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more efficiently load images for JList, presumably with SwingWorker

I have a problem in which I hope SwingWorker can help me, but I am not quite sure how to integrate it in my program.
The problem:
In a CardLayout I have a button on Card1 that opens Card2.
Card2 has a JList with a custom renderer(extending JLabel) which will display on average 1 to 6 images which are:
PNGs
around 500kb in size
loaded via imageIO with the change of cards
the renderer applies heavy operations such as image scaling or blurring and than sets the image as JLabel icon.
This can almost take up to a second if around 6 images have to be rendered, which is does not happen frequently but even that occasional split second of unresponsiveness feels bad.
Now I thought a SwingWorker might help here, but I'm thoroughly confused as to how I would have to integrate it.
Assuming we had this Code snippet
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
public class Example {
private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
private JList<Product> list = new JList();
private JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane();
private Map<String, Color> colorMap = new HashMap<>();
public Example() {
colorMap.put("red", Color.red);
colorMap.put("blue", Color.blue);
colorMap.put("cyan", Color.cyan);
colorMap.put("green", Color.green);
colorMap.put("yellow", Color.yellow);
mainPanel.setBackground(new Color(129, 133, 142));
scroll.setViewportView(list);
scroll.setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER);
scroll.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(80,200));
list.setCellRenderer(new CustomRenderer());
DefaultListModel model = new DefaultListModel();
model.addElement(new Product("red"));
model.addElement(new Product("yellow"));
model.addElement(new Product("blue"));
model.addElement(new Product("red"));
model.addElement(new Product("cyan"));
list.setModel(model);
mainPanel.add(scroll);
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("WorkerTest");
frame.setContentPane(new Example().mainPanel);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocation(300, 300);
frame.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(160, 255));
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
class CustomRenderer extends JLabel implements ListCellRenderer<Product> {
private Product product;
public CustomRenderer() {
setOpaque(false);
}
#Override
public Component getListCellRendererComponent(JList<? extends Product> list, Product product, int index, boolean isSelected, boolean cellHasFocus) {
this.product = product;
/**
* in the actual code image is png with alpha channel respectively named to the productID of the JList object
*
* String id = product.getId();
* image = ImageIO.read(getClass().getResource("../../resources/images/" + id + ".png"));
*/
BufferedImage image1 = new BufferedImage(80, 50, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
BufferedImage image2 = new BufferedImage( 80, 75, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
Graphics g = image2.getGraphics();
/**
* this is only an example, in the actual code I might also apply gaussian blurs or rescale several time
*/
g.drawImage(image1,0,0,null);
setIcon(new ImageIcon(image2));
return this;
}
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
g.setColor(colorMap.get(product.getColor()));
g.fillRect(0,0,80,75);
}
}
class Product {
String productID;
String color;
public Product(String color) {
this.color = color;
}
public String getColor() {
return color;
}
public String getProductID() {
return productID;
}
}
}
would I have to call a SwingWorker from every getListCellRendererComponent call
to take over the image operations ?
Is SwingWorker even the right tool for this problem?
any help as to how I can make this part of my GUI faster would be greatly appreciated.
EDIT:
Hovercraft Full Of Eels mentioned that preloading the images could help and that loading the images from the renderer is fundamentally wrong.
This leads me to another Question:
I have a list(let's call it list1) with around 3000 objects each object has a 8kb jpg thumbnail which is load via object ID (also during the rendering)
The list displays around 6 to 12 of these thumbnail at the same time (due to the List's Dimension)
when the user selects an object he can press a button to display Card2 from the Cardlayout mentioned in the original question and it's list(list2) with the Object
and all it's related Object in non thumbnail view (500kb png + heavy image operation). Now I think it would be feasible to preload the non thumbnail image of the Object and it's relations selected in the first list which would be around 1-6 images. If I understood correctly what Hovercraft Full Of Eels said, then I could use a SwingWorker to load these Images after the selection of an Object from list1.
But what about the around 3000 images from list1, the program seemingly is not slowed down or becomes unresponsive because they are rather small in size and there are no heavy operations on the thumbnails, but they are still load form the list1's renderer. Would it make sense to preload the several thousand thumbnails ?
btw. feel free to tell me if this kind of question edit is not wished for and if it should be made into a question of itself.

One approach might be the following:
Whenever a cell renderer component for a certain element (Product) is requested, you check whether the matching image is already loaded. If not, you start a Swing worker that does the work of loading and processing the image in the background. When the worker is done, the image is placed into a cache for later lookup. In the meantime, you let the renderer just say "Loading..." or something.
A very quick implementation is here:
And as an MCVE:
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Objects;
import java.util.Random;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
import java.util.function.Function;
import javax.swing.DefaultListModel;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JList;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.ListCellRenderer;
import javax.swing.SwingWorker;
public class LazyImageLoadingCellRendererTest
{
private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
private JList<Product> list = new JList<Product>();
private JScrollPane scroll = new JScrollPane();
public LazyImageLoadingCellRendererTest()
{
mainPanel.setBackground(new Color(129, 133, 142));
scroll.setViewportView(list);
scroll.setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy(
JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER);
scroll.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(80, 200));
list.setCellRenderer(new LazyImageLoadingCellRenderer<Product>(list,
LazyImageLoadingCellRendererTest::loadAndProcessImage));
DefaultListModel<Product> model = new DefaultListModel<Product>();
for (int i=0; i<1000; i++)
{
model.addElement(new Product("id" + i));
}
list.setModel(model);
mainPanel.add(scroll);
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
{
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
JFrame frame = new JFrame("WorkerTest");
frame.setContentPane(
new LazyImageLoadingCellRendererTest().mainPanel);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocation(300, 300);
frame.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(160, 255));
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
private static final Random random = new Random(0);
private static BufferedImage loadAndProcessImage(Product product)
{
String id = product.getProductID();
int w = 100;
int h = 20;
BufferedImage image =
new BufferedImage(w, h, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
Graphics2D g = image.createGraphics();
g.setColor(Color.GREEN);
g.fillRect(0, 0, w, h);
g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
g.drawString(id, 10, 16);
g.dispose();
long delay = 500 + random.nextInt(3000);
try
{
System.out.println("Load time of " + delay + " ms for " + id);
Thread.sleep(delay);
}
catch (InterruptedException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
return image;
}
class Product
{
String productID;
public Product(String productID)
{
this.productID = productID;
}
public String getProductID()
{
return productID;
}
}
}
class LazyImageLoadingCellRenderer<T> extends JLabel
implements ListCellRenderer<T>
{
private final JList<?> owner;
private final Function<? super T, ? extends BufferedImage> imageLookup;
private final Set<T> pendingImages;
private final Map<T, BufferedImage> loadedImages;
public LazyImageLoadingCellRenderer(JList<?> owner,
Function<? super T, ? extends BufferedImage> imageLookup)
{
this.owner = Objects.requireNonNull(
owner, "The owner may not be null");
this.imageLookup = Objects.requireNonNull(imageLookup,
"The imageLookup may not be null");
this.loadedImages = new ConcurrentHashMap<T, BufferedImage>();
this.pendingImages =
Collections.newSetFromMap(new ConcurrentHashMap<T, Boolean>());
setOpaque(false);
}
class ImageLoadingWorker extends SwingWorker<BufferedImage, Void>
{
private final T element;
ImageLoadingWorker(T element)
{
this.element = element;
pendingImages.add(element);
}
#Override
protected BufferedImage doInBackground() throws Exception
{
try
{
BufferedImage image = imageLookup.apply(element);
loadedImages.put(element, image);
pendingImages.remove(element);
return image;
}
catch (Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
return null;
}
}
#Override
protected void done()
{
owner.repaint();
}
}
#Override
public Component getListCellRendererComponent(JList<? extends T> list,
T value, int index, boolean isSelected, boolean cellHasFocus)
{
BufferedImage image = loadedImages.get(value);
if (image == null)
{
if (!pendingImages.contains(value))
{
//System.out.println("Execute for " + value);
ImageLoadingWorker worker = new ImageLoadingWorker(value);
worker.execute();
}
setText("Loading...");
setIcon(null);
}
else
{
setText(null);
setIcon(new ImageIcon(image));
}
return this;
}
}
Note:
This is really just a quick example showing the general approach. Of course, this could be improved in many ways. Although the actual loading process is already pulled out into a Function (thus making it generically applicable for any sort of image, regardless of where it comes from), one major caveat is that: It will try to load all images. A nice extension would be to add some smartness here, and make sure that it only loads the images for which the cells are currently visible. For example, when you have a list of 1000 elements, and want to see the last 10 elements, then you should not have to wait for 990 elements to be loaded. The last elements should be priorized higher and loaded first. However, for this, a slightly larger infrastructure (mainly: an own task queue and some stronger connection to the list and its scroll pane) may be necessary. (I'll possibly tackle this one day, because it might be a nice and interesting thing to have, but until then, the example above might do it...)

would I have to call a SwingWorker from every getListCellRendererComponent call to take over the image operations ?
No, you would in fact never call a background thread from within a key rendering method. In fact this appears to be the main problem with the code above -- you're reading in images from within a rendering method, significantly reducing the perceived responsiveness of your program.
Is SwingWorker even the right tool for this problem?
Perhaps, but not where you're thinking about using it. A SwingWorker will not speed anything up, but by performing long-running tasks in the background, it would avoid blocking the Swing event thread, freezing the GUI. Best would be to read the images, once, perhaps in a SwingWorker if not done during program initiation, and save them to a variable. Do not re-read the image every time you want to render it, if this can be avoided. And again, do not read in the image from within your rendering code as this will significantly reduce the perceived responsiveness of the program.

Getting graphics object to draw with buffer strategy

I've made a JFrame with a canvas on it and I want to draw on that canvas. At a later date the canvas will be updating many times a second so I am using a buffer strategy for this. Here is the code:
package mainPackage;
import java.awt.Canvas;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.image.BufferStrategy;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class TickPainter {
//just some presets for a window.
public static JFrame makeWindow(String title, int width, int height) {
JFrame mainWindow = new JFrame();
mainWindow.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
mainWindow.setSize(width, height);
mainWindow.setVisible(true);
mainWindow.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
mainWindow.setTitle(title);
return mainWindow;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame mainWindow = makeWindow("Practice", 800, 600);
Canvas mainCanvas = new Canvas();
mainWindow.add(mainCanvas);
mainCanvas.setSize(mainWindow.getWidth(), mainWindow.getHeight());
mainCanvas.setBackground(Color.white);
mainCanvas.createBufferStrategy(3);
BufferStrategy bufferStrat = mainCanvas.getBufferStrategy();
Graphics g = bufferStrat.getDrawGraphics();
g.setColor(Color.black);
g.fillRect(250, 250, 250, 250);
g.dispose();
bufferStrat.show();
}
}
The program does not draw the black rectangle as intended, I feel like I've missed something really obvious here and I just can't see it. At the moment the program just makes a blank white canvas. I feel like part of the issue is that the buffer is just passing the frame with the rectangle faster than I can see, but there is no frame to load after that so I don't know why it's doing this.

A BufferStrategy has a number of initial requirements which must be meet before it can be rendered to. Also, because of the nature of how it works, you might need to repeat a paint phases a number of times before it's actually accepted by the hardware layer.
I recommend going through the JavaDocs and tutorial, they provide invaluable examples into how you're suppose to use a BufferStrategy
The following example uses a Canvas as the base component and sets up a rendering loop within a custom Thread. It's very basic, but shows the basic concepts you'd need to implement...
import java.awt.Canvas;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.image.BufferStrategy;
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Test();
}
public Test() {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
TestCanvas canvas = new TestCanvas();
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.add(canvas);
frame.setTitle("Test");
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
canvas.start();
}
});
}
public class TestCanvas extends Canvas {
private Thread thread;
private AtomicBoolean keepRendering = new AtomicBoolean(true);
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
return new Dimension(200, 200);
}
public void stop() {
if (thread != null) {
keepRendering.set(false);
try {
thread.join();
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
public void start() {
if (thread != null) {
stop();
}
keepRendering.set(true);
thread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
createBufferStrategy(3);
do {
BufferStrategy bs = getBufferStrategy();
while (bs == null) {
System.out.println("get buffer");
bs = getBufferStrategy();
}
do {
// The following loop ensures that the contents of the drawing buffer
// are consistent in case the underlying surface was recreated
do {
// Get a new graphics context every time through the loop
// to make sure the strategy is validated
System.out.println("draw");
Graphics graphics = bs.getDrawGraphics();
// Render to graphics
// ...
graphics.setColor(Color.RED);
graphics.fillRect(0, 0, 100, 100);
// Dispose the graphics
graphics.dispose();
// Repeat the rendering if the drawing buffer contents
// were restored
} while (bs.contentsRestored());
System.out.println("show");
// Display the buffer
bs.show();
// Repeat the rendering if the drawing buffer was lost
} while (bs.contentsLost());
System.out.println("done");
try {
Thread.sleep(100);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
} while (keepRendering.get());
}
});
thread.start();
}
}
}
Remember, the point of BufferStrategy is to give you full control over the painting process, so it works outside the normal painting process generally implemented by AWT and Swing
"At a later date the canvas will be updating many times a second so I am using a buffer strategy for this" - Before going down the "direct to hardware" solution, I'd consider using a Swing Timer and the normal painting process to see how well it works

repaint not being called

Hi I have googled and can't figured out why my paintComp method isnt being called
I have the following code
package com.vf.zepto.view;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.GridBagConstraints;
import java.awt.GridBagLayout;
import java.awt.Insets;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Properties;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import com.vf.zepto.view.interfaces.ProcessorPanel;
public class CountryDetailsPanel extends JPanel implements ProcessorPanel, Runnable {
private GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints();
private String countryName;
private Properties prop = new Properties();
private BufferedImage image;
public CountryDetailsPanel() {
try {
prop.load(new FileInputStream("country.props"));
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
//this.setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
c.gridx = 0;
c.gridy = 0;
c.fill = GridBagConstraints.BOTH;
c.insets = new Insets(5, 5, 5, 5);
this.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 200));
}
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
try {
if(countryName != null) {
String asset = prop.getProperty(countryName+".flag");
if(!asset.equals(null)) {
image = ImageIO.read(new File(asset));
g.drawImage(image, 0, 0, null);
}
}
}
catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
#Override
public void updateDetails(Object o) {
countryName = (String)o;
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(this);
}
#Override
public void run() {
this.repaint();
}
}
and when calling this.repaint() expect the paintComponent method to be called but for love nor money it isnt.
Have tried to force it to use the EDT incase that was the issue but its not.
any ideas?

You should never call paintComponent() the repaint() method consolidates all requests to change the component (there may be several repaint requests between screen refreshes). It adds an update request to the GUI event queue so that the update will be properly coordinated with other GUI actions (Swing and AWT are not thread-safe). This update request, when processed, calls update(), which calls paint(), which calls your paintComponent()
Why have this:
#Override
public void run() {
this.repaint();
}
It does not seem of any use (creating a new thread to repaint once? Not to mention the thread is not on EDT rather call repaint() on the JPanel instance (if modified externally other than that you shouldnt even worry). However to start a thread which modifeis UI componets use s SwingTimer/SwingWorker or SwingUtilities#invokeXXX()
This might not be related but in your code I see this:
if(!asset.equals(null)) {
image = ImageIO.read(new File(asset));
g.drawImage(image, 0, 0, null);
}
dont use equals() to compare to a null value as this might throw a NullPointerException because you are attempting to
deference a null pointer, for example this code throws a NPE:
String s=null;
if(!s.equals(null)) {//throws NPE
System.out.println("Here");//is never printed
}
Also as mKorbel has said (+1 to him) dont do long running tasks in paintComponent() declare your Image globally, assign it in the constructor and then use it in paintComponent(). F.i
rather do:
public class TestPanel extends JPanel {
private Image image;
public TestPanel() {
image = ImageIO.read(new File(asset));
}
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
if(asset!=null) {
g.drawImage(image, 0, 0, null);
}
}
}

Do not load image or another hard or long running code in paintComponent
Load this Object as a local variable and only one time
paintComponent() is called
implicitly, when JComponent requires repaint, or
explicitly, for example on every of mouse event if one were to invoke paintComponent() from a MouseMotionListener.
If there is animation, then to use Swing Timer and call repaint().

JPanel Repaint Not Clearing

I have a custom, abstract class 'Panel' which extends JPanel. There aren't many differences with the two when painting. I have a Panel and I'm simulating an animation by updating the x value of an image. I have two animations right now, one that properly repaints and another than does not. This is for the one that does not. The one that works will be labelled A, the one that doesn't will be B.
A and B follow the same format. Update some variable on the Panel, calls update (a method in Panel which calls PaintComponent) and then calls repaint. It calls repaint after because this issue was with A before and was solved that way.
A: Updates an image variable.
B: Updates the x variable of an image.
The Problem: The repaint doesn't clear the old image location and so it's a choppy mess across the screen.
What I've tried:
I've seen the super.PaintComponent(g) mentioned a lot, but this
hasn't solved the problem.
I've tried changing the order for when the repaint/update methods are
called.
Repaint does not update the Panel at all. (Probably because the
painting is done in PaintComponent)
Any help would be appreciated.
Code:
Panel:
public Panel (boolean visible){
super();
this.setLayout(new BorderLayout(640, 416));//sets the Layout type of the panel
this.setOpaque(false);//Makes it so that the panel underneath can be seen where images aren't drawn
this.setVisible(visible);
ge = GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment();
gs = ge.getDefaultScreenDevice();
gc = gs.getDefaultConfiguration();
}
public void paintComponent (Graphics g){
setUp();
drawOff();
setDown(g);
}
private void setUp(){
off_screen = gc.createCompatibleImage(getSize().width, getSize().height, Transparency.TRANSLUCENT);
buffer = off_screen.createGraphics();
}
protected abstract void drawOff();
private void setDown(Graphics g){
g.drawImage(off_screen,0,0,this);
off_screen.flush();
}
public void update(){
paintComponent(this.getGraphics());
}
Animation Methods (mg is the panel in question):
private void battleStart(User user) {
for (int i = 0; i < user.battle.length; i++) {
mg.battleStart(user.battleStart(i));
mg.update();
try {
Thread.sleep(150);
} catch (Exception e) {
}
mg.repaint();
}
}
private void animateStart(User user){
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++){
mg.x = mg.x + 10;
mg.update();
try {
Thread.sleep(100);
} catch (Exception e) {
}
mg.repaint();
}
}

I think your design is way off and that is why things are not working. I'm not quite sure how your non-abstract JPanels work, but consider making your parent JPanel something more along these lines:
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import javax.swing.*;
public class MyPanel extends JPanel {
private GraphicsEnvironment ge;
private GraphicsDevice gs;
private GraphicsConfiguration gc;
private BufferedImage offScreen;
public MyPanel(boolean visible) {
super();
this.setLayout(new BorderLayout(640, 416)); // strange constants for this layout.
this.setOpaque(false);
this.setVisible(visible);
ge = GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment();
gs = ge.getDefaultScreenDevice();
gc = gs.getDefaultConfiguration();
addComponentListener(new ComponentAdapter() {
#Override
public void componentResized(ComponentEvent e) {
setUp();
}
});
}
#Override
// don't make this public. Keep it protected like the super's
// just draw in this method. Don't call other methods that create buffers
// or draw to buffers.
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
if (offScreen != null) {
g.drawImage(offScreen, 0, 0, null);
}
}
private void setUp() {
offScreen = gc.createCompatibleImage(getSize().width, getSize().height,
Transparency.TRANSLUCENT);
}
// draw to the buffer outside of the paintComponent
// and then call repaint() when done
public void upDateOffScreen() {
// ?? offScreen.flush(); // I've never used this before,
// so am not sure if you need this here
Graphics2D osGraphics = offScreen.createGraphics();
// TODO: do drawing with osGraphics object here
osGraphics.dispose();
repaint();
}
}
Also and again,
Do all long processing methods off of the EDT (Event Dispatch Thread).
Never call Thread.sleep(...) on the EDT.
Consider using Swing Timers instead of using Thread.sleep for the animations.
It's OK to call repaint on your JPanel off of the EDT, but for the most part that's about it.
All other Swing methods should be called on the EDT.
Read, re-read, and study the 2D and Swing graphics tutorials.

multithreading with java swing for a simple 2d animation

my final goal for this application is to animate several items in the same JPanel at a different speed using a thread for each item.the first part is done however the items move at the same speed and i have no idea on how to fix this problem.
package javagamestutos;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class Board extends JPanel implements Runnable {
private Star star;
private Thread animator;
ArrayList<Star> items=new ArrayList<Star>();
public Board() {
setBackground(Color.BLACK);
setDoubleBuffered(true);
star=new Star(25,0,0);
Star star2=new Star(50,20,25);
items.add(star2);
items.add(star);
}
public void addNotify() {
super.addNotify();
animator = new Thread(this);
animator.start();
}
public void paint(Graphics g) {
super.paint(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D)g;
for (Star s : this.items) {
g2d.drawImage(s.starImage, s.x, s.y, this);
}
Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().sync();
g.dispose();
}
public void run() {
while(true){
try {
for (Star s : this.items) {
s.move();
}
repaint();
Thread.sleep(star.delay);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(Board.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
}
}
here is the star class wich is the moving item.
package javagamestutos;
import java.awt.Image;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
/**
*
* #author fenec
*/
public class Star {
Image starImage;
int x,y;
int destinationX=200,destinationY=226;
boolean lockY=true;
int delay;
public Star(int delay,int initialX,int initialY){
ImageIcon ii = new ImageIcon(this.getClass().getResource("star.png"));
starImage = ii.getImage();
x=initialX;
y=initialY;
this.delay=delay;
}
void moveToX(int destX){
this.x += 1;
}
boolean validDestinatonX(){
if(this.x==this.destinationX){
this.lockY=false;
return true;
}
else
return false;
}
void moveToY(int destY){
this.y += 1;
}
boolean validDestinatonY(){
if(this.y==this.destinationY)
return true;
else
return false;
}
void move(){
if(!this.validDestinatonX() )
x+=1;
if(!this.validDestinatonY() && !this.lockY)
y+=1;
/*if(!this.validDestinatonY())
y+=1;
*/
}
}
and here is the skeleton of the animation that extends a JFrame :
package javagamestutos;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
public class Skeleton extends JFrame {
public Skeleton() {
add(new Board());
setTitle("Stars");
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setSize(300, 280);
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
setVisible(true);
setResizable(false);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
new Skeleton();
}
}
do you have any idea how to achieve my goals?am i using threads proprely?
thank you in advance.

That's because you're invoking the "move" method at a fixed rate specified by the delay of the first "start"
Thread.sleep(star.delay);
So if you move them a little every "n" milliseconds, they will seems to move at the same peace.
If you want them to move at different speed, you have to move them in different thread ( you are using only one now ) Bear in mind the comment by omry,
EDIT
I did something similar just recently
I have two different things so animate so I have two timers ( timers use threads underneath, but they can repeat the execution code every fixed rate ).
The first apply the text to a JLabel every second ( 1000 ms )
final Timer timer = new Timer();
timer.scheduleAtFixedRate( new TimerTask() {
public void run(){
setText();
}
}, 0, 1000 );
And other change the displaying image every 10 seconds ( 10,000 ms )
final Timer imageTimer = new Timer();
imageTimer.scheduleAtFixedRate( new TimerTask() {
public void run() {
setImage();
}
}, 0, 10000 );
I have a video of the result here:
For more advanced ( and nice ) time management you MUST take a look at the "Timing Framework" project which adds additional capabilities to timers.

You should be painting in the AWTDispatchThread. To do that you will want to use something like SwingUtilities.invokeLater(Runnable); This applies not only to your animation, but to the creation and setting visible of your JFrame as well. Failing to do this could result in deadlocks with the painting thread. Also, when moving your painting operations into the SwingUtilites methods, you will not want to include any while(true) loops, as that will commandeer your painting thread.

Generally Swing components should be used from the AWT Event Dispatch Thread (EDT). repaint is one of the methods that is supposedly okay to use off EDT. However, your Star is not and should not be thread-safe.
The easiest approach is to go for EDT-only (at least to start with). Instead of using Thread use javax.swing.Timer which fires on the EDT.
Misc comments: There should be no need for your paint method to dispose of the graphics object sent to it, or for it to sync using Toolkit. The component need not be set to double-buffered, but should be set opaque (JPanel is not guaranteed to be opaque). You should just extend JComponent instead of JPanel, as this is not a panel. It's generally not a great idea for outer classes to implement Runnable. Prefer private variables.

I would suggest you take a look at the open source library trident which does just that, its author, Kirill Grouchnikov is well-known in the Swing world (he is the author of the famous Substance look & feel).
Trident should help you solve the problem of having different objects move at different speeds, without having to create one thread per object (which is a problem in the end).

if you are sure you want to paint in the threads, you can use :
update(getGraphics());
instead of repaint.
this is generally considered bad practice, as you normally paint stuff in the AWT thread.