Develop Reference

Progress Bar for a GUI application using Java

I am trying to write a progress bar for an application that is downloading information before the GUI runs. Because this is such a long process to download and organize the information, I am wanting to inform the user of the progress. I decided on using a progress bar late in the game and, as such, a majority of the code is written and I'm trying to incorporate the progress bar into the code without a drastic re-working of the code. The following is the code for the progress bar. Currently, the progress bar comes up AFTER everything runs and the GUI pops up.
static class PopulatingCardsWorker extends SwingWorker<Void, Integer> {
JProgressBar jpb;
int max;
JLabel label;
public PopulatingCardsWorker(JProgressBar jpb, int maximum, JLabel label) {
this.jpb = jpb;
this.max = maximum;
this.label = label;
}
#Override
protected void process(List<Integer> chunks) {
int i = chunks.get(chunks.size()-1);
jpb.setValue(i); // The last value in this array is all we care about.
System.out.println(i);
label.setText("Loading " + i + " of " + max);
}
#Override
protected Void doInBackground() throws Exception {
for(int i = 0; i < max; i++) {
Thread.sleep(10); // Illustrating long-running code.
publish(i);
}
return null;
}
#Override
protected void done() {
try {
get();
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(jpb.getParent(), "Success", "Success", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
} catch (ExecutionException | InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
private static void go(int max) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
JLabel label = new JLabel("Loading...");
JProgressBar jpb = new JProgressBar();
jpb.setIndeterminate(false);
jpb.setMaximum(max);
panel.add(label);
panel.add(jpb);
frame.add(panel);
frame.pack();
frame.setSize(200,90);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
new PopulatingCardsWorker(jpb, max, label).execute();
}
The program initially calls the GUI application and then runs the database acquisition code as shown below.
public static void main(String args[]) {
/* Create and display the form */
java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
new MagicTheGatheringUI().setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public MagicTheGatheringUI() {
int i, size;
colorRefinementFilter = "selected";
try {
my_list=new CardDatabase();
my_list.sortByName(my_list.all_cards);
my_list.populateSubArrays();
size = my_list.all_cards.size();
for(i = 0; i < size; i++)
{
namesList.addElement(my_list.all_cards.get(i).name);
}
} catch(Exception e) {
System.out.println(e);
System.exit(0);
}
initComponents();
}
The swing worker is created during the creation of "my_list=new CardDatabase();". In that class, I have the swing worker and the process the swing worker is supposed to monitor.
I currently call swing worker in a method called "populate_cards()" and I use the following code to create the swing worker. The swing worker is supposed to monitor what's going on in the populate_cards() method. All of the data in the swing worker methods are just temporary until I better understand how to make it work the way I want it to.
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
go(1000);
}
});
I believe the issue is that I'm calling the progress bar inside of the "invokeLater" method for the actual GUI.
I have looked at the following questions to try and solve my problem.
How to add a progress bar?
Can a progress bar be used in a class outside main?
and I have also looked at tutorials.

Your code is ok. The reason why the progressBar (and the gui itself) pops after the code ends is that by default in java, the code and the gui runs on the same Thread. Because the code has higher priority then the gui, all the code executes first and after that the gui updates.
You should do that in the "go" method:
new Thread(){
public void run(){
new PopulatingCardsWorker(jpb, max, label).execute();
}
} start();
see that article for more information about threads
Im answering from my phone, so sorry about the bad writing.
Code and GUi threads
and from Wikipedia
last one

How force the program wait a Task and show Progress Bar to user?

I use Swing Application Framework in my program. And I have some long-time work. I use org.jdesktop.application.Task for it. Another programmer wrote two Tasks before I took this project (I can not ask him about the programm). When Tasks are executing user sees progress bar without showing percent complete, but what shows "Wait" message and user can not click to a main window while Task does not ended. It is fine! But I could not find place where ProgressBars was created. May be it is described in some xml-file or property-file?
Also I wrote another Tasks and when they run, progress bar which I created is not displayed or displayed incorrectly. I read about ProgressBar and ProgressMonitor, but it does not help me.
Programm continue to run after someTask.execute(), but I want to it displays ProgressBar, ProgressMonitor or something else and user can not click the main window and window will display correctly. Now window has black "blocks" when user change it.
May be I need use org.jdesktop.application.TaskMonitor. I try to use it as here https://kenai.com/projects/bsaf/sources/main/content/other/bsaf_nb/src/examples/StatusBar.java?rev=235 , but my main window is displayed incorrectly and my ProgressBar is not displayed.
I need to when Task is running program waits it, but user can see ProgressBar, can cancel the operation and can not click to the main window. How can I do it?
Here my code:
public class A{
#Action(name = "ActionName", block = Task.BlockingScope.APPLICATION)
public RequestInfoTask requestInfo() {
RequestInfoTask task = new RequestInfoTask(Application.getInstance());
isSuccessedGetInfo=false;
task.addTaskListener(new TaskListener.Adapter<List<InfoDTO>, Void>() {
#Override
public void succeeded(TaskEvent<List<InfoDTO>> listTaskEvent) {
isSuccessedGetResources=true;
}
});
//Here I want to the program shows ProgressMonitor and user can not click to the main window.
//But small window with message "Progress..." is displayed for several seconds and disappear.
ProgressMonitor monitor = new ProgressMonitor(getMainView(), "Wait! Wait!", "I am working!", 0, 100);
int progress = 0;
monitor.setProgress(progress);
while(!task.isDone()){
monitor.setProgress(progress+=5);
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
}
monitor.setProgress(100);
//This code must run after "task" finishes.
if(isSuccessedGetInfo){
MyTask2 task2 = new MyTask2(Application.getInstance());
isSuccessedTask2=false;
task2.addTaskListener(new TaskListener.Adapter<Map<?,?>, Void>(){
#Override
public void succeeded(TaskEvent<Map<String, ICredential>> arg0) {
isSuccessedTask2=true;
}
});
//Do something with results of task2.
}
return task;
}
}
public class RequestInfoTask extends Task<List<InfoDTO>, Void> {
public RequestInfoTask(Application application) {
super(application);
}
#Override
protected List<InfoDTO> doInBackground() throws Exception {
List<InfoDTO> result = someLongerLastingMethod();
return result;
}
}

Part of your problem sounds like it comes from not using the EDT correctly. Any long running task needs to be started in it's own thread to keep the GUI responsive and repainting.
Ideally you'd be following a MVC pattern. In that case you place your Progress Bar in the view, your flag (that indicates whether the task should be running still) in the control, and your long running task in in the Model.
From that point, if your model checks periodically if it should stop (Probably at good stopping points), you can reset everything.
Here's an example with MVC:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class ProgressBarDemo{
public static class View extends JPanel{
Controller control;
public JProgressBar progressBar = new JProgressBar(0, 100);
JButton button = new JButton("Start Long Running Task");
public View(Controller controlIn){
super();
this.control = controlIn;
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
button.addActionListener(new ActionListener(){
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
//Toggle between running or not
if(control.isRunning){
control.isRunning = false;
button.setText("Canceling...");
button.setEnabled(false);
} else{
control.isRunning = true;
button.setText("Cancel Long Running Task");
control.startTask();
}
}});
progressBar.setStringPainted(true);
add(progressBar);
add(button, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
}
}
//Communications gateway
public static class Controller{
View view = new View(this);
boolean isRunning = false;
public void updateProgress(final int progress){
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
#Override
public void run() {
view.progressBar.setValue(progress);
}});
}
public void reset(){
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable(){
#Override
public void run() {
isRunning = false;
view.button.setText("Start Long Running Task");
view.progressBar.setValue(0);
view.button.setEnabled(true);
}});
}
public void startTask(){
LongRunningClass task = new LongRunningClass(this);
new Thread(task).start();
}
}
public static class LongRunningClass implements Runnable{
Controller control;
public LongRunningClass(Controller reference){
this.control = reference;
}
#Override
public void run() {
try {
for(int i = 0; i < 11; i++){
//Monitor the is running flag to see if it should still run
if(control.isRunning == false){
control.reset();
break;
}
control.updateProgress(i * 10);
Thread.sleep(3000);
}
control.reset();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
// Create and set up the window.
JFrame frame = new JFrame("LabelDemo");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
// Add content to the window.
frame.add(new Controller().view);
// Display the window.
frame.pack();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}

Waiting for thread while updating Swing

I have problem with handling threads in my application. It creates JFrame and starts a new Thread. Last one will execute external application and update GUI. Then
I have problem to make Main class to wait for second thread to finish, but also to update GUI simultaneously.
Here's my example (shortened):
class Main {
public int status;
public Main() {
// Creating GUI etc.
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
JDialog id = new JDialog();
id.button.addMouseListener(new MouseListener()); // Calls generate() method
}
});
}
public void generate() {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// Make changes to GUI
}
});
GeneratorThread genTest = new GeneratorThread(this, 1, 1, 1);
genTest.start();
//while (status == 0);
System.out.println("Next step.");
}
}
And Thread class:
public class GeneratorThread extends Thread {
protected Main main;
protected int setSize, minValue, maxValue;
public GeneratorThread(Main main, int setSize, int minValue, int maxValue) {
this.main = main;
this.setSize = setSize;
this.minValue = minValue;
this.maxValue = maxValue;
}
public void run() {
// Execute program etc.
// Change GUI from main in the same time
// About 3 seconds
main.status = 1;
}
}
I'm in progress and I wanted to check how it works so far. While worked nice, but it locks Swing somehow and any changes are visible only when GeneratorThread finishes. I would like to update GUI in the real time.
I've tried join(), effects are the same. I also tried wait() (on Main), but then I got IllegalStateMonitorException.
Any hints?

Swing is a single threaded environment. That is, there is a single thread responsible for managing all the interactions and updates to the Swing UI - the Event Dispatching Thread.
Among the golden rules of Swing are...
DON'T block the EDT (Thread.sleep, Thread#join, Object#wait, block IO and/or time consuming tasks (among others) should never be called from within the EDT), doing so will stop the EDT from dispatching events and paint updates (amongst other things)
ONLY create/update Swing UI elements from within the EDT.
This raises a question...how do you "wait" for a thread?
The best way is use an Observer pattern. Basically, you provide the Thread with some kind of reference that it will call to provide notification of events, such as errors and completion...
This will require you to think very carefully about the design of your applications, as you can not rely on a simple A to B execution of your code.
For example...
public class TestThreadCallBack {
public static void main(String[] args) {
new TestThreadCallBack();
}
public TestThreadCallBack() {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
} catch (Exception ex) {
}
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
frame.add(new TestPane());
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public interface ThreadCallBack {
public void threadCompleted(Runnable source);
public void threadFailed(Runnable source);
}
public class TestPane extends JPanel implements ThreadCallBack {
private JLabel message;
private JLabel dots;
private int count;
private Timer timer;
public TestPane() {
setLayout(new GridBagLayout());
message = new JLabel("Running background task, please wait");
dots = new JLabel(" ");
add(message);
add(dots);
timer = new Timer(250, new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
count++;
if (count > 3) {
count = 0;
}
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(3);
for (int index = 0; index < count; index++) {
sb.append(".");
}
for (int index = count; index < 3; index++) {
sb.append(" ");
}
dots.setText(sb.toString());
}
});
timer.setRepeats(true);
timer.setCoalesce(true);
timer.start();
Thread thread = new Thread(new BackgroundTask(this));
thread.start();
}
#Override
public void threadCompleted(Runnable source) {
timer.stop();
message.setText("Task completed successfully");
}
#Override
public void threadFailed(Runnable source) {
timer.stop();
message.setText("Task failed");
}
}
public class BackgroundTask implements Runnable {
private ThreadCallBack callBack;
public BackgroundTask(ThreadCallBack callBack) {
this.callBack = callBack;
}
#Override
public void run() {
System.out.println("Background task underway...");
try {
Thread.sleep(2000);
} catch (InterruptedException interruptedException) {
}
int result = (int) Math.round((Math.random() * 1));
if (result == 0) {
callBack.threadCompleted(this);
} else {
callBack.threadFailed(this);
}
}
}
}
Updating the UI from within a Thread other then the EDT is, well, messy. An easier solution would actually be to use a SwingWorker. This has publish/process methods that make easy to update the UI and progress methods that can be used to provide feedback about the progress of the current task.
You can use it's done method to notify interested parties when the worker has completed.

Update your GUI from within the thread using SwingUtilitied.invokeLater or, alternatively, synchronise the main variable!
http://www.vogella.com/articles/JavaConcurrency/article.html#concurrencyjava
Maybe it already suffices to make "status" volatile?

Java Swing cancelling an Infinite loop

I've hit the infinite loop problem in Swing. Done some research and come across SwingWorker threads but not really sure how to implement them. I've knocked together a simple program that shows the problem. One button starts the infinite loop and I want the other button to stop it but of course due to the Swing single thread problem the other button has frozen. Code below and help appreciated:-
public class Model
{
private int counter;
private boolean go = true;
public void go()
{
counter = 0;
while(go)
{
counter++;
System.out.println(counter);
}
}
public int getCounter()
{
return counter;
}
public void setGo(boolean value)
{
this.go = value;
}
}
public class View extends JFrame
{
private JPanel topPanel, bottomPanel;
private JTextArea messageArea;
private JButton startButton, cancelButton;
private JLabel messageLabel;
private JScrollPane scrollPane;
public View()
{
setSize(250, 220);
setTitle("View");
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
topPanel = new JPanel();
bottomPanel = new JPanel();
messageArea = new JTextArea(8, 20);
messageArea.setEditable(false);
scrollPane = new JScrollPane(messageArea);
messageLabel = new JLabel("Message Area");
topPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
topPanel.add(messageLabel, "North");
topPanel.add(scrollPane, "South");
startButton = new JButton("START");
cancelButton = new JButton("CANCEL");
bottomPanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 2));
bottomPanel.add(startButton);
bottomPanel.add(cancelButton);
Container cp = getContentPane();
cp.add(topPanel, BorderLayout.NORTH);
cp.add(bottomPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
}
public JButton getStartButton()
{
return startButton;
}
public JButton getCancelButton()
{
return cancelButton;
}
public void setMessageArea(String message)
{
messageArea.append(message + "\n");
}
}
public class Controller implements ActionListener
{
private Model theModel;
private View theView;
public Controller(Model model, View view)
{
this.theModel = model;
this.theView = view;
view.getStartButton().addActionListener(this);
view.getCancelButton().addActionListener(this);
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
Object buttonClicked = ae.getSource();
if(buttonClicked.equals(theView.getStartButton()))
{
theModel.go();
}
else if(buttonClicked.equals(theView.getCancelButton()))
{
theModel.setGo(false);
}
}
}
public class Main
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
Model model = new Model();
View view = new View();
Controller controller = new Controller(model, view);
view.setVisible(true);
}
}

You can do it easily without implementing any timer, you just need to add two lines to your actionPerformed method:
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
Object buttonClicked = ae.getSource();
if(buttonClicked.equals(theView.getStartButton()))
{
theModel.setGo(true); //make it continue if it's just stopped
Thread t = new Thread(new Runnable() { public void run() {theModel.go();}}); //This separate thread will start the new go...
t.start(); //...when you start the thread! go!
}
else if(buttonClicked.equals(theView.getCancelButton()))
{
theModel.setGo(false);
}
}
As your Model.go() is running in a separate thread, the Event Dispatch Thread is free to do its stuff, like drawing the button released again, instead of hanging with the button down.
There's a catch! however, because the thread running Model.go() will run wildly!, it's virtually called as many times per second as your system can.
If you plan to implement some animation or the like, then you will need to:
use a Timer,
or
add some sleep time to the new thread.
Example if you go with threads:
public void go()
{
counter = 0;
while(go)
{
counter++;
System.out.println(counter);
try {
Thread.sleep(1500); //Sleep for 1.5 seconds
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
As you can see I added Thread.sleep(1500) being 1500 the time in milliseconds (1.5 seconds). Thread.sleep can be interrupted for some reasons, so you must catch the InterruptedException.
It's not necessary to go deeper on handling correctly the InterruptedException in this particular case, but if you feel curious about it you can read this nice article.

You are blocking the Event Dispatch Thread (EDT). The thread is responsible to process painting and other UI related requests. Once EDT is blocked the UI will become frozen since it cannot process any events. For more details see The Event Dispatch Thread tutorial.
Consider using timers (How to Use Swing Timers), SwingWorker or an auxiliary background thread. Background thread can communicate with EDT using SwingUtilities.invokeLater(). This mechanism is already implemented in SwingWorker, so it may be easier to go with it. It depends on functionality that is required.

Use a javax.swing.Timer to do the go() work once, (with some optional delay), using start() and stop() in the event handling.

I decided to use a SwingWorker thread and below is the updated Controller class. It does what I need it to do but my question is, is it the correct way and is it clean code? Also, I've tried getting the output of the model.go() method into the view's textarea as per the commented out lines but not been succesful, anyone know how?
public class Controller implements ActionListener
{
private Model theModel;
private View theView;
private SwingWorker<Void, Void> worker;
public Controller(Model model, View view)
{
this.theModel = model;
this.theView = view;
view.getStartButton().addActionListener(this);
view.getCancelButton().addActionListener(this);
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae)
{
Object buttonClicked = ae.getSource();
if(buttonClicked.equals(theView.getStartButton()))
{
theModel.setGo(true);
worker = new SwingWorker<Void, Void>()
{
#Override
protected Void doInBackground()
{
// theView.setMessageArea(theModel.getCounterToString());
return theModel.go();
}
#Override
protected void done()
{
// theView.setMessageArea(theModel.getCounterToString());
}
};
worker.execute();
}
else if(buttonClicked.equals(theView.getCancelButton()))
{
theModel.setGo(false);
}
}
}
public class Model
{
public Void go()
{
counter = 0;
while(go)
{
counter++;
System.out.println(counter);
}
return null;
}

updating a JProgressBar while processing

I know the subject has already been seen on many Questions and has been answered, but still, I can't get trough it.
I just want to update a progressBar while extracting some stuff of a large xml file.
I thought it was enough to have the time-consuming loop in a different thread but ?..
All I managed to get is the progressBar either not showed at all, or updated at the end, just before it's closed.
Instanced somewhere near the launch of the application, I have:
public class SomeClass {
private SomeClass () {
myXMLParser reader = new myXMLParser();
CoolStuff fromXml = reader.readTheXml();
}
}
while showing and updating a JDialog with a JProgressBar:
public class LoadingDialog extends JDialog {
private JProgressBar progressBar;
/* ... */
public void progress() {
progressBar.setValue(progressBar.getValue() + 1);
}
}
So I have this myXMLParser:
public class myXMLParser {
private LoadingDialog loadingDialog = new LoadingDialog();
public CoolStuff readTheXml() {
CoolStuff fromXml = new CoolStuff();
while(manyIterations) {
loadingDialog.progress();
fromXml.add(some() + xml() + reading());
}
return fromXml;
}
}
I have seen many things with SwingWorker and using PropertyChange events update the progressBar, but examples are always given all-in-one, with the processing and the progressbar within the same class, and with classes within classes, and since I begin in Java, I wasn't able to translate that to my situation.
Any help ?.. Any (not too obvious) advices ?
Edit: So thanks to btantlinger it worked like that:
public class SomeClass {
private SomeClass () {
myXMLParser reader = new myXMLParser();
new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
CoolStuff fromXml = reader.readTheXml();
}
}).start();
}
}
public class LoadingDialog extends JDialog {
private JProgressBar progressBar;
/* ... */
public void progress() {
progressBar.setValue(progressBar.getValue() + 1);
}
}
public class myXMLParser {
private LoadingDialog loadingDialog = new LoadingDialog();
public CoolStuff readTheXml() {
CoolStuff fromXml = new CoolStuff();
while(manyIterations) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
loadingDialog.progress();
}
});
fromXml.add(some() + xml() + reading());
}
return fromXml;
}
}

You MUST update the JProgress bar on the Swing Event Dispatch Thread. You cannot modify Swing components on any other thread.
Your only other alternative would be to set the JProgress bar "indeterminate" before you start your thread where the progress bar will just go back and forth.
E.g
progBar.setIndeterminate(true);
See the SwingWorker javadoc:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/javax/swing/SwingWorker.html
If you don't want to use the SwingWorker, another option is the SwingUtilities.invokeLater method
//inside your long running thread when you want to update a Swing component
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
//This will be called on the EDT
progressBar.setValue(progressBar.getValue() + 1);
}
});

In addition to the code provided by #btantlinger, I found after testing that it required an additional line of code in order to update the progress bar on the UI thread while processing. See below.
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
progressBar.setValue((int)percentage);
//below code to update progress bar while running on thread
progressBar.update(progressBar.getGraphics());
}
});