Can't stop synchronized threads with I/O read and write

Question

I have two synchronized threads which doing read and write from and into a file.
One thread called "reader" which does reading, encoding, etc from a source file and puts its output in a pre-defined variable. Another called "writer" which puts the reader's output into a file ( not the source file ). Both thread will notify each other when they've finished each of their part. It's similiar to CubyHole example of Java Tutorial example from Sun.
But somehow it seems like the threads keep spawning and won't die. Even if the source file has been all read and the data has been fully written, calling interrupt(), return, etc has no effect. The threads will keep running untill System.exit() called.
Is it because the threads were blocked for I/O operation and the only way to kill them is to close the I/O ?
To be honest, it's not only stop the threads that I want to, I also want to somehow pause the threads manually in the middle of the process.
Is it possible ?
Cheers.!!!

Answer 1

The example code for the problem using 4 classes called :
- libReadWrite ( class holding methods for aplication operations )
- reader ( thread class responsible for reading data )
- writer ( thread class responsible for writing data )
- myGUI ( user interface class )
All of them written in different file.
// libReadWrite
pubic class libReadWrite {
private boolean dataReady;
private String theData;
//read data
public synchronized void read(String inputFile) {
while (dataReady == true) {
try {
wait();
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {}
RandomAccessFile raf = new RandomAccessFile(inputFile, "r"); // I'm using raf here because there are a lot of seek operations
theData = "whatever"; // final data after several unlist processes
dataReady = true;
notifyAll();
public synchronized void write(String outputFile) {
while (dataReady == false) {
try {
wait();
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {}
DataOutputStream output = new DataOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(outputFile, true));
output.writeBytes(theData);
dataReady = false;
notifyAll();
//Reader
public class reader extends Thread {
private libReadWrite myLib;
private String inputFile;
public reader (libReadWrite myLib, String inputFile) {
this.myLib = myLib;
this.inputFile = inputFile;
public void run() {
while (!isInterrupted()) {
myLib.read(inputFile); <-- this code running within a loop
return;
public class writer extends Thread {
private libReadWrite myLib;
private String outputFile;
public writer (libReadWrite myLib, String outputFile) {
this.myLib = myLib;
this.outputFile = outputFile;
public void run() {
while (!isInterrupted()) {
myLib.write(outputFile); <-- this code running within a loop
try {
sleep(int)(Math.random() + 100);
} catch (InterruptedException ex) {}
return;
//myGUI
public class myGUI extends JFrame {
private libReadWrite lib;
private reader readerRunner;
private writer writerRunner;
//Those private variables initialized when the JFrame open (windowOpened)
libReadWrite lib = new libReadWrite();
reader readerRunner = new reader("inputfile.txt");
writer writerRunner = new writer("outputfile.txt");
//A lot of gui stuffs here but the thing is below. The code is executed from a button actionPerformed
if (button.getText().equals("Run me")) {
readerRunner.start();
writerRunner.start();
button.setText("Stop me");
} else {
readerRunner.interrupt();
writerRunner.interrupt();
}