Develop Reference

Why does my JFrame move to the background after closing modal JDialog

Edit: Updated question including a MRE and an answer can be found here.
I'm pretty lost after stumbling across this issue and finding no way to resolve it myself.
Description:
I have an application which has a Java Swing GUI. All the communication to the GUI is done via custom Events, mostly created by the main program, which are then processed by a Controller to control the GUI.
One event I have will trigger the Controller to open a custom Modal JDialog which acts just as a "please wait while the stuff in the background is being processed". So after the background task is finished, an Event will trigger the Dialog to dispose, to make the main GUI frame accessible again.
The issue:
When the Dialog is disposed, the main Frame will magically be set to the background. Not minimized, not completely in the background of all open windows, but actually in the background of the last open window. I'm completely lost on how and why this happens.
The important parts of the Controller class look vaguely like this:
class Controller {
private ModalWaitDialog dialog;
private JFrame frame;
private void createMainFrame() {
SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// create frame
frame = new JFrame();
// make the frame visible
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
private void showWaitPopup(String msg) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
modalWaitDialog = new ModalWaitDialog(frame, message);
modalWaitDialog.showDialog();
}
});
}
// after this was executed, my frame will be set in the background
private void endWaitPopup() {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
if (modalWaitDialog != null) {
modalWaitDialog.dispose();
modalWaitDialog = null;
}
}
});
}
}
I know this is not a MCVE, but maybe somebody knows how and why this happens.
Edit:
I added a WindowFocusListener to the Frame and added some print statements to the endWaitPopup, and called invokeAndWait to further see what is happening. The following is the result:
private void endWaitPopup() {
System.out.println("In EndWaitPopup");
try {
SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
System.out.println("EndWaitPopup... run started");
// implement as if it could be called if no wait popup is available
if (modalWaitDialog != null) {
System.out.println("Disposing the modal dialog");
modalWaitDialog.dispose();
modalWaitDialog = null;
}
System.out.println("End of EndWaitPopup");
}
});
} catch (InvocationTargetException | InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
Output:
In EndWaitPopup
+++Focus of Frame lost+++
EndWaitPopup... run started
Disposing the modal dialog
End of EndWaitPopup

rerun swing JFrame when click JOptionPane

I have a swing JFrame and in a some place of the code i need to display a JOptionPane for the user to select:
if yes - I need ht JFrame to run again and exit the existing one
if no - this is solved I just need to exit.
here is a JFrame code:
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
MainFrame frame = new MainFrame();
frame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
and here is the JOptionPane code which i created:
int ok = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, "would you like to enable USB in your device?", "USB", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);
if (ok==JOptionPane.YES_OPTION){
Thread t = new Thread(){
public void run(){
String[] args = { };
MainFrame f = new MainFrame();
f.main(args);
}
}.start();
}
else if(ok==JOptionPane.NO_OPTION){
System.exit(ok);
}
I created the thread and it is opening another JFrame but not closing the existing one!
Thanks for any help :)

Log during methodeGUI java

I wrote a java program and made a GUI (my first one jeej).
This is my main methode:
public static void main(String[] args) {
EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
try {
ui frame = new ui();
frame.setVisible(true);
} catch (Exception e) {
ui.log("Something went wrong: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
});
}
The methode ui.log let's me write to a textArea.
My gui has one button which starts a pretty long methode which takes several minutes to complete.
In this long methode I want to be able to log to my textArea using ui.log().
It works, but It is only displayed when the methode ends and I want to see the results while the methode is running.
Both the button and the buttonEvent listener are made inside new ui();
JButton btnNewButton = new JButton("button1");
btnNewButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
thveryLongMethodeThatIwantToLogDuringExecution();
}
});
Does anyone knows how I can log while the methode is running?
EDIT: I think it has something to do with threads but I'm not sure. I never done something with threads.

Don't perform your work on the EDT. Use the javax.swing.SwingWorker to run time-consuming background tasks.

Java Swing Concurrency display JTextArea

I need to execute/display a series of events from a Arraylist to a JTextArea, however, each Event gets execute with different time. Following is a quick example of my goal:
public void start(ActionEvent e)
{
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
jTextArea.append("Test" + "\n");
try
{
Thread.sleep(3000);
} catch (InterruptedException e1)
{
e1.printStackTrace();
}
jTextArea.append("Test1" + "\n");
}
});
}
So right now, "Test" and "Test1" display on JTextArea after whole execution is completed.
How do I make "Test" display first, then 3 secs later, display "Test1"
Thank u all in advance

invokeLater schedules the runnable to run on the Event Dispatch Thread. You shouldn't sleep within it or you will starve the dispatch thread. Try using a separate worker thread instead:
Thread worker = new Thread(new Runnable(){
public void run(){
jTextArea.append("Test" + "\n");
try {
Thread.sleep(3000);
} catch (InterruptedException e1) {
e1.printStackTrace();
}
jTextArea.append("Test1" + "\n");
}
});
worker.start();

If your tasks are time/cpu intensive, then yes, definitely use a background thread to do this such as a SwingWorker object or a Runnable run in a Thread. If however what you need to do is to stagger the display of something and all you are looking for is the Swing equivalent of Thread.sleep(3000), then your best option is to use a Swing Timer. There is an excellent tutorial on how to use these which you can find here: http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/misc/timer.html
For example:
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;
public class Fu extends JPanel {
private static final int TIMER_DELAY = 600;
protected static final int MAX_COUNT = 20;
private JTextArea jTextArea = new JTextArea(10, 10);
private JButton startBtn = new JButton("Start");
private Timer timer;
public Fu() {
startBtn.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
startAction(e);
}
});
add(new JScrollPane(jTextArea, JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_ALWAYS,
JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED));
add(startBtn);
}
private void startAction(ActionEvent e) {
if (timer != null && timer.isRunning()) {
// prevent multiple instances of timer from running at same time
return;
}
timer = new Timer(TIMER_DELAY, new ActionListener() {
private int count = 0;
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
if (count < MAX_COUNT) {
count++;
jTextArea.append("Test " + count + "\n");
} else {
jTextArea.append("Done! \n");
timer.stop();
timer = null;
}
}
});
timer.setInitialDelay(0);
timer.start();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("Foo");
frame.getContentPane().add(new Fu());
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.pack();
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
}

As pointed out, this is a bad idea, as you will block the event thread.
However, understanding the reason for this is important as well. As you seem to know, all code that affects the state of Swing components needs to happen in the event handling thread (which is the reason why invokeLater and friends should always be used).
What is a bit less better known is that paining code also executes in the event handling thread. When your call to Thread.sleep is executing, it's not only blocking the event thread, it's also blocking any painting of components. This is why the full update appears to happen in one go -- the JTextArea is updated but it can't be repainted until your run method returns.
Lots of info available here: http://java.sun.com/products/jfc/tsc/articles/threads/threads1.html

Why wont my JFrame hide?

I'm in the process of creating a GUI in Netbeans 6.1 for my senior design project but i've run into an annoying snag. Temporary Windows like my login PopUp and others wont disappear when i tell it. I've been researching how to solve this for about 2 months on an off. I've even mad a separate thread for my Pop Up but it still wont work....the only way it will disappear if i literally dont mess with any of the other GUI components....my sample code should help describe my anger...dont mind the shadow code, it was for testing purposes, which obviously didnt help.
//This method is called once a user presses the "first" login button on the main GUI
public synchronized void loginPopUpThread() {
doHelloWorld = new Thread(){
#Override
public synchronized void run()
{
try
{
loginPopUpFrame.pack();
loginPopUpFrame.setVisible(true);
System.out.println("waitin");
doHelloWorld.wait();
System.out.println("Not Sleepin..");
loginPopUpFrame.pack();
loginPopUpFrame.setVisible(false);
}
catch (InterruptedException e)
{
}
}
};
doHelloWorld.start();
//This is called when the "second" loginB is pressed and the password is correct...
public synchronized void notifyPopUp() {
synchronized(doHelloWorld) {
doHelloWorld.notifyAll();
System.out.println("Notified");
}
}
I've also tried Swing Utilities but maybe i implemented it wrong as it's my first time using them. It essentially does the same thing as the code above except the window freezes when it gets to wait, which the above code doesnt do:
javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public synchronized void run() {
try
{
loginPopUpFrame.pack();
loginPopUpFrame.setVisible(true);
System.out.println("waitin");
wait();
System.out.println("Not Sleepin.");
loginPopUpFrame.pack();
loginPopUpFrame.setVisible(false);
}
catch (InterruptedException e)
{
}
}
});
PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Rules of thumb:
Don't manipulate GUI components in arbitrary threads; always arrange to manipulate them in the event thread
Never wait or sleep inside the event thread (so, never inside code sent to invokeLater())
So the answer to how you solve this problem is "some other way"...
Standing back from the problem a bit, what is it you're actually trying to do? If you just want a login dialog to wait for the user to enter user name and password, is there a reason not to just use a modal JDialog (after all, that's what it's there for...).
If you really do want some arbitrary thread to wait for a signal to close the window/manipulate the GUI, then you need to do the waiting in the other thread, and then make that thread call SwingUtilities.invokeLater() with the actual GUI manipulation code.
P.S. There are actually some GUI manipulation methods that it is safe to call from other threads, e.g. calls that are "just setting a label" are often safe. But which calls are safe isn't terribly well-defined, so it's best just to avoid the issue in practice.

The Swing components should only be manipulated by the swing event dispatch thread.
class SwingUtilites has methods to submit tasks to the dispatch thread.

It is difficult to diagnose your problem. I'm not sure what you're trying to do with the wait methods, but I recommend leaving wait/notify alone.
This code has two frames - when you create a second frame, the first is hidden until you close it.
public class SwapFrames {
private JFrame frame;
private JFrame createMainFrame() {
JButton openOtherFrameButton = new JButton(
"Show other frame");
frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
Container contentPane = frame.getContentPane();
contentPane.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
contentPane.add(openOtherFrameButton);
frame.pack();
openOtherFrameButton
.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
onClickOpenOtherFrame();
}
});
return frame;
}
private void onClickOpenOtherFrame() {
frame.setVisible(false);
JFrame otherFrame = new JFrame();
otherFrame
.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
otherFrame.setContentPane(new JLabel(
"Close this to make other frame reappear."));
otherFrame.pack();
otherFrame.setVisible(true);
otherFrame.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
#Override
public void windowClosed(WindowEvent e) {
frame.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new SwapFrames().createMainFrame();
frame.setVisible(true);
}
}
Because I don't see any evidence of them in your code, I'm going to suggest you read up on using event listeners rather than trying to "wait" for code to finish.
It isn't entirely clear what you're trying to achieve, but you might be better off with a modal dialog:
public class DialogDemo {
public JFrame createApplicationFrame() {
JButton openDialogButton = new JButton("Open Dialog");
final JFrame frame = new JFrame();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
Container container = frame.getContentPane();
container.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
container.add(openDialogButton);
frame.pack();
openDialogButton
.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
onOpenDialog(frame);
}
});
return frame;
}
private void onOpenDialog(JFrame frame) {
JDialog dialog = createDialog(frame);
dialog.setVisible(true);
}
private JDialog createDialog(JFrame parent) {
JButton closeDialogButton = new JButton("Close");
boolean modal = true;
final JDialog dialog = new JDialog(parent, modal);
dialog
.setDefaultCloseOperation(JDialog.DISPOSE_ON_CLOSE);
Container container = dialog.getContentPane();
container.add(closeDialogButton);
dialog.pack();
dialog.setLocationRelativeTo(parent);
closeDialogButton
.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
dialog.setVisible(false);
}
});
return dialog;
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
new DialogDemo().createApplicationFrame().setVisible(
true);
}
}

How about doing simply:
//This method is called once a user presses the "first" login button on the main GUI
public void loginPopUpThread() {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
loginPopUpFrame.pack();
loginPopUpFrame.setVisible(true);
}
};
}
//This is called when the "second" loginB is pressed and the password is correct...
public void notifyPopUp() {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
loginPopUpFrame.setVisible(false);
}
};
}

What you really want to be using is a modal JDialog.
Note, bits of this are left out. It's your homework/project.
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
// User clicked the login button
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
LoginDialog ld = new LoginDialog();
// Will block
ld.setVisible(true);
}
});
}
public class LoginDialog extends JDialog
{
public LoginDialog()
{
super((Frame)null, "Login Dialog", true);
// create buttons/labels/components, add listeners, etc
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
// user probably clicked login
// valid their info
if(validUser)
{
// This will release the modality of the JDialog and free up the rest of the app
setVisible(false);
dispose();
}
else
{
// bad user ! scold them angrily, a frowny face will do
}
}
}