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Updating GUI on separate thread while other method is executing [duplicate]

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Updating GUI from a runnable
(3 answers)
Closed 5 years ago.
I have a GUI that I have developed that has a couple of buttons and a JTextArea for output. I have some code below that executes a function and updates the TextArea, however before the function is executed I would like the TextArea to be updated with the string "Processing...", just to give the user some kind of idea that the application is working as the function takes a while to execute.
At the moment this code doesn't update the GUI element and I understand why. The GUI doesn't get a chance to repaint in between the two commands that change the TextArea, so the "processing..." string is never displayed. How do I change the code so that the GUI element updates before the Main.featureAnalysisTop() function executes?
if(e.getActionCommand().equals("Extract Features"))
{
featuresTextArea.setText("Processing...");
int nFeatures = nFeatureSlider.getValue();
Main.featureAnalysisTop(nFeatures);
featuresTextArea.setText("");
ArrayList<String> featureList = Main.getFeatureList();
for(String str : featureList)
{
featuresTextArea.append(str + "\n");
}
The GUI is executed in my main method using the following code.
public static void main(String[] args)
{
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
gui = new GUI2();
gui.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
gui.frmNeuralNetwork.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}

Updating GUI on separate thread while other method is executing
That's a job for the Swing Woker class, which allows you to create a separate thread that runs in the background and lets you update your GUI accordingly.
For example, I made a simple example that accomplishes what you're trying to do.
First we create the GUI and add an ActionListener to our JButton where it starts our Swing Worker after updating the JTextArea's text to processing... as you were trying to do it and after 5 seconds (which simulates your long running task) it updates to I'm done!.
You can try it and change the code accordingly.
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.SwingWorker;
public class TextAreaUpdater {
private JFrame frame;
private JTextArea area;
private JButton button;
private SwingWorker<String, String> worker;
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new TextAreaUpdater()::createAndShowGui);
}
private void createAndShowGui() {
frame = new JFrame(getClass().getSimpleName());
area = new JTextArea(10, 30);
button = new JButton("Update!");
button.addActionListener(listener);
worker = new SwingWorker<String, String>() {
#Override
protected String doInBackground() throws Exception {
try {
Thread.sleep(5000); //Simulates long running task
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return "I'm done!"; //Returns the text to be set on the JTextArea
}
#Override
protected void done() {
super.done();
try {
area.setText(get()); //Set the textArea the text given from the long running task
} catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
};
frame.add(area, BorderLayout.CENTER);
frame.add(button, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
frame.pack();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
private ActionListener listener = (e -> {
area.setText("Processing...");
worker.execute(); //Initializes long running task
});
}
References:
Swing Worker Example
How do I use SwingWorker in Java?
Here's another example that uses SwingWorker: update jlabel text after opening jdialog
Hope it helps

is it safe to create a new thread inside actionPerformed in swing?

I created swing application that do some operations in performedAction methode, but when i create a thread that shows the progressBar, the progressBar will not visible during the performedAction methode, but at the end the progressBar will be visible with a value of 100% directly
main class:
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.plaf.ButtonUI;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
public class main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame win = new JFrame("Test");
FlowLayout layout = new FlowLayout();
Button b1 = new Button("Click ");
win.add(b1);
b1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
window win = new window();
win.start();
try
{
Thread.sleep(2000);
}
catch(InterruptedException e5){}
}
});
win.setLayout(layout);
win.setSize(500, 300);
win.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
win.setVisible(true);
win.setDefaultCloseOperation(WindowConstants.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
}
window class:
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class window extends Thread{
public window(){
}
#Override
public void run() {
JFrame fen = new JFrame("New window");
FlowLayout layout = new FlowLayout();
fen.setLayout(layout);
Button b2 = new Button();
fen.setVisible(true);
fen.setSize(100, 100);
fen.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
fen.add(b2);
try
{
for(int i = 0; i <= 100; i++)
{
b2.setLabel("Button " + i);
Thread.sleep(10);
}
}
catch(InterruptedException e2){
}
}
}

Yes, it is safe to create a new Thread inside of an actionPerformed handler.
But, no thread other than the Event Dispatching Thread (EDT) must interact with the Swing components.
To create animations, or delays inside of Swing, you must use a javax.swing.Timer. Executing a Thread.sleep() on the EDT is never allowed, and won't do want you hope it will.
To return from a spawned thread to the EDT, you must use SwingUtilities.invokeLater() or SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait().
Using a SwingWorker is the preferred way to execute background tasks in Swing. It handles communication and publication of partial and final results from the background task to the EDT for displaying in the GUI components.
The following is a translation of your code to a working example, using a SwingWorker. Instead of AWT Button's, the Swing JButton is used. The program is created using invokeAndWait to ensure the main window construction occurs on the EDT. A lambda function is used, but you can replace this with new Runnable() { } inner class, if desired. The "Button 0" through "Button 100" progress reports are published from the SwingWorker background task, for processing in the EDT. Multiple results can be generated at by the background thread before the EDT has a chance to process them; here, we take only the last result to display in the button.
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(() -> {
JFrame win = new JFrame("Test");
win.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
JButton b1 = new JButton("Click");
b1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ae) {
DoWork work = new DoWork();
work.execute();
}
});
win.add(b1);
win.setSize(500, 300);
win.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
win.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
win.setVisible(true);
});
}
}
class DoWork extends SwingWorker<Void, String> {
JFrame fen;
JButton b2;
DoWork() {
fen = new JFrame("New window");
fen.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
b2 = new JButton();
fen.add(b2);
fen.setSize(100, 100);
fen.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
fen.setVisible(true);
fen.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
}
#Override
protected Void doInBackground() throws Exception {
for (int i = 0; i <= 100; i++) {
publish("Button " + i);
Thread.sleep(10);
}
return null;
}
#Override
protected void process(List<String> data) {
String last = data.get(data.size() - 1);
b2.setText(last);
}
#Override
protected void done() {
fen.dispose();
}
}
There are still a number of improvements that can be made to this code. A JLabel instead of a JButton for displaying the results, a JDialog for the progress window, or perhaps better a ProgressMonitor. These are left as an exercise to the student.

Dialog with swingworker is a chicken/egg

I am trying to follow the Java best practices by not doing long tasks on the main thread (EDT). So I am planning to use a swingWorker with Modal Dialog. This way the modal dialog blocks the user for doing anything until that task is done and I can update status on the dialog while the process is taking place.
Now the problem is that with the modal dialog, it not only blocks the user but also nothing after setVisible gets called
So if I do
dialog.setVisible(true);
new SwingWorkerTask().execute(); //This does not get called
and if I do
new SwingWorkerTask().execute();
dialog.setVisible(true); // Well what the point of setting visible after the fact.
So How do I block user action and show a dialog while task is taking place?
Thank you

It is only a chicken/egg if you make it such. You can construct all Swing objects on EDT and then let your SwingWorker (or any other thread) govern all updates by instructing EDT to execute them via SwingUtilities.invokeLater(Runnable).
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeEvent;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JDialog;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JProgressBar;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
import javax.swing.SwingWorker;
public class RudeProgressBar extends JFrame {
private JButton button;
public RudeProgressBar() {
setTitle("Rude Progress Bar");
setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
button = new JButton("Do teh work");
add(button, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
JDialog dialog = new JDialog(RudeProgressBar.this, true);
dialog.setTitle("Doing teh work");
dialog.setDefaultCloseOperation(JDialog.DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
final JProgressBar progressBar = new JProgressBar(0, 100);
dialog.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
dialog.add(progressBar);
dialog.setSize(100, 100);
dialog.setLocationRelativeTo(RudeProgressBar.this);
MyTask task = new MyTask(dialog);
task.addPropertyChangeListener(new PropertyChangeListener() {
#Override
public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent evt) {
if ("progress".equals(evt.getPropertyName())) {
progressBar.setValue((Integer)evt.getNewValue());
}
}
});
task.execute();
}
});
setSize(200, 200);
setLocationRelativeTo(null);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
new RudeProgressBar().setVisible(true);
}
});
}
private class MyTask extends SwingWorker<Void, Void> {
private final JDialog dialog;
public MyTask(JDialog dialog) {
this.dialog = dialog;
}
#Override
protected Void doInBackground() throws Exception {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
dialog.setVisible(true);
}
});
int progress = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
Thread.sleep(1000);
setProgress(progress += 20);
}
return null;
}
#Override
protected void done() {
dialog.setVisible(false);
dialog.dispose();
}
}
}
If you are worried that the invokeLater implementation (inside SwingWorker.doInBackground) might get executed after SwingWorker.done, simply put the code in done into another invokeLater. By doing this, you queue your Runnable implementations for EDT to execute them in certain order. The queuing will happen even if this method is called from EDT itself.
Note that if you take a look at SwingWorker implementation, you'll see that it relies on javax.swing.Timer to execute done() and the Timer itself calls invokeLater, so calling it inside done again amounts to doing nothing. Nothing will be wrong if you do it, however.

You can try SwingUtilities.invokeLater and SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait instead of swingWorker.
Also, this topic may be useful.

Why does the thread not sleep properly?

I am trying to make a simple JButton, which when being clicked causes a simple JLabel to change its text to "second text", after that I want the current thread to sleep for few seconds and finally the JLabel to change its text again, this time to a "third text". I think I have it done here, but it doesn't work the way I want it. The code provided below makes the JButton freeze for the specified timeframe, as if it is held down, and then the label changes to the its third state. Said in other words, the "seconds text" does not appear.
Please advise me how should it be done.
Thank you.
package testPackage;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class Demo {
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
JFrame frame = new JFrame();
JButton button = new JButton("Click me!");
final JLabel label = new JLabel("first text");
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setSize(600, 600);
JPanel panel = new JPanel();
panel.add(button);
panel.add(label);
button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
label.setText("second text");
try {
Thread.currentThread();
Thread.sleep(4000);
} catch (InterruptedException exc) {
System.out.println("Erorrrrr");
}
}
});
frame.add(panel);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}

The change of text property is not the only thing that has to be done to see the result when you consider the internals of Java. The control also has to be redrawn (possibly invalidated).
By calling sleep you actually stop java GUI internal worker from redrawing the control you changed. It can happen only after the sleep has finished.

In the action performed method you need to release the main GUI Thread for the changes to occur:
So if you open a new Thread in the actionPerformed method it will release the main GUI thread then after the sleep call the label.setText("third text") this will change the label to second text first wait for 4secs and then change it to third text
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
label.setText("second text");
new Thread(){
public void run(){
try {
//Thread.currentThread();
Thread.sleep(4000);
label.setText("third text");
} catch (InterruptedException exc) {
System.out.println("Erorrrrr");
}
}
}.start();
}

Your GUI runs on a thread. When you sleep that thread for x number of seconds, your GUI freezes for x number of seconds.
As noted in the comments by Marko, "you must instead schedule a delayed event with javax.swing.Timer"

If you sleep on the Event Dispatch Thread (the thread that handles GUI events), then the GUI will freeze. You could start a background thread from the action listener and to the sleeping there.
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
label.setText("text 1");
new Thread(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
}catch (InterruptedException ignore){}
// queue Swing code for execution on the EDT
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
label.setText("text2");
}
});
}
}).start();
}

How to update/paint JProgressBar while Swing is loaded building the GUI

I have a GUI which is quite heavy to build/initialize on the platform on which it runs.. Therefore I want to update progress while it initializes..
I have a small undecorated JDialog containing a JLabel and a JProgressBar which I want to update at specific places during initialization, however, because the event dispatch thead (as per Swing rules) is used to build/initialize the GUI, the progress is of course not updated until the EDT is idle again (i.e. initialization is finished)..
The JProgressBar I have gotten to redraw using "paintImmediately", but I can't seem to make it work properly for the JLabel and the dialog itself.. Is there any simple recommended/proven method to accomplish this?
cheers...
EDIT: Adding an example of what it is I'm trying to do; greatly simplified, of course.
private JLabel progressLabel;
private JProgressBar progressBar;
public static int main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
showProgressDialog();
progressLabel.setText("construct 1");
constructSomeHeavyGUI();
progressLabel.setText("construct 2");
progressBar.setValue(33);
constructSomeMoreHeavyGUI();
progressLabel.setText("construct 3");
progressBar.setValue(67);
constructEvenMoreHeavyGUI();
progressLabel.setText("done");
progressBar.setValue(100);
hideProgressDialog();
showHeavyGUI();
}
});
}
the repaints caused by the calls to progressBar.setValue()/progressLabel.setText() above will of course get queued as long as the EDT is busy and result in a repaint after we are all done instead of updating along the way..

I would suggest that by using SwingWorker , then you can update the JProgressBar correctly on EDT and without any freeze or isuees with Concurency in Swing,
there is another option by using Runnable#thread, but then you have to wrapp all output to the GUI into invokeLater();
for example:
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.Window;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeEvent;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeListener;
import javax.swing.*;
public class TestProgressBar {
private static void createAndShowUI() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("TestProgressBar");
frame.getContentPane().add(new TestPBGui().getMainPanel());
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
createAndShowUI();
}
});
}
private TestProgressBar() {
}
}
class TestPBGui {
private JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel();
public TestPBGui() {
JButton yourAttempt = new JButton("WRONG attempt to show Progress Bar");
JButton myAttempt = new JButton("BETTER attempt to show Progress Bar");
yourAttempt.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
yourAttemptActionPerformed();
}
});
myAttempt.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
myAttemptActionPerformed();
}
});
mainPanel.add(yourAttempt);
mainPanel.add(myAttempt);
}
private void yourAttemptActionPerformed() {
Window thisWin = SwingUtilities.getWindowAncestor(mainPanel);
JDialog progressDialog = new JDialog(thisWin, "Uploading...");
JPanel contentPane = new JPanel();
contentPane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300, 100));
JProgressBar bar = new JProgressBar(0, 100);
bar.setIndeterminate(true);
contentPane.add(bar);
progressDialog.setContentPane(contentPane);
progressDialog.pack();
progressDialog.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
Task task = new Task("Your attempt");
task.execute();
progressDialog.setVisible(true);
while (!task.isDone()) {
}
progressDialog.dispose();
}
private void myAttemptActionPerformed() {
Window thisWin = SwingUtilities.getWindowAncestor(mainPanel);
final JDialog progressDialog = new JDialog(thisWin, "Uploading...");
JPanel contentPane = new JPanel();
contentPane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(300, 100));
final JProgressBar bar = new JProgressBar(0, 100);
bar.setIndeterminate(true);
contentPane.add(bar);
progressDialog.setContentPane(contentPane);
progressDialog.pack();
progressDialog.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
final Task task = new Task("My attempt");
task.addPropertyChangeListener(new PropertyChangeListener() {
#Override
public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent evt) {
if (evt.getPropertyName().equalsIgnoreCase("progress")) {
int progress = task.getProgress();
if (progress == 0) {
bar.setIndeterminate(true);
} else {
bar.setIndeterminate(false);
bar.setValue(progress);
progressDialog.dispose();
}
}
}
});
task.execute();
progressDialog.setVisible(true);
}
public JPanel getMainPanel() {
return mainPanel;
}
}
class Task extends SwingWorker<Void, Void> {
private static final long SLEEP_TIME = 4000;
private String text;
public Task(String text) {
this.text = text;
}
#Override
public Void doInBackground() {
setProgress(0);
try {
Thread.sleep(SLEEP_TIME);// imitate a long-running task
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
setProgress(100);
return null;
}
#Override
public void done() {
System.out.println(text + " is done");
Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().beep();
}
}
EDIT:
1) you showed another issues, why do you create lots of Top-Level Containers on Fly/Runtime, create only required numbers of Containers and re-use that by removeAll()
2) here is probably what you needed, all those JProgressBars in the JTable are pretty accesible and configurable
3) this is your paintImmediately(), that really reason why not painting any of Progress to the JLabel but using JProgressBar#setValue(int);
instead,

It's possible that constructSome*HeavyGUI() really takes long enough to matter, but it's more likely that filling in the data model(s) is the problem. Instead, construct and show the empty GUI elements and launch one or more SwingWorker instances to marshal each element's data. There are related examples here and here.
Addendum: If the problem is instantiating components, and not loading data models, you can chain the calls to invokeLater(), as suggested in a comment below. If you're instantiating that many components, consider the flyweight pattern. JTable is a familiar example.

Move the long running code in a separate thread and use SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait or invokeLater to update GUI.

Either use SwingUtilities.invokeLater(...) as suggested by #StanislavL, or use SwingWorker.
See also:
Worker Threads and SwingWorker