Java SE (Java Platform, Standard Edition)

Hello Guys,

I'm new to these forums as well as to Java and Swing.
So on my way to get a lil bit more knowledge on Swing, I wanted to build a simple GUI with a textfield (probably JEditorPane)
and a Button. Everytime I press the button I wanted the textfield to go through the alphabet, showing each letter of it.

I heard that because Swing is not threadsafe, you should put all non-thread-safe operations into the Event-Dispatch-Thread.
Still if I add a new Thread that reads the Alphabet into the EDT, the GUI freezes until the last letter is displayed.

Since I'm new to this I guess Im doing something wrong, and Id like to ask you for help.

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class abcSwing extends JFrame{
	
	Container c;
	JEditorPane jep;
	JButton butt;
	ButtonListener BL;
	
	public abcSwing () {		//Konstruktor
		c = getContentPane();
		
		jep = new JEditorPane();
		butt = new JButton("ABC");
		
		c.add(jep,BorderLayout.NORTH);
		c.add(butt,BorderLayout.CENTER);
		
		BL = new ButtonListener(c, jep);
		butt.addActionListener(BL);
	}
	
	public static void main (String[] args) {
		abcSwing window = new abcSwing();
		window.setTitle("Running the Alphabet");
		window.setSize(350,200);
		window.setVisible(true);
		window.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
	}

}



import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;

import javax.swing.JEditorPane;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;


public class ButtonListener implements ActionListener {
		
	Container c;
	JEditorPane jep;
	
	//Konstruktor
	
	public ButtonListener (Container c, JEditorPane jep) {
		this.c = c;
		this.jep = jep;
	}
	
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
		
		SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable () {
			public void run () {
				
				jep.setText("a");
				MachMal.Pause();
				jep.setText("b");
				MachMal.Pause();
				jep.setText("c");
			}
		});
	}
}



public class MachMal {

public static void Pause() {
	try {
		Thread.sleep(2000);
	}catch (InterruptedException e){
		
	}
}

}

As you can see, Ive reduced the alphabet to A, B, C with a break in between each char of 2 secs. As a result the Gui freezes for 6 seconds then displays a "C" on the EditorPane.
My goal however is to get the A displayed, then after two seconds the B and so on...

Any ideas?

Edited by: 880650 on 21.08.2011 09:37