Thread safe GUI

[Matt Pavlovich]

Hey guys,

I have made my GUI thread safe as per the Java tutorials buy launching my windows with:

javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                createAndShowGUI();
            }
        });

However, I notice this code is absent from the SCJD book and was wondering if there is a reason not to use it in a multi-threaded environment such as this project.

Thanks,
Matt

[Roel De Nijs]

Using the search engine: thread1 and thread2.

Matt Pavlovich wrote:a multi-threaded environment such as this project

My client is not multi-threaded, my server is. If I would perform a major time-consuming task and I want not to freeze my GUI I would use the SwingUtilities.invokeLater(), but in this project I don't see any advantages.

[Marcel van den Boer]

Roel De Nijs wrote:If I would perform a major time-consuming task and I want not to freeze my GUI I would use the SwingUtilities.invokeLater()

They invented SwingWorker for that . If you use invokeLater() for time consuming tasks, the GUI would freeze anyway.

It's true you'll probably won't absolutely need to use invokeLater() to construct your GUI, but as I understand it, it is a good practice to do so anyway. The Swing documentation does not say you should only use invokeLater() in a multi-threaded application, it just says you should use it when constructing your GUI (http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/javax/swing/package-summary.html).

But you must do what you feel is right, of course...

[Roel De Nijs]

Marcel van den Boer wrote:They invented SwingWorker for that . If you use invokeLater() for time consuming tasks, the GUI would freeze anyway.

Oh, my mistake I have limited Swing experience, for my current project (desktop application) we are using RCP as technology, no Swing anymore.

[Matt Pavlovich]

Thanks, guys.