How can I make this timer() work as I want?

Question

I am having a bit of trouble with the code before. It is doing what I want, but I can only call the method once, if I call it more than that it won't work, essentially it only works once. So right now this ballG is an object. It starts off as White, it sets it to green, has a delay, then sets it back to white, this is perfect. The problem is since I do timerG.start(); and I don't end it, when I call it again it doesn't work. If I do timerG.stop(); it ignores the action event and leaves it green without going back to white. How can I make it so I can call this method multiple times???

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.border.EmptyBorder;
import javax.swing.JTextField;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JTextArea;
import javax.swing.Timer;

import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;

import javax.swing.JTextPane;
import javax.swing.JLabel;

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Font;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

import javax.swing.JLayeredPane;
import javax.swing.JEditorPane;


public class frame extends JFrame {

private JPanel contentPane;
private JTextField textEntered;
private JTextArea displayT;
private JTextPane textPane;
private JLabel instructions;
private JLabel instructions3;
private JLabel instructions2;
private JLabel ballR;
private JLabel ballG;
private JLabel ballB;
private JPanel panel;
private JTextArea textArea;
private JLabel instructions4;

public String translator(String x)
{
    String y = "";
    for(int i = 0; i< x.length(); i++)
    {
        y = y + code(x.charAt(i)) + " ";
    }
    return y;

}

private String code(char a)
{

    switch (a) {
    case 'e' :  return "R"; 
    case 't' : return "B"; 
    case 'a' : return "G"; 
    case 'o' : return "RB"; 
    case 'i' : return "RG"; 
    case 'n':  return "BG"; 
    case 's' :  return "R-R"; 
    case 'h' :  return "R-B"; 
    case 'r' :  return "R-G"; 
    case 'd' :  return "R-RB"; 
    case 'l' :  return "R-RG"; 
    case 'c' : return "R-BG"; 
    case 'u' : return "B-R"; 
    case 'm' : return "B-B"; 
    case 'w' : return "B-G"; 
    case 'f' :  return "B-RB"; 
    case 'g' :  return "B-RG"; 
    case 'y' :  return "B-BG"; 
    case 'p' : return "G-R"; 
    case 'b' : return "G-B"; 
    case 'v':  return "G-B"; 
    case 'k' : return "G-RB"; 
    case 'j' :  return "G-RG"; 
    case 'x' :  return "G-BG"; 
    case 'q' :  return "RB-R"; 
    case 'z' :  return "RB-G"; 
    case ' ' :  return "RB-B";  
    case '0' : return "RB-RB"; 
    case '1' : return "RB-RG"; 
    case '2' :  return"RB-BG"; 
    case '3' : return "RG-R"; 
    case '4'  :return "RG-B"; 
    case '5' : return "RG-G"; 
    case '6' :  return "RG-RB"; 
    case '7' :  return "RG-RG"; 
    case '8' :  return "RG-BG"; 
    case '9' :  return "BG-R";      
    }
    return "Z";

}

//Trying to get 1/4 of these methods to work, colorRed, colrGreen, colorBlue,setWhite
private void colorRed()
{

    Timer timerR = new Timer(750, new ActionListener(){
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
            ballR.setForeground(Color.RED);//or RED, depending
        }
    });
    //timer.setRepeats(false);//don't repeat if you don't want to
    timerR.start();
    ballR.setForeground(Color.WHITE);

}

private void colorGreen()
{

    ballG.setForeground(Color.GREEN);
    Timer timerG = new Timer(750, new ActionListener(){
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
            ballG.setForeground(Color.WHITE);//or RED, depending


        }
    });
    timerG.setRepeats(false);
    timerG.start();


}

private void colorBlue()
{
    Timer timerB = new Timer(750, new ActionListener(){
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
            ballB.setForeground(Color.BLUE);//or RED, depending
        }
    });
    //timer.setRepeats(false);
    timerB.start();

    ballR.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
}

private void setWhite()
{
    Timer timer = new Timer(750, new ActionListener(){
        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
             ballB.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
             ballR.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
             ballG.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
        }
    });
    //timer.setRepeats(false);
    timer.start();

}





public static void main(String[] args) {
    EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
        public void run() {
            try {
                frame frame = new frame();
                frame.setVisible(true);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    });
}


public frame() {
    setTitle("RBG Translator");
    setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    setBounds(100, 100, 800, 529);
    contentPane = new JPanel();
    contentPane.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
    contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
    setContentPane(contentPane);
    contentPane.setLayout(null);

    textEntered = new JTextField();
    textEntered.setText("Enter String...");
    textEntered.setBounds(10, 124, 261, 50);
    contentPane.add(textEntered);
    textEntered.setColumns(10);

    JButton submit = new JButton("Submit");
    submit.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
            ballR.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
            ballB.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
            ballG.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
            String input = textEntered.getText().toLowerCase();
            String output = translator(input);
            displayT.setText(output);
            //colorRed();
            colorGreen();

            //colorRed();
            //colorBlue();
            colorGreen();
            colorGreen();



        }
    });
    submit.setBounds(281, 125, 138, 50);
    contentPane.add(submit);

    displayT = new JTextArea();
    displayT.setBounds(10, 246, 409, 234);
    displayT.setLineWrap(true);
    contentPane.add(displayT);

    instructions = new JLabel("Please enter a word or a phrase that you would like to be transalted\r\n");
    instructions.setBounds(10, 11, 396, 14);
    contentPane.add(instructions);

    instructions3 = new JLabel("Below is a translated text of the word or phrase submitted");
    instructions3.setBounds(10, 205, 409, 34);
    contentPane.add(instructions3);

    instructions2 = new JLabel("into RBG code. Currently A-Z, 0-9, and space are permitted.");
    instructions2.setBounds(10, 24, 396, 34);
    contentPane.add(instructions2);

    panel = new JPanel();
    panel.setBounds(470, 25, 304, 169);
    contentPane.add(panel);

    ballR = new JLabel("\u2022");
    panel.add(ballR);
    ballR.setForeground(Color.RED);
    ballR.setFont(new Font("Tahoma", Font.PLAIN, 99));

    ballB = new JLabel("\u2022");
    panel.add(ballB);
    ballB.setForeground(Color.BLUE);
    ballB.setFont(new Font("Tahoma", Font.PLAIN, 99));

    ballG = new JLabel("\u2022");
    panel.add(ballG);
    ballG.setForeground(Color.GREEN);
    ballG.setFont(new Font("Tahoma", Font.PLAIN, 99));

    textArea = new JTextArea();
    textArea.setLineWrap(true);
    textArea.setColumns(4);
    textArea.setText("a:G   k:G-RB  u:B-R   4:RG-B            "  
            +       "b:G-B  l:R-RG  v:G-G   5:RG-G            "
            +       "c:R-BG m:B-B   w:B-G   6:RG-RB          "
            +       "d:R-RB n:BG    x:G-BG  7:RG-RG          "   
            +       "e:R    o:RB    y:B-BG  8:RG-BG          "
            +       "f:B-RB p:G-R   z:RB-G  9:BG-R            "                      
                +   "g:B-RG q:RB-R  0:RB-RB  :RB-B              "
                +   "h:R-B  r:R-G   1:RB-RG                                        "
                +   "i:RG   s:R-R   2:RB-BG                                        "
            +   "j:G-RG t:B              3:RG-R                    "   );

    textArea.setBounds(429, 246, 345, 234);
    contentPane.add(textArea);

    instructions4 = new JLabel("Key\r\n");
    instructions4.setBounds(429, 205, 345, 34);
    contentPane.add(instructions4);








}

}

Answer 1

(I really don't know what your "codes" are doing, as R-RB doesn't seem to make sense, how do you display R, G and B?)

Okay, you need to start by generating some kind of sequence that you want displayed. This will allow the Timer to act as a pseudo loop and update the UI according to the current sequence set

private String[] sequence;
private int index;
private Timer timer;
//...
public Test() {
    //...
    JButton submit = new JButton("Submit");
    submit.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent arg0) {
            ballR.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
            ballB.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
            ballG.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
            String input = textEntered.getText().toLowerCase();
            String output = translator(input);
            displayT.setText(output);

            timer.stop();

            System.out.println(output);
            List<String> firstPass = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(output.split(" ")));
            List<String> fullPass = new ArrayList<>(25);
            for (String pass : firstPass) {
                if (pass.contains("-")) {
                    String[] parts = pass.split("-");
                    fullPass.addAll(Arrays.asList(parts));
                } else {
                    fullPass.add(pass);
                }
            }

            sequence = fullPass.toArray(new String[fullPass.size()]);
            index = 0;
            timer.start();

        }
    });

Basically, this assumes that each space is a separate sequence to be displayed

Next, you need to setup a single Timer which can play through the sequences

timer = new Timer(750, new ActionListener() {
    @Override
    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        ballR.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
        ballG.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
        ballB.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
        if (index < sequence.length) {
            String set = sequence[index];
            System.out.println(index + " = " + set);
            for (char c : set.toCharArray()) {
                if ('R' == c) {
                    ballR.setForeground(Color.RED);
                } else if ('G' == c) {
                    ballG.setForeground(Color.GREEN);
                } else if ('B' == c) {
                    ballB.setForeground(Color.BLUE);
                }
            }
        } else {
            timer.stop();
        }
        index++;
    }
});

Okay, so, this takes the next String sequence and breaks it down into invidual elements, by spiting the String on the - character (which is why you "codes" don't make sense to me). It then loops through this set and changes the state of the "balls" accordingly.

The Timer continues` until there are no more sequences left...

Avoid using null layouts, pixel perfect layouts are an illusion within modern ui design. There are too many factors which affect the individual size of components, none of which you can control. Swing was designed to work with layout managers at the core, discarding these will lead to no end of issues and problems that you will spend more and more time trying to rectify