Issue using Timer to constantly refresh Information

[quinnvanorder]

I have a program with several tabs, all of which modify a "total" variable. The only problem with it is that if I make a change on one tab and then switch tabs, it will not reflect until I make a change on the tab that I switched to.

To remedy this I am attempting to use a Timer to constantly call the textArea.setText(orderTotal); method, however it is not succeeding.

In main I am using the following code

 Timer timer;
            timer = new Timer(1, new TimerListener());
            timer.start();

and the timerlistener class

    public class TimerListener implements ActionListener
		{	public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent event)
				{	textArea.setText(orderTotal);
				}
		}

The thing is, I am not getting any syntax errors and if i put a system.out.printline, it immediatly floods console with whatever i put in the S.O.P, so it is clearly calling the timer code as I want. So why is it not working?

For reference, here is the code for the only tab that I have tried to implement the timer refresh in

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.lang.*;

public class pizza extends JPanel implements ActionListener 
{	static int large = 5;
	static int medium = 4;
	static int small = 3;
	static String orderTotal;
	static String pizza, side, drink;
	
	public JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea();
	public float total = 0;
	public JCheckBox bacon = new JCheckBox("bacon");
    public pizza()
   		{	//String output = "cost";
    	wipe();
    	textArea.setText(orderTotal);
    	
    	
    		setLayout (new BorderLayout());
            setBackground (Color.white);
            
            JPanel b1 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0,1));
            JButton b2 = new JButton ("Top");
            JPanel b3 = new JPanel(new GridLayout(0,1));
            
            JRadioButton large = new JRadioButton("Large");
            JRadioButton medium = new JRadioButton("Medium");
            JRadioButton small = new JRadioButton("Small");
           
            ButtonGroup size = new ButtonGroup();
            size.add(large);
            size.add(medium);
            size.add(small);
            
            b3.add(textArea);
                        
            large.addActionListener(this);
            medium.addActionListener(this);
            small.addActionListener(this);
            bacon.addActionListener(this);
           
            b1.add(large);
            b1.add(medium);
            b1.add(small);
            b1.add(bacon);
           
            add (b1, BorderLayout.CENTER);
            add (b2, BorderLayout.NORTH);
            add (b3, BorderLayout.EAST);
           // textArea.setText(orderTotal);
            
            //test timer
            Timer timer;
            timer = new Timer(1, new TimerListener());
            timer.start();
     	}
    
   public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) 
   		{	String input=e.getActionCommand();
   			//begin radio buttons
   			if (input.equalsIgnoreCase("Small"))
   				{	total=0;
   					total+=5;
   					deselect();
   					writePizza(total);
   					total();
   				
   					//testing output code
   					System.out.println(orderTotal);
   				}
   			
   			else if (input.equalsIgnoreCase("Medium"))
				{	total=0;
					total+=7;
					deselect();
   					writePizza(total);
   					total();
   					
   					//testing output code
   					System.out.println(orderTotal);
				}
			
   			else if (input.equalsIgnoreCase("Large"))
				{	total=0;
					total+=10;
					deselect();
   					writePizza(total);
   					total();
   					
   					//testing output code
   					System.out.println(orderTotal);
				}
			//begin checkboxes
   			else if (input == "bacon" && bacon.isSelected())
				{	total+=0.50;
					writePizza(total);
					total();
					
					//testing output code
					System.out.println(orderTotal);
				}
   			
   			else if (input == "bacon" && !bacon.isSelected())
   				{	total-=0.50;
					writePizza(total);
					total();
					
					//testing output code
					System.out.println(orderTotal);
   				}
   			textArea.setText(orderTotal);
   		}
   //write classes
   public void writePizza (float input)
   		{	try
   				{	String writeString = input +  "\n";
   					FileWriter fstream = new FileWriter("pizzaData.txt");
   					PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(fstream);
   					out.write(writeString);
   					//Close the output stream
   					out.close();
   				}
   			catch (Exception d)
   				{	System.err.println("Error: " + d.getMessage());
   				}
   		}
   
   public void writeDrink (float input)
		{	try
				{	String writeString = input +  "\n";
					FileWriter fstream = new FileWriter("drinkData.txt");
					PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(fstream);
					out.write(writeString);
					//Close the output stream
					out.close();
				}
			catch (Exception d)
				{	System.err.println("Error: " + d.getMessage());
				}
		}
   
   public void writeSide (float input)
		{	try
				{	String writeString = input +  "\n";
					FileWriter fstream = new FileWriter("sideData.txt");
					PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(fstream);
					out.write(writeString);
					//Close the output stream
					out.close();
				}
			catch (Exception d)
				{	System.err.println("Error: " + d.getMessage());
				}
		}


   
   //read classes
   private static void readPizza() throws java.io.IOException
		{	try
				{	FileReader fr = new FileReader("pizzaData.txt");
					BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(fr); 
					pizza =  br.readLine();
				}
			catch (Exception d)
				{	System.err.println("Error: " + d.getMessage());
				}
		}
   
   private static void readDrink() throws java.io.IOException
		{	try
				{	FileReader fr = new FileReader("drinkData.txt");
					BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(fr); 
					drink =  br.readLine();
				}
			catch (Exception d)
				{	System.err.println("Error: " + d.getMessage());
				}
		}
   
   private static void readSide() throws java.io.IOException
		{	try
				{	FileReader fr = new FileReader("sideData.txt");
					BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(fr); 
					side =  br.readLine();
				}
			catch (Exception d)
				{	System.err.println("Error: " + d.getMessage());
				}
		}
   
//total class
   
   private static void total()
   		{	try 
   				{	readPizza();
   					readDrink();
   					readSide();
   				}
   			catch (IOException e) 
   				{	e.printStackTrace();
   				}
   		float tempPizza = Float.valueOf(pizza).floatValue();
   		float tempDrink = Float.valueOf(drink).floatValue();
   		float tempSide = Float.valueOf(side).floatValue();
   		  		
   		
   		orderTotal= tempPizza + tempDrink + tempSide + "";
   		}
   
   private void wipe()
		{	writePizza(0);
			writeDrink(0);
			writeSide(0);
  
		}
		
	
   private void deselect()
   		{bacon.setSelected(false);
	   
   		}
   
//test timer usage
   public class TimerListener implements ActionListener
		{	public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent event)
				{	textArea.setText(orderTotal);
				}
		}
   
}

[Norm]

Do you have a main() method and frame for testing the code?

[DarrylBurke]

Moved from New to Java

db

[DarrylBurke]

Do you really need to update every millisecond? (hint: you don't.) Your Timer's actionPerformed(...) is probably bogging down the EDT so much that it can't get around to servicing the repaint requests generated bty setText(...)

db

[quinnvanorder]

Do you have a main() method and frame for testing the code?

I am not entirely sure what you mean by this, I can get the timer to work by in a program by its self, for instance, I created a program to use the timer and to do a S.O.P every time the timer triggers, and it works fine. The problem is that when I take my working code from my test program and place it in here, it will successfully do any S.O.P that I want, however it refuses to set the textarea value to what it should be.

Do you really need to update every millisecond? (hint: you don't.) Your Timer's actionPerformed(...) is probably bogging down the EDT so much that it can't get around to servicing the repaint requests generated bty setText(...)
db

I have played with various different values from 20 to 200 with no success. Is it possible that It does not have permission to access the textarea in the jpanel?

[quinnvanorder]

Well I seem to have solved it by placing a call to total(); within the timerlistener. My best guess is that it is was actually properly setting the text, it just had not properly retotaled it. Thanks!