Simple Application - Thread problem

Question

Hi,
I created a simple application, which uses a thread to check the current time..if the current time is after the "Quitting Time" then a msg is displayed telling how long its been....anyhow..as soon as i run my application the popup msg is displayed.
here is my code:
import java.util.Date;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
public class CountDown implements Runnable {
private static final Date QUITTING_TIME = new Date(104, 07, 19, 9, 15);
private Date startDate;
private Date originalStartDate;
public CountDown(Date startDate) {
this.startDate = startDate;
this.originalStartDate = new Date(startDate.getTime());
public void startThread() {
Thread t = new Thread(this);
t.start();
public void run() {
while(startDate.before(QUITTING_TIME)) {
try {
Thread.sleep(5000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
startDate.setTime(System.currentTimeMillis());
System.out.println("Time = " + startDate);
allDone();
private void allDone() {       
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, calculateTimeAtWork());
System.exit(0);
private String calculateTimeAtWork() {
int eHours = QUITTING_TIME.getHours();
int eMin = QUITTING_TIME.getMinutes();
int eSec = QUITTING_TIME.getSeconds();
int sHours = originalStartDate.getHours();
int sMin = originalStartDate.getMinutes();
int sSec = originalStartDate.getSeconds();
if (eHours >= sHours) {
eHours = eHours - sHours;
if (eMin >= sMin) {
eMin = eMin - sMin;
if (eSec >= sSec) {
eSec = eSec - sSec;
if (eHours == 0 && eMin == 0 && eSec == 0) {
return "You did no work today!";
StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
sb.append("You worked for: ");
if (eHours > 0) {
sb.append(eHours);
if (eHours == 1) {
sb.append(" hour");
else {
sb.append(" hours");
sb.append(" ");
if (eMin > 0) {
sb.append(eMin);
if (eMin == 1) {
sb.append(" minute");
else {
sb.append(" minutes");
sb.append(" ");
if (eSec > 0) {
sb.append(eSec);
if (eSec == 1) {
sb.append(" second");
else {
sb.append(" seconds");
sb.append(" ");
return sb.toString();
public static void main(String[] args) {       
Date startDate = new Date(System.currentTimeMillis());
CountDown cd = new CountDown(startDate);
cd.startThread();
basically, after the thread is completely done...meaning the current time is after the "QUITTING TIME"...i want the "allDone()" method to be called.
what's wrong with my code?
thanks

Answer 1

Probably the most obvious answer is your start date is after your quitting time. Your quitting time is on Aug 19 09:15 and today is Aug 20 so while ( startDate.before(QUITTING_TIME) will never run and allDone() will get called.
You could have found this yourself with a simple println("start date = "+startDate);
I also recommend you look into Calendar class, you are using deprecated constructor and method calls on java.util.Date class
Cheers
DB