Wait cursor not working with short cut keys

Question

Hi,
I have JButton in my application for which i have set the short cut key using
button.setMnemonic(char)
method of JButton. Also i have set the wait cursor for the same button using
button.setCursor(Cursor.getPredefinedCursor(Cursor.WAIT_CURSOR)) .
I am getting the wait cursor if i click on the button,but not when i use the shortcut key.
Why is it like that? Pls help me out.

Answer 1

Why don't you use this class :
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
public class WaitCursorEventQueue extends EventQueue {
public WaitCursorEventQueue(int delay) {
this.delay = delay;
waitTimer = new WaitCursorTimer();
waitTimer.setDaemon(true);
waitTimer.start();
protected void dispatchEvent(AWTEvent event) {
waitTimer.startTimer(event.getSource());
try {
super.dispatchEvent(event);
finally {
waitTimer.stopTimer();
private int delay;
private WaitCursorTimer waitTimer;
private class WaitCursorTimer extends Thread {
synchronized void startTimer(Object source) {
this.source = source;
notify();
synchronized void stopTimer() {
if (parent == null)
interrupt();
else {
parent.setCursor(null);
parent = null;
public synchronized void run() {
while (true) {
try {
//wait for notification from startTimer()
wait();
//wait for event processing to reach the threshold, or
//interruption from stopTimer()
wait(delay);
if (source instanceof Component)
parent = SwingUtilities.getRoot((Component)source);
else if (source instanceof MenuComponent) {
MenuContainer mParent =
((MenuComponent)source).getParent();
if (mParent instanceof Component)
parent = SwingUtilities.getRoot(
(Component)mParent);
if (parent != null && parent.isShowing())
parent.setCursor(
Cursor.getPredefinedCursor(
Cursor.WAIT_CURSOR));
catch (InterruptedException ie) { }
private Object source;
private Component parent;
and then add to your application :
//Wait cursor
EventQueue waitQueue = new WaitCursorEventQueue(200);
Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getSystemEventQueue().push(waitQueue);
The number (200) specifies the milliseconds to activate the WaitCursor.
It will work anytime your app is busy for more than that time.