Using Scanner and FileReader to read from a file in real time

Question

Hi
I would like to read continually from a text file (which is continually being appended to) and display each line as it appears in the textfile (in a text area).
What I would like to know is do I have to continually reopen the file (using FileReader) and buffer it into a Scanner everytime I want to read the changes made to it? There must be a better way.
Much appreciation for any help.

Answer 1

Umm .. I hope you're doing that in a separate worker
thread as otherwise you would block the EDT from
processing events like paint (thus never showing you
anything you append to the text area).Well that code fell under the run method of a class that is seperate to the main class, so it was called in a new thread. In desperation I've tried calling threads within threads (dangerous I know): remoteHandler's run method is called by a JButton's action listener...
private class remoteFHandler implements Runnable {
     int lineNum;
     int  win, x, y, count, num = -999;
     remoteFHandler(){
          lineNum = 0;
     public synchronized void run() {
          while(showScreen == true){
               readingRF = true;
               innerHandler read = new innerHandler();
               Thread t = new Thread(read);
               t.start();                      
     //Wait 5 a seconds before checking if there is anymore text
             try {
                     textArea.append("Waiting to reopen \n"); //DEBUG
               t.join();
               wait(5000);
             } catch (InterruptedException e){
               System.out.println("File reading interrupted");
               return;
            }// while
          readingRF = false;
          return;
     } //run()
     private class innerHandler implements Runnable{
          innerHandler(){
          public synchronized void run(){
               try {
                    outFile = new File("/data/wrmwind_08/testText.txt");
                    if (outFile!=null) textArea.append("File last modified: " + outFile.lastModified() + "\n"); //DEBUG
                    fs = new Scanner(new BufferedReader(new FileReader(outFile)));
                    if (fs!=null) textArea.append("File opened stream \n"); //DEBUG
                    fs.useDelimiter("\\r");
                  } catch(IOException e){
                    System.out.println("Problems opening file. IO exception: " + e.toString());
                    return;
                  if (fs!=null){
                    readAndDisplay();
                    fs.close();
                    fs = null;
                    if (fs==null) textArea.append("File closed \n"); //DEBUG
               return;
     }//innerHandler
        private void readAndDisplay(){ //reads from a file and displays in a text field until there are no new lines  then returns
     }//readAndDisplay()
}//remoteHandlerThe strange thing is that the when I modify the text file while the program is running, that time of last modification is detected and displayed in the text area yet I can't get to read the new line that's been added....