Class SwingWorker<T,V>
- java.lang.Object
-
- javax.swing.SwingWorker<T,V>
-
- Type Parameters:
-
T
- the result type returned by thisSwingWorker's
doInBackground
andget
methods -
V
- the type used for carrying out intermediate results by thisSwingWorker's
publish
andprocess
methods
- All Implemented Interfaces:
- Runnable, Future<T>, RunnableFuture<T>
public abstract class SwingWorker<T,V> extends Object implements RunnableFuture<T>
An abstract class to perform lengthy GUI-interaction tasks in a background thread. Several background threads can be used to execute such tasks. However, the exact strategy of choosing a thread for any particularSwingWorker
is unspecified and should not be relied on.When writing a multi-threaded application using Swing, there are two constraints to keep in mind: (refer to Concurrency in Swing for more details):
- Time-consuming tasks should not be run on the Event Dispatch Thread. Otherwise the application becomes unresponsive.
- Swing components should be accessed on the Event Dispatch Thread only.
These constraints mean that a GUI application with time intensive computing needs at least two threads: 1) a thread to perform the lengthy task and 2) the Event Dispatch Thread (EDT) for all GUI-related activities. This involves inter-thread communication which can be tricky to implement.
SwingWorker
is designed for situations where you need to have a long running task run in a background thread and provide updates to the UI either when done, or while processing. Subclasses ofSwingWorker
must implement thedoInBackground()
method to perform the background computation.Workflow
There are three threads involved in the life cycle of a
SwingWorker
:Current thread: The
execute()
method is called on this thread. It schedulesSwingWorker
for the execution on a worker thread and returns immediately. One can wait for theSwingWorker
to complete using theget
methods.Worker thread: The
doInBackground()
method is called on this thread. This is where all background activities should happen. To notifyPropertyChangeListeners
about bound properties changes use thefirePropertyChange
andgetPropertyChangeSupport()
methods. By default there are two bound properties available:state
andprogress
.Event Dispatch Thread: All Swing related activities occur on this thread.
SwingWorker
invokes theprocess
anddone()
methods and notifies anyPropertyChangeListeners
on this thread.
Often, the Current thread is the Event Dispatch Thread.
Before the
doInBackground
method is invoked on a worker thread,SwingWorker
notifies anyPropertyChangeListeners
about thestate
property change toStateValue.STARTED
. After thedoInBackground
method is finished thedone
method is executed. ThenSwingWorker
notifies anyPropertyChangeListeners
about thestate
property change toStateValue.DONE
.SwingWorker
is only designed to be executed once. Executing aSwingWorker
more than once will not result in invoking thedoInBackground
method twice.Sample Usage
The following example illustrates the simplest use case. Some processing is done in the background and when done you update a Swing component.
Say we want to find the "Meaning of Life" and display the result in a
JLabel
.final JLabel label; class MeaningOfLifeFinder extends SwingWorker<String, Object> {
@Override
public String doInBackground() { return findTheMeaningOfLife(); }@Override
protected void done() { try { label.setText(get()); } catch (Exception ignore) { } } } (new MeaningOfLifeFinder()).execute();The next example is useful in situations where you wish to process data as it is ready on the Event Dispatch Thread.
Now we want to find the first N prime numbers and display the results in a
JTextArea
. While this is computing, we want to update our progress in aJProgressBar
. Finally, we also want to print the prime numbers toSystem.out
.class PrimeNumbersTask extends SwingWorker<List<Integer>, Integer> { PrimeNumbersTask(JTextArea textArea, int numbersToFind) { //initialize }
@Override
public List<Integer> doInBackground() { while (! enough && ! isCancelled()) { number = nextPrimeNumber(); publish(number); setProgress(100 * numbers.size() / numbersToFind); } } return numbers; }@Override
protected void process(List<Integer> chunks) { for (int number : chunks) { textArea.append(number + "\n"); } } } JTextArea textArea = new JTextArea(); final JProgressBar progressBar = new JProgressBar(0, 100); PrimeNumbersTask task = new PrimeNumbersTask(textArea, N); task.addPropertyChangeListener( new PropertyChangeListener() { public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent evt) { if ("progress".equals(evt.getPropertyName())) { progressBar.setValue((Integer)evt.getNewValue()); } } }); task.execute(); System.out.println(task.get()); //prints all prime numbers we have gotBecause
SwingWorker
implementsRunnable
, aSwingWorker
can be submitted to anExecutor
for execution.- Since:
- 1.6
-
-
Nested Class Summary
Nested Classes Modifier and Type Class and Description static class
SwingWorker.StateValue
Values for thestate
bound property.
-
Constructor Summary
Constructors Constructor and Description SwingWorker()
Constructs thisSwingWorker
.
-
Method Summary
All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods Concrete Methods Modifier and Type Method and Description void
addPropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener listener)
Adds aPropertyChangeListener
to the listener list.boolean
cancel(boolean mayInterruptIfRunning)
Attempts to cancel execution of this task.protected abstract T
doInBackground()
Computes a result, or throws an exception if unable to do so.protected void
done()
Executed on the Event Dispatch Thread after thedoInBackground
method is finished.void
execute()
Schedules thisSwingWorker
for execution on a worker thread.void
firePropertyChange(String propertyName, Object oldValue, Object newValue)
Reports a bound property update to any registered listeners.T
get()
Waits if necessary for the computation to complete, and then retrieves its result.T
get(long timeout, TimeUnit unit)
Waits if necessary for at most the given time for the computation to complete, and then retrieves its result, if available.int
getProgress()
Returns theprogress
bound property.PropertyChangeSupport
getPropertyChangeSupport()
Returns thePropertyChangeSupport
for thisSwingWorker
.SwingWorker.StateValue
getState()
Returns theSwingWorker
state bound property.boolean
isCancelled()
Returnstrue
if this task was cancelled before it completed normally.boolean
isDone()
Returnstrue
if this task completed.protected void
process(List<V> chunks)
Receives data chunks from thepublish
method asynchronously on the Event Dispatch Thread.protected void
publish(V... chunks)
Sends data chunks to theprocess(java.util.List<V>)
method.void
removePropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener listener)
Removes aPropertyChangeListener
from the listener list.void
run()
Sets thisFuture
to the result of computation unless it has been cancelled.protected void
setProgress(int progress)
Sets theprogress
bound property.
-
-
-
Method Detail
doInBackground
protected abstract T doInBackground() throws Exception
Computes a result, or throws an exception if unable to do so.Note that this method is executed only once.
Note: this method is executed in a background thread.
- Returns:
- the computed result
- Throws:
-
Exception
- if unable to compute a result
run
public final void run()
Sets thisFuture
to the result of computation unless it has been cancelled.- Specified by:
-
run
in interfaceRunnable
- Specified by:
-
run
in interfaceRunnableFuture<T>
- See Also:
-
Thread.run()
publish
@SafeVarargs protected final void publish(V... chunks)
Sends data chunks to theprocess(java.util.List<V>)
method. This method is to be used from inside thedoInBackground
method to deliver intermediate results for processing on the Event Dispatch Thread inside theprocess
method.Because the
process
method is invoked asynchronously on the Event Dispatch Thread multiple invocations to thepublish
method might occur before theprocess
method is executed. For performance purposes all these invocations are coalesced into one invocation with concatenated arguments.For example:
publish("1"); publish("2", "3"); publish("4", "5", "6");
might result in:process("1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6")
Sample Usage. This code snippet loads some tabular data and updates
DefaultTableModel
with it. Note that it safe to mutate the tableModel from inside theprocess
method because it is invoked on the Event Dispatch Thread.class TableSwingWorker extends SwingWorker<DefaultTableModel, Object[]> { private final DefaultTableModel tableModel; public TableSwingWorker(DefaultTableModel tableModel) { this.tableModel = tableModel; }
@Override
protected DefaultTableModel doInBackground() throws Exception { for (Object[] row = loadData(); ! isCancelled() && row != null; row = loadData()) { publish((Object[]) row); } return tableModel; }@Override
protected void process(List<Object[]> chunks) { for (Object[] row : chunks) { tableModel.addRow(row); } } }- Parameters:
-
chunks
- intermediate results to process - See Also:
-
process(java.util.List<V>)
process
protected void process(List<V> chunks)
Receives data chunks from thepublish
method asynchronously on the Event Dispatch Thread.Please refer to the
publish(V...)
method for more details.- Parameters:
-
chunks
- intermediate results to process - See Also:
-
publish(V...)
done
protected void done()
Executed on the Event Dispatch Thread after thedoInBackground
method is finished. The default implementation does nothing. Subclasses may override this method to perform completion actions on the Event Dispatch Thread. Note that you can query status inside the implementation of this method to determine the result of this task or whether this task has been cancelled.- See Also:
-
doInBackground()
,isCancelled()
,get()
setProgress
protected final void setProgress(int progress)
Sets theprogress
bound property. The value should be from 0 to 100.Because
PropertyChangeListener
s are notified asynchronously on the Event Dispatch Thread multiple invocations to thesetProgress
method might occur before anyPropertyChangeListeners
are invoked. For performance purposes all these invocations are coalesced into one invocation with the last invocation argument only.For example, the following invokations:
setProgress(1); setProgress(2); setProgress(3);
might result in a singlePropertyChangeListener
notification with the value3
.- Parameters:
-
progress
- the progress value to set - Throws:
-
IllegalArgumentException
- is value not from 0 to 100
getProgress
public final int getProgress()
Returns theprogress
bound property.- Returns:
- the progress bound property.
execute
public final void execute()
Schedules thisSwingWorker
for execution on a worker thread. There are a number of worker threads available. In the event all worker threads are busy handling otherSwingWorkers
thisSwingWorker
is placed in a waiting queue.Note:
SwingWorker
is only designed to be executed once. Executing aSwingWorker
more than once will not result in invoking thedoInBackground
method twice.
cancel
public final boolean cancel(boolean mayInterruptIfRunning)
Attempts to cancel execution of this task. This attempt will fail if the task has already completed, has already been cancelled, or could not be cancelled for some other reason. If successful, and this task has not started whencancel
is called, this task should never run. If the task has already started, then themayInterruptIfRunning
parameter determines whether the thread executing this task should be interrupted in an attempt to stop the task.After this method returns, subsequent calls to
Future.isDone()
will always returntrue
. Subsequent calls toFuture.isCancelled()
will always returntrue
if this method returnedtrue
.- Specified by:
-
cancel
in interfaceFuture<T>
- Parameters:
-
mayInterruptIfRunning
-true
if the thread executing this task should be interrupted; otherwise, in-progress tasks are allowed to complete - Returns:
-
false
if the task could not be cancelled, typically because it has already completed normally;true
otherwise
isCancelled
public final boolean isCancelled()
Returnstrue
if this task was cancelled before it completed normally.- Specified by:
-
isCancelled
in interfaceFuture<T>
- Returns:
-
true
if this task was cancelled before it completed
isDone
public final boolean isDone()
Returnstrue
if this task completed. Completion may be due to normal termination, an exception, or cancellation -- in all of these cases, this method will returntrue
.
get
public final T get() throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException
Waits if necessary for the computation to complete, and then retrieves its result.Note: calling
get
on the Event Dispatch Thread blocks all events, including repaints, from being processed until thisSwingWorker
is complete.When you want the
SwingWorker
to block on the Event Dispatch Thread we recommend that you use a modal dialog.For example:
class SwingWorkerCompletionWaiter extends PropertyChangeListener { private JDialog dialog; public SwingWorkerCompletionWaiter(JDialog dialog) { this.dialog = dialog; } public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent event) { if ("state".equals(event.getPropertyName()) && SwingWorker.StateValue.DONE == event.getNewValue()) { dialog.setVisible(false); dialog.dispose(); } } } JDialog dialog = new JDialog(owner, true); swingWorker.addPropertyChangeListener( new SwingWorkerCompletionWaiter(dialog)); swingWorker.execute(); //the dialog will be visible until the SwingWorker is done dialog.setVisible(true);
- Specified by:
-
get
in interfaceFuture<T>
- Returns:
- the computed result
- Throws:
-
InterruptedException
- if the current thread was interrupted while waiting -
ExecutionException
- if the computation threw an exception
get
public final T get(long timeout, TimeUnit unit) throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException, TimeoutException
Waits if necessary for at most the given time for the computation to complete, and then retrieves its result, if available.Please refer to
get()
for more details.- Specified by:
-
get
in interfaceFuture<T>
- Parameters:
-
timeout
- the maximum time to wait -
unit
- the time unit of the timeout argument - Returns:
- the computed result
- Throws:
-
InterruptedException
- if the current thread was interrupted while waiting -
ExecutionException
- if the computation threw an exception -
TimeoutException
- if the wait timed out
addPropertyChangeListener
public final void addPropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener listener)
Adds aPropertyChangeListener
to the listener list. The listener is registered for all properties. The same listener object may be added more than once, and will be called as many times as it is added. Iflistener
isnull
, no exception is thrown and no action is taken.Note: This is merely a convenience wrapper. All work is delegated to
PropertyChangeSupport
fromgetPropertyChangeSupport()
.- Parameters:
-
listener
- thePropertyChangeListener
to be added
removePropertyChangeListener
public final void removePropertyChangeListener(PropertyChangeListener listener)
Removes aPropertyChangeListener
from the listener list. This removes aPropertyChangeListener
that was registered for all properties. Iflistener
was added more than once to the same event source, it will be notified one less time after being removed. Iflistener
isnull
, or was never added, no exception is thrown and no action is taken.Note: This is merely a convenience wrapper. All work is delegated to
PropertyChangeSupport
fromgetPropertyChangeSupport()
.- Parameters:
-
listener
- thePropertyChangeListener
to be removed
firePropertyChange
public final void firePropertyChange(String propertyName, Object oldValue, Object newValue)
Reports a bound property update to any registered listeners. No event is fired ifold
andnew
are equal and non-null.This
SwingWorker
will be the source for any generated events.When called off the Event Dispatch Thread
PropertyChangeListeners
are notified asynchronously on the Event Dispatch Thread.Note: This is merely a convenience wrapper. All work is delegated to
PropertyChangeSupport
fromgetPropertyChangeSupport()
.- Parameters:
-
propertyName
- the programmatic name of the property that was changed -
oldValue
- the old value of the property -
newValue
- the new value of the property
getPropertyChangeSupport
public final PropertyChangeSupport getPropertyChangeSupport()
Returns thePropertyChangeSupport
for thisSwingWorker
. This method is used when flexible access to bound properties support is needed.This
SwingWorker
will be the source for any generated events.Note: The returned
PropertyChangeSupport
notifies anyPropertyChangeListener
s asynchronously on the Event Dispatch Thread in the event thatfirePropertyChange
orfireIndexedPropertyChange
are called off the Event Dispatch Thread.- Returns:
-
PropertyChangeSupport
for thisSwingWorker
getState
public final SwingWorker.StateValue getState()
Returns theSwingWorker
state bound property.- Returns:
- the current state
-
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