Start Stop Button

[sboothman]

I have a applet that connects to a server via a socket, recieves random data, and display that data. So far the applet can stop the data from being recieved by closing the socket using the stop button. The socket can then be re-open again and start recieving data if the start button is pressed. However after I have pressed the start button and reconnected the socket, I can not stop or re-start the socket as the buttons freeze up. I think this is something to do with the thread or something, but I very new to Java and am a bit confused about this.

/**
 *Applet Client Program
 * @author  Sam Boothman
 * @version 1.3, Nov 2005
 */

import java.io.*;									//Imports all neccessary class files
import java.net.*;
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*; 

public class Applet1_3 extends Applet implements ActionListener, Runnable 
{    
	private static final String HOST = "10.3.1.96";	//Creates a private string called "HOST" and assigns a IP address
	private static final int PORT = 9999;        	//Creates a private string called "PORT" and assigns a port number
	TextField[] fields = new TextField[10];    		//Creates a textfield with an array of ten elements
	Button stopButton;    							//Creates a button called "stopButton"
	Button startButton;            					//Creates a button called "startButton"
	boolean stop,start;        					//Assigns "stop" as a boolean variable
	
	public void init() 								//Initialisation method
	{        
		setSize(200,320);                           //Sets Applet resolution to specified size (x,y)
		setBackground(Color.gray);                  //Sets background color to specified color           
		for (int i = 0; i < fields.length; i++) 	//Sets initialization; termination; increment of the FOR loop
		{            
			add(new Label("Reading " + (i + 1)));   //Adds a new label to the applet with value "i" to indicate which reading number it is         
			fields[i] = new TextField("", 6);       //Creates a 10 TextFields and assigns it a number using "i" in the FOR loop    
			add(fields[i]);        					//Adds a 10 TextFields to the applet with value "i" to identify the TextField 
		}                
		startButton = new Button("START");         	//Creates a button called "startButton"
		stopButton = new Button("STOP");           	//Creates a button called "stopButton" 
		
		add(startButton);          				   	//Adds "startButton" to the applet	
		add(stopButton);                  		   	//Adds "stopButton" to the applet	
		
		stopButton.addActionListener(this);        	//Adds a ActionListener to the stopButton
		startButton.addActionListener(this);       	//Adds a ActionListener to the startButton
		new Thread(this).start();  				   	//Creates and starts a default thread
		//startButton.addActionListener(this);       	//Adds a ActionListener to the startButton
		//new Thread(this).start();				   	//Creates and starts a default thread
	}        
	
	public void run() 								//Declares "run" method
	{            
		Socket clientSocket = null;        			//Declares "clientSocket" as a Socket
		BufferedReader is = null;        			//Declares "is" as a BufferedReader
		try 
		{            
			clientSocket = new Socket(HOST, PORT);	//Creates a socket called clientSocket and set parameters as "HOST" & "PORT"                     
			is = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(clientSocket.getInputStream()));	//Creates a BufferedReader called "is" and gets the input stream from clientSocket               
			int i = 0;            
			while (!stop) 								//While loop exits if stop equals true
			{                
				String responseLine = is.readLine();	//A srting is created called "responseLine" has data passed to it from "is.readLine"                
				if (responseLine == null) break;  		//If responseLine has no data, then the while loop breaks              
				if (responseLine.indexOf("ok") != -1) break;                
				int index = i++ % 10;  					//Index increments untill it reaches 10              
				fields[index].setText(responseLine);    //Ten fields are drawn with a different responseLine value for each                       
			}        
		} 
		catch (Exception e) 						//Catch an exception
		{            
			e.printStackTrace();        
		}        
		
		finally 
		{            
			try 
			{ 
				if (clientSocket != null) clientSocket.close();	//If "clientSocket" is free of data, then close
			} 
			catch (Exception e) 					//Catch an exception
			{ e.printStackTrace(); 
			}            
			try { 
				if (is != null) is.close(); 		//If "is" is free of data, then close 
				} 
			catch (Exception e) 					//Catch an exception
			{ 
				e.printStackTrace(); 
			}        
		}    
	}
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt)  	//Declares "actionPerformed" methods with parameters
	{        
		if (evt.getSource() == stopButton) stop = true;		//If "stopButton" is pressed assign a true value to variable "stop"       
		
		if (evt.getSource()== startButton) stop = false;	//If "startButton" is pressed assign a false value to variable "stop"
		{
			//init();								//Call "init" method
			run();									//Call "run" method
			
		}
		
	}  
}

[evlich]

Yeh, essentially, the call to get the data is "blocking" the handeling of the event queue. So, what you are going to have to do is make a thread and when you click the "start" button, you run this thread which will read the data and do whatever you want to do. If the "stop" button is clicked, you kill the thread (which should close the socket). This being said, swing has some major annoyances when you used threads to do updates of gui components. If you start getting weird synchronization problems, you should check out SwingWorker classes, which are available in various places (just search google).

Hope this helps.

[Joe Beam]

to safely update gui from another thread try this method out...

public void updateView(final String responseLine, final int index){
Runnable updateAComponent = new Runnable() {
public void run() { fields[index].setText(responseLine)}
};
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(updateAComponent);

}

where fields needs to be declared final to be used in anonymous class

[sboothman]

cheers, I will give it a try

[sboothman]

Ok I have tried that, not sure if I have done it right, but I have put the connection and getting the data in a thread. But when I run the program I am getting a NullPointerException on getting the HOST number, and I would imagine the rest of the parameters like that. Do I have to pass an agument or values from to the thread to allow the thread access to the main classes variables, like HOSTS, PORT, stop and fields.
Below is the code. I am quite new to java, so this has been put together on the info I found on the net. It what I think made sense to do, but could be completly wrong.

/**
 *Applet Client Program
 * @author  Sam Boothman
 * @version 1.3, Nov 2005
 */

import java.io.*;									
import java.net.*;
import java.applet.Applet;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*; 
import javax.swing.*;

class ConnectionThread1 extends Thread
{
	public Applet1_5 Applet = null;
    public ConnectionThread1(Applet1_5 arg){
    	Applet=arg;
    }
    
    public void run() 
    {
    	Socket clientSocket = null;        			
		BufferedReader is = null;        			
		try 
		{  
			clientSocket = new Socket(Applet.HOST, Applet.PORT);	
			is = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(clientSocket.getInputStream()));	 
			               
			int i = 0;            
			while (!Applet.stop) 								
			{                
				String responseLine = is.readLine();	
				if (responseLine == null) break;  		             
				if (responseLine.indexOf("ok") != -1) break;                
				int index = i++ % 10;  					           
				Applet.fields[index].setText(responseLine);    
			}        
		} 
		catch (Exception e) 						
		{            
			e.printStackTrace();        
		}        
		
		finally 
		{            
			try 
			{ 
				if (clientSocket != null) clientSocket.close();	//If "clientSocket" is free of data, then close
			} 
			catch (Exception e) 					
			{ 
				e.printStackTrace(); 
			}            
			try { 
				if (is != null) is.close(); 		 
				} 
			catch (Exception e) 					
			{ 
				e.printStackTrace(); 
			}        
		}
    }
}
/************************************************************************************************/
/************************************************************************************************/
public class Applet1_5 extends Applet implements ActionListener, Runnable 
{    
	/*private static final*/ String HOST = "10.3.1.96";	
	/*private static final*/ int PORT = 9999;        	
	private static final Applet1_5 Applet = null;
	TextField[] fields = new TextField[10];    		
	Button stopButton;    							
	Button startButton;            					
	boolean stop,start;        					
	
	public void init() 								
	{        
		setSize(200,320);                           
		setBackground(Color.gray);                         
		for (int i = 0; i < fields.length; i++) 	
		{            
			add(new Label("Reading " + (i + 1)));            
			fields[i] = new TextField("", 6);      
			add(fields[i]);        					
		}                
		startButton = new Button("START");         	
		stopButton = new Button("STOP");           	
		
		add(startButton);          				   	
		add(stopButton);                  		   	
		
		stopButton.addActionListener(this);        	
		startButton.addActionListener(this);       	
		new Thread(this).start();  	
			
		
		
	}  
	
	public void run() 								
	{   
		ConnectionThread1 thread = new ConnectionThread1(Applet);
	    thread.start();	
		/*Socket clientSocket = null;        			
		BufferedReader is = null;        			
		try 
		{            
			clientSocket = new Socket(HOST, PORT);	
			is = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(clientSocket.getInputStream()));	                       
		} 
		catch (Exception e) 						
		{            
			e.printStackTrace();        
		}        
		
		finally 
		{            
			try 
			{ 
				if (clientSocket != null) clientSocket.close();	
			} 
			catch (Exception e) 					
			{ 
				e.printStackTrace(); 
			}            
			try { 
				if (is != null) is.close(); 		
				} 
			catch (Exception e) 					
			{ 
				e.printStackTrace(); 
			}        
		}*/
	}
	
	
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt)  	
	{        
		if (evt.getSource() == stopButton) stop = true;	
		{
			
		}
		
		if (evt.getSource()== startButton) stop = false;	
		{
			ConnectionThread1 thread = new ConnectionThread1(Applet);
		    thread.start();								
			
		}
		
	}  
}

[Joe Beam]

if you made HOST and PORT public variables then you could access them like
Applet.HOST or Applet.PORT

also you are passing in your null reference here...

private static final Applet1_5 Applet = null; //this field is not needed use 'this' keyword
...
...
ConnectionThread1 thread = new ConnectionThread1(Applet);

I think what you really want is to use the 'this' keyword like...
ConnectionThread1 thread = new ConnectionThread1(this);

[sboothman]

cheer Joe Beam, that did the trick. Thanks to eveyone else as well for your help, its a lot easier to understand and learn java when you got people like you guys to to help.
Regards
Sam