How to pass results from EDT back to a different thread?

Question

I have the following use-case:

I have code executing in Thread A (not EDT). Then I want to ask the user a question, but this must be done on the EDT as it involves Swing code (opening a dialog etc). Finally, I want to pass the user's answer back to Thread A, so it can continue.

I'm struggling to find a good way to pass the user's answer back to Thread A. How do you do this?

Answer 1

This util method does what is in the supplier in a separate swing thread, and it wait till the response. It also throws an exception if there is:

public class InvokeAndGet {

public static <T> T execute(Supplier<T> supplier, long timeout) throws InterruptedException, SyncException {
    AtomicReference<T> atomicRef = new AtomicReference<>();
    AtomicReference<Exception> atomicException = new AtomicReference<>();
    CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
    SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> {
        try {
            atomicRef.set(supplier.get());
        }catch(Exception e){
            atomicException.set(e);
        }finally {
            latch.countDown();
        }
    });
    latch.await(timeout, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
    if(atomicException.get() != null) {
        throw new SyncException(atomicException.get());
    }else {
        return atomicRef.get();
    }
}

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public static class SyncException extends Exception {
    public SyncException(Throwable arg0) {
        super(arg0);
    }
}

}

And here two tests so you can see how to use it:

@Test
public void execute() throws InterruptedException, SyncException {
    Integer result = InvokeAndGet.execute(() -> 1+1, 5000);
    assertEquals(2, result.intValue());
}

@Test(expected = SyncException.class)
public void executeException() throws InterruptedException, SyncException {
    InvokeAndGet.execute(() -> 1/0, 5000);
}

There is still room to improve it to make it more general, because this implementation relays in SwingUtilities and sometimes you want to use ThreadExecutor.

Answer 2

I wrote the following convenience method to add to jtahlborn's answer. It adds a check to avoid blocking the EDT, and provides a nice stream-lined exception handling:

/**
 * executes the given callable on the EDT, blocking and returning the result of the callable.call() method.
 * 
 * If call() throws an exception, it is rethrown on the the current thread if the exception is either a RuntimeException, or the
 * class that is assignable to exceptionClass. Otherwise, it is wrapped in a RuntimeException and thrown on the current thread.
 * 
 * @param exceptionClass The class of any exception that may be thrown by the callable.call() method, which will now be thrown
 *            directly by this method (ie, not wrapped in an ExecutionException)
 */
public static <T, E extends Exception> T invokeAndWaitAndReturn(Callable<T> callable, Class<E> exceptionClass)
        throws InterruptedException, E {
    if (SwingUtilities.isEventDispatchThread()) {
        try {
            return callable.call();
        }
        catch (Exception e) {
            throw throwException(exceptionClass, e);
        }
    }
    else {
        FutureTask<T> task = new FutureTask<T>(callable);
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(task);

        try {
            return task.get();
        }
        catch (ExecutionException ee) {
            throw throwException(exceptionClass, ee.getCause());
        }
    }
}

@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
private static <E extends Exception> E throwException(Class<E> exceptionClass, Throwable t) {
    if (exceptionClass.isAssignableFrom(t.getClass())) {
        return (E) t;
    }
    else if (t instanceof RuntimeException) {
        throw (RuntimeException) t;
    }
    else {
        throw new RuntimeException(t);
    }
}

You call it like this, and don't need to worry whether you are currently executing on the EDT or not:

try {
    Integer result = invokeAndWaitAndReturn(new Callable<Integer>() {
        public Integer call() throws MyException {
            // do EDT stuff here to produce the result
        }
    }, MyException.class);
} catch(InterruptedException ie) {
    Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
} catch(MyException me) {
    // handle the "expected" Exception here
}

Answer 3

FutureTask<Integer> dialogTask = new FutureTask<Integer>(new Callable<Integer>() {
  @Override public Integer call() {
    return JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(...);
  }
});
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(dialogTask);
int result = dialogTask.get();

Answer 4

Basically, you need to use EventQueue#invokeAndWait (AKA SwingUtilities#invokeAndWait). This will block the current thread until the run method returns.

The real trick is trying to get it setup so that you can get the return value ;)

public class TestOptionPane03 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Thread(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                String choice = ask("Chocolate", "Strewberry", "Vanilla");
                System.out.println("You choose " + choice);
            }
        }).start();
    }

    public static String ask(final String... values) {

        String result = null;

        if (EventQueue.isDispatchThread()) {

            JPanel panel = new JPanel();
            panel.add(new JLabel("Please make a selection:"));
            DefaultComboBoxModel model = new DefaultComboBoxModel();
            for (String value : values) {
                model.addElement(value);
            }
            JComboBox comboBox = new JComboBox(model);
            panel.add(comboBox);

            int iResult = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, panel, "Flavor", JOptionPane.OK_CANCEL_OPTION, JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE);
            switch (iResult) {
                case JOptionPane.OK_OPTION:
                    result = (String) comboBox.getSelectedItem();
                    break;
            }

        } else {

            Response response = new Response(values);
            try {
                SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(response);
                result = response.getResponse();
            } catch (InterruptedException | InvocationTargetException ex) {
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }

        }

        return result;

    }

    public static class Response implements Runnable {

        private String[] values;
        private String response;

        public Response(String... values) {
            this.values = values;
        }

        @Override
        public void run() {
            response = ask(values);
        }

        public String getResponse() {
            return response;
        }
    }
}

In this example, I basically create my own query object the implements Runnable and can store the response from the user

Answer 5

From within thread A, you can use SwingUtilities.invokeAndWait(Runnable) to execute your user prompt on the EDT. This will block thread A until your runnable completes (i.e., until the user has submitted a result and you have stored it somewhere). Your runnable can be written to store the result somewhere that thread A can access it, once thread A regains control.