Start/Stop Buttons and infinite loop exit

Question

I am trying to make a GUI with a Start/Stop and an Exit button. Initially the button will have the label "Start". When i push it, its label should become "Stop" and an infinite loop function will begin. I want the loop to run until i press the Stop or Exit button.
The problem is that when the loop starts i can't press neither of the buttons. The "Start" button changes its label into "Stop" only if i make the loop finite and it ends.
Here is the source:
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
public class StartStopButtons extends JFrame{
    Component visualComponent = null;
    JPanel panel = null;
    JLabel statusBar = null;
     public StartStopButtons() {
          setSize(160, 70);
          getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        panel = new JPanel();
        panel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        getContentPane().add(panel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        final JPanel panel_1 = new JPanel();
        panel.add(panel_1, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        final JButton startButton = new JButton();
        startButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
             public void actionPerformed(final ActionEvent e) {
                String action = e.getActionCommand();
                if (action.equals("Start")) {
                     System.out.println("Start Loop");
                     startButton.setText("Stop");
                     myLoop ();
                if (action.equals("Stop")) {
                     System.out.println("Stop Loop");
                     System.exit(0);
        startButton.setText("Start");
        panel_1.add(startButton);
        final JButton exitButton = new JButton();
        exitButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
             public void actionPerformed(final ActionEvent e) {
                String action = e.getActionCommand();
                if (action.equals("Exit")) {
                    System.exit(0);
        panel_1.add(exitButton);
        exitButton.setText("Exit");
     public void myLoop() {
          for (int i = 0; ; i++)
               System.out.println(i);
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          StartStopButtons ssB = new StartStopButtons();
          ssB.setVisible(true);
}

Answer 1

I works just fine. Here is the source and thanks for the help.
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Component;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.UIManager;
public class StartStopButtons extends JFrame implements ActionListener, Runnable{
    Component visualComponent = null;
    JPanel panel = null;
    JLabel statusBar = null;
    Thread thread;
    JButton startButton;
     public StartStopButtons() {
        try {
            UIManager.setLookAndFeel(
                UIManager.getSystemLookAndFeelClassName());
        } catch(Exception e) {}
          setSize(160, 70);
          getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        panel = new JPanel();
        panel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        getContentPane().add(panel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        final JPanel panel_1 = new JPanel();
        panel.add(panel_1, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        startButton = new JButton();
        startButton.addActionListener(this);
        startButton.setText("Start");
        panel_1.add(startButton);
        final JButton exitButton = new JButton();
        exitButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
             public void actionPerformed(final ActionEvent e) {
                String action = e.getActionCommand();
                if (action.equals("Exit")) {
                    System.exit(0);
        panel_1.add(exitButton);
        exitButton.setText("Exit");
     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
          String action = e.getActionCommand();
          if (action.equals("Start")) {
               startButton.setText("Stop");
               thread = new Thread( this );
               thread.start();
          if (action.equals("Stop")) {
            System.exit(0);
     public void run() {
          myLoop();
     public void myLoop() {
          for (int i = 0; ; i++)
               System.out.println(i);
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          StartStopButtons ssB = new StartStopButtons();
          ssB.setVisible(true);
}