Trying to stop a single thread out of multiple running at the same time in java

Question

So im trying to stop a single thread when I have multiple threads running, here is the code im using to initialise the threads. Basically I have multiple textFields in javafx, and when a button is clicked on the screen, it fills the textFields, one by one, with an incrementing timer. Now I also have a button for each of the textfields to clear it, but the problem is when I clear it, because the thread is still running, the timer vanishes for a second and comes back because of the line 'orderTimes.get(boxNo).setText(minute + second);' in the code.

Now what I've tried is creating a list of threads and I've tried implementing it below but it doesn't work, this is so I can call each individual thread if its button to clear has been clicked.

Does anyone know how I can close/stop only one single thread out of multiple that are running? If more info is needed just let me know, thanks.

public static void createIncrementingTimer(int boxNo, List<TextField> orderTimes) {
minutesList.set(boxNo, 0);
secondsList.set(boxNo, 0);
state = true;
new Thread(threadList.get(boxNo))  {
  int currentMinutes = 0;
  int currentSeconds = 0;
  public void run() {
    for (;;) {
      if (state = true) {
        try {
          sleep(1000);
          if (secondsList.get(boxNo) > 59) {
            secondsList.set(boxNo, 0);
            currentSeconds = 0;
            minutesList.set(boxNo, currentMinutes + 1);
            currentMinutes++;
          }            
          if (secondsList.get(boxNo) < 10) {
            second = ":0" + Integer.toString(secondsList.get(boxNo));
          } else {
            second = ":" + Integer.toString(secondsList.get(boxNo));                 
          }                            
          secondsList.set(boxNo, currentSeconds + 1);
          currentSeconds++;            
          if (minutesList.get(boxNo) < 10) {
            minute = "0" + Integer.toString(minutesList.get(boxNo));
          } else {
            minute = Integer.toString(minutesList.get(boxNo));
          }
          orderTimes.get(boxNo).setText(minute + second);             
        } catch (Exception e) {
          e.printStackTrace();
        }
      }
    }
  }
};
threadList.get(boxNo).start();
}

The code I'm using to clear the textfields is below, with orderTimes being the list of textFields that I'm trying to clear.

public static void eraseBox(int clickedButtonNumber, List<TextArea> orderContentsList, List<TextField> tableNumbers, List<TextField> orderNumbers, List<TextField> orderTimes) {
orderContentsList.get(clickedButtonNumber).setText(null);
  tableNumbers.get(clickedButtonNumber).clear();
  orderNumbers.get(clickedButtonNumber).clear();
  orderTimes.get(clickedButtonNumber).clear();
}

Answer 1

I would suggest you try to avoid Threads . The Animation API is designed to make doing work that would normally be done in a Thread easier. In this example, the IncrementingTimer class consists of two Labels and three Buttons . The Labels are used to show the time. The Buttons are used to control the Timeline . The Timeline is used to increment the Labels value each second or every sixty seconds. I have added three IncrementingTimers to the app.

Main

import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;

/**
 * JavaFX App
 */
public class App extends Application {

    @Override
    public void start(Stage stage) {        
        var scene = new Scene(new VBox(new IncrementingTimer(), new IncrementingTimer(), new IncrementingTimer()), 640, 480);
        stage.setScene(scene);
        stage.show();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        launch();
    }
}

IncrementingTimer

import javafx.animation.KeyFrame;
import javafx.animation.Timeline;
import javafx.beans.property.IntegerProperty;
import javafx.beans.property.SimpleIntegerProperty;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.util.Duration;

/**
 *
 * @author blj0011
 */
final public class IncrementingTimer extends HBox
{
    IntegerProperty secondsCounter = new SimpleIntegerProperty();//Keeps up with seconds
    IntegerProperty minutesCounter = new SimpleIntegerProperty();//Keeps up with minutes

    Label lblSeconds = new Label();//Displays the seconds
    Label lblMinutes = new Label();//Displays the minutes
    Label lblColon = new Label(":");//Display the colon between minutes and seconds

    Button btnPlay = new Button("Play");//Plays the Timeline
    Button btnStop = new Button("Stop");//Stops the Timeline
    Button btnPause = new Button("Pause");//Pauses the Timeline

    Timeline timeline;//Used to run code that changes the Labels. This Timeline runs every one second.

    public IncrementingTimer()
    {
        lblSeconds.textProperty().bind(secondsCounter.asString("%02d"));//Binds the seconds label to the seconds counter. Sets the String to always show two digits. Exmaple 1 is shown as 01.
        lblMinutes.textProperty().bind(minutesCounter.asString("%02d"));//Binds the minutes label to the minutes counter. Sets the String to always show two digits. Exmaple 1 is shown as 01.

        getChildren().addAll(lblMinutes, lblColon, lblSeconds, btnPlay, btnStop, btnPause);

        timeline = new Timeline(new KeyFrame(Duration.seconds(1), (event) -> {//Replace the one with .016 to speed this up for testing purposes.
            secondsCounter.set(secondsCounter.get() + 1);
            if (secondsCounter.get() == 60) {
                secondsCounter.set(0);
                minutesCounter.set(minutesCounter.get() + 1);
                if (minutesCounter.get() == 60) {
                    minutesCounter.set(0);
                }
            }
        }));
        timeline.setCycleCount(Timeline.INDEFINITE);
        btnPlay.setOnAction((event) -> {
            timeline.play();
        });
        btnPause.setOnAction((event) -> {
            timeline.pause();
        });
        btnStop.setOnAction((event) -> {
            timeline.stop();
            secondsCounter.set(0);
            minutesCounter.set(0);
        });

        this.setAlignment(Pos.CENTER);
    }

}

Answer 2

As recommended and demonstrated by Sedric, use JavaFx Animation tools for the counters.
The following one-file mre demonstrating implementation of counters using two different animation tools.
One uses PauseTransition and uses Timeline , each with its stop button.
(copy-paste the entire code into Timers.java and run)

import java.io.IOException;
import javafx.animation.Animation;
import javafx.animation.KeyFrame;
import javafx.animation.PauseTransition;
import javafx.animation.Timeline;
import javafx.application.Application;
import javafx.geometry.Pos;
import javafx.scene.Scene;
import javafx.scene.control.Button;
import javafx.scene.control.Label;
import javafx.scene.layout.HBox;
import javafx.scene.layout.VBox;
import javafx.stage.Stage;
import javafx.util.Duration;

public class Timers extends Application {

    @Override public void start(final Stage stage) throws IOException {
        VBox root = new VBox(new CounterPane(new TimeLineCounter()), new CounterPane(new PauseTransitionCounter()));
        stage.setScene(new Scene(root));
        stage.show();
    }

    public static void main(final String[] args) { launch(args); }
}

class CounterPane extends HBox{

    private final Counter counter;
    CounterPane(Counter counter) {
        super(5);
        this.counter = counter; //todo: check not null
        Button stopBtn = new Button("Stop");
        stopBtn.setOnAction(e->stop());
        getChildren().addAll(stopBtn, counter);
    }

    void stop(){
        counter.getAnimation().stop();
    }
}

abstract class Counter extends Label {

    protected int count = 0;
    public Counter() {
        setAlignment(Pos.CENTER); setPrefSize(25, 25);
        count();
    }

    abstract void count();
    abstract Animation getAnimation();
}

class TimeLineCounter extends Counter {

    private Timeline timeline;

    @Override
    void count() {

        timeline = new Timeline();
        timeline.setCycleCount(Animation.INDEFINITE);
        final KeyFrame keyFrame = new KeyFrame(
                Duration.seconds(1),
                event -> {  setText(String.valueOf(count++) );  }
                );
        timeline.getKeyFrames().add(keyFrame);
        timeline.play();
    }

    @Override
    Animation getAnimation() {
        return timeline;
    }
}

class PauseTransitionCounter extends Counter {

    private PauseTransition pauseTransition;

    @Override
    void count() {

        pauseTransition = new PauseTransition(Duration.seconds(1));
        pauseTransition.setOnFinished(event ->{
            setText(String.valueOf(count++) );
            pauseTransition.play();
        });
        pauseTransition.play();
    }

    @Override
    Animation getAnimation() {
        return pauseTransition;
    }
}

Answer 3

The if(state=true) should rather be if(state==true) or just if(state) , but in fact the for(;;) could do the entire thing as while(state) , simply shutting down the thread when you set state=false .

Then, fully stopping the thread could happen as state=false;threadList.get(boxNo).join(); , and you can clear the field only after that (since the thread will set it to something in the last step too).

---

With a simpler approach you could throw away the state , and revert to for(;;) , with the twist of having the try-catch() around the loop, outside. This way you can use threadList.get(boxNo).interrupt();threadList.get(boxNo);.join(); to stop the thread, and on top of that it will be immediate, as the sleep() ends immediately when the thread is interrupted.