Waiting for a button to be pressed

[SomeGuyOverThere]

Hi guys, at some point in my code I want to wait for one of two buttons to be pressed on a jpanel. Is there a better way to do this other than having the buttons set a boolean to true and then using a while loop in my code (to continuously check the value of the boolean)? This seems like a really messy solution, if it even works.

Whats the "real" way? Thanks.

[Norm]

Waiting in a loop is NOT the way to do it. The listeners for the buttons can check if the other button has been pressed and act when then by using the boolean as you suggested.

[hardwired]

For more see Lesson: Writing Event Listeners and How to Write an Action Listener.

[SomeGuyOverThere]

I've looked up action listeners, but I dont think using them in the normal way will solve my problem. Normally you make an event (ie when a button is clicked) and when that event takes place, some code is executed.

What I'm doing is more like...while a function is executing, in the middle of the function I want execution to stop until a button is pressed. How do I do that?

[fishtoprecords]

The real way is to use threads and setup a barrier. Have a timer thread sleep, wake up and if done, clear the barrier. Have the button also clear the barrier.

Implement "OR" logic.

[SomeGuyOverThere]

The real way is to use threads and setup a barrier. Have a timer thread sleep, wake up and if done, clear the barrier. Have the button also clear the barrier.

Implement "OR" logic.

I didn't really know what any of that meant, but I'll check it out. Thanks.

[hardwired]

Guarded Blocks

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

public class DelayTest implements ActionListener {
    JLabel topLabel;
    JLabel centerLabel;
    Toggle toggle;

    public DelayTest() {
        Thread thread = new Thread(toggle = new Toggle());
        thread.setPriority(Thread.NORM_PRIORITY);
        thread.start();
    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        String ac = e.getActionCommand();
        toggle.setSignal(ac.equals("STOP"));
    }

    private class Toggle implements Runnable {
        boolean waitForSignal = true;
        int count = 0;
    
        public void run() {
            while(true) {
                try {
                    Thread.sleep(1000);
                } catch(InterruptedException e) {
                    break;
                }
                if(waitForSignal) {
                    stop();
                }
                count++;
                centerLabel.setText(String.valueOf(count));
            }
        }

        public void setSignal(boolean signal) {
            waitForSignal = signal;
            if(!waitForSignal) {
                start();
            }
            topLabel.setText("waitForSignal = " + waitForSignal);
        }

        private synchronized void start() {
            notifyAll();
        }

        private synchronized void stop() {
            while(waitForSignal) {
                try {
                    wait();
                } catch(InterruptedException e) {
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    private JLabel getFirst() {
        topLabel = new JLabel();
        topLabel.setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER);
        return topLabel;
    }

    private JPanel getCenter() {
        centerLabel = new JLabel();
        centerLabel.setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER);
        JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridBagLayout());
        panel.add(centerLabel, new GridBagConstraints());
        return panel;
    }

    private JPanel getLast() {
        String[] ids = { "start", "stop" };
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        for(int i = 0; i < ids.length; i++) {
            JButton button = new JButton(ids[i]);
            button.setActionCommand(ids[i].toUpperCase());
            button.addActionListener(this);
            panel.add(button);
        }
        return panel;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        DelayTest test = new DelayTest();
        JFrame f = new JFrame();
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.add(test.getFirst(), "First");
        f.add(test.getCenter());
        f.add(test.getLast(), "Last");
        f.setSize(300,200);
        f.setLocation(200,200);
        f.setVisible(true);
    }
}