JButton "freezes"after being pressed

Question

Hello everybody!
I have a button which triggers an action take takes tool long to procceed... I`ve put this action inside a separate thread, but even this way the button stays "pressed" until the action is finished.
Also i`m having problems with JProgressBar, I think the reason is the same: It only changes when the action is finished...
Is there any known action to avoid this behaviour?!
Thank u all!

Answer 1

Thank you! this code isn`t functional, it`sonly an example of what I am doing. :)
THIS IS WHERE THE ACTION IS FIRED. THE NEW THREAD LIVES INSIDE THE CONSTRUCTOR OF THE SearchFile CLASS.
WHEN IT IS CREATED IT AUTOMATICALLY CALLS THE run() METHOD.
buscarButton.addActionListener(new java.awt.event.ActionListener() {
               public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent e) {
               searchFile = new SearchFile(cardOwnerField.getText(),
                                                            SearchFile.SEARCH_BY_NAME,
                                                            progressBar);                    
               while(searchFile.isRunning()){
                         try{
                              Thread.sleep(100);
                              //MainFrame.this.getContentPane().repaint();
                         catch(InterruptedException ie){
                              JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(MainFrame.this, "Erro ao pesquisar",
                                                                   "ERRO!", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
                    //that`s because I can only get the results when all of them are insert in this ArrayList...
                    resultsArrayList = searchFile.getResults();
               //some code
     THIS IS THE CLASS THAT IMPLEMENTS THE Runnable INTERFACE AND DO THE JOB FOR SEARCH IN IT`S
     run() METHOD.
public class SearchFile implements Runnable{
//some code
     public SearchFile(String param, int sm, MyProgressBar progressBar){          
          //some code
          T = new Thread(this);
          results = new ArrayList<File>();
          T.start();          
     public boolean isRunning(){
          return this.T.isAlive();
     public void run(){
          regularDirFiles = regularDir.listFiles();
          backupDirFiles = backupDir.listFiles();
          //progressBar.setFilesToLoad(backupDirFiles.length + regularDirFiles.length);
          //progressBar.setMaximum(backupDirFiles.length + regularDirFiles.length);
          if(searchMode == SEARCH_BY_CARD_NUMBER){
               try{
                    //buscando no diret�rio regular
                    for(int i = 0; i < regularDirFiles.length; i++){                                             
                         //progressBar.repaint();
                         if(!regularDirFiles.isFile())continue;
                         bReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(regularDirFiles[i]));                              
                         while(bReader.ready()) {
                              String line = bReader.readLine();
                              pattern = Pattern.compile(param, Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);          
                              m = pattern.matcher(line);
                              if(m.find()) {                              
                                   results.add(regularDirFiles[i]);
                                   bReader.close();
                                   try{
                                        Thread.sleep(50);
                                   catch(InterruptedException ie){}
                                   //progressBar.setIndeterminate(false);
                                   //progressBar.setValue(progressBar.getMaximum());
                                   return;
                    //buscando no diret�rio de backup
                    for(int i = 0; i < backupDirFiles.length; i++){                         
                         //progressBar.repaint();
                         if(!backupDirFiles[i].isFile()) continue;
                         bReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(backupDirFiles[i]));                              
                         while(bReader.ready()) {
                              String line = bReader.readLine();
                              pattern = Pattern.compile(param, Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);          
                              m = pattern.matcher(line);
                              if(m.find()) {                                        
                                   results.add(backupDirFiles[i]);
                                   bReader.close();
                                   try{
                                        Thread.sleep(50);
                                   catch(InterruptedException ie){}
                                   //progressBar.setIndeterminate(false);
                                   //progressBar.setValue(progressBar.getMaximum());
                                   return;
                    //progressBar.setIndeterminate(false);
                    //progressBar.setValue(progressBar.getMaximum());
               catch(FileNotFoundException fnfe){
                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Arquivo n�o encontrado",
                                                       "ERRO!", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
               catch(IOException ioe){
                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Erro ao ler arquivo",
                              "ERRO!", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
          else if(searchMode == SEARCH_BY_NAME){               
               for(int i = 0; i < regularDirFiles.length; i++){                    
                    if(!regularDirFiles[i].isFile())continue;     
                    final int percent = i;
                    try{
                         bReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(regularDirFiles[i]));
                         * Lendo todas as linhas do arquivo. Pode acontecer de haver hom�nimos
                         * no mesmo arquivo.
                         while(bReader.ready()) {
                              String line = bReader.readLine();
                              pattern = Pattern.compile(param, Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);          
                              m = pattern.matcher(line);
                              if(m.find()) {                              
                                   results.add(regularDirFiles[i]);
                         bReader.close();     
                    catch(FileNotFoundException fnfe){
                         JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Arquivo n�o encontrado ou movido " +
                                                            "do diret�rio regular", "ERRO!",
                                                            JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
                    catch(IOException ioe){
                         JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Erro ao ler arquivo " +
                                   "" +
                                   "do diret�rio regular", "ERRO!",
                                   JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
               try{                         
                    for(int i = 0; i < backupDirFiles.length; i++){     
                         final int percent = i;
                         //progressBar.repaint();
                         if(!backupDirFiles[i].isFile()) continue;
                         bReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(backupDirFiles[i]));
                         * Lendo todas as linhas do arquivo. Pode acontecer de haver hom�nimos
                         * no mesmo arquivo.
                         while(bReader.ready()) {
                              String line = bReader.readLine();
                              pattern = Pattern.compile(param, Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);          
                              m = pattern.matcher(line);
                              if(m.find()) {                                        
                                   results.add(backupDirFiles[i]);
                         bReader.close();                         
                    //progressBar.setIndeterminate(false);
                    //progressBar.setValue(progressBar.getMaximum());
               catch(FileNotFoundException fnfe){
                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Arquivo n�o encontrado ou movido " +
                                                       "do diret�rio backup", "ERRO!",
                                                       JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
               catch(IOException ioe){
                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Erro ao ler arquivo " +
                                                       "do diret�rio backup", "ERRO!",
                                                       JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);                              
THANKS!