Do I need to close an audio clip?

Question

I have an application that processes real-time data and is supposed to beep when a certain event occurs. The triggering event can occur multiple times per second, and if the beep is already playing when another event triggers the code is just supposed to ignore it (as opposed to interrupting the current beep and starting a new one). Here is the basic code:
    Clip clickClip
    public void prepareProcess() {
        super.prepareProcess();
        clickClip = null;
        try {
            clipFile = new File("C:/WINDOWS/Media/CHIMES.wav");
            ais = AudioSystem.getAudioInputStream(clipFile);
            clickClip = AudioSystem.getClip();
            clickClip.open(ais);
            fileIsLoaded = true;
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            clickClip = null;
            fileIsLoaded = false;
    public void playSound() {
        if (fileIsLoaded) {
            if ((clickClip==null) || (!clickClip.isRunning())) {
                try {
                    clickClip.setFramePosition(0);
                    clickClip.start();
                } catch (Exception ex) {
                    System.out.println("Cannot play click noise");
                    ex.printStackTrace();
        }The prepareProcess method gets run once in the beginning, and the playSound method is called every time a triggering event occurs. My question is: do I need to close the clickClip object? I know I could add an actionListener to monitor for a Stop event, but since the event occurs so frequently I'm worried the extra processing is going to slow down the real-time data collection.
The code seems to run fine, but my worry is memory leaks. The code above is based on an example I found while searching the net, but the example used an actionListener to close the Clip specifically "to eliminate memory leaks that would occur when the stop method wasn't implemented". My program is intended to run for hours so any memory leaks I have will cause problems.
I'll be honest: I have no idea how to verify whether or not I've got a problem. I'm using Netbeans, and running the memory profiler just gave me a huge list of things that I don't know how to read. This is supposed to be the simple part of the program, and I'm spending hours on it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Michael

Answer 1

Thanks so much for the reply.
AndrewThompson64 wrote:
Experiment with Clip.isActive()/isRunning().
Alternately add a LineListener and look at the LineEvent.Type. If it is START, set a currentlyPlaying to true, and at STOP set it false. On new invocations of the event that triggers the Clip to start, check the currentlyPlaying member and if true, return without doing anything.
I was worried that adding a listener would slow down the real-time data collection, but I'll experiment with that to see.
>
For better help sooner, post an SSCCE. For SSCCEs to do with Java Sound, I provide some [clips you can hot-link to|http://pscode.org/media/#sound].
I'll remember that for next time
>
clipFile = new File("C:/WINDOWS/Media/CHIMES.wav");
..That will not work at time of deployment. At least, not without jumping through many hoops first. It is better to get used to working with URLs (most Java methods that will accept a File will also accept an URL) & to form the URL using something like..
clipURL = this.getClass().getResource("Media/CHIMES.wav");
I started off using a URL, but was having problems so just dropped it. When you say jumping through hoops, do you mean using the File object or specifically pointing to the wav file I selected? I'm asking because I'm only using the CHIMES wav during development; once the program is finished, the user will be selecting the wav file to be played.
Thanks again for your help.