Stop a swing Timer from inside the Action Listener

Question

Hi ,

I'm trying to stop a timer inside the the ActionListener. Below is the code of what i'm trying to do. I'm tring to stop the timer i created when a certain condition is met inside the actionPerformed method. timer.stop() does not work , the compiler does not let me do that.

Any help . suggestion , advice would be really helpful.

public class ToggleAnnotationsAction extends IdentifiedMultiAction {
    //This status indicates if the Toggle action has been completed

/**
 * Defines the toggling direction of a <code>ToggleAnnotationAction</code> instance.
 */
public static enum Direction {FORWARD, BACKWARD};
private Direction myDir;

/**
 * Create an action with the direction presets given by the provided <code>Enum</code>.
 * 
 * @param dir An <code>Enum</code> defined in this class which maps to the correct direction of toggling
 * @see behaviors.multiact.IdentifiedMultiAction#IdentifiedMultiAction(Enum)
 */
public ToggleAnnotationsAction(Direction dir) {
    super(dir);
    this.myDir = dir;
}

/**
 * Performs the toggling, moving the audio position to the next/previous annotation.
 * 
 * Afterward sends an update to all <code>UpdatingActions<code>.
 *
 * Since the waveform display autonomously decides when to paint itself, this action may not result in an instant visual change.
 * 
 * <p>Prints warnings if an appropriate Annotation could not be found, despite the action being enabled.
 * 
 * @param e The <code>ActionEvent</code> provided by the trigger
 */
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
    //Reset Status to 0 
    status =0;


    Annotation ann = findAnnotation(myDir, CurAudio.getMaster().framesToMillis(CurAudio.getAudioProgress()));
    if(ann == null) {
        System.err.println("It should not have been possible to call " + getClass().getName() + ". Could not find matching annotation");
    }
    else {
        final long approxFrame = CurAudio.getMaster().millisToFrames(ann.getTime());
        final long curFrame = CurAudio.getAudioProgress();
        if(approxFrame < 0 || approxFrame > CurAudio.getMaster().durationInFrames() - 1) {
            GiveMessage.errorMessage("The annotation I am toggling to isn't in range.\nPlease check annotation file for errors."); 
            return;
        }

             Timer timer = new Timer(10, new ActionListener() {
                 private long panFrame = curFrame;
                 private long endFrame = approxFrame;
                 public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {

                     if(myDir == Direction.FORWARD){
                         if (panFrame >= endFrame) {

                             //How do i Stop my timer here ? 
                             return;
                         }
                         CurAudio.setAudioProgressWithoutUpdatingActions(panFrame);
                         panFrame += 4000;
                    }
                 else if(myDir == Direction.BACKWARD){
                     if (panFrame <= endFrame) {

                        // How do i Stop my timer here ? 
                         return;
                     }
                     CurAudio.setAudioProgressWithoutUpdatingActions(panFrame);
                     panFrame -= 4000;
                }
             }

         }
         );

         timer.start();

      }
    MyFrame.getInstance().requestFocusInWindow();
}


/**
 * A forward (backward) <code>ToggleAnnotationsAction</code> should be enabled only when audio is open, not playing, and when there is an annotation following (preceding) the current position.
 */
@Override
public void update() {
    if(CurAudio.audioOpen()) {
        if(CurAudio.getPlayer().getStatus() == PrecisionPlayer.Status.PLAYING) {
            setEnabled(false);
        }
        else {
            double curTimeMillis = CurAudio.getMaster().framesToMillis(CurAudio.getAudioProgress());
            if(findAnnotation(myDir, curTimeMillis) != null) {
                setEnabled(true);
            }
            else {
                setEnabled(false);
            }
        }
    }
    else {
        setEnabled(false);
    }
}

/**
 * Finds the next/previous <code>Annotation</code> relative to a certain audio position in milliseconds.
 * 
 * @param dir The direction of movement
 * @param curTimeMillis The present time in milliseconds
 * 
 * @return In principle, the <code>Annotation</code> after/before <code>curTimeMillis</code>
 */
private Annotation findAnnotation(Direction dir, double curTimeMillis) {
    Annotation[] anns = AnnotationDisplay.getAnnotationsInOrder();
    if(myDir == Direction.FORWARD) {
        for(int i = 0; i < anns.length; i++) {
            if(anns[i].getTime() - curTimeMillis > 1) {
                return anns[i];
            }
        }
    }
    else {
        for(int i = anns.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
            if(curTimeMillis - anns[i].getTime() > 1) {
                return anns[i];
            }
        }
    }
    return null;
}

}

Thanks in Advance Krishnan

Answer 1

Fun problem.

You have to make Timer final to access it in the anonymous ActionListener you want to stop it in. But the anonymous ActionListener still won't compile because the Timer hasn't been initialized yet.

Note that a Timer may not be your best choice here. But to make this work as is, I'd wrap the Timer in an inner class.

In your ToggleAnnotationsAction.actionPerformed() method add a line like:

MyTimer timer = new MyTimer();
timer.start();

Then a class like this could be used, replacing my simple ActionListener code with your Timer's ActionListener code:

private class MyTimer implements ActionListener{
  private Timer timer;

  private MyTimer(){
     timer = new Timer(10, this);
  }

  public void start(){
     timer.start();
  }

  public void stop(){
     timer.stop();
  }

  public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
     if(isTimeToStop()){
        stop();
     }
  }

  public boolean isTimeToStop(){
     return true;
  }
}

Answer 2

Also possible:

final Timer timer = new Timer(10, null);
timer.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
        (as in the question, except that you can refer to timer here)
    }
});

Or, use the event object to get the source (and cast it, boo):

final Timer timer = new Timer(10, new ActionListener() {
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
        ((Timer)evt.getSource()).stop();
    }
});

Or, keep the timer in an instance variable and you can reference it from your handler or have the handler call a method on your class which could stop/start it.