Develop Reference

Java swing animation issue [duplicate]

I'm having trouble with this code I am using to create a roulette wheel. The goal is to spin the wheel when I click the "SPIN!" button. I have done this by creating a for loop that should change the status of the wheel from true to false, which changes the orientation. This, when done fast enough, should create the illusion of movement.
THE PROBLEM I AM HAVING: is that my wheel is only repainting after the whole for loop is done, despite my placement of the repaint(). So, it only spins one tick.
Here is some sample code of my ActionListener:
public class spinListener implements ActionListener
{
RouletteWheel wheel;
int countEnd = (int)(Math.random()+25*2);
public spinListener(RouletteWheel w)
{
wheel = w;
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
for (int i = 0; i <countEnd; i++)
{
try
{
Thread.sleep(100);
if (wheel.getStatus() == true)
{
wheel.setStatus(false);
repaint();
}
if (wheel.getStatus() == false)
{
wheel.setStatus(true);
repaint();
}
}
catch (InterruptedException ex)
{
Logger.getLogger(WheelBuilder.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
}
}
UPDATE: I figured out the problem. Here are the changes I made for anyone having a similar problem.
public class spinListener implements ActionListener
{
Timer tm = new Timer(100, this);
int count = 0;
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
tm.start();
changeWheel();
}
public void changeWheel()
{
int countEnd = (int)(Math.random()+20*2);
if (count < countEnd)
{
wheel.setStatus(!wheel.getStatus());
repaint();
count++;
}
}
}

Swing is a single threaded environment, anything that blocks the Event Dispatching Thread, will prevent it from been able to process new events, including, paint events.
The use of Thread.sleep within the actionPerformed method is blocking the EDT, preventing it from processing new events, including paint events, until the actionPerformed method is exited.
You should use a javax.swing.Timer instead.
Take a look at Concurrency in Swing and How to Use Swing Timers for more details

how do I make my program check the stock market value every hour[java]

I am making a program to check the stock market for a symbol and I got that far, and added a basic gui to it. I am stumped on how to make it check every hour and create a green up arrow if it increased and red down arrow if it decreased.
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.io.IOException;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import org.jsoup.Jsoup;
import org.jsoup.nodes.Document;
import org.jsoup.select.Elements;
public class QuoteTracker {
JFrame frame;
JPanel mainPanel;
JLabel enterLabel;
JLabel resultLabel;
JTextField text;
JTextField result;
JButton query;
JButton redArrow;
JButton greenArrow;
String url;
public static void main(String[] args) {
new QuoteTracker().buildGui();
}
public class checkingQuote implements Runnable {
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
try {
checkQuote(url);
//if increase in value green button
System.out.println("Sleeping");
Thread.sleep(1000 * 60 * 60);
System.out.println("Waking");
} catch (InterruptedException ie) {
ie.printStackTrace();
break;
}
}
}
}
public void checkQuote(String symbol) {
try {
String url = "http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=" + symbol + "&ql=0";
this.url = url;
Document doc = Jsoup.connect(url).get();
Elements css = doc.select("p > span:first-child > span");
result.setText(css.text());
} catch (IOException e) {
}
}
public void buildGui() {
frame = new JFrame("QuoteTracker");
mainPanel = new JPanel();
enterLabel = new JLabel("enter symbol ");
resultLabel = new JLabel("result ");
text = new JTextField(4);
result = new JTextField(8);
query = new JButton("query");
query.addActionListener(new queryListener());
mainPanel.add(enterLabel);
mainPanel.add(text);
mainPanel.add(query);
mainPanel.add(resultLabel);
mainPanel.add(result);
frame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
frame.setSize(300, 400);
frame.setVisible(true);
frame.pack();
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
class queryListener implements ActionListener {
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ev) {
checkQuote(text.getText());
}
}
}
Do I even need a thread? I've never made one before and tried to add things that made sense. I am thinking I either need a thread or to use java's Timer?

Use SwingWorker to execute long running task in the background while updating the UI based on some results from that long running task. That means, it is actually about two different threads communicating to each other - Worker Threads and Event Dispatch Thread (EDT)
But before that, I want to point some few notes about your code.
Invoke the initialization of your UI in the EDT. That is, instead of just straightly calling new QuoteTracker().buildGui(), call it inside the run method of a Runnable passed to SwingUtilities.invokeLater (like this)
Classes should start in capital letter as per the Java standard.
To apply SwingWorker in you existing code, you can do the following :
First, you must place your checkQuote method in some other class (ideally a service class) then modify your checkQuote method to return the String that is set to the textfield result. Something like this
public Class QuoteService{
public String checkQuote(String symbol) {
try {
String url = "http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=" + symbol + "&ql=0";
this.url = url;
Document doc = Jsoup.connect(url).get();
Elements css = doc.select("p > span:first-child > span");
return css.text();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return "";
}
}
You can then make your QuoteTracker class to focus mainly in the UI part of your application. Just create the service object as instance level field so that you can freely call checkQuote method within your the class.
Invoke SwingWorker when the button is clicked.
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent ev) {
new SwingWorker<Void, String>() {
#Override // this method is done in the Worker Thread
protected Void doInBackground() throws Exception {
while(true){
String res = checkQuote(text.getText());
publish(res); //will call the process method
Thread.sleep(1000 * 60 * 60); //1 hour
}
}
#Override // this method is done in the EDT
protected void process(List<String> resultList){
String res = resultList.get(0);
if(!"".equals(res)){
result.setText(res);
}
}
#Override // this method is done in the EDT. Executed after executing the doInBackground() method
protected void done() {
//... clean up
}
}.execute();
}
Note that done() will be executed after the execution of doInBackground() is finished, which means, in the code I posted, it will never be executed since the while loop used to periodically call checkQuote is infinite. Just modify it so that you can interrupt that loop according to your need
Further Read : Concurrency in Swing

You can use thread and normal while loop in main thread as well, but at the very first , you need to start you thread and that thread must refer your object.
Add following line in public void buildGui() {
Thread t1 = new Thread(new checkingQuote());
t1.start();
This will start you thread, for testing purpose i have modified checkingQuote class
public class checkingQuote implements Runnable {
int count = 0;
#Override
public void run() {
System.out.println("Inside Runner");
while (true) {
try {
count++;
checkQuote(url);
//if increase in value green button
result.setText(""+count);
System.out.println("Sleeping");
Thread.sleep(1000);
System.out.println("Waking");
} catch (InterruptedException ie) {
ie.printStackTrace();
break;
}
}
}
}
I am seeing number change in the text box.... same way you can alter the logic to get and show the quotes.. but you must keep the value for previous quote to compare with the latest code to show green and red notification...

In gui application it is better to use Timer, also you may use ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor. But in the second case notice, that your scheduled tasks may run in non-GUI thread. As you can't invoke ATW/Swing directly from another thread, you should wrap any call to Swing into SwingUtilities.invokeLater() method.
Also notice, that when you do something durable inside GUI thread, the whole GUI becomes unrepsonsive. So, to achieve a better responsiveness, you would query in a separate thread, and expose results to Swing through invokeLater after quotes have checked. So your checkQuote method may be rewritten this way:
public void checkQuote(String symbol) {
try {
final String url = "http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=" + symbol + "&ql=0";
Document doc = Jsoup.connect(url).get();
Elements css = doc.select("p > span:first-child > span");
final String text = css.text();
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
#Override public void run() {
this.url = url;
result.setText(text);
}
}
} catch (IOException e) {
// Don't swallow exceptions
logger.error("Something gone wrong", e);
}
}
public void checkQuote() {
final String symbol = text.getText();
new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override public void run() {
checkQuote(symbol);
}
}).start();
}
and call it from Timer and from button click listener.

Java repaint() method doesn't always work

There is a problem with the repaint() method in Java. I made a new thread that constantly repaints the screen. When I release the spacebar I want my player to fall smoothly by setting its position and then waiting for 50 milliseconds and looping that 20 times. Instead, it waits the whole amount of time in the loop, then repaints. I am wondering why it doesn't constantly repaint the changes in the players co-ordinates. Thank you.
(Edit) Thanks everyone for the help. This is my first time using stack overflow, and I am only 13 and still learning java, so I probably will go back to the tutorials again.
My 'a' class (main):
public class a {
public static void main(String[] args) {
JFrame frame = new JFrame("StickFigure Game");
frame.setSize(740, 580);
frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(frame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
frame.setVisible(true);
b board = new b();
frame.add(board);
frame.addKeyListener(board);
}
}
My 'b' class (JPanel/drawing):
public class b extends JPanel implements KeyListener {
c player = new c();
public class MyRunnable implements Runnable {
public void run() {
while (true)
repaint();
}
}
MyRunnable run = new MyRunnable();
public void paint(Graphics g) {
super.paint(g);
Graphics2D g2d = (Graphics2D) g;
g2d.drawImage(player.getImage(), player.getX(), player.getY(), 80, 140,
null);
}
public b() {
Thread thread = new Thread(new MyRunnable());
thread.start();
}
public static void slow(int n) {
long t0, t1;
t0 = System.currentTimeMillis();
do {
t1 = System.currentTimeMillis();
} while (t1 - t0 < n);
}
public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) {
if (e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_D) {
player.setPos(player.getX() + 6, player.getY());
}
if (e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_A) {
player.setPos(player.getX() - 6, player.getY());
}
if (e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_SPACE) {
player.setPos(player.getX(), player.getY() - 60);
}
}
public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) {
if (e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_SPACE) {
for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
slow(50);
player.setPos(player.getX(), player.getY() + 2);
}
}
}
public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) {
}
}
my 'c' class (player):
public class c {
private ImageIcon i = new ImageIcon("guy.png");
private Image img = i.getImage();
private int x = 0;
private int y = 100;
public void wait(int what) {
try {
Thread.sleep(what);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public c() {
}
public Image getImage() {
return img;
}
public int getX() {
return x;
}
public int getY() {
return y;
}
public void setPos(int mx, int my) {
x = mx;
y = my;
}
}

I haven't gone through all the code here but here are some pointers:
Swing has its own concurrency mechanisms which allow you to handle UI updates. You can use a Swing Timer rather than a raw Thread. Related is the use of Thread.sleep - don't do this, it only blocks the EDT and prevents UI updates.
The Swing paint chain mechanism requires you to override paintComponent rather than paint.
Always use Key Bindings rather than KeyListeners in Swing. KeyListeners require component focus to work to interact with the KeyEvents. Key Bindings do not have this limitation.

"There is a problem with the repaint() method in java." Did you consider that perhaps the problem is with your code instead? You are blocking the event thread and giving the system no time to do the intermediate repaints. In particular, this method:
public static void slow (int n){
long t0,t1;
t0=System.currentTimeMillis();
do{
t1=System.currentTimeMillis();
}
while (t1-t0<n);
}
and this loop:
for(int i = 0;i<20;i++){
slow(50);
player.setPos(player.getX(), player.getY()+2);
}
do not relinquish control to the system so that repaints can actually happen. Rewrite those using Swing timers. Look at this tutorial for an introduction on how to use these.
Also, your thread that constantly calls repaint() in a tight loop:
public void run(){
while(true) repaint();
}
is a terrible idea. You don't need to call repaint() at full CPU speed. Once every 30 milliseconds or so is fine for animation. Again, consider using Swing utilities to do this rather than writing your own looping thread.

The repaint is only a "request" to paint as soon as possible. so when you call it it causes a call to the paint method as soon as possible.
from here
So basically you just flooding the scheduled calls of paint or update with while(true) repaint();.
Oracle's stance on painting in AWT and Swing
One way you could do it, or should I say how I would do it, is to make your c class implement KeyListener, so that when a key is pressed (and only when it is pressed) you update it's location.
So move your KeyListener methods to class c, in your class b constructor you can add the call this.addKeyListener(player) or make a method void addPlayer(c player) that adds it.

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?

Combining repaint() with Thread.Sleep()

What im trying to do is pretty simple, I want to show the steps of an algorithm on the screen, hence why im trying to combine repaint() with sleep(), but I am doing it wrong, Id love it if someone knows enough about it to firstly explain whats wrong with this code, and secondly, what do i do to make it work...
thanks!
in summery, what this code was meant to do is paint 10 red vertices, then balcken em one by one in intervals of 200 milliseconds.
here's the code:
public class Tester {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
ShowGUIGraph();
}
});
}
private static void ShowGUIGraph() {
JFrame f = new JFrame("something");
f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
JPanel p=new JPanel();
p.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
p.add(BorderLayout.CENTER,new SomePanel());
f.add(p);
f.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800,600));
f.pack();
f.setVisible(true);
}
}
public class SomePanel extends JPanel {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
LinkedList<Vertex> vertices=new LinkedList<Vertex>();
public SomePanel () {
for (int i=0;i<10;i++) {
Vertex v=new Vertex(i);
v.setLocation(20+30*i, 20+30*i);
vertices.add(v);
}
traverseVerticesRecoursive(0);
traverseVerticesNonRecoursive();
}
public void traverseVerticesRecoursive(int i) {
if (i>=vertices.size()) return;
vertices.get(i).setColor(Color.black);
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
repaint();
traverseVerticesRecoursive(i+1);
}
public void traverseVerticesNonRecoursive() {
for (int i=0;i<10;i++) {
vertices.get(i).setColor(Color.red);
try {
Thread.sleep(200);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
repaint();
}
}
protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
super.paintComponent(g);
for (int i=0;i<vertices.size();i++) {
vertices.get(i).paintVertex(g);
}
}
}
public class Vertex {
private int x,y,tag,r=20;
private Color color=Color.red;
Vertex (int i) {
tag=i;
}
public void setLocation(int x0,int y0) {
x=x0;
y=y0;
}
public int getX() {
return x;
}
public int getY() {
return y;
}
public void setColor(Color c) {
color=c;
}
public boolean colorIs(Color c) {
return (color.equals(c));
}
public void paintVertex(Graphics g) {
g.setColor(color);
g.fillOval(x,y,r,r);
g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
g.drawOval(x,y,r,r);
g.drawString(""+tag, x+r/2, y+r/2+4);
}
public int getR() {
return r;
}
}

Do not sleep in the Event Dispatch Thread; this will cause the GUI to freeze. For animation, use an EDT-friendly utility class, such as javax.swing.Timer.

Just a few ideas that might make your code cleaner:
In your SomePanel class, put the traversing code in a method out of the constructor. Constructors are intended for initializing fields.
First launch your static GUI, then spawn a worker thread to do the updates via the previous method (this would be your small "engine"). In this thread is were you can call sleep.
In your traverseVerticesRecoursive method, do only the repaint on the UI thread, and the status update on your worker thread.
Tha main modification you should do is not to block the GUI thread with sleep calls, as they have told you in the first answer.

Thread.sleep is a long running task. When you a running such a task in the EDT it blocks all repaint requests from being executed. All repaint requests which are pending and which were sent during the sleep phase are queued for future processing.
As a result when the EDT comes out of the sleep phase it coalesce all such repaint request (if coalescing is enabled which is the default property) into a single repaint which gets executed. If coalescing is not enabled then all queued request are executed serially without any time gap in between. As a result it seems that the UI did not update.
To correct the situation use a timer which triggers periodically after specific intervals of time.

Guy, you could use a new Thread differ with EDT thread to make an animation. For example,
void play() {
Thread thread = new Thread() {
#Override
public void run() {
game();
}
};
thread.start();
}
void game() {
for (; ; ) {
switch (state) {
case GameData.ANIMATING:
// call some function as repaint() to update GUI
break;
case GameData.GAME_ENDED:
return;
default:
break;
}
diffTime = System.currentTimeMillis() - beforeTime;
sleepTime = delay - diffTime;
sleepTime = (sleepTime < 0) ? 0 : sleepTime;
Thread.sleep(sleepTime);
}
}