Applet very slow and shows no activity, but its running

Question

I have a new applet for the users, but I am reluctant to implement until I get some others opinions. It is very slow (30 - 40 seconds)
Before it outputs a screen with about 20 lines, it reads 90 different html files. It looks at the forth rec of each to extract a name. It also gets the file size to determine if the record needs to be on the screen.
Anyway, it does 4 reads on 90 files. = 360 reads. Oops, it also reads and loads a 80 record file at the beginning. So total is 440 reads.
It takes 30 - 40 seconds. Which is not horrible, but it is not good. What really bothers me is that the applet screen shows no activity. At the bottom is shows "done" and "100%". Task Manager shows no activity. But if you just let it sit there, it will finally fill the screen. Pretty amazing to me. I would much rather see a "progress bar" moving on the bottom like other screens. Actually, a progress bar would solve it, because the users are not in a big hurry anyway.
I am using "openStream" and "readLine" for the files.
Any opinions?
import javax.swing.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class urlaa extends JApplet
//zz  implements Runnable, ActionListener
      implements ActionListener
// zz added
    private JLabel item;
    private JList itemList;
  int par;
  int errorflag = 0 ;
  int orgsize = 14900 ;
  String par1;
  String s;
  String e1;
  String e2;
  String e3;
  String w1;
  String w2;
  String w3;
  String w4;
  int i = 0;
  int len ;
  int size ;
  String stringsize ;
  URLConnection conn ;
  int i2 = 0 ;
  int k = 0;
  int current = 0;
  String s1 ;
  String s6 ;
  String s7 ;
  String s8 ;
  String printline ;
  String pageLink;
  String arr[]  = new String[150] ;
  String arr2[] = new String[150] ;
  String arr3[] = new String[150] ;
  int arr4[] = new int[150] ;
  String inputLine;
  Thread runner;
  public void init()
         String parameter = getParameter("par1");
         if (parameter != null)
             par = Integer.parseInt(parameter);
         else
             par = 99;
// zz         Button goButton = new Button("Go");
// zz         goButton.addActionListener(this);
// zz         add(goButton);
// zz   added
        this.item = new JLabel();
        this.addButton();
        Container container = this.getContentPane();
        this.itemList = this.getList();
        container.add(this.getPanel());
        URL u;
        InputStream wis = null;
        DataInputStream dis;
        int rcnt = 0;
        int rcn2 = 0;
       //    1)  read filelist.txt file
       //         and load into a table.
       //    2)  close the filelist.txt file
       //    3)  Use the tabled file names to
       //         read and see if the bio
       //         has been done
       //  1) Read filelist.txt and load table
        try
        u = new URL("http://www.classof1961.mysite.com/filelist.txt");
        catch (MalformedURLException e)
          errorflag = 1 ;  // set error flag to stop while loops
          e1 = ("FILELIST.TXT MalformedURLException: " + e.getMessage()) ;
        try
            u = new URL("http://www.classof1961.mysite.com/filelist.txt");
            wis = u.openStream();
        catch (IOException ioe)
          errorflag = 1 ;  // set error flag to stop while loops
          e1 = ("FILELIST.TXT IOException : " + ioe.getMessage()) ;
//      does not work     size = wis.getContentLength() ;
            // Convert the inputStream to a buffered DatainputStream.
            dis = new DataInputStream(new BufferedInputStream(wis));
            // Read 1st record to set up while loop
               try
                 s1 = dis.readLine() ;  // get 1st rcd
               catch (IOException ioe)
                 errorflag = 1 ;  // set error flag to stop while loops
                 e3 = ("FILELIST.TXT IOException : " + ioe.getMessage()) ;
               while (s1 !=  null)
               {  // load file names loop
               if (errorflag == 0)
               {  // if errors
                arr[i] = s1 ;
                i++ ;
                try
                s1 = dis.readLine() ;
                catch (IOException ioe)
                  errorflag = 1 ;  // set error flag to stop while loops
                  s1 = null ; // force end of loop
                  e3 = ("load table read failed" + ioe) ;
                rcnt++ ;
                if (rcnt > 100)  // test code
                {                // test code
                  errorflag = 1;
                  s1 = null ;
                  e3 = "Load table is looping!!" ;
               }  // end of error check loop
               }  // end of table load loop
           int lasttableentry = i ;  //
               // CLOSE the filelist.txt file
               try
                wis.close();
               catch (IOException ioe)
                errorflag = 1 ;  // set error flag to stop while loops
                e3 = ("close of filelist.txt file failed" + ioe) ;
//   End of filelist read and load and close
//      ptr to whats new names in table arr
        i = 0 ;
//      While more names in table,
//        Connect and Open file
//        Read file until 4th rcd (rel 3rd rcd)
//          if rcd has date, then move it to table
//          else
//          bump to next file name
          w1 = arr[i] ;
          w2 = w1.substring(1, 4) ;   // ONLY USED FOR CHK FOR XXXX
//    ______________  start of major loop  _____________
        boolean morenames = true ;
        while (morenames)
        {  // Name table loop
        if (errorflag == 0)
        {  //if no errors
          try
            u = new URL(w1);
            try
              URLConnection conn ;
              conn = u.openConnection();
              size = conn.getContentLength();
            catch (IOException e)
              errorflag = 4 ;
              morenames = false ;
              e1 = ("file size logic failed " + w1) ;
          catch (MalformedURLException e)
                errorflag = 1 ;  // set error flag to stop while loops
                morenames = false ;
                e1 = ("next whats new url error : " + w1) ;
// compile error                break ;
          try
              u   = new URL(w1) ;
              wis = u.openStream();
          catch (IOException e)
            errorflag = 1 ;  // set error flag to stop while loops
            morenames = false ;
            e2 = ("next whats new open error :  " + w1) ;
//   compile error            break ;
//            Convert the inputStream to a buffered DatainputStream.
              dis = new DataInputStream(new BufferedInputStream(wis));
            if (errorflag == 0)
            {  //if no errors
                   try
//  does not work                       String s2 = dis.readLine(3) ;
                     s1 = dis.readLine() ;
                     s1 = dis.readLine() ;
                     s1 = dis.readLine() ;
                     s1 = dis.readLine() ;
                   catch (IOException e)
                     errorflag = 1 ;  // set error flag to stop while loops
                     morenames = false ;
                     e2 = "whats new file MalformedURLException: " ;
                   // file is larger than original non-bio file size
                   if (size > orgsize)  //  if file size > original file size
                   String s2a = s1.substring(0, 5);
                   String s3 = "                       " ;
//                 Only look at title records to get the name
                   if (s2a.equals("<titl"))
                      int k2 = 7 ;
                      int l = k2 + 1 ;
                        while (!s1.substring(k2, l).equals("<"))
                          k2++ ;
                          l++ ;
                      s3 = s1.substring(7, k2) ;
                   else
                      s3 = "               " ;
//                 s3 now has blanks or the name
                   arr2[k] = w1 ;    // move name into arr2 (link to bio)
                   arr3[k] = s3 ;    // move name into arr3 (bio name)
                   arr4[k] = size ;  // move in file size
                   k++ ;
                   } // end of if length > 36
            } // end of chk for error flag zero (no errors)
              //  now we have to close this whats new file
               // CLOSE the current whats new file
               try
                wis.close();
               catch (IOException ioe)
                errorflag = 1 ;  // set error flag to stop while loops
                morenames = false ;
                e3 = ("close of the current whats new file failed" + ioe) ;
              //  end of the close
          rcn2++ ;
          if (rcn2 > 100)  // test code
          {                // test code
             errorflag = 2;
             morenames = false ;
             e3 = "Searching files is looping!!" ;
          i++ ;           // bump to next whats up name
          w1 = arr[i] ;   // load it into work string
          if (i > lasttableentry)
            morenames = false ;
          } // end of error checking loop
         else
              morenames = false ;
        } // end major name table loop
               // CLOSE the last whats new file
               try
                wis.close();
               catch (IOException ioe)
                errorflag = 1 ;  // set error flag to stop while loops
                e3 = ("close of last whats new file failed" + ioe) ;
// end of init
//     _________________ other methods  ______________________
// zz added
    private JList getList() {
        // Create a List
        JList tempList = new JList(arr3);
        tempList.setVisibleRowCount(3);
        // Enable single selection
        tempList.setSelectionMode(ListSelectionModel.SINGLE_SELECTION);
        return tempList;
    private JButton addButton() {
        JButton button = new JButton("Select Item below and click here to go to the bio");
        button.addActionListener(this);
        return button;
    private JPanel getPanel() {
        // set layout to GridLayout 3 rows and 1 columns, no separations
        JPanel panel = new JPanel(new GridLayout(3,1,0,0));
        JScrollPane spane1 = new JScrollPane(this.itemList);
        panel.add(this.addButton());
        panel.add(spane1);
        panel.add(this.item);
//       panel.add(new JLabel("Example List"));
        return panel;
//   _______________  actionPerformed method  ____________________
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt)
       s8 = "actionPerformed";
// zz added
        String command = evt.getActionCommand();
        // Get the selected value from the list and update the JLabel
        item.setText((String)itemList.getSelectedValue());
//  try to redirect to selected url
  try
         int idx  = itemList.getSelectedIndex() ;
         String urlvalue = this.arr2[idx] ;
         URL u = new URL(urlvalue);
         this.getAppletContext().showDocument(u, "_self");
     catch(Exception e)
}

Answer 1

jagossage wrote:
But if you just let it sit there, it will finally fill the screen. Pretty amazing to me. The onus is on you, the developer, to decide how to distract your users as they wait for your code to finish. Why should you expect something to do it for you?
I would much rather see a "progress bar" moving on the bottom like other screens.Ah, I think I see where you're confused. The progress bar and applet loading subtitles, etc are Java's way of presenting the progress of loading the applet. Once it's fully loaded, though (which it is when your code starts running), it hands off control to you. It's in your hands at that point.