Problems with the slight delay of keyPressed.

Question

Hi all!
I just joined the wonderful sdn network, so HELLO EVERYONE :D
I studyed some java in unversity, but never in depth, and ive recently found myself yearning after it, so recently i decided to try and teach myself!
Unfortuantly ive hit abit of a problem, im trying to make a pacman game, hopfully develop it beyond the original and make it more innovative.
Ive come across two problems
1. My applet doesnt seem to have any focus until ive clicked onto it - i cant figure out what needs the focus and which focus method i should use or where the code should go!
2. Although ive got my pacman displayed with a nice munching motion (which im quite proud of ^_^ ) and he moves when the specific keys are pressed, theres a slight delay when i try and change direction, or when i first keyPress. Hopefully you can see what i mean when you run my code, or maybe you already know what im talking about!
I have a feeling its to do with the keyPressed code, since it only kicks in when the key is down, rather then when its keyDowning(if thats even a word!) is there a way to remove that delay so movement is seamless?
So id be very grateful if you could advise me on what my first mistake was, and what i could do with my second problem!
Thank you, my code is below, and please feel free to share some POSTIVE critisim, on my code, or advice on what steps to take next or in coding in general!
CHEERS!
sskenth
4 classes - AnimationThread, Pacman, PaintSurface, Room
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
class AnimationThread extends Thread
     JApplet c;
     int threadSpeed = 20; // this allows the pacman speed to be reduced i.e. negative slow pill... change to 100 for slow!
     public AnimationThread(JApplet c)
          this.c=c;
     public void run()
          while(true)
               c.repaint();
               try
                    Thread.sleep(threadSpeed);
               catch(InterruptedException ex)
                    //swallow the exception
import java.awt.geom.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
class Pacman extends Arc2D.Float //implements KeyListener //setArc(double x, double y, double w, double h, double angSt, double angExt, int closure)
          private int diameter;
          private int x_speed,y_speed;
          private int width = Room.WIDTH;
          private int height = Room.HEIGHT;
          private     int mouth = 10;// mouth is the amount it opens by! -1 is opening, +1 is closing
                         // mouth - =1 makes it spin!
          public Pacman(int diameter)
               super((int)(Math.random() * (Room.WIDTH - 20) + 1), (int)(Math.random() * (Room.HEIGHT - 20) + 1),diameter,diameter,210,300,2);
               this.diameter = diameter;
               //this.x_speed = (int)(Math.random()*5+1);
               //this.y_speed = (int)(Math.random()*5+1);
               this.x_speed = 10;
               this.y_speed = 10;
     public void move(int e)
               if(e == KeyEvent.VK_UP)
               this.setAngleStart(120);
               super.y -=y_speed;
               if(e == KeyEvent.VK_DOWN)
               this.setAngleStart(300);
               super.y +=y_speed;
               if(e == KeyEvent.VK_LEFT)
               this.setAngleStart(210);
               super.x -=x_speed;
               if(e == KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT)
               this.setAngleStart(30);
               super.x +=x_speed;
               //System.out.println(direction);
          public void mouth()
                    if(this.getAngleExtent()  >= 360)
                    mouth = -10;
                    if(this.getAngleExtent()  <= 270)
                    mouth = 10;
               double angExt = this.getAngleExtent();
               this.setAngleExtent(angExt +=mouth);
               //     System.out.println(getAngleExtent());
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import java.util.*;
class PaintSurface extends JComponent
          public ArrayList<Pacman> pacmans = new ArrayList<Pacman>();
          public static Pacman pacman;
          public PaintSurface()
                pacman = new Pacman(50); //diameter of pacman
               //for(int i = 0; i <10; i++)
                    //pacmans.add(new Pacman(50));
          public void paint (Graphics g)
               Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
               g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);
               //g2.setComposite(AlphaComposite.getInstance(AlphaComposite.SRC_OVER, 0.50F)); //adds transparency
               g2.setColor(Color.YELLOW);
               //for(Pacman pacman: pacmans)
                    //pacman.move();
                    pacman.mouth();
                    g2.fill(pacman);
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.geom.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
public class Room extends JApplet implements KeyListener
          public static final int WIDTH = 1000;
          public static final int HEIGHT = 300;
          private PaintSurface canvas;
          public void init()
               this.setSize(WIDTH, HEIGHT);
               canvas = new PaintSurface();
               this.add(canvas,BorderLayout.CENTER);
               Thread t = new AnimationThread(this);
               t.start();
               addKeyListener(this);
               //canvas.requestFocus();
               this.requestFocusInWindow();
          //frame.pack();  //Realize the components.
              //This button will have the initial focus.
             // button.requestFocusInWindow();
          public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e)
                         //System.out.println("KeyRELEASED "+e);
                         //int keyCode = e.getKeyCode();
                         //     PaintSurface.pacman.move(keyCode);
                    public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e)
                    //System.out.println("KeyRELEASED "+e);
                    int keyCode = e.getKeyCode();
                              PaintSurface.pacman.move(keyCode);
                    public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e)

Answer 1

Well i did as you both said, and it worked! thought id just put the code up for anyone who was wondering what it looked like, just replace the pacman class above with this new one and start the thread!
import java.awt.geom.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
class Pacman extends Arc2D.Float implements Runnable //implements KeyListener //setArc(double x, double y, double w, double h, double angSt, double angExt, int closure)
          private int diameter;
          public int x_speed,y_speed;
          private int width = Room.WIDTH;
          private int height = Room.HEIGHT;
          private     int mouth = 10;// mouth is the amount it opens by! -1 is opening, +1 is closing
                         // mouth - =1 makes it spin!
          public static String direction;
          public Pacman(int diameter)
               //super((int)(Math.random() * (Room.WIDTH - 20) + 1), (int)(Math.random() * (Room.HEIGHT - 20) + 1),diameter,diameter,210,300,2);
               super(100 , 100,diameter,diameter,210,300,2);
               this.diameter = diameter;
               //this.x_speed = (int)(Math.random()*5+1);
               //this.y_speed = (int)(Math.random()*5+1);
               this.x_speed = 10;
               this.y_speed = 10;
               //Thread t = new GameLoop(this);
               //t.start();
     public void move(int e)
               if(e == KeyEvent.VK_UP)
               this.setAngleStart(120);
               direction = "UP";
               //movement();
               //super.y -=y_speed;
               if(e == KeyEvent.VK_DOWN)
               this.setAngleStart(300);
               direction = "DOWN";
               //movement();
               //super.y +=y_speed;
               if(e == KeyEvent.VK_LEFT)
               this.setAngleStart(210);
               direction = "LEFT";
               //movement();
               //super.x -=x_speed;
               if(e == KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT)
               this.setAngleStart(30);
               direction = "RIGHT";
               //movement();
               //super.x +=x_speed;
     /*public void move(String s)
               if(direction == "UP")
               super.y -=y_speed;
               if(direction == "DOWN")
               super.y +=y_speed;
               if(direction == "LEFT")
               super.x -=x_speed;
               if(direction == "RIGHT")
               super.x +=x_speed;
          public void mouth()
                    if(this.getAngleExtent()  >= 360)
                    mouth = -10;
                    if(this.getAngleExtent()  <= 270)
                    mouth = 10;
               double angExt = this.getAngleExtent();
               this.setAngleExtent(angExt +=mouth);
               //     System.out.println(getAngleExtent());
          public void movement()
               if(direction == "UP")
               super.y -=y_speed;
               if(direction == "DOWN")
               super.y +=y_speed;
               if(direction == "LEFT")
               super.x -=x_speed;
               if(direction == "RIGHT")
               super.x +=x_speed;
                    if((direction == null) || (direction  ==""))
     public void run()
          while(true)
                    movement();
               if((direction == null) || (direction  ==""))
               try
                    Thread.sleep(20);
               catch(InterruptedException e)
}