Program Freezes when setting up GUI & can't figure why...

Question

Hi Folks,
I'm having some serious problems with a program i've written, basically the program creates several threads.
Each thread creates and uses a JFrame to play a movie.
The problem i'm getting though is that the program keeps freezing(deadlocking) on me when i'm in the process of setting up each JFrame. I haven't even started the threads....
This happens intermittedly too boot, what i mean is that the program could run all day, then when it tries to setup a new group of JFrames will freeze, or it could run for just one hour and then the same would happen. I don't know why it is happening... Below is all the relevant code.
//code from the class which creates the Threads (the threads are called polly and passes the details
// required to them
private void createAndSendPollyDetails(){
        for(int i = 0; i < polly.length; i++){
            polly[i] = new Polly(basil);
            System.err.println(" created polly: " + (i+1));
            //get screen percentages
            for(int w = 0; w < 4; w++) {
                if (w == 0){
                    sWidth = screenSizePercentages[i][w];
                if (w == 1){
                    eWidth = screenSizePercentages[i][w];
                if (w == 2){
                    sHeight = screenSizePercentages[i][w];
                if (w == 3){
                    eHeight = screenSizePercentages[i][w];
            System.err.println("about to send setupScreen details");
            polly.setUpScreen(sWidth,eWidth,sHeight,eHeight);
System.err.println("about to send array data");
polly[i].setVals(AScreenDisplayDataHolder.getPlayList(i),
AScreenDisplayDataHolder.getPlayListLengths(i),
AScreenDisplayDataHolder.getSizeOfPlayList(i),
AScreenDisplayDataHolder.getSizeOfPlayListLengths(i));
if(AScreenDisplayDataHolder.getMainScreenInMainScreenDetails(i)) {
boolean b = true;
mainPollyNumber = i;
polly[i].setMainTrue(b);
polly[i].setMainLen(AScreenDisplayDataHolder.getMainLengthInMainScreenDetails(i));
try{
Thread.sleep(1300);
}catch (InterruptedException ie) {
ie.printStackTrace();
// code from Thread, which just sends the details to screen for setup, the threads haven't even started....
public void setUpScreen(final double sWidthIn, final double eWidthIn, final double sHeightIn, final double eHeightIn) {
System.err.println("calling screen.setDisplay");
Runnable doWorkRunnable = new Runnable() {
public void run() { screen.setDisplay(sWidthIn, eWidthIn, sHeightIn, eHeightIn);  }
//SwingUtilities.invokeLater(doWorkRunnable);
try{
SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(doWorkRunnable);
} catch(InterruptedException ie) {
System.err.println("error");
} catch(InvocationTargetException ite) {
System.err.println("target exception");
System.err.println("fin call to screen.setDisplay");
public void setVals(final String[] movieArrayIn, final String[] movieLengthArrayIn, final int lengthOfMovieArray,
final int lengthOfMovieLengthArray) {
Runnable doWorkRunnable = new Runnable() {
public void run() { screen.setValues(movieArrayIn, movieLengthArrayIn, lengthOfMovieArray, lengthOfMovieLengthArray);
System.err.println("screen.setValues has finished in the void run method");
//SwingUtilities.invokeLater(doWorkRunnable);
try{
SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(doWorkRunnable);
} catch(InterruptedException ie) {
System.err.println("error");
} catch(InvocationTargetException ite) {
System.err.println("target exception");
System.err.println("got to end of SetVals");
//code from the JFrame which loads the data required by the JFrame into arrays and sets the size(bounds)
// of the JFrame. Had to use setBounds as start location not always going to be 0,0 for all JFrames
public void setValues(final String[] movieArrayIn, final String[] movieLengthArrayIn, final int lengthOfMovieArray,
final int lengthOfMovieLengthArray) {
Runnable doWorkRunnable = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
movieArray = new String[lengthOfMovieArray];
System.err.println("done moviearray new");
movieArray = movieArrayIn;
System.err.println("done moviearray copy");
movieLengthArray = new String[lengthOfMovieLengthArray];
System.err.println("done movieaLengthArray new");
movieLengthArray = movieLengthArrayIn;
System.err.println("done movieLengthArray Copy");
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(doWorkRunnable);
// set the size of the screen
public void setDisplay(final double sWidthIn, final double eWidthIn, final double sHeightIn, final double eHeightIn){
Runnable doWorkRunnable = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
Dimension wholeScreenSize = getToolkit().getScreenSize();
if(sWidthIn == 0){
sWidth = 0;
else {
sWidth = wholeScreenSize.getWidth()/100 * sWidthIn;
if(eWidthIn == 0){
eWidth = 0;
else {
eWidth = (wholeScreenSize.getWidth()/100 * eWidthIn) - sWidth;
if(sHeightIn == 0){
sHeight = 0;
else {
sHeight = wholeScreenSize.getHeight()/100 * sHeightIn;
if(eHeightIn == 0){
eHeight = 0;
else {
eHeight = (wholeScreenSize.getHeight()/100 * eHeightIn) - sHeight;
Screen.this.setBounds((int)sWidth, (int)sHeight, (int)eWidth, (int)eHeight);
System.err.println("done SetBounds");
screenSize = new Dimension((int)eWidth,(int)eHeight);
System.err.println("done setting dimension screenSize");}
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(doWorkRunnable);
As you can see i've tried putting them all in SwingUtilities.invokeLater, and still freezes....
I don't understand why it still does freeze... I'm also wondering when do you need to use the SwingUtilities.invokeLater and invokeAndWati, is it when you are changing/using any element/variable within a JFrame or just when you are changing/using and element/variable that effects the GUI display on a screen
Please help,
I'm very stuck,
Andy.

Answer 1

Keep it simple, start by removing all of the threads launches and frame builds and make sure it runs. Then have it build one frame and one thread and see if it runds. Then add another one and then ... you get the idea.
The first thought I had when I was reading your post was that you might want the thread to spin up its own frame rather than have the frame done first and then the thread launched.
Just a couple of thoughts on the subject.