Using Swing Timer to insert a delay between append
I would like to insert a simple delay between the two append() in this code. I have looked through other posts but from what I could tell you need an action listener for the timer, but since I need to have the timer inside an existing action performed I didn't really know how to do.
I basically want a simple thread.sleep(500) like method that I can call whenever I want, but I don't want the whole application freezing..
JTextField charNameIn =new JTextField(16);
JTextArea advLog =new JTextArea(12, 16);
publicvoid actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
if (e.getSource() == charNameIn){
advLog.append("text");
// insert a 500 ms pause here
advLog.append("text");
}
}
Message was edited by:
Lombra
[1132 byte] By [
Lombraa] at [2007-11-27 3:13:12]
# 1
create a new Thread when actionPerformed starts like:
if (e.getSource() == charNameIn) {
Thread t=new Thread(){
private int counter=0;
public void run(){
while(counter<2){
printInADV("text");
try{
this.sleep(500);
}catch(InterruptedException i){}
counter ++;
}
}
private void printInADV(String str){
advLog.append(str);
}
};
t.start();
}
# 2
That seemed to work ok. But it's not exactly what I wanted (mistake on my side decribing my problem). I didn't intentionally want "text" in both append(), so I would like it to works with any text string. Like
append("In two seconds you will get another message");
// sleep(2000)
append("Hi");
# 3
So do something like
if (e.getSource() == charNameIn) {
Thread t=new Thread(){
private String message1 = "In two seconds you will get another message;
private String message2 = "Hi";
private long sleepTime = 2000;
public void run(){
while(counter<2){
advLog.append( message1 );
try{
this.sleep( sleepTime );
}catch(InterruptedException i){}
advLog.append( message1 );
}
}
};
t.start();
}
Of course, if you intend to put this into a textArea or such, you'll want to
do that part in the EDT.
# 4
> That seemed to work ok. But it's not exactly what I
> wanted (mistake on my side decribing my problem). I
> didn't intentionally want "text" in both append(), so
> I would like it to works with any text string. Like
>
> append("In two seconds you will get another
> message");
> // sleep(2000)
> append("Hi");
if (e.getSource() == charNameIn) {
final String[] array={"In two second...","hi"};
Thread t=new Thread(){
private int counter=0;
public void run(){
while(counter<array.length){
printInADV(array[counter]);
try{
this.sleep(500);
}catch(InterruptedException i){}
counter ++;
}
}
private void printInADV(String str){
advLog.append(str);
}
};
t.start();
}
>
# 5
Don't use a Thread.sleep in the ActionListener you will prevent the GUI from responding to events.
> but since I need to have the timer inside an existing action performed I didn't really know how to do
You create a separate ActionListener:
ActionListener someListener = new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(...)
{
// add your code here
}
}
Timer someTimer = new Timer(1000, someListener);
someTimer.start();
# 6
I create it in the existing action performed like this? Tried it but got ; expected so I guess it should've been somewhere else. When I added the ; it wanted it would just add "Bye" infinitely.
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
if (e.getSource() == charNameIn)
{
ActionListener someListener = new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
advLog.append( "Bye");
}
}
Timer someTimer = new Timer(1000, someListener);
someTimer.start();
advLog.append( "Hi");
}
}
# 7
ActionListener someListener = new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)
{
advLog.append( "Bye");
}
}; //<-- You're missing a ; here
# 8
Yeah, I added that but then "Bye" was added every second and wouldn't stop.
# 9
The Timer API introduction explains what you need to do: http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/javax/swing/Timer.html
# 10
Ah, right, forgot about the setRepeat method. This is great, thanks all! Dukes awarded.
One last question; how do I use the timer again for a third event? I could only think of creating a new action listener for that purpose, but is there another way?
advLog.append("Start");
ActionListener taskPerformer = new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt)
{
advLog.append("One second...");
}
};
Timer timer = new Timer(1000, taskPerformer);
timer.setRepeats(false);
timer.start();
ActionListener task2Performer = new ActionListener()
{
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt)
{
advLog.append("Two seconds...");
}
};
Timer timer2 = new Timer(2000, task2Performer);
timer2.setRepeats(false);
timer2.start();
