Need help with timer

[firecat318]

Hi I am new to java Timer and I can't really find a good place to teach it to me. Anyways I tried to take a shot and make a program that lets you input a number to start at then the timer will count down to 0, updating the JLabel all the while. It doesn't work (it compiles, but it won't function like I want it to). I'm sure it has to do with the Timer thing because I really don't know what to do in regards to that.

package MeLearningh;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class time extends JFrame {
    JLabel label, timer;
    int counter;
    JTextField tf;
    JButton button;

    public time() {
        setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 2, 5, 5));

        label = new JLabel("Enter seconds:", SwingConstants.CENTER);
        add(label);

        tf = new JTextField(5);
        add(tf);

        button = new JButton("Start Timing");
        add(button);

        timer = new JLabel("Time left: " + counter, SwingConstants.CENTER);
        add(timer);

        event e = new event();
        button.addActionListener(e);
    }

    public class event implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            int seconds = (int)(Double.parseDouble(tf.getText()));

            do {
                Timer t = new Timer(1000, this);
                counter--;
            } while(counter >= seconds);

            timer.setText("Time left: " + counter);
        }
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        time gui = new time();
        gui.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        gui.setSize(300,90);
        gui.setVisible(true);
        gui.setTitle("Timer Program");
    }
}

[camickr]

Start by reading the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use Timers. Your code will be much simpler as all you need to do is subtract 1 from your counter every time the Timer fires and the set the text of the label.

[firecat318]

I tried reading that but it doesn't really click for me... I added this and now at least it counts.. but not correctly

public class event implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            int seconds = (int)(Double.parseDouble(tf.getText()));

            do {
                Timer t = new Timer(1000, this);
                t.start();
                counter--;
            } while(counter >= seconds);
            
            timer.setText("Time left: " + counter);
        }
    }

It starts at like -1 then goes -2, -4, -8, -16 etc etc

[Fubarable]

Get that while loop out of there as the Timer itself will do the looping for you. You should not use "this" as an ActionListener as your class will likely need more than one ActionListener -- at least one for JButton(s?), and at least one for your Timer, and they really won't have code that they'll share..

But mostly I second Rob Camick's recommendation: re-read the tutorial and study the sample code intently as it's all there laid out for you. The more you use the tutorials the easier they'll be to use, trust me!

Much luck!

[firecat318]

This is the closest I've gotten so far... It starts but it won't time (it just displays the number that was entered into the textbox)

package MeLearningh;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class time extends JFrame {
    JLabel label, timer;
    int counter;
    JTextField tf;
    JButton button;

    timeClass tc = new timeClass();
    Timer timer1 = new Timer(1000, tc);

    public time() {
        setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 2, 5, 5));

        label = new JLabel("Enter seconds:", SwingConstants.CENTER);
        add(label);

        tf = new JTextField(5);
        add(tf);

        button = new JButton("Start Timing");
        add(button);

        timer = new JLabel("Time left: " + counter, SwingConstants.CENTER);
        add(timer);

        event e = new event();
        button.addActionListener(e);
    }

    public class event implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            timer1.start();
        }
    }

    public class timeClass implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent tc) {
            int timeStart = (int)(Double.parseDouble(tf.getText()));
            counter = timeStart;

            if(counter > 0) {
                timer.setText("Time left: " + counter);
            } else {
                timer1.stop();
            }
        }
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        time gui = new time();
        gui.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        gui.setSize(300,90);
        gui.setVisible(true);
        gui.setTitle("Timer Program");
    }
}

[Fubarable]

Let's look at your timeClass (that should be TimeClass as the first letter of classes should be capitalized):

  public class TimeClass implements ActionListener {
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent tc) {
      int timeStart = (int) (Double.parseDouble(tf.getText()));
      counter = timeStart;

      if (counter > 0) {
        timer.setText("Time left: " + counter);
      } else {
        timer1.stop();
      }
    }
  }

The key thing to note here is that everything in the Timer's ActionListener's actionPerformed method will get called each time that the timer loops. And so since your actionPerformed starts with this code:

      int timeStart = (int) (Double.parseDouble(tf.getText()));
      counter = timeStart;

Your timer will re-set itself to the number in the JTextField with each tick, and this is not what you want to do. The key here is to set the counter to this number before you start the timer and then decrement the counter in the Timer. For e.g.,

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class FireCatTime extends JFrame {
  public static final int TIMER_DELAY = 1000; //!! change!
  JLabel label, timer;
  int counter;
  JTextField tf;
  JButton button;

  Timer timer1; //!! change

  public FireCatTime() {
    setLayout(new GridLayout(2, 2, 5, 5));

    label = new JLabel("Enter seconds:", SwingConstants.CENTER);
    add(label);

    tf = new JTextField(5);
    add(tf);

    button = new JButton("Start Timing");
    add(button);

    timer = new JLabel("Time left: " + counter, SwingConstants.CENTER);
    add(timer);

    event e = new event();
    button.addActionListener(e);
  }

  public class event implements ActionListener {
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
      //!! change
      try {
        int count = (int)(Double.parseDouble(tf.getText()));
        timer.setText("Time left: " + count); 
        TimeClass timeClass = new TimeClass(count);
        timer1 = new Timer(TIMER_DELAY, timeClass); 
        timer1.start();
      } catch (NumberFormatException e2) {
        e2.printStackTrace();
      }
    }
  }

  public class TimeClass implements ActionListener {
    private int counter;
    
    //!! when constructing the Timer object, set it's counter
    public TimeClass(int counter) {
      this.counter = counter;
    }
    
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent tc) {
      counter--;  // decrement the counter
      if (counter >= 0) {
        timer.setText("Time left: " + counter);
      } else {
        timer1.stop();
      }
    }
  }

  public static void main(String args[]) {
    FireCatTime gui = new FireCatTime();
    gui.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    gui.setSize(300, 90);
    gui.setVisible(true);
    gui.setTitle("Timer Program");
  }
}

[firecat318]

wow thank you, it works perfectly :)