Using Thread.currentthread.sleep but not delaying appropriately

Question

Ok, here it goes. Im currently using the thread.sleep method to delay the changing of the text within some labels. I have 3 labels which represent some arrays. I then sort the arrays. Im trying to throw a delay in so that the user can see the changes happen to the array. Although, when I call the wait.millisec(1000) in (the sleep function I threw into its own wait class) it seems that the waiting all happens at the end. I dont see it during the loop to show the arrangement changes within the arrays. I stepped through the code using the debugger, but it doesnt seem to help.
Look in the buttonListener within the FourX class.
* SortTest.java                                   Author:Tim Dudek
   This trivial program tests the insertion sort and selection sort
   subroutines.  The data is then shown graphically.
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JLabel;
public class SortTest {
   final static int ARRAY_SIZE = 10;  // Number of items in arrays to be sorted.
                                        // (This has to be 10 or more.)
   public static int[] A, B;
   public static JLabel lblOrig, lblSS, lblIS;
   public static void main(String[] args) {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame ("Tim Dudek");
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation (JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          FourX display = new FourX();//create the main panel
          frame.setSize(450, 320);
          frame.getContentPane().add(display);
          frame.setVisible(true);  
      A = new int[ARRAY_SIZE];     // Make an array  ints
      for (int i = 0; i < A.length; i++){      // Fill array A with random ints.
         A[i] = (int)(100*Math.random());
         lblOrig.setText(lblOrig.getText() + " "     + A);
lblIS.setText(lblIS.getText() + " "     + A[i]);
lblSS.setText(lblSS.getText() + " "     + A[i]);
B = (int[])A.clone(); // make B an exact copy of A.
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.*;
public class FourX extends JPanel {
     static final long serialVersionUID = 1L; //eclipse echo problem
     private JLabel lblO, lblI, lblS;
     private JButton sort;
     public FourX(){//JLabel lblOrig,JLabel lblSS, JLabel lblIS){
          setLayout(new BoxLayout(this, BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));
          SortTest.lblSS = new JLabel ("");
          SortTest.lblOrig = new JLabel ("");
          SortTest.lblIS = new JLabel ("");
          lblO = new JLabel("Orginal", JTextField.LEFT);
          lblI = new JLabel("Insertion Sort", JTextField.LEFT);
          lblS = new JLabel("Selection Sort", JTextField.LEFT);
          sort = new JButton("Sort");     
          sort.addActionListener(new buttonListener());
          SortTest.lblSS.setFont(new Font("Arial", Font.BOLD, 30));
          SortTest.lblSS.setHorizontalAlignment(JTextField.CENTER);
          SortTest.lblSS.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder (Color.RED, 3));
          SortTest.lblIS.setFont(new Font("Arial", Font.BOLD, 30));
          SortTest.lblIS.setHorizontalAlignment(JTextField.CENTER);
          SortTest.lblIS.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder (Color.BLUE, 3));
          SortTest.lblOrig.setFont(new Font("Arial", Font.BOLD, 30));
          SortTest.lblOrig.setHorizontalAlignment(JTextField.CENTER);
          SortTest.lblOrig.setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder (Color.BLACK, 3));
          add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension (10, 10)));
          add(lblO);
          add(SortTest.lblOrig);
          add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension (10, 10)));
          add(lblS);
          add(SortTest.lblSS);
          add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension (10, 10)));
          add(lblI);
          add(SortTest.lblIS);
          add(Box.createRigidArea(new Dimension (10, 10)));
          add(sort);
     private class buttonListener implements ActionListener{
          public void actionPerformed (ActionEvent event){
          // sort A into increasing order, using selection sort
               for (int lastPlace = SortTest.A.length-1; lastPlace > 0; lastPlace--) {
                    Wait.milliSec(50);
               //Find the largest item among A[0], A[1], ... A[lastPlace],
          // and move it into position lastPlace by swapping it with
          // the number that is currently in position lastPlace
                    int maxLoc = 0; // location of largest item seen so far
               for (int j = 1; j <= lastPlace; j++) {
                    if (SortTest.A[j] > SortTest.A[maxLoc])
               maxLoc = j; // Now, location j contains the largest item seen
               int temp = SortTest.A[maxLoc]; // swap largest item with A[lastPlace]
               SortTest.A[maxLoc] = SortTest.A[lastPlace];
               SortTest.A[lastPlace] = temp;
               Wait.milliSec(100);//<------------ waiting???>
               SortTest.lblSS.setText("");
               for (int i = 0; i < SortTest.A.length; i++){
                    SortTest.lblSS.setText(SortTest.lblSS.getText() + " "     + SortTest.A[i]);
               Wait.oneSec();//<------------ waiting???>
               // sort the array A into increasing order
               int itemsSorted; // number of items that have been sorted so far
               for (itemsSorted = 1; itemsSorted < SortTest.B.length; itemsSorted++) {
                    // assume that items A[0], A[1], ... A[itemsSorted-1] have
                    // already been sorted, and insert A[itemsSorted] into the list.
                    int temp = SortTest.B[itemsSorted]; // the item to be inserted
                    int loc = itemsSorted - 1;
                    while (loc >= 0 && SortTest.B[loc] > temp) {
                         SortTest.B[loc + 1] = SortTest.B[loc];
                         loc = loc - 1;
                    SortTest.B[loc + 1] = temp;
                    Wait.milliSec(100);//<------------ waiting???>                    SortTest.lblIS.setText("");
                    for (int i = 0; i < SortTest.B.length; i++){
                         SortTest.lblIS.setText(SortTest.lblIS.getText() + " "     + SortTest.B[i]);
public class Wait {
     public static void oneSec() {
          try {
               Thread.currentThread().sleep(1000);
          catch (InterruptedException e) {
               e.printStackTrace();
     public static void milliSec(long s) {
          try {
               Thread.currentThread().sleep(s);
          catch (InterruptedException e) {
               e.printStackTrace();

Answer 1

Wow, ok. this is extrodinarily confusing. I read the tutorials, but they're not easy to follow.
So, what I did was at the entry point:
public class SortTest implements Runnable {
   final static int ARRAY_SIZE = 10;  // Number of items in arrays to be sorted.
                                        // (This has to be 10 or more.)
   public static int[] A, B;
   public static JLabel lblOrig, lblSS, lblIS;
   public static void main(String[] args) {
        (new Thread(new SortTest())).start();
   public void run(){
        JFrame frame = new JFrame ("Tim Dudek");
          frame.setDefaultCloseOperation (JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
          FourX display = new FourX();//create the main panel
          frame.setSize(450, 320);
          frame.getContentPane().add(display);
          frame.setVisible(true);  
      A = new int[ARRAY_SIZE];     // Make an array  ints
      for (int i = 0; i < A.length; i++){      // Fill array A with random ints.
         A[i] = (int)(100*Math.random());
         lblOrig.setText(lblOrig.getText() + " "     + A);
lblIS.setText(lblIS.getText() + " "     + A[i]);
lblSS.setText(lblSS.getText() + " "     + A[i]);
B = (int[])A.clone(); // make B an exact copy of A.
Ok, as I understand, this creates the initial thread to build the gui. Now you suggest that when the user hits "sort" that a second thread be created to handle the sorting routine.  From what I understand I can only inherit from one class in java.  My buttonListener already implements ActionListener. I obviously cant implement ActionListener and Runnable.  Do you have a suggestion? Maybe a link to an example?
I'm pretty lost. 
Tim