Threads & Scope

Question

I'm trying to write a multi-threaded program where each Thread quite expectedly are performing their own separate tasks. However, I'm not sure of if I'm implementing them in the correct way in order to do my bidding.
Usually, I have a main thread (the class whose public static void main() is run) and then create instances of another class that extend Thread and call them to start. I.E.:
The main class whose main() is run:
public class TheMainClass
    ThreadedClass secondThread = new ThreadedClass();
    ThreadedClass thirdThread = new ThreadedClass();
    public static void main(String args[])
        // Start the second and third threads
        secondThread = new ThreadedClass();
        thirdThread = new ThreadedClass();
        secondThread.start();
        thirdThread.start();
        // Assign Threads tasks
        // This is the part I'm not sure that is correctly implemented
        secondThread.makeConnection();
        thirdThread.makeConnection();
}The second class that extends Thread:
public class ThreadedClass extends Thread implements Runnable
    public void run()
        // Code to run when started
   public void makeConnection()
        // Code to connect to a pre-defined socket
}The goal in this specific example is to create two threads and assign each to run their makeConnection() method. Lets assume that this method connects to a server based on a set values unqiue to each instance of ThreadedClass.
What I would like it do:
- Create two threads
- Each thread object calls their own makeConnection() method simultaneuosly and establish connections to their respective servers.
What I'm afraid it will do:
- I'm afraid that calling the methods in each of these thread objects from the scope of the main thread instead of calling of from within the scope of each thread (i.e. their respective run() methods) will only result in the main thread executing each call makeConnection() one at a time, leaving the instances of ThreadedClass to sit idle.
So it boils down to: how do I control assign each thread methods to execute properly?

Answer 1

Ok, I guess generalizing my question isn't working. I'll try to apply it to what I'm really working on.
I'm writing a server browser of sorts; a window with a list of a bunch of servers that you can connect to. In this application, I want the browser to send short queries to the server to request basic info, like it's name, number of clients connected, etc...
Where my question about threads and scope comes in is with these queries. When the user presses the button to "refresh all" I don't want the server browser to go down the list one by one, waiting 10 seconds for each to timeout if it can't connect. That'd take forever. Instead, I want it to make a thread for each server to make the connections and update the info on the screen accordingly.
So, I have a class called Connection, which is a thread. One instance of Connection is assigned each server. Then, at any point, I want to be able to call a method inside each instance of Connection called query(). The problem is, if I call this method with say, connection1.query(), it's going to execute in my main scope and do updates one by one...
So, how do I get a thread to execute something in its own scope from the scope of the main thread? The only way I've managed to do this is by setting boolean variables in the instance of Connection to control what it does, but this gets horribly sloppy very quickly. Is there a better, cleaner way to do this such as calling it like a method?
EDIT:
The previous reply contains a perfect example of how I've been working around by using booleans to call my methods. However, I'm looking for a cleaner, neater solution.