Count up timer needed please.

Question

hi there
I have seen the countdown timer sample in this forum, i am just wondering if there is a count up timer, and the start and stop are controlled by its using class, some thing like a game, and when game starts, the timer starts, when the game ends, the timer ends as well. thank you.

Answer 1

Here is a counter based on the system clock:
import java.util.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class CountUpLabel extends JLabel{
     javax.swing.Timer timer;
     long startTime, count;
     public CountUpLabel() {
          super(" ", SwingConstants.CENTER);
          timer = new javax.swing.Timer(500, new ActionListener() { // less than or equal to 1000 (1000, 500, 250,200,100) 
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
                    if (startTime == -1) {          
                         count = 0;               
                         startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
                    else {
                         count = System.currentTimeMillis()-startTime;
                    setText(getStringTime(count));
     private static final String getStringTime(long millis) {
          int seconds = (int)(millis/1000);
          int minutes = (int)(seconds/60);
          int hours = (int)(minutes/60);
          minutes -= hours*60;
          seconds -= (hours*3600)+(minutes*60);
          return(((hours<10)?"0"+hours:""+hours)+":"+((minutes<10)?"0"+minutes:""+minutes)+":"+((seconds<10)?"0"+seconds:""+seconds));
     public void start() {
          startTime = -1;
          timer.setInitialDelay(0);
          timer.start();
     public long stop() {
          timer.stop();
          return(count);
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          JFrame frame = new JFrame("Countdown");
          CountUpLabel countUp = new CountUpLabel();
          frame.getContentPane().add(countUp, BorderLayout.CENTER);
          frame.setBounds(200,200,200,100);
          frame.setVisible(true);
          countUp.start();
And here is a simplest counter :
import java.util.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
public class SimpleCountUpLabel extends JLabel{
     javax.swing.Timer timer;
     int count = 0;
     public SimpleCountUpLabel() {
          super(" ", SwingConstants.CENTER);
          timer = new javax.swing.Timer(1000, new ActionListener() {
               public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
                    count++;
                    setText(getStringTime(count));
     private static final String getStringTime(int sec) {
          int seconds = sec;
          int minutes = (int)(seconds/60);
          int hours = (int)(minutes/60);
          minutes -= hours*60;
          seconds -= (hours*3600)+(minutes*60);
          return(((hours<10)?"0"+hours:""+hours)+":"+((minutes<10)?"0"+minutes:""+minutes)+":"+((seconds<10)?"0"+seconds:""+seconds));
     public void start() {
          count = 0;
          setText(getStringTime(count));
          timer.setInitialDelay(1000);
          timer.start();
     public long stop() {
          timer.stop();
          return(count);
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          JFrame frame = new JFrame("Countdown");
          SimpleCountUpLabel countUp = new SimpleCountUpLabel();
          frame.getContentPane().add(countUp, BorderLayout.CENTER);
          frame.setBounds(200,200,200,100);
          frame.setVisible(true);
          countUp.start();
I hope this helps,
Denis