Develop Reference

Trying to stop a single thread out of multiple running at the same time in java

So im trying to stop a single thread when I have multiple threads running, here is the code im using to initialise the threads. Basically I have multiple textFields in javafx, and when a button is clicked on the screen, it fills the textFields, one by one, with an incrementing timer. Now I also have a button for each of the textfields to clear it, but the problem is when I clear it, because the thread is still running, the timer vanishes for a second and comes back because of the line 'orderTimes.get(boxNo).setText(minute + second);' in the code.
Now what I've tried is creating a list of threads and I've tried implementing it below but it doesn't work, this is so I can call each individual thread if its button to clear has been clicked.
Does anyone know how I can close/stop only one single thread out of multiple that are running? If more info is needed just let me know, thanks.
public static void createIncrementingTimer(int boxNo, List<TextField> orderTimes) {
minutesList.set(boxNo, 0);
secondsList.set(boxNo, 0);
state = true;
new Thread(threadList.get(boxNo)) {
int currentMinutes = 0;
int currentSeconds = 0;
public void run() {
for (;;) {
if (state = true) {
try {
sleep(1000);
if (secondsList.get(boxNo) > 59) {
secondsList.set(boxNo, 0);
currentSeconds = 0;
minutesList.set(boxNo, currentMinutes + 1);
currentMinutes++;
}
if (secondsList.get(boxNo) < 10) {
second = ":0" + Integer.toString(secondsList.get(boxNo));
} else {
second = ":" + Integer.toString(secondsList.get(boxNo));
}
secondsList.set(boxNo, currentSeconds + 1);
currentSeconds++;
if (minutesList.get(boxNo) < 10) {
minute = "0" + Integer.toString(minutesList.get(boxNo));
} else {
minute = Integer.toString(minutesList.get(boxNo));
}
orderTimes.get(boxNo).setText(minute + second);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
};
threadList.get(boxNo).start();
}
The code I'm using to clear the textfields is below, with orderTimes being the list of textFields that I'm trying to clear.
public static void eraseBox(int clickedButtonNumber, List<TextArea> orderContentsList, List<TextField> tableNumbers, List<TextField> orderNumbers, List<TextField> orderTimes) {
orderContentsList.get(clickedButtonNumber).setText(null);
tableNumbers.get(clickedButtonNumber).clear();
orderNumbers.get(clickedButtonNumber).clear();
orderTimes.get(clickedButtonNumber).clear();
}

I would suggest you try to avoid Threads. The Animation API is designed to make doing work that would normally be done in a Thread easier. In this example, the IncrementingTimer class consists of two Labels and three Buttons. The Labels are used to show the time. The Buttons are used to control the Timeline. The Timeline is used to increment the Labels value each second or every sixty seconds. I have added three IncrementingTimers to the app.
Main
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
/**
* JavaFX App
*/
public class App extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage stage) {
var scene = new Scene(new VBox(new IncrementingTimer(), new IncrementingTimer(), new IncrementingTimer()), 640, 480);
stage.setScene(scene);
stage.show();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch();
}
}
IncrementingTimer
import javafx.animation.KeyFrame;
import javafx.animation.Timeline;
import javafx.beans.property.IntegerProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleIntegerProperty;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.util.Duration;
/**
*
* #author blj0011
*/
final public class IncrementingTimer extends HBox
{
IntegerProperty secondsCounter = new SimpleIntegerProperty();//Keeps up with seconds
IntegerProperty minutesCounter = new SimpleIntegerProperty();//Keeps up with minutes
Label lblSeconds = new Label();//Displays the seconds
Label lblMinutes = new Label();//Displays the minutes
Label lblColon = new Label(":");//Display the colon between minutes and seconds
Button btnPlay = new Button("Play");//Plays the Timeline
Button btnStop = new Button("Stop");//Stops the Timeline
Button btnPause = new Button("Pause");//Pauses the Timeline
Timeline timeline;//Used to run code that changes the Labels. This Timeline runs every one second.
public IncrementingTimer()
{
lblSeconds.textProperty().bind(secondsCounter.asString("%02d"));//Binds the seconds label to the seconds counter. Sets the String to always show two digits. Exmaple 1 is shown as 01.
lblMinutes.textProperty().bind(minutesCounter.asString("%02d"));//Binds the minutes label to the minutes counter. Sets the String to always show two digits. Exmaple 1 is shown as 01.
getChildren().addAll(lblMinutes, lblColon, lblSeconds, btnPlay, btnStop, btnPause);
timeline = new Timeline(new KeyFrame(Duration.seconds(1), (event) -> {//Replace the one with .016 to speed this up for testing purposes.
secondsCounter.set(secondsCounter.get() + 1);
if (secondsCounter.get() == 60) {
secondsCounter.set(0);
minutesCounter.set(minutesCounter.get() + 1);
if (minutesCounter.get() == 60) {
minutesCounter.set(0);
}
}
}));
timeline.setCycleCount(Timeline.INDEFINITE);
btnPlay.setOnAction((event) -> {
timeline.play();
});
btnPause.setOnAction((event) -> {
timeline.pause();
});
btnStop.setOnAction((event) -> {
timeline.stop();
secondsCounter.set(0);
minutesCounter.set(0);
});
this.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
}
}

As recommended and demonstrated by Sedric, use JavaFx Animation tools for the counters.
The following one-file mre demonstrating implementation of counters using two different animation tools.
One uses PauseTransition and uses Timeline, each with its stop button.
(copy-paste the entire code into Timers.java and run)
import java.io.IOException;
import javafx.animation.Animation;
import javafx.animation.KeyFrame;
import javafx.animation.PauseTransition;
import javafx.animation.Timeline;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.util.Duration;
public class Timers extends Application {
#Override public void start(final Stage stage) throws IOException {
VBox root = new VBox(new CounterPane(new TimeLineCounter()), new CounterPane(new PauseTransitionCounter()));
stage.setScene(new Scene(root));
stage.show();
}
public static void main(final String[] args) { launch(args); }
}
class CounterPane extends HBox{
private final Counter counter;
CounterPane(Counter counter) {
super(5);
this.counter = counter; //todo: check not null
Button stopBtn = new Button("Stop");
stopBtn.setOnAction(e->stop());
getChildren().addAll(stopBtn, counter);
}
void stop(){
counter.getAnimation().stop();
}
}
abstract class Counter extends Label {
protected int count = 0;
public Counter() {
setAlignment(Pos.CENTER); setPrefSize(25, 25);
count();
}
abstract void count();
abstract Animation getAnimation();
}
class TimeLineCounter extends Counter {
private Timeline timeline;
#Override
void count() {
timeline = new Timeline();
timeline.setCycleCount(Animation.INDEFINITE);
final KeyFrame keyFrame = new KeyFrame(
Duration.seconds(1),
event -> { setText(String.valueOf(count++) ); }
);
timeline.getKeyFrames().add(keyFrame);
timeline.play();
}
#Override
Animation getAnimation() {
return timeline;
}
}
class PauseTransitionCounter extends Counter {
private PauseTransition pauseTransition;
#Override
void count() {
pauseTransition = new PauseTransition(Duration.seconds(1));
pauseTransition.setOnFinished(event ->{
setText(String.valueOf(count++) );
pauseTransition.play();
});
pauseTransition.play();
}
#Override
Animation getAnimation() {
return pauseTransition;
}
}

The if(state=true) should rather be if(state==true) or just if(state), but in fact the for(;;) could do the entire thing as while(state), simply shutting down the thread when you set state=false.
Then, fully stopping the thread could happen as state=false;threadList.get(boxNo).join();, and you can clear the field only after that (since the thread will set it to something in the last step too).
With a simpler approach you could throw away the state, and revert to for(;;), with the twist of having the try-catch() around the loop, outside. This way you can use threadList.get(boxNo).interrupt();threadList.get(boxNo);.join(); to stop the thread, and on top of that it will be immediate, as the sleep() ends immediately when the thread is interrupted.

JavaFX Dynamic Code

I want to immediately after increasing the value of i appear in the label
Example:
-in i=0 show 0
-in i=1 show 01
-in i=2 show 012
Can You Help me
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.layout.Pane;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class Example extends Application{
#Override
public void start (Stage primaryStage) {
Pane pane=new Pane();
Label label=new Label();
Button bt=new Button("Start");
pane.getChildren().addAll(bt,label);
bt.setOnAction(e->{
for (int i=0;i<10000000;i++) label.setText(label.getText()+i);
});
Scene scene = new Scene(pane,1000,500);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}

The problem is that you update the label's value while you are on the user interface's thread. JavaFX works with a model where the updates are done at each 'tick' (60 fps). All the updates done are only visible once your eventhander's code has finished.
Additionally, given that this is a long running task it will result in an unresponsive user interface.
You should use a Worker to do the long running task. See the tutorial on asynchronous processing. Note that it will not guarantee that you will see all values as the worker can be quicker than the user interface updates and the system will coalesce these updates.

You can use Timeline to accomplish this task.
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
import javafx.animation.KeyFrame;
import javafx.animation.Timeline;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.event.ActionEvent;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.layout.Priority;
import javafx.scene.layout.StackPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.util.Duration;
/**
*
* #author blj0011
*/
public class JavaFXApplication177 extends Application
{
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage)
{
AtomicLong i = new AtomicLong();
Label label = new Label();
Button btn = new Button();
Timeline timeline = new Timeline(new KeyFrame(Duration.seconds(.5), (ActionEvent event) -> {//This controls how fast this should run. This example happens every half of a second
label.setText(label.getText() + Long.toString(i.getAndIncrement()));
}));
timeline.setCycleCount(10000000);//This controls the amount of time this should run
timeline.setOnFinished(event -> {//This tells what to do once cycle count is reached
btn.setDisable(false);
});
btn.setText("Start");
btn.setOnAction((ActionEvent event) -> {
btn.setDisable(true);
timeline.play();
});
StackPane stackPane = new StackPane(label);
VBox root = new VBox(stackPane, new StackPane(btn));
VBox.setVgrow(stackPane, Priority.ALWAYS);
Scene scene = new Scene(root, 300, 250);
primaryStage.setTitle("Hello World!");
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
/**
* #param args the command line arguments
*/
public static void main(String[] args)
{
launch(args);
}
}

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.application.Platform;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.layout.StackPane;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class Test5 extends Application {
private String text = "";
private int i;
#Override // Override the start method in the Application class
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
StackPane pane = new StackPane();
Label lblText = new Label("");
pane.getChildren().add(lblText);
new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
for (i=0;i<10000;i++) {
Platform.runLater(new Runnable() { // Run from JavaFX GUI
#Override
public void run() {
lblText.setText(lblText.getText()+i);
}
});
Thread.sleep(200);
}
}
catch (InterruptedException ex) {
}
}
}).start();
Scene scene = new Scene(pane, 200, 50);
primaryStage.setTitle("FlashText"); // Set the stage title
primaryStage.setScene(scene); // Place the scene in the stage
primaryStage.show(); // Display the stage
}
}

Service<Void> service = new Service<Void>() {
#Override
protected Task<Void> createTask() {
return new Task<Void>() {
#Override
protected Void call() throws Exception {
//Your First Task #1
//Here UI won't be interrupted
Platform.runLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
//Your Second Task After Completion Of First One #2
}
});
return null;
}
};
}
};
service.start();
}
#1. The task that you want to perform in the background ex. loading the data has to be placed here. It's working great for me.
#2. Once the background task is finished this thread will be executed so Ui and background thread will run separately and smoothly.
I know it's too late for this answer but I just wanted to share what I did this might help!

UI Freezes Even with Task & Platform.runLater (Full Example)

I've read similar questions but my UI is still freezing when I add many nodes to a VBox. I've provided a fully functional program below which demonstrates the problem clearly.
After 4 seconds, the ProgressIndicator freezes as 5000 nodes are added to the VBox. This is an excessive amount used to demonstrate the JavaFX thread freezing despite using Task (for non-UI work) and then Platform.runLater() for adding the nodes to the scene.
In my actual application, instead of adding blank TitlePanes I'm adding a TitlePane obtained from an FXML file via new FXMLLoader(), and the resulting loader.load() then initializes the associated controller, which in turn initializes some moderately demanding computations - which are being performed on the JavaFX thread! So even though I'm adding closer to 250 nodes, the UI still freezes when the Platform.runLater is eventually used. How do I keep the ProgressIndicator from freezing until the red background is shown?
Full Example:
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.application.Platform;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Accordion;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.ProgressIndicator;
import javafx.scene.control.TitledPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import java.util.Timer;
import java.util.TimerTask;
public class FreezingUI extends Application {
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
VBox mainBox = new VBox();
mainBox.setPrefHeight(800);
mainBox.setStyle("-fx-background-color: #f1f1f1; -fx-alignment: center");
Label label = new Label();
label.setMinHeight(50);
label.setStyle("-fx-font-size: 24px; -fx-text-fill: #515151");
ProgressIndicator progressIndicator = new ProgressIndicator(ProgressIndicator.INDETERMINATE_PROGRESS);
mainBox.getChildren().addAll(progressIndicator, label);
Scene scene = new Scene(mainBox, 500, 800);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
Timer timer = new Timer();
TimerTask task = new TimerTask(){
private int i = 4;
public void run(){
if (i >= 0) {
Platform.runLater(()->{
label.setText("Freezing in " + i--);
});
}else{
addNodesToUI(mainBox);
timer.cancel();
}
}
};
timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(task, 0, 1000);
}
private void addNodesToUI(VBox mainBox) {
final int[] i = {0};
Platform.runLater(() -> {
Accordion temp = new Accordion();
mainBox.getChildren().add(temp);
while (i[0] < 5000) {
TitledPane tp = new TitledPane();
tp.setPrefWidth(300);
tp.setPrefHeight(12);
tp.setPadding(new Insets(10));
tp.setStyle("-fx-background-color: red;");
temp.getPanes().add(tp);
i[0]++;
}
});
}
}

This is happening because you are asking the UI thread to do a big bunch of things in one big lump. There is no way for the UI thread to exit the while loop until all 5000 nodes are created and added to the scene.
private void addNodesToUI(VBox mainBox) {
final int[] i = {0};
Accordion temp = new Accordion();
Platform.runLater(() -> {
mainBox.getChildren().add(temp);
});
while (i[0] < 5000) {
TitledPane tp = new TitledPane();
tp.setPrefWidth(300);
tp.setPrefHeight(12);
tp.setPadding(new Insets(10));
tp.setStyle("-fx-background-color: red;");
i[0]++;
Platform.runLater(() -> {
temp.getPanes().add(tp);
});
}
}
This will allow your nodes to be created in small batches. This way, the UI thread can attempt to render the UI while the nodes are added progressively.
For your FXML case, you can create and load the FXML in another thread. You only need to be in UI thread when you attach a scene branch into the scene. However, I would suspect that would only mitigate the effects, as you are still going to attach a big chunk at one go.

Disable all MouseEvents on the Children of a Pane

I have a Pane in which i add and remove nodes during a computation. Therefor i save a boolean which is set to true if the computation is running. of course i do some handling on starting and terminating a computation.
What i want to do now is: disable all MouseEvents on the children of the Pane if the computation starts and reenable them if the computation is terminated.
My tries until now where limited to completly remove the EventHandlers, but then i can't add them again later.
unfortunately i couldn't find a way to do this, so i hope for help here :)
Thanks in advance

Assuming you have implemented the long-running computation as a Task or Service (and if you haven't, you should probably consider doing so), you can just do something along the following lines:
Pane pane ;
// ...
Task<ResultType> computation = ... ;
pane.disableProperty().bind(computation.runningProperty());
new Thread(computation).start();
Calling setDisable(true) on a node will disable all its child nodes, so this will disable all the children of the pane, and re-enable them when the task is no longer running.
Here's an SSCCE:
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.concurrent.Service;
import javafx.concurrent.Task;
import javafx.geometry.HPos;
import javafx.geometry.Insets;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.control.TextField;
import javafx.scene.layout.ColumnConstraints;
import javafx.scene.layout.GridPane;
import javafx.scene.layout.Priority;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class ComputationSimulation extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
// text fields for input:
TextField xInput = new TextField();
TextField yInput = new TextField();
// Service for performing the computation.
// (For demo here, the computation just computes the sum of
// the two input values. Obviously this doesn't take long, so
// a random pause is inserted.)
Service<Integer> service = new Service<Integer>() {
#Override
protected Task<Integer> createTask() {
final int x = readTextField(xInput);
final int y = readTextField(yInput);
return new Task<Integer>() {
#Override
public Integer call() throws Exception {
// simulate long-running computation...
Thread.sleep((int)(Math.random() * 2000) + 1000);
// this doesn't really take much time(!):
return x + y ;
}
};
}
};
// Label to show result. Just use binding to bind to value of computation:
Label result = new Label();
result.textProperty().bind(service.valueProperty().asString());
// Button starts computation by restarting service:
Button compute = new Button("Compute");
compute.setOnAction(e -> service.restart());
// Pane to hold controls:
GridPane pane = new GridPane();
// Disable pane (and consequently all its children) when computation is running:
pane.disableProperty().bind(service.runningProperty());
// layout etc:
pane.setHgap(5);
pane.setVgap(10);
pane.addRow(0, new Label("x:"), xInput);
pane.addRow(1, new Label("y:"), yInput);
pane.addRow(2, new Label("Total:"), result);
pane.add(compute, 1, 3);
ColumnConstraints left = new ColumnConstraints();
left.setHalignment(HPos.RIGHT);
left.setHgrow(Priority.NEVER);
pane.getColumnConstraints().addAll(left, new ColumnConstraints());
pane.setPadding(new Insets(10));
Scene scene = new Scene(pane);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
}
// converts text in text field to an int if possible
// returns 0 if not valid text, and sets text accordingly
private int readTextField(TextField text) {
try {
return Integer.parseInt(text.getText());
} catch (NumberFormatException e) {
text.setText("0");
return 0 ;
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
launch(args);
}
}

JavaFX: Add a lot of Nodes to a FlowPane in a Thread

I have a FlowPane where a lot of elements are added (~1000), each one of these elements contains an ImageView and some other elements and is loaded from an fxml file. With this many entries, it takes a long time until the nodes are rendered, and then they are displayed all at once.
Because of that, I would like to add the nodes one by one, using a thread. I tried the following:
Platform.runLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
for (Object v : collection.getObjects()) {
addEntry(v);
flowPane.requestLayout();
}
}
});
What addEntry() does is basically just loading the Node from the fxml and adding it to the flowPane.
With this code, the flowPane is rendered immediately, but the nodes still appear all at once.
Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

Your runlater is doing everything at once. It's like one call to update the gui with all the nodes. It needs to be called repeatedly in a loop.
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.application.Platform;
import javafx.concurrent.Task;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.layout.FlowPane;
import javafx.scene.text.Text;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
public class FlowPaneTest extends Application {
#Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {
final FlowPane flow = new FlowPane();
flow.getChildren().add(new Text("Starting "));
Task task = new Task() {
#Override protected Void call() throws Exception {
//for (Object v : collection.getObjects()){
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {//use your loop instead
Platform.runLater(()->{
flow.getChildren().add(new Text("adding node "));
});
Thread.sleep(100);
}
return null;
}
};
Scene scene = new Scene(flow, 600, 600);
primaryStage.setScene(scene);
primaryStage.show();
Thread th = new Thread(task);
th.setDaemon(true);
th.start();
}
}