Drawing New Components too Late?

Question

Hello everyone,
I have a snippet of code here involving a 'please wait' sheet. Similar to a loading screen i would imagine.
if (player.getComponent() != null)
   JFileChooser fc = new JFIleChooser();
   int FCVal = fc.showSaveDialog(this);
   if (FCVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION)
      su.showSheet();
      player.produceJPEGSnapShot();
      su.hideSheet();
}The problem lies in the su.showSheet(); Where the method draws a 'sheet' frame onto the main UI frame, as a JInternalFrame. It does do it, however it seems to 'wait' to draw it until this current thread is free. And thus not actually showing anything. I have tried wrapping a new thread around this as well, same result.
produceJPEGSnapShot() is a method that takes a good 2-3 seconds to complete.
Anyone know any other way to do this?

Answer 1

You'll likely need to use a background non-EDT thread to do your busy work. Something like so:
    if (player.getComponent() != null)
       JFileChooser fc = new JFileChooser();
       int FCVal = fc.showSaveDialog(this);
       if (FCVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION)
          su.showSheet();
          // the background thread starts here
          new Thread(new Runnable()
            public void run()
              player.produceJPEGSnapShot(); // do this off of the EDT
              SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
                public void run()
                  su.hideSheet();  // do this on the EDT but only *after* player finishes his thing
          }).start();
    }Edited by: Encephalopathic on Jun 12, 2008 2:04 PM