How to be able to change a variable used by an actived method?

Question

a JDialogBox controls the sleep time (int rate). a button listener uses this variable in thread.sleep()
Problem:
client cannot change rate while button listener is processing.
How can i change my code in order to change the sleep time instantaneously while the button is pressed??
Code:
private int rate =300; //instance variable
//JDialogBox listener
private class SpeedListener implements ActionListener
public void actionPerformed( ActionEvent event) {
if(speedBox.isSelected())
rate = 100;
else rate = 300;
//JButton listener
private class ButtonListener implements ActionListener
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
dfs();
//dfs method calls sleep(rate) method
//sleep method
private void sleep(int delay)
try {
Thread.sleep(delay);}
catch(InterruptedException exception) {
System.err.println(exception.toString()); }
}

Answer 1

you need to type
currentTemp = my AC.getTemp();because your AirConditioner.getTemp() method returns an int(1 in this case). If you just call getTemp, the program will return 1 to noone who listens. If you do this:
currentTemp = getTemp();you should get an "unknown symbol" Error, because if you call a method from an object, you need to specify the object which "has" the method.
Edited by: AikmanAgain on Feb 23, 2008 11:41 AM