JProgressBar doesn't update , can't find a clue

Question

nice job , now i just wanna know why if i add into while loop the instruction System.out.println below the progress is shown on both , cmd and Pgbar in the Gui ?? :

while(progress < 99){ 
  System.out.println("into while of PBar Thread progress = "+progress); 
  if(progress != Path.operationProgress){ 
    operationProgressBar.setValue(progress); 
    progress = Path.operationProgress; 
    operationProgressBar.repaint(); } }

need some help around , i can't get the JProgressBar to update, i can't use SwingWorker, i have to solve this without it . the variable Path.operationProgress is a static variable from a "Path" class instance, and it's updated from another thread, so i think the PBar and Path instances are both executed in user's Threads and not in the EDT . here is the Code of the progress bar :

    import javax.swing.*;
    public class Pbar extends Thread {
      JProgressBar operationProgressBar;
      public Pbar(JProgressBar operationProgressBar) {
          this.operationProgressBar = operationProgressBar;
      }

      @Override
      public void run() {
          int progress = Path.operationProgress;
          while(progress < 99) {
              if(progress != Path.operationProgress) {
                  operationProgressBar.setValue(progress);
                  progress = Path.operationProgress;
                  operationProgressBar.repaint();
              }}}
     }

this is the action that launches the threads :

private javax.swing.JProgressBar operationProgressBar;
private javax.swing.JLabel pathImage;
private javax.swing.JButton simulatedAnnelingButton;

public class TSPGUI extends javax.swing.JFrame {

    TSPMG tspInstance;
    Path p, result;
    String filename = "";
    int neighborHood_Type = 1, i = 0;
    // ......Constructor Stuff and init()

private void simulatedAnnelingButtonActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt)

{
Thread sa = new Thread(){ @Override public void run(){ result = p.SimulatedAnnealing(neighborHood_Type); String lastCostString = result.Cost() + ""; lastCostLabel.setText(lastCostString); }}; sa.start(); Pbar pb = new Pbar(operationProgressBar); pb.start(); } //Some other Stuff ... }

Answer 1

I would use a PropertyChangeListener to allow you to make the annealing progress value a "bound" property of the class. Than any observer can follow this property if desired. For example:

import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeEvent;
import java.beans.PropertyChangeListener;

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.SwingPropertyChangeSupport;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class TspGui2 extends JPanel {
   private static final String ANNEALING_PROGRESS = "Annealing Progress";
   private JProgressBar progBar = new JProgressBar(0, 100);
   private JLabel valueLabel = new JLabel();
   private JButton beginAnnealingBtn = new JButton("Begin Annealing");
   private MyAnnealing myAnnealing = new MyAnnealing(this);

   public TspGui2() {
      beginAnnealingBtn.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

         @Override
         public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            beginAnnealing();
         }
      });
      myAnnealing.addPropertyChangeListener(new PropertyChangeListener() {

         @Override
         public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent evt) {
            if (evt.getPropertyName().equals(MyAnnealing.ANNEALING)) {
               // be sure this is done on the EDT
               SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
                  public void run() {
                     int annealedValue = myAnnealing.getAnnealedValue();
                     setValue(annealedValue);
                     if (annealedValue >= MyAnnealing.MAX_ANNEALED_VALUE) {
                        beginAnnealingBtn.setEnabled(true);
                     }
                  }
               });
            }
         }
      });
      progBar.setString(ANNEALING_PROGRESS);
      progBar.setStringPainted(true);

      JPanel northPanel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(1, 0));
      northPanel.add(beginAnnealingBtn);
      northPanel.add(valueLabel);

      setLayout(new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.PAGE_AXIS));
      add(northPanel);
      add(progBar);
   }

   public void setValue(int value) {
      valueLabel.setText("Value:" + value);
      progBar.setValue(value);
   }

   public void beginAnnealing() {
      beginAnnealingBtn.setEnabled(false);
      setValue(0);
      myAnnealing.reset();
      new Thread(new Runnable() {
         public void run() {
            myAnnealing.beginAnnealing();
         }
      }).start();
   }

   private static void createAndShowGui() {
      TspGui2 mainPanel = new TspGui2();

      JFrame frame = new JFrame("TspGui2");
      frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      frame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
      frame.pack();
      frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
      frame.setVisible(true);
   }

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
         public void run() {
            createAndShowGui();
         }
      });
   }
}

class MyAnnealing {
   public static final String ANNEALING = "Annealing";
   public  static final int MAX_ANNEALED_VALUE = 100;
   private SwingPropertyChangeSupport propChangeSupport = 
         new SwingPropertyChangeSupport(this);
   private TspGui2 gui;
   private int annealedValue;

   public MyAnnealing(TspGui2 gui) {
      this.gui = gui;
   }

   public void addPropertyChangeListener(
         PropertyChangeListener listener) {
      propChangeSupport.addPropertyChangeListener(listener);
   }

   public void removePropertyChangeListener(
         PropertyChangeListener listener) {
      propChangeSupport.removePropertyChangeListener(listener);
   }

   public void reset() {
      setAnnealedValue(0);
   }

   // simulate some long process...
   public void beginAnnealing() {
      long sleepDelay = 100;
      while (annealedValue < MAX_ANNEALED_VALUE) {
         setAnnealedValue(annealedValue + 1);
         try {
            Thread.sleep(sleepDelay);
         } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
         }
      }
   }

   public int getAnnealedValue() {
      return annealedValue;
   }

   private void setAnnealedValue(int value) {
      final int oldValue = this.annealedValue;
      this.annealedValue = value;
      propChangeSupport.firePropertyChange(ANNEALING, oldValue, annealedValue);
   }   
}

Answer 2

If you can't use SwingWorker then use SwingUtilities.invokeLater, e.g.:

if (progress != Path.operationProgress) {
    final int progressCopy = progress; // Probably not final so copy is needed
    SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
        @Override
        void run() {
            operationsProgressBar.setValue(progressCopy);
        }
    });
}

Note: When doing this, everything used in run has to be final or there have to be other measures to access the variables. This code is symbolic in that regard.

You need to do operations on Swing components outside the event dispatching thread, there is no way around this.