Develop Reference

Where should I put the game loop in the swing app?

I'm trying to make a simple 2D game in Java.
As far as I know, my game should consist of two threads: "event dispatch thread" (for GUI operations) and "game thread" (for game loop).
I created an outline but could not find where to place the game loop.
in short, I'm trying to create a game loop without freezing my UI thread.
I would be grateful if you could give any information about the things I did wrong.
That's my game loop (You can also give tips to create a better game loop):
while(true) {
repaint();
try {
Thread.sleep(17);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyListener;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseListener;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
createAndShowGUI();
}
});
}
private static void createAndShowGUI() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Forge and Attack");
frame.setExtendedState(JFrame.MAXIMIZED_BOTH);
frame.setUndecorated(true);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setFocusable(true);
frame.add(new MyPanel());
}
}
class MyPanel extends JPanel implements KeyListener, MouseListener {
public MyPanel() {
setBackground(Color.BLACK);
setOpaque(true);
addKeyListener(this);
addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter(){
public void mousePressed(MouseEvent e){
}
});
}
#Override
public void paint(Graphics g) {
}
}

I thought this an interesting topic to expand on... I have covered the questions you asked as well as showed the maybe a better or correct way of doing certain things like painting, and listening for keys pressed, as well as some others like separation of concerns and making the entire game more reusable/expandable.
1. Where to place the game loop?
So this isn't straight forward and can depend on each individuals coding style, but really all we seek to achieve here is to create the game loop and start it at an appropriate time. I believe code speaks a 1000 words (sometimes it might just be 1000 words :)), but below is some code which in the most minimally possible way (still producing a valid working example) shows where a game loop can be created/placed and used in the code, the code is heavily commented for clarity and understanding:
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import javax.swing.AbstractAction;
import javax.swing.JComponent;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.KeyStroke;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class MyGame {
private Scene scene;
private Sprite player;
private Thread gameLoop;
private boolean isRunning;
public MyGame() {
createAndShowUI();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(MyGame::new);
}
/**
* Here we will create our swing UI as well as initialise and setup our
* sprites, scene, and game loop and other buttons etc
*/
private void createAndShowUI() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("MyGame");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
player = new Sprite(/*ImageIO.read(getClass().getResourceAsStream("...."))*/);
this.scene = new Scene();
this.scene.add(player);
this.addKeyBindings();
this.setupGameLoop();
frame.add(scene);
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
// after setting the frame visible we start the game loop, this could be done in a button or wherever you want
this.isRunning = true;
this.gameLoop.start();
}
/**
* This method would actually create and setup the game loop The game loop
* will always be encapsulated in a Thread, Timer or some sort of construct
* that generates a separate thread in order to not block the UI
*/
private void setupGameLoop() {
// initialise the thread
gameLoop = new Thread(() -> {
// while the game "is running" and the isRunning boolean is set to true, loop forever
while (isRunning) {
// here we do 2 very important things which might later be expanded to 3:
// 1. We call Scene#update: this essentially will iterate all of our Sprites in our game and update their movments/position in the game via Sprite#update()
this.scene.update();
// TODO later on one might add a method like this.scene.checkCollisions in which you check if 2 sprites are interesecting and do something about it
// 2. We then call JPanel#repaint() which will cause JPanel#paintComponent to be called and thus we will iterate all of our sprites
// and invoke the Sprite#render method which will draw them to the screen
this.scene.repaint();
// here we throttle our game loop, because we are using a while loop this will execute as fast as it possible can, which might not be needed
// so here we call Thread#slepp so we can give the CPU some time to breathe :)
try {
Thread.sleep(15);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
}
}
});
}
private void addKeyBindings() {
// here we would use KeyBindings (https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/misc/keybinding.html) and add them to our Scene/JPanel
// these would allow us to manipulate our Sprite objects using the keyboard below is 2 examples for using the A key to make our player/Sprite go left
// or the D key to make the player/Sprite go to the right
this.scene.getInputMap(JComponent.WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW).put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_A, 0, false), "A pressed");
this.scene.getActionMap().put("A pressed", new AbstractAction() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
player.LEFT = true;
}
});
this.scene.getInputMap(JComponent.WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW).put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_A, 0, true), "A released");
this.scene.getActionMap().put("A released", new AbstractAction() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
player.LEFT = false;
}
});
this.scene.getInputMap(JComponent.WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW).put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_D, 0, false), "D pressed");
this.scene.getActionMap().put("D pressed", new AbstractAction() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
player.RIGHT = true;
}
});
this.scene.getInputMap(JComponent.WHEN_IN_FOCUSED_WINDOW).put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke(KeyEvent.VK_D, 0, true), "D released");
this.scene.getActionMap().put("D released", new AbstractAction() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
player.RIGHT = false;
}
});
}
public class Scene extends JPanel {
private final ArrayList<Sprite> sprites;
public Scene() {
// we are using a game loop to repaint, so probably dont want swing randomly doing it for us
this.setIgnoreRepaint(true);
this.sprites = new ArrayList<>();
}
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
// this method gets called on Scene#repaint in our game loop and we then render each in our game
sprites.forEach((sprite) -> {
sprite.render(g2d);
});
}
#Override
public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
// because no components are added to the JPanel, we will have a default sizxe of 0,0 so we instead force the JPanel to a size we want
return new Dimension(500, 500);
}
public void add(Sprite go) {
this.sprites.add(go);
}
private void update() {
// this method gets called on Scene#update in our game loop and we then update the sprites movement and position our game
sprites.forEach((go) -> {
go.update();
});
}
}
public class Sprite {
private int x = 50, y = 50, speed = 5;
//private final BufferedImage image;
public boolean LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN;
public Sprite(/*BufferedImage image*/) {
//this.image = image;
}
public void render(Graphics2D g2d) {
//g2d.drawImage(this.image, this.x, this.y, null);
g2d.fillRect(this.x, this.y, 100, 100);
}
public void update() {
if (LEFT) {
this.x -= this.speed;
}
if (RIGHT) {
this.x += this.speed;
}
if (UP) {
this.y -= this.speed;
}
if (DOWN) {
this.y += this.speed;
}
}
}
}
2. Tips to create a better game loop
This very much like the first point in my answer is very subjective to what you are trying to achieve and at what granularity will your problem be satisfied with. So instead of prescribing 1 type of game loop. Let us look at the various kinds we can have:
First what is a game loop?*
The game loop is the overall flow control for the entire game program. It’s a loop because the game keeps doing a series of actions over and over again until the user quits. Each iteration of the game loop is known as a frame. Most real-time games update several times per second: 30 and 60 are the two most common intervals. If a game runs at 60 FPS (frames per second), this means that the game loop completes 60 iterations every second.
a. While loop
This we have seen in the above example and is simply a while loop encapsulated inside a Thread with possibly a Thread#sleep call to help throttle CPU usage. This and the Swing Timer are probably the most basic you can use.
gameLoop = new Thread(() -> {
while (isRunning) {
this.scene.update();
this.scene.repaint();
try {
Thread.sleep(15);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
}
}
});
Pros:
Easy to implement
All updating and rendering, repainting is done in a separate thread from the EDT
Cons:
Cannot guarantee the same frame rate on various PCs, so movement of the game might look better/worse or slower/faster on various computers depending on the hardware
b. Swing Timer
Similar to the while loop, a Swing Timer can be used in which an action event is fired periodically, because it is fired periodically we can simply use an if statement to check if the game is running and then call our necessary methods
gameLoop = new Timer(15, (ActionEvent e) -> {
if (isRunning) {
MyGame.this.scene.update();
MyGame.this.scene.repaint();
}
});
Pros:
Easy to implement
Cons:
Runs on the EDT which is not necessary or wanted as we are not updating any Swing components but rather simply painting to it
Cannot guarantee the same frame rate on various PCs, so movement of the game might look better/worse or slower/faster on various computers depending on the hardware
c. Fixed time step*
This is a more complex game loop (but simpler than a variable time step game loop). This works on the premise that we want to achieve a specific FPS i.e. 30 or 60 frames per second, and thus we simply make sure we call our update and rendering methods that exact number of times per seconds.
Update methods do not accept a "time elapsed", as they assume each update is for a fixed time period. Calculations may be done as position += distancePerUpdate. The example includes an interpolation during render.
gameLoop = new Thread(() -> {
//This value would probably be stored elsewhere.
final double GAME_HERTZ = 60.0;
//Calculate how many ns each frame should take for our target game hertz.
final double TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES = 1000000000 / GAME_HERTZ;
//If we are able to get as high as this FPS, don't render again.
final double TARGET_FPS = 60;
final double TARGET_TIME_BETWEEN_RENDERS = 1000000000 / TARGET_FPS;
//At the very most we will update the game this many times before a new render.
//If you're worried about visual hitches more than perfect timing, set this to 1.
final int MAX_UPDATES_BEFORE_RENDER = 5;
//We will need the last update time.
double lastUpdateTime = System.nanoTime();
//Store the last time we rendered.
double lastRenderTime = System.nanoTime();
while (isRunning) {
double now = System.nanoTime();
int updateCount = 0;
//Do as many game updates as we need to, potentially playing catchup.
while (now - lastUpdateTime > TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES && updateCount < MAX_UPDATES_BEFORE_RENDER) {
MyGame.this.scene.update();
lastUpdateTime += TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES;
updateCount++;
}
//If for some reason an update takes forever, we don't want to do an insane number of catchups.
//If you were doing some sort of game that needed to keep EXACT time, you would get rid of this.
if (now - lastUpdateTime > TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES) {
lastUpdateTime = now - TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES;
}
//Render. To do so, we need to calculate interpolation for a smooth render.
float interpolation = Math.min(1.0f, (float) ((now - lastUpdateTime) / TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES));
MyGame.this.scene.render(interpolation);
lastRenderTime = now;
//Yield until it has been at least the target time between renders. This saves the CPU from hogging.
while (now - lastRenderTime < TARGET_TIME_BETWEEN_RENDERS && now - lastUpdateTime < TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES) {
//allow the threading system to play threads that are waiting to run.
Thread.yield();
//This stops the app from consuming all your CPU. It makes this slightly less accurate, but is worth it.
//You can remove this line and it will still work (better), your CPU just climbs on certain OSes.
//FYI on some OS's this can cause pretty bad stuttering. Scroll down and have a look at different peoples' solutions to this.
//On my OS it does not unpuase the game if i take this away
try {
Thread.sleep(1);
} catch (Exception e) {
}
now = System.nanoTime();
}
}
});
This loop will need other changes such to take place to allow for interpolation:
Scene:
public class Scene extends JPanel {
private float interpolation;
#Override
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
...
sprites.forEach((sprite) -> {
sprite.render(g2d, this.interpolation);
});
}
public void render(float interpolation) {
this.interpolation = interpolation;
this.repaint();
}
}
Sprite:
public class Sprite {
public void render(Graphics2D g2d, float interpolation) {
g2d.fillRect((int) (this.x + interpolation), (int) (this.y + interpolation), 100, 100);
}
}
Pros:
predictable, deterministic FPS on various computers/hardware
clearer calculation code
Cons:
not synced to monitor v-sync (causes jittery graphics unless you interpolate) - this example interpolates
limited max frame rate (unless you interpolate) - this example interpolates
d. Variable time step*
Usually used when a physics system is being implemented, or whenever a record of elapsed time is needed, I.e. animations. Physics/animation updates are passed a "time elapsed since last update" argument and are hence framerate-dependent. This may mean doing calculations as position += distancePerSecond * timeElapsed.
gameLoop = new Thread(() -> {
// how many frames should be drawn in a second
final int FRAMES_PER_SECOND = 60;
// calculate how many nano seconds each frame should take for our target frames per second.
final long TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES = 1000000000 / FRAMES_PER_SECOND;
// track number of frames
int frameCount;
// if you're worried about visual hitches more than perfect timing, set this to 1. else 5 should be okay
final int MAX_UPDATES_BETWEEN_RENDER = 1;
// we will need the last update time.
long lastUpdateTime = System.nanoTime();
// store the time we started this will be used for updating map and charcter animations
long currTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
while (isRunning) {
long now = System.nanoTime();
long elapsedTime = System.currentTimeMillis() - currTime;
currTime += elapsedTime;
int updateCount = 0;
// do as many game updates as we need to, potentially playing catchup.
while (now - lastUpdateTime >= TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES && updateCount < MAX_UPDATES_BETWEEN_RENDER) {
MyGame.this.scene.update(elapsedTime);//Update the entity movements and collision checks etc (all has to do with updating the games status i.e call move() on Enitites)
lastUpdateTime += TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES;
updateCount++;
}
// if for some reason an update takes forever, we don't want to do an insane number of catchups.
// if you were doing some sort of game that needed to keep EXACT time, you would get rid of this.
if (now - lastUpdateTime >= TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES) {
lastUpdateTime = now - TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES;
}
MyGame.this.scene.repaint(); // draw call for rendering sprites etc
long lastRenderTime = now;
//Yield until it has been at least the target time between renders. This saves the CPU from hogging.
while (now - lastRenderTime < TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES && now - lastUpdateTime < TIME_BETWEEN_UPDATES) {
Thread.yield();
now = System.nanoTime();
}
}
});
Scene:
public class Scene extends JPanel {
private void update(long elapsedTime) {
// this method gets called on Scene#update in our game loop and we then update the sprites movement and position our game
sprites.forEach((go) -> {
go.update(elapsedTime);
});
}
}
Sprite:
public class Sprite {
private float speed = 0.5f;
public void update(long elapsedTime) {
if (LEFT) {
this.x -= this.speed * elapsedTime;
}
if (RIGHT) {
this.x += this.speed * elapsedTime;
}
if (UP) {
this.y -= this.speed * elapsedTime;
}
if (DOWN) {
this.y += this.speed * elapsedTime;
}
}
}
Pros:
smooth
easier to to code
Cons:
non-deterministic, unpredictable at very small or large steps

Made a "virus", need tips

First of all, it's not really a virus that is used to spy, or steal bank accounts. I don't even know if it's a virus at all. I only made it to troll friends/people I know, and practice my programming skills. I will show you the code, then I will try to explain it a bit;
package pracatice;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class practice extends JFrame
{
public static boolean bool = true;
public static int x = 0;
public static int y = 0;
public static int num = 0;
public static TimerClass tc = new TimerClass();
public static Timer timer = new Timer(30, tc);
public JPanel panel = new JPanel();
public JButton btn = new JButton("press");
public practice()
{
setSize(100,100);
setTitle("Test");
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setPanel();
setVisible(true);
}
public void setPanel()
{
btn.addActionListener(new listener());
panel.add(btn);
add(panel);
}
public class listener implements ActionListener
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
num = 0;
timer.start();
}
}
public static class TimerClass implements ActionListener
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
do
{
num++;
JOptionPane optionPane = new JOptionPane("PC afected by virus");
JDialog dialog = optionPane.createDialog(null, "Virus");
dialog.setModal(false);
dialog.setLocation(x, y);
dialog.show();
updateCordinates();
}while(bool == true);
}
}
public static void updateCordinates()
{
if(x != 1100)
x += 100;
else if(x == 1100)
{
x = 0;
y += 50;
}
if(y == 650)
y =0;
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
new practice();
}
}
So, at first it obviously builds a window, 100 X 100 px big. It adds a button that says "press". When you press, it starts a new loop, every 30 milliseconds.
every iteration of the loop, it puts in a new JOPtionPane.showMessageBox(null,...) in a slightly different location.
At first, when I just made it, I didn't know it would be unstoppable. I ran it, and had to restart my laptop. When I pressed ok, it would put in another box, in the exact same spot. When I tried to open task manager, it would automatically minimize it, and go back into the "virus" window. So, the laptop was unusable. I had to restart it, closing some of my dads tabs...
Here are a few things I would like to find out;
1) If I left this run over night, is it possible, that the laptop ran out or RAM, and if it did, what would happen?
2) Can I make it that, when I press a button on the keyboard, the whole thing just closes?
Like I said before, I was only trying to prank my friends, and the program happened to not be closable... any advice?

Yes, the computer will eventually run out of RAM. When that happens, nothing disastrous should happen other than your program crashing.
Not very easily, because JOptionPane windows don't let keyboard events get to the rest of the program. You'd need to use your own type of window instead of JOptionPane. You could then use a KeyListener that does System.exit(0).

JLabel.setText() is only setting text for last element in a loop

First of all, apologies for how long winded this is.
I'm trying to make a simple roulette game that allows a user to add players, place bets for these players, and spin the roulette wheel, which is represented as a simple JLabel that updates it's text with each number it passes.
However, I've run into a bug that I'm having a lot of trouble with: the JLabel only updates the text for the last element in my loop.
Basically, my solution works like this:
When a user presses a button labelled "Spin" (given that users have been added to the game), I call a method from a class called SpinWheelService, which is an Observable singleton which in turn calls the notifyObservers() method:
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
String cmd = e.getActionCommand();
String description = null;
if (ADD_PLAYER.equals(cmd)) {
addDialog();
} else if (PLACE_BET.equals(cmd)) {
betDialog();
} else if (SPIN.equals(cmd)) {
SpinWheelService.sws.setSpinWheelService();
} else if (DISPLAY.equals(cmd)) {
System.out.println("Display selected!");
}
}
Here is my SpinWheelService class:
package model;
import java.util.*;
public class SpinWheelService extends Observable {
public static SpinWheelService sws = new SpinWheelService();
public void setSpinWheelService() {
setChanged();
notifyObservers();
}
}
The only listener registered for SpinWheelService is this class, where GameEngine is my game engine that handles internal game logic, WheelCallbackImpl is a class that updates the View:
class SpinWheelObserver implements Observer {
GameEngine gameEngine;
ArrayList<SimplePlayer> players;
WheelCallbackImpl wheelCall;
int n;
public SpinWheelObserver(GameEngine engine, WheelCallbackImpl wheel, ArrayList<SimplePlayer> playerList) {
players = playerList;
gameEngine = engine;
wheelCall = wheel;
}
public void update(Observable sender, Object arg) {
// check if any players are present
if (players.size() == 0) {
System.out.println("Empty player array!");
return;
}
do {
gameEngine.spin(40, 1, 300, 30, wheelCall);
n = wheelCall.playback();
} while (n== 0);
}
}
The main point of note here is my gameEngine.spin() method, which is this:
public class GameEngineImpl implements GameEngine {
private List<Player> playerList = new ArrayList<Player>();
// method handles the slowing down of the roulette wheel, printing numbers at an incremental delay
public void delay(int millis) {
try {
Thread.sleep(millis);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
System.out.println("Sleep method failed.");
}
}
public void spin(int wheelSize, int initialDelay, int finalDelay,
int delayIncrement, WheelCallback callback) {
Random rand = new Random();
int curNo = rand.nextInt(wheelSize) + 1;
int finalNo = 0;
assert (curNo >= 1);
// while loop handles how long the wheel will spin for
while (initialDelay <= finalDelay) {
delay(initialDelay);
initialDelay += delayIncrement;
// handles rotating nature of the wheel, ensures that if it reaches wheel size, reverts to 1
if (curNo > wheelSize) {
curNo = 1;
callback.nextNumber(curNo, this);
curNo++;
}
assert (curNo <= wheelSize);
callback.nextNumber(curNo, this);
curNo++;
finalNo = curNo - 1;
}
calculateResult(finalNo);
callback.result(finalNo, this);
}
The method callback.nextNumber(curNo, this):
public void nextNumber(int nextNumber, GameEngine engine) {
String strNo = Integer.toString(nextNumber);
assert (nextNumber >= 1);
System.out.println(nextNumber);
wcWheel.setCounter(strNo);
}
Where in, wcWheel is my singleton instance of my View, which contains the method setCounter():
public void setCounter(String value) {
label.setText(value);
}
Sorry for how convoluted my explanation is, but basically what it boils down to is that setCounter() is definitely being called, but seems to only call the setText() method on the final number. So what I'm left with is an empty label that doesn't present the number until the entire roulette has finished spinning.
I've determined that setCounter() runs on the event dispatch thread, and I suspect this is a concurrency issue but I have no idea how to correct it.
I've tried to include all relevant code, but if I'm missing anything, please mention it and I'll post it up as well.
I'm at my wits end here, so if anyone would be kind of enough to help, that would be so great.
Thank you!

Your while loop along Thread.sleep() will block and repainting or changing of the UI until the loop is finished.
Instead you'll want to implement a javax.swing.Timer for the delay, and keep a counter for the number of ticks, to stop it. You can see more at How to Use Swing Timers
The basic construct is
Timer ( int delayInMillis, ActionListener listener )
where delayInMillis is the millisecond delay between firing of an ActionEvent. This event is listened for by the listener. So every time the event is fired, the actionPerfomed of the listener is called. So you might do something like this:
Timer timer = new Timer(delay, new ActionListener()(
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (count == 0) {
((Timer)e.getSource()).stop();
} else {
//make a change to your label
count--;
}
}
));
You can call timer.start() to start the timer. Every delay milliseconds, the label will change to what you need it to, until some arbitrary count reaches 0, then timer stops. You can then set the count variable to whatever you need to, if you want to to be random, say depending on how hard the wheel is spun :D

I think you didn't post all the relevant code that is required to know exactly the problem.
But most likely the problem is due to you run your loop and JLabel.setText() in the EDT (Event Dispatching Thread).
Note that updating the UI components (e.g. the text of a JLabel) also happens in the EDT, so while your loop runs in the EDT, the text will not be updated, only after your loop ended and you return from your event listener. Then since you modified the text of the JLabel it will be refreshed / repainted and you will see the last value you set to it.
Example to demonstrate this. In the following example a loop in the event listener loops from 0 to 9 and sets the text of the label, but you will only see the final 9 be set:
JPanel p = new JPanel();
final JLabel l = new JLabel("-1");
p.add(l);
JButton b = new JButton("Loop");
p.add(b);
b.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
for ( int i = 0; i < 10; i++ ) {
l.setText( "" + i );
try { Thread.sleep( 200 ); } catch ( InterruptedException e1 ) {}
}
}
} );
A proposed solution: Use javax.swing.Timer to do the loop's work. Swing's timer calls its listeners in the EDT so it's safe to update swing components in it, and once the listener returns, a component UI update can happen immediately:
JPanel p = new JPanel();
final JLabel l = new JLabel("-1");
p.add(l);
JButton b = new JButton("Loop");
p.add(b);
b.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
new Timer(200, new ActionListener() {
int i = 0;
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e2) {
l.setText("" + i);
if ( ++i == 10 )
((Timer)e2.getSource()).stop();
}
}).start();
}
} );
In this solution you will see the label's text counting from 0 up to 9 nicely.

It's appears to me that your entire game must block in the action handler until the while loop has finished? So the text of the label will be getting updated but only the last update will be visible once the AWT thread is running again.

Java slideshow image delay using paintComponent

I am putting together a slideshow program that will measure a user's time spent on each slide. The slideshow goes through several different magic tricks. Each trick is shown twice. Interim images are shown between the repetition. Transition images are shown between each trick.
On the first repetition of a trick the JPanel color flashes on the screen after a click before the next image is shown. This doesn't happen during the second repetition of the same trick. It's possible that the image is taking too long to load.
Is there an easy way to pre-load the images so that there isn't a delay the first time through?
NOTE: Original code deleted.
EDIT 1/10/2013: This code now works on slower machines. trashgod's second addendum helped the most. The mouseClick control structure periodically asks SwingWorker classes to load 40 images or less of the current trick while also setting the used images to null. I have simplified my code down for this to just two Image[]s and added a main method so it stands alone. Images are still required to run though. This is now pretty bare bones code, and if you're trying to make a slideshow with a lot of images I think it would be a good place to start.
NOTE: I think I figured out how to properly implement SwingWorker while still using multiple Image[]s. trashgod and kleopatra is this implementation in-line with what you were suggesting? I didn't end up using publish and process since I couldn't figure out how to get that to work appropriately with an indexed array, but because the StringWorker doesn't load all images in the array (only 40), and the code calls StringWorker every 20 images, there should be a pretty good buffer.
EDIT 1/10/2013 Changed out MouseListener by instead extending MouseAdapter on my Mouse class. Also fixed my paintComponent method to include a call to super.paintComponent(g).
Added publish/process methods to my SwingWorker class ImageWorker. Added a wrapper class, ArrayWrapper to allow passing imageArray[i] and its corresponding index int i with publish to process.
package slideshow3;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import java.util.List;
public class SlideShow3 extends JFrame
{
//screenImage will be replaced with each new slide
private Image screenImage;
private int width;
private int height;
//Create panel for displaying images using paintComponent()
private SlideShow3.PaintPanel mainImagePanel;
//Used for keybinding
private Action escapeAction;
//Image array variables for each trick
private Image[] handCuffs; //h
private Image[] cups; //c
//Used to step through the trick arrays one image at a time
private int h = 0;
private int c = 0;
//Used by timeStamp() for documenting time per slide
private long time0 = 0;
private long time1;
public SlideShow3()
{
super();
//Create instance of each Image array
handCuffs = new Image[50];
cups = new Image[176];
//start(handCuffsString);
start("handCuffs");
try
{
screenImage = ImageIO.read(new File("images/begin1.jpg"));
}
catch (IOException nm)
{
System.out.println("begin");
System.out.println(nm.getMessage());
System.exit(0);
}
/******************************************
* Removes window framing. The next line sets fullscreen mode.
* Once fullscreen is set width and height are determined for the window
******************************************/
this.setUndecorated(true);
GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment().getDefaultScreenDevice().setFullScreenWindow(this);
width = this.getWidth();
height = this.getHeight();
//Mouse click binding to slide advance control structure
addMouseListener(new Mouse());
//Create panel so that I can use key binding which requires JComponent
mainImagePanel = new PaintPanel();
add(mainImagePanel);
/******************************************
* Key Binding
* ESC will exit the slideshow
******************************************/
// Key bound AbstractAction items
escapeAction = new EscapeAction();
// Gets the mainImagePanel InputMap and pairs the key to the action
mainImagePanel.getInputMap().put(KeyStroke.getKeyStroke("ESCAPE"), "doEscapeAction");
// This line pairs the AbstractAction enterAction to the action "doEnterAction"
mainImagePanel.getActionMap().put("doEscapeAction", escapeAction);
/******************************************
* End Key Binding
******************************************/
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run()
{
SlideShow3 show = new SlideShow3();
show.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
//This method executes a specific SwingWorker class to preload images
public void start(String e)
{
if(e.equals("handCuffs"))
{
new ImageWorker(handCuffs.length, h, e).execute();
}
else if(e.equals("cups"))
{
new ImageWorker(cups.length, c, e).execute();
}
}
//Stretches and displays images in fullscreen window
private class PaintPanel extends JPanel
{
#Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g)
{
if(screenImage != null)
{
super.paintComponent(g);
g.drawImage(screenImage, 0, 0, width, height, this);
}
}
}
/******************************************
* The following SwingWorker class Pre-loads all necessary images.
******************************************/
private class ArrayWrapper
{
private int i;
private Image image;
public ArrayWrapper(Image image, int i)
{
this.i = i;
this.image = image;
}
public int getIndex()
{
return i;
}
public Image getImage()
{
return image;
}
}
private class ImageWorker extends SwingWorker<Image[], ArrayWrapper>
{
private int currentPosition;
private int arraySize;
private String trickName;
private Image[] imageArray;
public ImageWorker(int arraySize, int currentPosition, String trick)
{
super();
this.currentPosition = currentPosition;
this.arraySize = arraySize;
this.trickName = trick;
}
#Override
public Image[] doInBackground()
{
imageArray = new Image[arraySize];
for(int i = currentPosition; i < currentPosition+40 && i < arraySize; i++)
{
try
{
imageArray[i] = ImageIO.read(new File("images/" + trickName + (i+1) + ".jpg"));
ArrayWrapper wrapArray = new ArrayWrapper(imageArray[i], i);
publish(wrapArray);
}
catch (IOException e)
{
System.out.println(trickName);
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
System.exit(0);
}
}
return imageArray;
}
#Override
public void process(List<ArrayWrapper> chunks)
{
for(ArrayWrapper element: chunks)
{
if(trickName.equals("handCuffs"))
{
handCuffs[element.getIndex()] = element.getImage();
}
else if(trickName.equals("cups"))
{
cups[element.getIndex()] = element.getImage();
}
}
}
#Override
public void done()
{
try
{
if(trickName.equals("handCuffs"))
{
handCuffs = get();
}
else if(trickName.equals("cups"))
{
cups = get();
}
}
catch(InterruptedException ignore){}
catch(java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException e)
{
String why = null;
Throwable cause = e.getCause();
if(cause != null)
{
why = cause.getMessage();
}
else
{
why = e.getMessage();
}
System.err.println("Error retrieving file: " + why);
}
}
}
/******************************************
* End SwingWorker Pre-Loading Classes
******************************************/
//Prints out time spent on each slide
public void timeStamp()
{
time1 = System.currentTimeMillis();
if(time0 != 0)
{
System.out.println(time1 - time0);
}
time0 = System.currentTimeMillis();
}
/******************************************
* User Input Classes for Key Binding Actions and Mouse Click Actions
******************************************/
private class EscapeAction extends AbstractAction
{
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
System.exit(0);
}
}
public class Mouse extends MouseAdapter
{
#Override
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e)
{
if(!(h<handCuffs.length) && !(c<cups.length))
{
timeStamp();
System.exit(0);
}
else if(h<handCuffs.length)
{
timeStamp();
screenImage = handCuffs[h];
repaint();
System.out.print("handCuffs[" + (h+1) + "]\t");
h++;
//purge used slides and refresh slide buffer
if(h == 20 || h == 40)
{
for(int i = 0; i < h; i++)
{
handCuffs[i] = null;
}
start("handCuffs");
}
if(h == 45)
{
start("cups");
}
}
else if(c<cups.length)
{
timeStamp();
screenImage = cups[c];
repaint();
System.out.print("cups[" + (c+1) + "]\t");
c++;
//purge used slides and refresh slide buffer
if(c == 20 || c == 40 || c == 60 || c == 80 || c == 100 || c == 120 || c == 140 || c == 160)
{
for(int i = 0; i < c; i++)
{
cups[i] = null;
}
start("cups");
}
}
}
}
/******************************************
* End User Input Classes for Key Binding Actions and Mouse Click Actions
******************************************/
}

This example uses a List<ImageIcon> as a cache of images returned by getImage(). Using getResource(), the delay is imperceptible. The next and previous buttons are bound to the Space key by default.
Addendum: You can control navigation by conditioning a button's setEnabled() state using an instance of javax.swing.Timer, for example.
Addendum: Your second example waits until the mouse is clicked to begin reading an image, an indeterminate process that may return a copy immediately or may not complete until after repaint(). Instead, begin reading the images in the background using ImageIO.read(), as shown here. You can process() your List<Image> and show progress, as seen here. The SwingWorker can be launched from the initial thread, running while you subsequently build your GUI on the EDT. You can display the first image as soon as it is processed.

Can anyone tell me why my volume control doesn't work?

Can anyone tell me why my volume control doesn't work...?
import java.io.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.sound.sampled.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
/*<Applet code="kkk" height=400 width=400></Applet>*/
public class kkk extends JComponent
{
static File f1;
int prog;
static JFrame jf;
int al;
JLabel time;
Timer tr;
Button b;
int pos=0;
Clip c;
AudioInputStream a;
JSlider s;
public static void main(String args[])
{
f1=new File("mm.wav");
jf=new JFrame();
jf.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
kkk kp=new kkk(f1);
jf.getContentPane().add(kp, "Center");
jf.setSize(400,400);
jf.setVisible(true);
}
kkk(File f1)
{
try
{
a=AudioSystem.getAudioInputStream(f1);
AudioFormat af=a.getFormat();
DataLine.Info di=new DataLine.Info(Clip.class,af);
c=(Clip)AudioSystem.getLine(di);
c.open(a);
}
catch(Exception e)
{
System.out.println("Exception caught ");
}
finally
{
try
{
a.close();
}
catch(Exception e)
{
System.out.println("Exception caught ");
}
}
al=(int)(c.getMicrosecondLength()/1000);
s=new JSlider();
Button b=new Button("play");
time=new JLabel();
Box row = Box.createHorizontalBox();
row.add(s);
row.add(b);
row.add(time);
b.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent eee)
{
play();
}});
s.addChangeListener(new ChangeListener(){
public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent ee)
{
//repaint();
prog=s.getValue();
time.setText(prog / 1000 + "." + (prog % 1000) / 100);
//if(prog!=ap)
//skip(prog);
}});
tr = new javax.swing.Timer(100, new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
tick();
}
});
setLayout(new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
this.add(row);
}
public void play()
{
try
{
FloatControl volume = (FloatControl) c.getControl(FloatControl.Type.MASTER_GAIN);
volume.setValue(-20.63f);
}
catch(Exception e)
{}
c.start();
tr.start();
}
//public void skip(
public void tick()
{
pos = (int) (c.getMicrosecondPosition() / 1000);
s.setValue(pos);
}
}

The volume never changes just because...you're never changing it !
I suppose you want the volume to be modified when the slider state changes, so you just have to set the volume in your stateChanged method. In order to do this, you can use the following instruction: volume.setValue(-20.63f) that you have already used elsewhere in your program. Just replace the parameter by the value you want (e.g. the value of the slider).
Hope this helps.

OK, it seems like you made the "volume" control correctly. Are you saying you put different values in the following line and it always sounded the same volume?
volume.setValue(-20.63f);
I can't imagine what values of 10 or 80 would do, as I think the range is -80 to 6. And most of the bottom end of that is pretty much inaudible. It's supposed to correspond to decibels from -80 to 6 or volts or something more typical to a VU meter. My mixer has a VU meter that ranges from -20 to +5, for example.
In any event, trying test values like 5 or 0 or -10 might have a better chance of sounding like something.
Also, most people expect that one changes the volume during playback, as a dynamic process, and so we are looking for logical places in your code to do this, such as the Timer or the Slider. But I guess you were just trying to get sounds to play at different hard-coded sound levels, and the slider was just for displaying progress. I found the code rather hard to decipher, as well as the description of the problem.