities.invokeLater and invokeAndWait which keeps the GUI responsive by which prioritizing the other AWT events before running the desired task (in the form of a Runnable).
However, the problem with SwingUtilities is that it didn't allow returning data from the the executed Runnable to the original method. This is what SwingWorker was designed to address.
The Java Tutorial has a section on SwingWorker.
Here's an example where a SwingWorker is used to execute a time-consuming task on a separate thread, and displays a message box a second later with the answer.
First off, a class extending SwingWorker will be made:
class AnswerWorker extends SwingWorker<Integer, Integer>
{
protected Integer doInBackground() throws Exception
{
// Do a time-consuming task.
Thread.sleep(1000);
return 42;
}
protected void done()
{
try
{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(f, get());
}
catch (Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
The return type of the doInBackground and get methods are specified as the first type of the SwingWorker, and the second type is the type used to return for the publish and process methods, which are not used in this example.
Then, in order to invoke the SwingWorker, the execute method is called. In this example, we'll hook an ActionListener to a JButton to execute the AnswerWorker:
JButton b = new JButton("Answer!");
b.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
new AnswerWorker().execute();
}
});
The above button can be added to a JFrame, and clicked on to get a message box a second later. The following can be used to initialize the GUI for a Swing application:
private void makeGUI()
{
final JFrame f = new JFrame();
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
f.getContentPane().setLayout(new FlowLayout());
// include: "class AnswerWorker" code here.
// include: "JButton" b code here.
f.getContentPane().add(b);
f.getContentPane().add(new JButton("Nothing"));
f.pack();
f.setVisible(true);
}
Once the application is run, there will be two buttons. One labeled "Answer!" and another "Nothing". When one clicks on the "Answer!" button, nothing will happen at first, but clicking on the "Nothing" button will work and demonstrate that the GUI is responsive.
And, one second later, the result of the AnswerWorker will appear in the message box.
Agree:
Running long-running tasks on the Event Dispatch Thread (EDT) can cause the GUI to lock up.
Do not agree:
so one of the things which were done is to use SwingUtilities.invokeLater and invokeAndWait which keeps the GUI responsive..
invokeLater still runs the code on the EDT, and can freeze your UI!! Try this:
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
Thread.sleep(100000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
At least I, cannot move my mouse once I click the button which triggers the actionPerformed with the above code. Am I missing something?